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Encyclopedia Britannica - Main :: TUM-VAN |
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UMBRIA ('Opj3pucrl) , the name of an ancient and a modern district
1. The ancient district
Pesaro
Iguvium
sixth
The name Umbria is derived from the Umbri, one of the chief
original
The process by which the Umbrians were deprived of their predominance in upper and central Italy and restricted to their confines of historic times cannot be traced in any detail. A tradition declares that their easternmost territory in the region of Ancona was wrested from them by the Picentes, a branch of the Sabine stock. It may also be conjectured that they were partly displaced in the valley of the Po by the Gaulish tribes which began to pour across the Alps from about Soo B.C. But their chief
element
Etruscan
1 The geographers make this road go round by Vettona (mod. Bet tuna) between Tuder and Perusia, instead of following the more direct modern line. attack on Cumae in 524 B.c.` Indeed it is not unlikely that the bulk of the population in Etruria continued to be of Umbrian origin, and that the Romanization of this country was facilitated by the partial absorption of the Etruscan
Against the Romans the Umbrians never fought any wars of importance, a fact which may be explained partly by the remoteness of their position, but chiefly by the common hostility of the two nations to the Etruscans. After the downfall of the Etruscan power they made a belated attempt to aid their Samnite kinsmen in their decisive struggle against Rome (308 B.C.); but their communications with Samnium were impeded by the foundation of a Roman fortress at Narnia (298 B.c.), and at the great battle of Sentinum (295 B.c.), which was fought in their own territory, the Umbrians are not reported to have lent the Samnites any substantial help. It is perhaps on account of this defection that in 200 B.C. they received from the Romans a portion of the Ager Gallicus reconquered from the Senonian Gauls. They offered no opposition to the construction of the Via Flaminia through the heart of their country, and in the Second Punic War withheld all assistance from Hannibal. In the Social War (9o89 B.c.), they joined the rebels tardily and were among the first to make their peace with Rome. Henceforth the Umbrians no longer played an independent part in Italian history. The material prosperity of Umbria, in spite of its unfavourable position for commercial intercourse, was relatively great, owing to the fertility of the numerous small valleys which intersect the Apennine system in this region. The chief products of the soil were olives, vines and spelt; the uplands harboured the choicest boars of Italy. In Pliny's time there still existed in Umbria 49 independent communities, and the abundance of inscriptions and the high proportion of recruits furnished to the imperial army attest its continued populousness. Among its most famous natives were the poets Plautus (b. at Sarsina) and Propertius (b. at Assisi).Of the Umbrians' political and municipal organization little is known. In addition to the city (tota) they seem to have had a larger territorial division in the tribus (trifu, ace.) as we gather from Livy (xxxi. 2, " per Umbriam quam tribum Sapiniam vocant " ; cf. xxxiii. 37) and from the Eugubine Tables (" trifor Tarsinates," vi. B. 54). Ancient authors describe the Umbrians as leading effeminate lives, and as closely resembling their Etruscan enemies in their habits (Theopompus, Fragm. 142; Pseudo-Scymnus, 366368). It is almost certain that each race influenced and modified the other to a large extent. There is conclusive proof of strong Etruscan influences in Umbria. For instance, they undoubtedly borrowed their alphabet and the art of writing from the Etruscans. Their writing ran from right to left. The alphabet consisted of nineteen letters. It had no separate symbols for 0, G, Q; the aspirates and X were wanting; on the other hand, it possessed forms for Z and V, and had likewise the Etruscan f (8). It also had a symbol peculiar to itself for expressing the sound of palatal k when followed by either e or i. The fact that it is only in towns on the side next Etruria, e.g. Tuder and Iguviuln, that a coinage is found indicates that they borrowed the art of minting from that quarter. The Umbrians counted their day from noon
noon
See Strabo bk. v.; T. E. Peet, The Stone and Bronze Ages of Italy and Sicily (Oxford, 1909), pp. 492510; B. V. Head, Historia numorum (Oxford, 1887); B. Nissen, Italische Landeskunde; Bucheler, Umbrica (1883) ; R. S. Conway, Italic Dialects. (M. O. B. C.) 2. The modern territorial division is situated in the middle of the peninsula, between Tuscany and the Marches on the N. and E., and Rome and the Abruzzi on the S. and W., and comprising the one province of Perugia, with an area of 3748 sq. m.; pop. (19o1), 675,352. Umbria and the two provinces of Ancona and Pesaro
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