This list of ancient peoples living in

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical ...

summarises groupings existing before and during the Roman expansion and conquest of Italy. Many of the names are either scholarly inventions or

exonym An endonym (from Greek: , 'inner' + , 'name'; also known as autonym) is a common, ''native'' name for a geographical place, group of people, individual person, language or dialect, meaning that it is used inside that particular place, group, ...

s assigned by the ancient writers of works in

ancient Greek Ancient Greek includes the forms of the Greek language used in ancient Greece and the ancient world from around 1500 BC to 300 BC. It is often roughly divided into the following periods: Mycenaean Greek (), Dark Ages (), the Archaic p ...

and

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...

. In regard to the specific names of particular ancient Italian tribes and peoples, the time-window in which historians know the historical ascribed names of ancient Italian peoples mostly falls into the range of about 750 BC (at the legendary

foundation of Rome The tale of the founding of Rome is recounted in traditional stories handed down by the ancient Romans themselves as the earliest history of their city in terms of legend and myth. The most familiar of these myths, and perhaps the most famous o ...

) to about 200 BC (in the middle

Roman Republic The Roman Republic ( la, Res publica Romana ) was a form of government of Rome and the era of the classical Roman civilization when it was run through public representation of the Roman people. Beginning with the overthrow of the Roman Ki ...

), the time range in which most of the written documentation first exists of such names and prior to the nearly complete assimilation of Italian peoples into

Roman culture The culture of ancient Rome existed throughout the almost 1200-year history of the civilization of Ancient Rome. The term refers to the culture of the Roman Republic, later the Roman Empire, which at its peak covered an area from present-day Lo ...

. Nearly all of these peoples and tribes spoke

Indo-European languages The Indo-European languages are a language family native to the overwhelming majority of Europe, the Iranian plateau, and the northern Indian subcontinent. Some European languages of this family, English, French, Portuguese, Russian, Dutc ...

Italics In typography, italic type is a cursive font based on a stylised form of calligraphic handwriting. Owing to the influence from calligraphy, italics normally slant slightly to the right. Italics are a way to emphasise key points in a printed ...

Celts The Celts (, see pronunciation for different usages) or Celtic peoples () are. "CELTS location: Greater Europe time period: Second millennium B.C.E. to present ancestry: Celtic a collection of Indo-European peoples. "The Celts, an ancien ...

Ancient Greeks Ancient Greece ( el, Ἑλλάς, Hellás) was a northeastern Mediterranean civilization, existing from the Greek Dark Ages of the 12th–9th centuries BC to the end of classical antiquity ( AD 600), that comprised a loose collection of cult ...

, and tribes likely occupying various intermediate positions between these language groups. On the other hand, some Italian peoples (such as the

Rhaetians The Raeti (spelling variants: ''Rhaeti'', ''Rheti'' or ''Rhaetii'') were a confederation of Alpine tribes, whose language and culture was related to those of the Etruscans. Before the Roman conquest, they inhabited present-day Tyrol in Austria, ...

Camuni The Camuni or Camunni were an ancient population located in Val Camonica during the Iron Age (1st millennium BC); the Latin name ''Camunni'' was attributed to them by the authors of the 1st century. They are also called ancient Camuni, to distingu ...

Etruscans The Etruscan civilization () was developed by a people of Etruria in ancient Italy with a common language and culture who formed a federation of city-states. After conquering adjacent lands, its territory covered, at its greatest extent, rou ...

) likely spoke non-Indo-European languages. In addition, peoples speaking languages of the Afro-Asiatic family, specifically the Semitic

Phoenicians Phoenicia () was an ancient thalassocratic civilization originating in the Levant region of the eastern Mediterranean, primarily located in modern Lebanon. The territory of the Phoenician city-states extended and shrank throughout their histor ...

and

Carthaginians The Punic people, or western Phoenicians, were a Semitic people in the Western Mediterranean who migrated from Tyre, Phoenicia to North Africa during the Early Iron Age. In modern scholarship, the term ''Punic'' – the Latin equivalent of the ...

, are known to have settled and colonized some coastal parts of Italy (particularly in

insular Italy Insular Italy ( it, Italia insulare or just , meaning "islands") is one of the five official statistical regions of Italy used by the National Institute of Statistics (ISTAT), a first level NUTS region and a European Parliament constituency ...

in western and southern

Sardinia Sardinia ( ; it, Sardegna, label=Italian, Corsican and Tabarchino ; sc, Sardigna , sdc, Sardhigna; french: Sardaigne; sdn, Saldigna; ca, Sardenya, label=Algherese and Catalan) is the second-largest island in the Mediterranean Sea, after ...

and western

Sicily (man) it, Siciliana (woman) , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demographics_type1 = Ethnicity , demographics1_footnotes = , demographi ...

). Before the widespread introduction of writing, and before ancient sources existed that describe ancient Italian tribes, archaeological cultures might be hypothesized to have been associated with historical identities, especially in relatively isolated and continuous regions. However, due to the lack of written documentation, any further assumptions as to the historical names or cultural identities of these proposed ancient archeological cultures and of those Italian peoples existing prior to known ancient written sources would be presumptuous by current archeological and historical standards. The specifically named ancient peoples of Italy listed here are therefore confined mostly to the

Iron Age The Iron Age is the final epoch of the three-age division of the prehistory and protohistory of humanity. It was preceded by the Stone Age ( Paleolithic, Mesolithic, Neolithic) and the Bronze Age ( Chalcolithic). The concept has been mostl ...

of Italy, when the first known written evidence, generally from Ancient Roman or Greek sources, ascribed names to these tribes or peoples before such peoples became assimilated into Roman culture through the Roman conquest. In contrast to those tribes or peoples documented by ancient sources, pre-Roman and pre-Iron Age archeological cultures are also listed, following the lists of specifically named ancient Italian peoples and tribes; however, the names of these pre-Roman archeological cultures are modern inventions, and most of the actual names of the peoples or tribes that belonged to these proposed cultures, if such names existed, currently remain unknown.

Speakers of non-Indo-European languages

Scholars believe - though sometimes on the basis of scanty evidence - that the following peoples spoke non-Indo-European languages. Some of them were

Pre-Indo-Europeans Pre-Indo-European means "preceding Indo-European languages". Pre-Indo-European may refer to: * Pre-Indo-European languages, several (not necessarily related) ancient languages in prehistoric Europe and South Asia before the arrival of Indo-Europea ...

or Paleo-Europeans while, with regard to some others, Giacomo Devoto proposed the definition of Peri-Indo-European (i.e. everything that has hybrid characters between Indo-European and non-Indo-European). I popoli della Sardegna Romana

Sardinians

The

Sardinians The Sardinians, or Sards ( sc, Sardos or ; Italian and Sassarese: ''Sardi''; Gallurese: ''Saldi''), are a Romance language-speaking ethnic group native to Sardinia, from which the western Mediterranean island and autonomous region of Italy de ...

were possibly

Sherden The Sherden ( Egyptian: ''šrdn'', ''šꜣrdꜣnꜣ'' or ''šꜣrdynꜣ'', Ugaritic: ''šrdnn(m)'' and ''trtn(m)'', possibly Akkadian: ''še-er-ta-an-nu''; also glossed “Shardana” or “Sherdanu”) are one of the several ethnic groups the Sea ...

. *

Balares The Balares were one of the three major groups among which the Nuragic Sardinians considered themselves divided (along with the Corsi and the Ilienses). History Pausanias in his work ''Periegesis'' speculated that the Balares were the descend ...

(Balari) *

Ilienses The Ilienses (or ''Iolaes'', later known as ''Diagesbes''Strabo, Geographica V, 2,7.) were an ancient Nuragic people who lived during the Bronze and Iron Ages in central-southern Sardinia, as well as one of the three major groups among which the anc ...

/ Iolaes/ Diagesbes (Iliensi/Iolei) * Corsi (Possibly related to

Ligures The Ligures (singular Ligur; Italian: liguri; English: Ligurians) were an ancient people after whom Liguria, a region of present-day north-western Italy, is named. Ancient Liguria corresponded more or less to the current Italian regi ...

and therefore possibly Indo-European speakers)

Tyrrhenians

The

Tyrrhenians Tyrrhenians (Attic Greek: ''Turrhēnoi'') or Tyrsenians ( Ionic: ''Tursēnoi''; Doric: ''Tursānoi'') was the name used by the ancient Greeks authors to refer, in a generic sense, to non-Greek people. While ancient sources have been interp ...

were the Etruscans and their linguistic relatives. *

- Centered in Etruria with later influences stretching from the Po Valley to

Campania (man), it, Campana (woman) , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demographics_type1 = , demographics1_footnotes = , demographics1_title1 = , demographics1_info1 = , demog ...

. *

Raeti The Raeti (spelling variants: ''Rhaeti'', ''Rheti'' or ''Rhaetii'') were a confederation of Alpine tribes, whose language and culture was related to those of the Etruscans. Before the Roman conquest, they inhabited present-day Tyrol in Austria, ...

Camunni The Camuni or Camunni were an ancient population located in Val Camonica during the Iron Age (1st millennium BC); the Latin name ''Camunni'' was attributed to them by the authors of the 1st century. They are also called ancient Camuni, to disti ...

Etruscan terra cotta head of either Catha or Leucothea

Others (classification uncertain)

* North Picenes - Centered on the Adriatic Coast with settlements around the region of

Ancona Ancona (, also , ) is a city and a seaport in the Marche region in central Italy, with a population of around 101,997 . Ancona is the capital of the province of Ancona and of the region. The city is located northeast of Rome, on the Adriatic ...

. *

Rutuli The Rutuli or Rutulians were an ancient people in Italy. The Rutuli were located in a territory whose capital was the ancient town of Ardea, located about 35 km southeast of Rome. Thought to have been descended from the Umbri and the Pelas ...

Sicani The Sicani (Ancient Greek Σῐκᾱνοί ''Sikānoí'') or Sicanians were one of three ancient peoples of Sicily present at the time of Phoenician and Greek colonization. The Sicani dwelt east of the Elymians and west of the Sicels, having, ...

Speakers of Indo-European languages

Proto-Indo-Europeans The Proto-Indo-Europeans are a hypothetical prehistoric population of Eurasia who spoke Proto-Indo-European (PIE), the ancestor of the Indo-European languages according to linguistic reconstruction. Knowledge of them comes chiefly from ...

Italo-Celtic

Italic and

Celtic languages The Celtic languages ( usually , but sometimes ) are a group of related languages descended from Proto-Celtic. They form a branch of the Indo-European language family. The term "Celtic" was first used to describe this language group by Edwar ...

are commonly grouped together on the basis of features shared by these two branches and no others. This could imply that they are descended from a common ancestor and/or

Proto-Celtic Proto-Celtic, or Common Celtic, is the ancestral proto-language of all known Celtic languages, and a descendant of Proto-Indo-European. It is not attested in writing but has been partly reconstructed through the comparative method. Proto-Celti ...

and

Proto-Italic The Proto-Italic language is the ancestor of the Italic languages, most notably Latin and its descendants, the Romance languages. It is not directly attested in writing, but has been reconstructed to some degree through the comparative method. P ...

developed in close proximity over a long period of time.

Italic

* VeneticsStoria, vita, costumi, religiosità dei Veneti antichi
at www.venetoimage.com (in Italian). Accessed on 2009-08-18. * Latino-FaliscansVillar, cit., pp. 447-482. ** Latins/

Romans Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy * Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *''Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a lette ...

- Centered around the central plain of Italy between the

Tiber The Tiber ( ; it, Tevere ; la, Tiberis) is the third-longest List of rivers of Italy, river in Italy and the longest in Central Italy, rising in the Apennine Mountains in Emilia-Romagna and flowing through Tuscany, Umbria, and Lazio, where ...

and the Alban Hills. **

Falisci Falisci ( grc, Φαλίσκοι, ''Phaliskoi'') is the ancient Roman exonym for an Italic tribe who lived in what is now northern Lazio, on the Etruscan side of the Tiber River. They spoke an Italic language, Faliscan, closely akin to Latin. ...

Speakers of Italic languages are thought to have included, * Sicels *

Adriatic Veneti The Veneti (also Heneti) were an Indo-European people who inhabited northeastern Italy, in an area corresponding to the modern-day region of Veneto.Po delta. ** Carni ** Catali **

Catari Catari was the name of a tribe belonging to the Venetic peoples that are sometimes confused with Illyrians.Wilkes, J. J. The Illyrians, 1992, , page 81, "... In Roman Pannonia the Latobici and Varciani who dwelt east of the Venetic Catari in the up ...

** Histri **

Liburnians The Liburnians or Liburni ( grc, Λιβυρνοὶ) were an ancient tribe inhabiting the district called Liburnia, a coastal region of the northeastern Adriatic between the rivers ''Arsia'' ( Raša) and ''Titius'' ( Krka) in what is now Croati ...

***

Lopsi Lopsi is the name of a Liburnian tribe inhabiting the mountains along the eastern coast of the Adriatic before and during the Roman Empire, specifically present-day Velebit. The tribe was mentioned by Pliny the Elder in his ''Naturalis Historia'', ...

** Secusses ** Venetulani *

Umbri The Umbri were an Italic people of ancient Italy. A region called Umbria still exists and is now occupied by Italian speakers. It is somewhat smaller than the ancient Umbria. Most ancient Umbrian cities were settled in the 9th-4th centuries BC on ...

- Centered in central Italy stretching from the Adriatic coast to the upper

. ** Sabines - Centered north of

Rome , established_title = Founded , established_date = 753 BC , founder = King Romulus (legendary) , image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg , map_caption ...

and by the river

. **

Marsi The Marsi were an Italic people of ancient Italy, whose chief centre was Marruvium, on the eastern shore of Lake Fucinus (which was drained for agricultural land in the late 19th century). The area in which they lived is now called Marsica. ...

- Centered around Lake Fucinus **

Volsci The Volsci (, , ) were an Italic tribe, well known in the history of the first century of the Roman Republic. At the time they inhabited the partly hilly, partly marshy district of the south of Latium, bounded by the Aurunci and Samnites on the ...

- Centered on the Pontine plain ** South Picenes **

Marrucini The Marrucini were an Italic tribe that occupied a small strip of territory around the ancient ''Teate'' (modern Chieti), on the east coast of Abruzzo, Italy, limited by the Aterno and Foro Rivers. Other Marrucinian centers included ''Ceio'' (Sa ...

Samnite soldiers from a tomb frieze in Nola 4th century BCE

Guerriero di capestrano, da capestrano, 600-550 ac ca

Oscans The Osci (also called Oscans, Opici, Opsci, Obsci, Opicans) were an Italic people of Campania and Latium adiectum before and during Roman times. They spoke the Oscan language, also spoken by the Samnites of Southern Italy. Although the language ...

- Centered in central Italy by

Cumae Cumae ( grc, Κύμη, (Kumē) or or ; it, Cuma) was the first ancient Greek colony on the mainland of Italy, founded by settlers from Euboea in the 8th century BC and soon becoming one of the strongest colonies. It later became a rich Ro ...

and

Capua Capua ( , ) is a city and ''comune'' in the province of Caserta, in the region of Campania, southern Italy, situated north of Naples, on the northeastern edge of the Campanian plain. History Ancient era The name of Capua comes from the Etrus ...

. ** Opici *** Aurunci/Ausones *** Campanians - Centered in the region of

Naples Naples (; it, Napoli ; nap, Napule ), from grc, Νεάπολις, Neápolis, lit=new city. is the regional capital of Campania and the third-largest city of Italy, after Rome and Milan, with a population of 909,048 within the city's adminis ...

***

Mamertines The Mamertines ( la, Mamertini, "sons of Mars", el, Μαμερτῖνοι) were mercenaries of Italian origin who had been hired from their home in Campania by Agathocles (361–289 BC), Tyrant of Syracuse and self-proclaimed King of Sicily. ...

***

Paeligni The Paeligni or Peligni were an Italic tribe who lived in the Valle Peligna, in what is now Abruzzo, central Italy. History The Paeligni are first mentioned as a member of a confederacy that included the Marsi, Marrucini, and Vestini, with which ...

** Samnites - Centered in central Italy, south-east of

north of

. ***

Pentri The Pentri (Greek: ) were a tribe of the Samnites, and apparently one of the most important of the subdivisions of that nation. According to Salmon, their name comes from the Celtic pen- .E.T.Salmon, ''Il Sannio ed i Sanniti'', Einaudi, Torino 1995 ...

***

Caraceni Caraceni is an Italian tailoring house, founded in Rome in 1913 by the father of Italian tailoring, Domenico Caraceni. At one point in the 1930s, Domenico and his family operated ateliers in Rome, Milan and Paris. The Paris atelier was operated b ...

*** Caudini ***

Frentani The Frentani were an Italic tribe occupying the tract on the southeast coast of the Italian peninsula from the Apennines to the Adriatic, and from the frontiers of Apulia to those of the Marrucini. They were bounded on the west by the Samnites, wi ...

- Centered on the southern Adriatic coast. ***

Hirpini The Hirpini (Latin: ') were an ancient Samnite tribe of Southern Italy. While generally regarded as having been Samnites, sometimes they are treated as a distinct and independent nation. They inhabited the southern portion of Samnium, in the more ...

** Lucani - Centered on the south-western coast of Italy. *** Bruttii *** Itali *** Oenotri *** Chones *** Tauriani ***

Morgetes The Morgetes ( grc, Μόργητες, la, Morgetes) were an ancient Lucanian tribe, of Pelasgian descent, who occupied the region of southern Italy from Calabria to Sicily. Girolamo Marafioti, ''Croniche et antichità di Calabria. Conforme all'or ...

*Others **

Aequi 300px, Location of the Aequi (Equi) in central Italy, 5th century BC. The Aequi ( grc, Αἴκουοι and Αἴκοι) were an Italic tribe on a stretch of the Apennine Mountains to the east of Latium in central Italy who appear in the early hist ...

Fidenates Fidenae ( grc, Φιδῆναι) was an ancient town of Latium, situated about 8 km north of Rome on the '' Via Salaria'', which ran between Rome and the Tiber. Its inhabitants were known as Fidenates. As the Tiber was the border between Etr ...

Hernici The Hernici were an Italic tribe of ancient Italy, whose territory was in Latium between the Fucine Lake and the Sacco River (''Trerus''), bounded by the Volsci on the south, and by the Aequi and the Marsi on the north. For many years of the ear ...

Vestini () were an Italic tribe who occupied the area of the modern Abruzzo (central Italy), included between the Gran Sasso and the northern bank of the Aterno river. Their main centres were ''Pitinum ''(near modern L'Aquila), ''Aufinum ''(Ofena), ''Pe ...

** Aborigines **

Euganei The Euganei (fr. Lat. ''Euganei'', ''Euganeorum''; cf. Gr. ''εὐγενής'' (eugenēs) 'well-born') were a semi-mythical Proto-Italic ethnic group that dwelt an area among Adriatic Sea and Rhaetian Alps. Subsequently, they were driven by the ...

Celts

The

of the Italian peninsula included, * Cisalpine Gauls - Centered in the Po Valley with influences stretching to Etruscan Felsina **

Boii The Boii (Latin plural, singular ''Boius''; grc, Βόιοι) were a Celtic tribe of the later Iron Age, attested at various times in Cisalpine Gaul ( Northern Italy), Pannonia (Hungary), parts of Bavaria, in and around Bohemia (after whom ...

** Carni **

Cenomani The Gaulish name Cenomani can refer to: * Aulerci Cenomani, an ancient Gallic tribe dwelling around modern Le Mans * Cenomani (Cisalpine Gaul) The Cenomani (Greek: , Strabo, Ptol.; , Polyb.), was an ancient tribe of the Cisalpine Gauls, who ...

Lingones The Lingones (Gaulish: 'the jumpers') were a Gallic tribe of the Iron Age and Roman periods. They dwelled in the region surrounding the present-day city of Langres, between the provinces of Gallia Lugdunensis and Gallia Belgica. Name Attes ...

Senones The Senones or Senonii (Gaulish: "the ancient ones") were an ancient Gallic tribe dwelling in the Seine basin, around present-day Sens, during the Iron Age and the Roman period. Part of the Senones settled in the Italian peninsula, where they ...

Vertamocorii The Vertamocorii (Gaulish: *''Wertamocorī'') were a Celtic people that lived in Cisalpine Gaul around Novara, in Eastern Piedmont (Italy). The Vertamocorii are reported by Pliny in the third book of Naturalis Historia, where they are said to b ...

Gaesatae The Gaesatae or Gaesati (Greek Γαισάται) were a group of Gallic mercenary warriors who lived in the Alps near the river Rhône and fought against the Roman Republic at the Battle of Telamon in 225 BC., s.v. ''Gaesatae''. According to som ...

? **

Insubres The Insubres or Insubri were an ancient Celtic population settled in Insubria, in what is now the Italian region of Lombardy. They were the founders of Mediolanum (Milan). Though completely Gaulish at the time of Roman conquest, they were the r ...

** Arverni **

Aedui The Aedui or Haedui (Gaulish: *''Aiduoi'', 'the Ardent'; grc, Aἴδουοι) were a Gallic tribe dwelling in the modern Burgundy region during the Iron Age and the Roman period. The Aedui had an ambiguous relationship with the Roman Republic a ...

Ambarri The Ambarri were a Gallic people dwelling in the modern Ain department during the Iron Age and the Roman period. Name They are mentioned as ''Ambarri'' and ''Ambarros'' by Caesar (mid-1st c. BC),Caesar. ''Commentarii de Bello Gallico''1:11< ...

Aulerci The Aulerci were a group of Gallic peoples dwelling in the modern region of Normandy, between the Loire (Liger) and the Seine (Sequana) rivers, during the Iron Age and the Roman period. They were divided into the Cenomani, the most powerful of ...

Bituriges The Gaulish name Bituriges, meaning 'kings of the world', can refer to: * Bituriges Cubi, an ancient Gallic tribe dwelling around modern Bourges * Bituriges Vivisci, an ancient Gallic tribe dwelling around modern Bordeaux {{Disambiguation ...

** Carnutes Gallia Cisalpina-en

* Lepontics **

Graioceli The Graioceli were a small Gallic tribe dwelling in the valley of Maurienne, in the modern region of Savoie, during the Iron Age. Name They are mentioned as ''Graioceli'' (var. ''graiocaeli, gaioceli'') by Caesar (mid-1st c. BC)., s.v. ''Graioc ...

Lepontii The Lepontii were an ancient Celtic people occupying portions of Rhaetia (in modern Switzerland and Northern Italy) in the Alps during the late Bronze Age/Iron Age. Recent archeological excavations and their association with the Golasecca culture ...

Salassi The Salassi or Salasses were a Gallic or Ligurian tribe dwelling in the upper valley of the Dora Baltea river, near present-day Aosta (Val d'Aosta), during the Iron Age and the Roman period. Name They are mentioned as ''dià Salassō̃n'' (δ� ...

Medulli The Medulli (Gaulish: ''Medulloi'') were a Gallic tribe dwelling in the upper valley of Maurienne, around present-day Modane (Savoie), during the Iron Age and Roman period. Name They are mentioned as ''Medullorum'' by Vitruvius (late 1st c. BC) ...

Ceutrones The Ceutrones (or Centrones) were a Gallic tribe dwelling in the Tarantaise Valley, in modern Savoie, during the Iron Age and Roman period. Name They are mentioned as ''Ceutrones'' by Caesar (mid-1st c. BC), ''Keútrōnes'' (Κεύτρωνε� ...

Allobroges The Allobroges (Gaulish: *''Allobrogis'', 'foreigner, exiled'; grc, Ἀλλοβρίγων, Ἀλλόβριγες) were a Gallic people dwelling in a large territory between the Rhône river and the Alps during the Iron Age and the Roman period. ...

Veragri The Veragrī (Gaulish: *''Ueragroi'', 'super-warriors'; Greek: ) were a Gallic tribe dwelling around present-day Martigny, in the Pennine Alps, during the Iron Age and the Roman period. Along with the Nantuates, Seduni and Uberi, they were part ...

** Helvetii **

Seduni The Seduni were a Gallic tribe dwelling in the upper Rhône valley, around present-day Sion, during the Iron Age and the Roman period. Along with the Nantuates, Veragri and Uberi, they were part of the Vallenses, a group of tribes living betwe ...

Ligures

The

, who may have spoken Indo-european language of Celtic type or a non-Indo-european language, were: *

Apuani The Apuani were one of the most formidable and powerful of the Ligurian tribes who lived in ancient north-western Italy, mentioned repeatedly by Livy. From the circumstances related by him, it appears that they were the most easterly of the Ligu ...

Bagienni The Bagienni (or Vegenni or Vagienni) were an ancient Ligurian people of north-western Italy mentioned in Pliny the Elder’s ''Naturalis Historia''. They were based in various areas of what is today south-western Piedmont, but particularly in the ...

** Briniates **

Friniates The Friniates were an ancient Eastern Ligurian people who lived in Cisalpine Gaul ( Northern Italy), in the Apennines area between the current provinces of Reggio Emilia and Modena. With the Roman Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, ...

Garuli The Garuli were an ancient Ligurian tribe mentioned by Livy as being subjugated by Rome , established_title = Founded , established_date = 753 BC , founder = King Romulus (legendary) , image_map = Map of comune ...

** Hercates ** Ilvates **

Orobii The Orobii (also Orobi, Oromobi or Orumbovii) were a Celto-Ligurian tribe dwelling around present-day Como and Bergamo during the Iron Age. Name They are mentioned as ''Orobii'' by Cato the Elder (early 2nd century BC). The ethnic name ''Orob ...

Laevi The Laevi, or Levi (who are not to be confused with descendants of Levi), were a LigurianLivius, '' Ab Urbe condita'' 5.34-35.3. people in Gallia Transpadana, on the river Ticinus, who, in conjunction with the Marici, built the town of Ticinum ...

** Lapicini ** Marici **

Segusini The Segusini (Gaulish: *''Segusinoi'', 'those of Segusio') were a Gallic tribe dwelling around present-day Susa, in the Alpes Cottiae, during the Iron Age. Name They are mentioned as ''Segosianō̃n'' (Σεγοσιανῶν) Strabo (early 1st c. ...

Statielli The Statielli, Statiellātes, or Statiellenses were members of a small Ligurian tribe that inhabited an area south of the river Padus (today the Po). Their chief town was Aquae Statiellae (Acqui Terme), on the road from Vada Sabatia, near Savona t ...

Taurini The Taurini were a Celto-Ligurian tribe dwelling in the upper valley of the river Po, around present-day Turin, during the Iron Age and the Roman period. Name They are mentioned as ''Taurĩnoí'' (Ταυρῖνοί) by Polybius (2nd c. BC), ' ...

Greeks

Magna Graecia ancient colonies and dialects-en

Sometimes referred in ancient sources as

Pelasgi The name Pelasgians ( grc, Πελασγοί, ''Pelasgoí'', singular: Πελασγός, ''Pelasgós'') was used by classical Greek writers to refer either to the predecessors of the Greeks, or to all the inhabitants of Greece before the emergenc ...

, the

of the Italian peninsula included, * Achaeans *

Dorians The Dorians (; el, Δωριεῖς, ''Dōrieîs'', singular , ''Dōrieús'') were one of the four major ethnic groups into which the Hellenes (or Greeks) of Classical Greece divided themselves (along with the Aeolians, Achaeans, and Ionian ...

Ionians The Ionians (; el, Ἴωνες, ''Íōnes'', singular , ''Íōn'') were one of the four major tribes that the Greeks considered themselves to be divided into during the ancient period; the other three being the Dorians, Aeolians, and Achaea ...

Italiotes The Italiotes ( grc-gre, Ἰταλιῶται, ') were the pre-Roman Greek-speaking inhabitants of the Italian Peninsula, between Naples and Sicily. Greek colonization of the coastal areas of southern Italy and Sicily started in the 8th ...

Siceliotes The Siceliotes (singular and adjectival form: Siceliot), formed a distinct ethno-cultural group in Sicily from about the 8th century BCE until their assimilation into the general Sicilian population. As Hellenic colonists (often reputedly of Dori ...

Others (classification uncertain)

Iapygians The Iapygians or Apulians (; el, Ἰάπυγες, ''Ĭāpyges''; la, Iāpyges, Iapygii, Umbrian ''Iabuscer'') were an Indo-European-speaking people, dwelling in an eponymous region of the southeastern Italian Peninsula named Iapygia (modern Apu ...

or Apulians (possibly related to

Illyrians The Illyrians ( grc, Ἰλλυριοί, ''Illyrioi''; la, Illyrii) were a group of Indo-European-speaking peoples who inhabited the western Balkan Peninsula in ancient times. They constituted one of the three main Paleo-Balkan populations, a ...

) - Centered on the southern Adriatic coast with settlements around

Tarentum Tarentum may refer to: * Taranto, Apulia, Italy, on the site of the ancient Roman city of Tarentum (formerly the Greek colony of Taras) **See also History of Taranto * Tarentum (Campus Martius), also Terentum, an area in or on the edge of the Camp ...

. **

Messapians The Messapians ( grc, Μεσσάπιοι, Messápioi; la, Messapii) were a Iapygian tribe who inhabited Salento in classical antiquity. Two other Iapygian tribes, the Peucetians and the Daunians, inhabited central and northern Apulia respective ...

Peucetians The Peucetians ( grc, Πευκέτιοι, Peukétioi; la, Peucetii; later also grc, Ποίδικλοι, Poidikloi, links=no; la, Poediculi, links=no) were an Iapygian tribe which inhabited western and central Apulia in classical antiquity. Tw ...

Daunians The Daunians ( el, Δαύνιοι, Daúnioi; la, Daunii) were an Iapygian tribe that inhabited northern Apulia in classical antiquity. Two other Iapygian tribes, the Peucetians and the Messapians, inhabited central and southern Apulia respectiv ...

Elymians The Elymians ( grc-gre, Ἔλυμοι, ''Élymoi''; Latin: ''Elymi'') were an ancient tribal people who inhabited the western part of Sicily during the Bronze Age and Classical antiquity. Origins According to Hellanicus of Lesbos, the Elymians ...

(possibly related to

)

Pre-Roman conquest
archeological culture An archaeological culture is a recurring assemblage of types of artifacts, buildings and monuments from a specific period and region that may constitute the material culture remains of a particular past human society. The connection between thes ...
s

The specific identities or names of the tribes or groups of peoples that practiced these pre-Roman archeological cultures are mostly unknown. The posited existence of these archeological cultures is based on archeological assemblages of artifacts that share common traits and are found within a certain region and originate within a certain prehistoric period. Therefore, many of these archeological cultures may not necessarily correspond to a specific group of ancient people and, in fact, may have been shared among various groups of ancient peoples. The extent to which an archeological culture is representative of a particular cohesive ancient group of people is open for debate; many of these cultures may be the product of a single ancient Italian tribe or civilization (e.g.

Latial culture The Latial culture ranged approximately over ancient Old Latium. The Iron Age Latial culture coincided with the arrival in the region of a people who spoke Old Latin. The culture was likely therefore to identify a phase of the socio-political self ...

), while others may have been spread among different groups of ancient Italian peoples and even outside of Italy. For example, Latial culture is believed to be the product specifically of the Ancient Latin tribe; the

Canegrate culture The Canegrate culture was a civilization of prehistoric Italy that developed from the late Bronze Age (13th century BC) until the Iron Age, in the areas that are now western Lombardy, eastern Piedmont, and Ticino. Canegrate had a cultural dynamic ...

and

Golasecca culture The Golasecca culture (9th - 4th century BC) was a Late Bronze Age/Early Iron Age culture in northern Italy, whose type-site was excavated at Golasecca in the province of Varese, Lombardy, where, in the area of Monsorino at the beginning of the ...

have been associated with various ancient proto-Celtic, Celtic and Ligure tribes including the

, and

, while other archeological cultures may have been present among multiple groups throughout and beyond the Italian peninsula. Italy Iron Age incineration inhumation

Neolithic The Neolithic period, or New Stone Age, is an Old World archaeological period and the final division of the Stone Age. It saw the Neolithic Revolution, a wide-ranging set of developments that appear to have arisen independently in several p ...

Pre-Nuragic Sardinia The Pre-Nuragic period refers to the prehistory of Sardinia from the Paleolithic until the middle Bronze Age, when the Nuragic civilization flourished on the island. Paleolithic The discovery of Paleolithic lithic workshops indicate a human ...

** Cardial Culture ** Grotta Verde culture ** Filiestru culture ** Bonu Ighinu culture ** San Ciriaco culture **

Arzachena culture The Arzachena culture was a pre-Nuragic culture of the Late Neolithic Age occupying Gallura (the northeastern part of Sardinia) and part of southern Corsica from approximately the 4th to the 3rd millennium BC. It takes its name from the Sardin ...

Ozieri culture The Ozieri culture (or San Michele culture) was a prehistoric pre-Nuragic culture that occupied Sardinia from c. 3200 to 2800 BCE. The Ozieri was the culmination of the island's Neolithic culture and takes its name from the locality where early ...

* Gaudo culture

Copper Age

*Pre-Nuragic Sardinia ** Abealzu-Filigosa culture ** Monte Claro culture ** Sardinian Beaker culture *

Beaker culture The Bell Beaker culture, also known as the Bell Beaker complex or Bell Beaker phenomenon, is an archaeological culture named after the inverted-bell beaker drinking vessel used at the very beginning of the European Bronze Age. Arising from a ...

Remedello culture The Remedello culture (Italian ''Cultura di Remedello'') developed during the Copper Age (4th and 3rd millennium BC) in Northern Italy, particularly in the area of the Po valley. The name comes from the town of Remedello (Brescia) where sever ...

Rinaldone culture The Rinaldone culture was an Eneolithic culture that spread between the 4th and the 3rd millennium BC in northern and central Lazio, in southern Tuscany and, to a lesser extent, also in Marche and Umbria. It takes its name from the town of Rinal ...

Civiltà nuragica, statuetta di guerriero con elmo cornuto, bronzo, VIII sec ac

* Laterza culture * Gaudo culture * Conelle-Ortucchio culture * Serraferlicchio culture * Spilamberto group

Bronze Age The Bronze Age is a historic period, lasting approximately from 3300 BC to 1200 BC, characterized by the use of bronze, the presence of writing in some areas, and other early features of urban civilization. The Bronze Age is the second prin ...

Apennine culture The Apennine culture is a technology complex in central and southern Italy from the Italian Middle Bronze Age (15th–14th centuries BC). In the mid-20th century the Apennine was divided into Proto-, Early, Middle and Late , but now archaeolo ...

Bonnanaro culture The Bonnanaro culture is a protohistoric culture that flourished in Sardinia during the 2nd millennium BC (1800–1600 BC), considered to be the first stage of the Nuragic civilization. It takes its name from the comune of Bonnanaro in the provinc ...

Nuragic civilization The Nuragic civilization, also known as the Nuragic culture, was a civilization or culture on Sardinia (Italy), the second largest island in the Mediterranean Sea, which lasted from the 18th century BC (Middle Bronze Age) (or from t ...

Torrean civilization The Torrean civilization was a Bronze Age megalithic civilization that developed in Southern Corsica, mostly concentrated south of Ajaccio, during the second half of the second millennium BC. History The characteristic buildings of this cul ...

Proto-Villanovan culture The Proto-Villanovan culture was a late Bronze Age culture that appeared in Italy in the first half of the 12th century BC and lasted until the 10th century BC, part of the central European Urnfield culture system (1300-750 BCE). History Proto-V ...

Polada culture The Fouladi (alternatively Polada, Poladha, Puladi); ( prs, پولادی) is a tribe of Hazara found in Afghanistan Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan,; prs, امارت اسلامی افغانستان is a landlo ...

* Castelluccio Culture *

Thapsos Culture The Thapsos Culture is defined as the civilization in ancient Sicily attested by archaeological findings of a large village located in the peninsula of Magnisi, between Augusta and Syracuse, that the Greeks called Thapsos. I believe I have demo ...

Terramare culture Terramare, terramara, or terremare is a technology complex mainly of the central Po valley, in Emilia, Northern Italy, dating to the Middle and Late Bronze Age c. 1700–1150 BC. It takes its name from the "black earth" residue of settleme ...

Castellieri culture The Castellieri culture developed in Istria during the Mid-Bronze Age, and later expanded into Friuli, Dalmatia and the neighbouring areas. It lasted for more than a millennium, from the 15th century BC until the Roman conquest in the 3rd centu ...

* Luco-Meluno culture *

Scamozzina culture The Scamozzina culture (Italian ''Cultura della Scamozzina''), which takes its name from the necropolis found in Cascina Scamozzina of Albairate, was a prehistoric civilization of Italy that developed between the end of the middle Bronze Age and ...

Iron Age The Iron Age is the final epoch of the three-age division of the prehistory and protohistory of humanity. It was preceded by the Stone Age ( Paleolithic, Mesolithic, Neolithic) and the Bronze Age ( Chalcolithic). The concept has been mostl ...

* Hallstatt culture *

La Tène culture The La Tène culture (; ) was a European Iron Age culture. It developed and flourished during the late Iron Age (from about 450 BC to the Roman conquest in the 1st century BC), succeeding the early Iron Age Hallstatt culture without any defi ...

* Villanova culture *

Este culture The Este culture or Atestine culture was an Iron Age archaeological culture existing from the late Italian Bronze Age (10th-9th century BC, proto-venetic phase) to the Roman period (1st century BC). It was located in the present territory of Ven ...

* Camunni culture *

Fritzens-Sanzeno culture The Fritzens-Sanzeno culture is an archaeological culture attested in the late Iron Age, from ca. 500 BC until the end of the first century BC, in the Alpine region of Trentino and South Tyrol; in the period of maximum expansion it also reached t ...

Genetics

A genetic study published in ''

Science Science is a systematic endeavor that Scientific method, builds and organizes knowledge in the form of Testability, testable explanations and predictions about the universe. Science may be as old as the human species, and some of the earli ...

'' in November 2019 examined the remains of six

males buried near

between 900 BC and 200 BC. They carried the paternal haplogroups

R-M269 Haplogroup R-M269 is the sub-clade of human Y-chromosome haplogroup R1b that is defined by the SNP marker M269. According to ISOGG 2020 it is phylogenetically classified as R1b1a1b. It underwent intensive research and was previously classified ...

, T-L208, R-311, R-PF7589 and R-P312 (two samples), and the maternal haplogroups H1aj1a, T2c1f, H2a, U4a1a, H11a and H10. A female from the preceding

carried the maternal haplogroups U5a2b. These examined individuals were distinguished from preceding populations of Italy by the presence of ca. 25-35%

steppe ancestry In archaeogenetics, the term Western Steppe Herders (WSH), or Western Steppe Pastoralists, is the name given to a distinct ancestral component first identified in individuals from the Eneolithic steppe around the turn of the 5th millennium BCE, ...

. Overall, the genetic differentiation between the Latins,

and the preceding proto-villanovan population of Italy was found to be insignificant.

References

Bibliography

External links

*
Languages and Cultures of Ancient Italy. Historical Linguistics and Digital Models
, Project fund by the Italian Ministry of University and Research (P.R.I.N. 2017) {{DEFAULTSORT:Ancient Peoples Of Italy

Italy history-related lists Ancient languages

Speakers of non-Indo-European languages

Sardinians

Tyrrhenians

Others (classification uncertain)

Speakers of Indo-European languages

Italo-Celtic

Italic

Celts

Ligures

Greeks

Others (classification uncertain)

Pre-Roman conquest archeological culture An archaeological culture is a recurring assemblage of types of artifacts, buildings and monuments from a specific period and region that may constitute the material culture remains of a particular past human society. The connection between thes ...s

Neolithic The Neolithic period, or New Stone Age, is an Old World archaeological period and the final division of the Stone Age. It saw the Neolithic Revolution, a wide-ranging set of developments that appear to have arisen independently in several p ...

Copper Age

Bronze Age The Bronze Age is a historic period, lasting approximately from 3300 BC to 1200 BC, characterized by the use of bronze, the presence of writing in some areas, and other early features of urban civilization. The Bronze Age is the second prin ...

Iron Age The Iron Age is the final epoch of the three-age division of the prehistory and protohistory of humanity. It was preceded by the Stone Age ( Paleolithic, Mesolithic, Neolithic) and the Bronze Age ( Chalcolithic). The concept has been mostl ...

Genetics

See also

References

Bibliography

External links

Pre-Roman conquest
archeological culture An archaeological culture is a recurring assemblage of types of artifacts, buildings and monuments from a specific period and region that may constitute the material culture remains of a particular past human society. The connection between thes ...
s