European Kingdoms

Marsi / Marruvii (Sabellians) (Italics)

Indo-Europeans - Italic Tribes (Intro) Anatolian Tribes Balkans Tribes Baltic Tribes Celtic Tribes Germanic Tribes Italic Tribes Indo-Iranian/Aryan Tribes Slavic Tribes Tocharians (Intro)

What are generally known as West Indo-European tribes arrived at the eastern edge of Central Europe around 2500 BC. Their northern group later became the proto-Celts of the Urnfield culture while the southern group seemingly migrated westwards and southwards, reaching Iberia, Illyria, and northern Italy.

Already further divided into semi-isolated tribes, they became more civilised in their habits and available forms of technology due to contact with southern Greeks and Etruscans. In the period between the eleventh to eighth centuries BC some of those groups in Illyria crossed by sea into the Italian peninsula and settled along the south-eastern coast.

Those who had entered peninsular Italy via the north Italian piedmont gradually migrated southwards to occupy much of the rest of eastern and central Italy. These tribes all formed part of a general group which are known as Italics, seemingly part of the main population of West Indo-Europeans prior to the emergence of Celtic culture.

The Marsi (or Marruvii, or Marrubii as used by Virgil) group of Italics during the Italian Iron Age were located in central Italy, around Lake Fucino (a region known today as Marsica). They were neighboured to the west by the Latins and Romans, to the north by Etruscans and the Sabini, to the east by the Vestini and Paeligni, and to the south by the Volsci and the Carracini clan of the Samnites.

Not be confused with the later Germanic tribe of the Marsi, this Marsi people were part of the Oscan-Umbrian group, largely accepted as being Indo-Europeans (perhaps proto-Celts) who migrated into the peninsula from the north. They were a warlike Italic people who settled in territory which was centred on Marruvium (now known as San Benedetto dei Marsi). The ancient stream called the Pitonius was nearby (now known as Giovenco).

(Information by Peter Kessler, with additional information by Edward Dawson, from Samnium and the Samnites, E T Salmon, from Researches into the Physical History of Mankind, Vol 3, Issue 1, James Cowles Prichard, from Pliny's Natural History in Thirty-Seven Books, Volumes 1-3, Pliny (the Elder), from An Historical Geography of Europe, Norman J G Pounds (Abridged Version), from The Roman History: From Romulus and the Foundation of Rome to the Reign of the Emperor Tiberius, Velleius Paterculus, J C Yardley, & Anthony A Barrett, from A Genetic Signal of Central European Celtic Ancestry, David K Faux, from The Horse, the Wheel, and Language: How Bronze-Age Riders from the Eurasian Steppes Shaped the Modern World, David W Anthony, from The History of Rome, Volume 1, Titus Livius (translated by Rev Canon Roberts), from The Histories, Herodotus (Penguin, 1996), from Encyclopaedia Britannica (Eleventh Edition, Cambridge (England), 1910), from Encyclopaedia of the Roman Empire, Matthew Bunson (1994), from Paleo-Balkan Languages, V Neroznak, from Ancient Languages of the Balkans, R Katicic, from The Etymological Dictionary of the Russian Language, M Fasmer, from Basic Romance Linguistics, E Bourcier, from Research in Popular Latin and its links with Romance languages, N Korletyanu, from Brief Historical Grammar of the Latin Language, W Lindsey, from The Corpus of Oscan Inscriptions, I Tsvetaev, from A Historical Grammar of the Latin Language, I Tronsky, and from External Links: The Beaker phenomenon and the genomic transformation of northwest Europe (Nature), and Massive migration from the steppe was a source for Indo-European languages in Europe (Nature.com), and Indo-European Chronology - Countries and Peoples, and Indo-European Etymological Dictionary, J Pokorny, and Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography, William Smith (1854, Perseus Digital Library), and The Natural History, Pliny the Elder (John Bostock, Ed), and Geography, Strabo (H C Hamilton & W Falconer, London, 1903, Perseus Online Edition), and L'Arbre Celtique (The Celtic Tree, in French), and Historisches Lexikon der Schweiz or Dictionnaire Historique de la Suisse or Dizionario Storico dell Svizzera (in German, French, and Italian respectively), and Le Alpi (Università di Trento), and Pleiades (Ancient World Mapping Center and Institute for the Study of the Ancient World).)

c.800 BC?

Eponymous founder of Marruvium.

c.800 BC

With the beginning of the Italian Iron Age, signs of territorial variation begin to emerge, although the gradual differentiation between a western area, an eastern area, and an Alpine area will only acquire more consistency in the seventh century BC. This is the Golasecca I A period.

This map shows not only the greatest extent of Etruscan influence in Italy, during the seventh to fifth centuries BC, but also Gaulish intrusion to the north, which compressed Etruscan borders there (click or tap on map to view on a separate page)

Although it is hard to be sure that the Marsi even exist as a separately identifiable people at this stage, they are accounted as subjects of the Etruscans and remain so for a little over two hundred years. Their chief settlement emerges at Marruvium (modern San Benedetto dei Marsi). The town is located on the eastern shore of Lake Fucinus (Lake Fucino, which is drained in the nineteenth century AD).

Other key settlements include Lecce (modern Lecce nei Marsi), Ortona (modern Ortona dei Marsi), and Trasacco. The Lucus Angitiae, a wood known as the 'sacred grove of Angitia', is a site which is held sacred by the Marsi for their goddess of that name, close to the later Roman town of Luco (modern Luco dei Marsi).

c.580 BC

The Marsi still cannot be identified with certainty as a separate people, so they are possibly still part of the Sabellian collective. Around this time they become subjects of the Samnites, fellow Sabellians who dominate a large region of central southern Italy.

This oil on canvas depicts Lake Fucino, near San Benedetto dei Marsi in former Marsi tribal territory, before it was drained

325 - 309 BC

The Marsi ally themselves with the Romans as a means of removing Samnite mastery over them, while the Dauni, Iapyges, Lucani, Messapii, and Peucetii side with the Samnites at the start of the Second Samnite War.

It is in this period that the Marsi are first documented historically, when they are recorded as being confederates of the Marrucini, Paeligni, and Vestini tribes. Towards the end of the war, relations with Rome become strained, so the Marsi revolt and realign themselves with the Samnites.

304 BC

Following the Roman destruction of the Aequi and the final defeat of the Samnites at the end of the Second Samnite War, the Frentani, Marrucini, Marsi, and Paeligni voluntarily accept their reintegration into Roman administrative rule. This period proves to be the end for the Golasecca culture within the Italian Iron Age.

Objects which have been found in tombs in the Como region of Italy testify to the progressive opening up by the Golasecca people to exchanges with the transalpine world to the north and the central-Italic Etruscan area to the south

303 - 298 BC

Rome consolidates its hold over the central Apennines by founding colonies at Sora and Alba Fucens (on the Aequi frontier with the Marsi) in 303 BC, and at Carseoli in 298 BC (modern Carsoli). A short-lived revolt by the Marsi in 302 BC results in the loss of some of their territory to Rome.

218 - 202 BC

The Second Punic War starts at Saguntum (near modern Valencia) in Iberia. Hannibal Barca attacks Roman territory, leading his armies over the Alps into Italy.

While encouraging the reluctant Romans to commit to battle, he marches through the country devastating the territory of Rome's Italic allies, including that of the Marrucini, Marsi, and Paeligni. Despite winning the anticipated battle at Cannae, Hannibal is eventually defeated by Scipio Africanus at the Battle of Zama in 202 BC, thereby ending the war.

91 - 89 BC

Along with the Etruscans, Iapyges, Lucani, Marrucini, Paeligni, Picentes, Samnites, and Vestini, the Marsi fight the Social War (Italian War, or Marsic War) against Rome during which the Marsi warriors are regarded as some of the best of Rome's opponents.

Shown here are two sides of a silver denarius which was issued by the Marsic Confederation to support its cause against Rome

The war is the result of increasing inequality in Roman land ownership, and the spark for conflict is delivered by the assassination of the reforming Marcus Livius Drusus, whose efforts would have led to citizenship for all of Rome's allies.

91 - 89 BC

Marsi leader during the Social War. Killed in battle.

91 - 90 BC

Marsi commander under Poppaedius. Killed.

90 - 89 BC

Marsi commander under Poppaedius.

89 BC

The Romans take direct control of the Marsi region. Its people are granted Roman citizenship soon afterwards (the withholding of this being one of their main causes of complaint before the war).

They retain their identity well into the Roman empire period, during which their chief town, Marruvium, flourishes under the name Civitas Marsorum.

The town of Scurcola Marsicana is today in the province of L'Aquila in the Abruzzo region of Italy which neighbours the former Marsi lands and those of the medieval duchy of Marsi

Following the Lombard invasion of Italy in the sixth century AD, the Marsi territory becomes a county which is subject to the authority of the duchy of Spoleto in the south. It eventually becomes a duchy in its own right, the duchy of Marsi (Colonna).