The Bruttians (alternative spelling, Brettii) ( la, Bruttii) were an ancient
Italic people
The Italic peoples were an ethnolinguistic group identified by their use of Italic languages, a branch of the Indo-European language family.
The Italic peoples are descended from the Indo-European speaking peoples who inhabited Italy from at leas ...
. They inhabited the southern extremity of
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 ...
, from the frontiers of
Lucania
Lucania was a historical region of Southern Italy. It was the land of the Lucani, an Oscan people. It extended from the Tyrrhenian Sea to the Gulf of Taranto.
It bordered with Samnium and Campania in the north, Apulia in the east, and Bruttiu ...
to the
Sicilian Straits and the promontory of
Leucopetra Punta di Pellaro (Greek: , "white rock"; Latin: Leucopetra) is the extreme southwestern point of mainland Italy, in the region of Calabria, looking towards the east coast of Sicily, at .
Anciently a promontory of Bruttium, it was in consequence of ...
. This roughly corresponds to the modern region of
Calabria.
Occupying the mountains and hills of Calabria, they were the southernmost branch of the Osco-Umbrian Italic tribes, and were ultimately descended from the
Samnites through the process of
Ver Sacrum.
They are remembered as pillagers and conquerors of the Calabrian-Greek poleis and brave rebels of the
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 ...
who never fully opposed at its military campaign.
Name
The name is
Indo-European
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 ...
. It is similar to
Illyrian ethnonym Brentii from *brentos (deer). A close variant is attested in the name of the Bruttii in ancient Greek ( grc, Βρέττιοι, Bréttioi) and the name of the community on its coinage (''ΒΡΕΤΤΙΩΝ'', "of the Brettioi"). Before gaining their independence from the
Lucanians, the Bruttii belonged to the lower social strata of Lucanian territory. After 356 BCE when the Bruttii became independent , for the Lucanians and the ancient sources of the period the name of the Bruttii became synonyms with "rebels" and "fugitive slaves".
History
Diodorus Siculus (1st century BC) writes that the Bruttii were formed around the year 356 BC, when people of varied origins assembled in
Lucania
Lucania was a historical region of Southern Italy. It was the land of the Lucani, an Oscan people. It extended from the Tyrrhenian Sea to the Gulf of Taranto.
It bordered with Samnium and Campania in the north, Apulia in the east, and Bruttiu ...
and formed this new community. These groups who are described as mostly fugitive slaves by Diodorus were considered to be "experts in affairs of war".
Strabo describes the Bruttii as slave-shepherds of the
Lucani who revolted. In these stories, because of their social conditions the name of the Bruttii acquired the meaning of "rebels" or "fugitive slaves".
Justin
Justin may refer to: People
* Justin (name), including a list of persons with the given name Justin
* Justin (historian), a Latin historian who lived under the Roman Empire
* Justin I (c. 450–527), or ''Flavius Iustinius Augustus'', Eastern Rom ...
wrote that the Bruttian community was formed when 500 youths from the Lucani joined the shepherds who lived in the forests and together fought against Italiote mercenaries. In this literary construction, they were helped by a woman named Bruttia and the new community according to the myth took as its name that of Bruttia. These myths which despite their different narratives place the foundation of the Bruttian community in the 4th century BC, actually postdate by several centuries the first archaeological-historical piece of evidence for the existence of the ethnonym of the Bruttii. The inscription "Bruties esum" (I am of Brutius) has been found on pottery in southern
Campania
(man), it, Campana (woman)
, population_note =
, population_blank1_title =
, population_blank1 =
, demographics_type1 =
, demographics1_footnotes =
, demographics1_title1 =
, demographics1_info1 =
, demog ...
already in the mid 6th century BCE.
The Bruttii spoke a variant of
Oscan
Oscan is an extinct Indo-European language of southern Italy. The language is in the Osco-Umbrian or Sabellic branch of the Italic languages. Oscan is therefore a close relative of Umbrian.
Oscan was spoken by a number of tribes, including ...
and
Illyrian settlement in older periods provided considerable Illyrian elements.
The Italic tribal wanderings of the early
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 ...
might be compared to those of the
Germanic tribes during their great migration period. Earlier tribes affiliated together and folded into new umbrella groups, which gave their names to regions, for example, the
Saxons
The Saxons ( la, Saxones, german: Sachsen, ang, Seaxan, osx, Sahson, nds, Sassen, nl, Saksen) were a group of Germanic
*
*
*
*
peoples whose name was given in the early Middle Ages to a large country (Old Saxony, la, Saxonia) near the Nor ...
and
Saxony
Saxony (german: Sachsen ; Upper Saxon: ''Saggsn''; hsb, Sakska), officially the Free State of Saxony (german: Freistaat Sachsen, links=no ; Upper Saxon: ''Freischdaad Saggsn''; hsb, Swobodny stat Sakska, links=no), is a landlocked state of ...
. Thus
Livy
Titus Livius (; 59 BC – AD 17), known in English as Livy ( ), was a Roman historian. He wrote a monumental history of Rome and the Roman people, titled , covering the period from the earliest legends of Rome before the traditional founding in ...
uses the term ''Bruttii provincia'' to designate then what is now modern Calabria. The Greeks used for the name of the country, reserving for that of the people.
Polybius, in more than one passage, calls it , likely corresponding to the natives' name for their land, "Brettiōn".
The land of the Bruttii was bounded on the north by
Lucania
Lucania was a historical region of Southern Italy. It was the land of the Lucani, an Oscan people. It extended from the Tyrrhenian Sea to the Gulf of Taranto.
It bordered with Samnium and Campania in the north, Apulia in the east, and Bruttiu ...
, from which it was separated by a line drawn from the river
Laus near the
Tyrrhenian Sea
The Tyrrhenian Sea (; it, Mar Tirreno , french: Mer Tyrrhénienne , sc, Mare Tirrenu, co, Mari Tirrenu, scn, Mari Tirrenu, nap, Mare Tirreno) is part of the Mediterranean Sea off the western coast of Italy. It is named for the Tyrrhenian pe ...
to the
Crathis near the
Gulf of Tarentum
The Gulf of Taranto ( it, Golfo di Taranto; Tarantino: ; la, Sinus Tarentinus) is a gulf of the Ionian Sea, in Southern Italy.
The Gulf of Taranto is almost square, long and wide, making it the largest gulf in Italy, and it is delimited by the ...
. On the west it was washed by the Tyrrhenian Sea, and on the south and east by that known in ancient times as the
Sicilian Sea
The Strait of Sicily (also known as Sicilian Strait, Sicilian Channel, Channel of Sicily, Sicilian Narrows and Pantelleria Channel; it, Canale di Sicilia or the Stretto di Sicilia; scn, Canali di Sicilia or Strittu di Sicilia, ar, مضيق ص ...
, including under that appellation the Gulf of Tarentum.
As noted above, this corresponds quite approximately to modern
Calabria, which was named as such only during
Byzantine
The Byzantine Empire, also referred to as the Eastern Roman Empire or Byzantium, was the continuation of the Roman Empire primarily in its eastern provinces during Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, when its capital city was Constantinopl ...
times.
The country occupied by them was inhabited, in the earliest times described by ancient historians, by the
Oenotrians a native Italic tribe whose name refers to winemaking, of which the
Conii
The Cynetes or Conii were one of the pre-Roman peoples of the Iberian Peninsula, living in today's Algarve and Lower Alentejo regions of southern Portugal, and the southern part of Badajoz and the northwestern portions of Córdoba and Ciudad Rea ...
and
Morgetes appear to have been subordinate divisions. It was while the Oenotrians were still masters of the land that the first Greek trading outposts were founded; and the beauty of the climate and country, as well as the rapid prosperity attained by these first settlements, proved so attractive that within a few years many Greek colonies appeared.
Such appears to have been the state of things at the time of the
Peloponnesian War; but in the course of the following century a great change took place. The
Lucanians (an
Oscan
Oscan is an extinct Indo-European language of southern Italy. The language is in the Osco-Umbrian or Sabellic branch of the Italic languages. Oscan is therefore a close relative of Umbrian.
Oscan was spoken by a number of tribes, including ...
people), who had been gradually extending their conquests towards the south, and had already made themselves masters of the northern parts of Oenotria, now pressed forwards into the Bruttian peninsula, and established their dominion over the interior of that country and many of the Greek outposts. This probably took place after their great victory over the Thurians, near Laus, in 390 BC; and little more than 30 years elapsed between this event and the rise of the people, properly called Bruttii. These are represented by some ancient authors as a congregation of rebellious natives.
Justin
Justin may refer to: People
* Justin (name), including a list of persons with the given name Justin
* Justin (historian), a Latin historian who lived under the Roman Empire
* Justin I (c. 450–527), or ''Flavius Iustinius Augustus'', Eastern Rom ...
describes them as headed by youths of Lucanian origin, and there appears sufficient evidence of their close connection with the Lucanians to warrant the assumption that these formed an important ingredient in their national composition, together with other predecessor Italic tribes from the area, not just the Oenotrians, but also the
Ausones,
Mamertines,
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 ...
, and
Sicels.
The rise of the Bruttii is dated to approximately 356 BC; and this accords with the statement of Strabo that they arose at the period of the expedition of
Dion against
Dionysius the Younger. The wars of the latter, as well as of his father, with the Greek cities in southern Italy, and the state of confusion and weakness to which these were reduced in consequence, probably contributed in a great degree to pave the way for the rise of the Bruttian power. The name must indeed have been much more ancient, since Diodorus, in another passage, speaks of the Bruttians as having expelled the remainder of the
Sybarites, who had settled
Sybaris on the Traeis after the destruction of their own city.
Stephanus of Byzantium, indeed, cites
Antiochus of Syracuse Antiochus of Syracuse ( grc-gre, Ἀντίοχος ὁ Συρακούσιος) was a Greek historian, who flourished around 420 BC. Little is known of Antiochus' life, but his works, of which only fragments remain, enjoyed a high reputation because ...
, as using the name of Brettia for this part of Italy.
The progress of the latter, after their first appearance in history, was rapid. They quickly became numerous and powerful enough to defy the arms of the Lucanians, and not only maintained their independence in the mountain districts of the interior, but attacked and made themselves masters of the Greek cities of
Hipponium,
Terina, and Thurii. Their independence seems to have been readily acknowledged by the Lucanians; and less than 30 years after their first revolt, the two nations united their arms as allies against their Greek neighbors. The latter applied for assistance to
Alexander
Alexander is a male given name. The most prominent bearer of the name is Alexander the Great, the king of the Ancient Greek kingdom of Macedonia who created one of the largest empires in ancient history.
Variants listed here are Aleksandar, Al ...
, king of
Epirus
sq, Epiri rup, Epiru
, native_name_lang =
, settlement_type = Historical region
, image_map = Epirus antiquus tabula.jpg
, map_alt =
, map_caption = Map of ancient Epirus by Heinri ...
, who crossed over into Italy with an army, and carried on the war for several successive campaigns, during which he reduced
Heraclea, Consentia (modern
Cosenza), and Terina; but finally perished in a battle against the combined forces of the Lucanians and Bruttii, near
Pandosia, 326 BC.
They next had to contend against the arms of
Agathocles Agathocles ( Greek: ) is a Greek name, the most famous of which is Agathocles of Syracuse, the tyrant of Syracuse. The name is derived from , ''agathos'', i.e. "good" and , ''kleos'', i.e. "glory".
Other personalities named Agathocles:
*Agathocles ...
, who ravaged their coasts with his fleets, took the city of Hipponium, which he converted into a strong fortress and naval station, and compelled the Bruttians to conclude a disadvantageous peace. But they soon broke this treaty; and recovered possession of Hipponium. This appears to have been the period when the Bruttian nation had reached its highest pitch of power and prosperity; it was not long before they had to contend with a more formidable adversary, and as early as 282 BC they joined and the Lucanians and
Samnites against the growing power 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 ...
. A few years later they are mentioned as sending auxiliaries to the army of
Pyrrhus; but after the defeat of that monarch, and his expulsion from Italy, they had to bear the full brunt of the war, and after repeated campaigns and successive triumphs of the Roman generals,
Gaius Fabricius Luscinus
Gaius Fabricius Luscinus Monocularis ("the one-eyed"), son of Gaius, was said to have been the first of the Fabricii to move to ancient Rome, his family originating from Aletrium.
In 284 BC he was one of the ambassadors to Tarentum, successfully ...
and
Lucius Papirius, they were finally reduced to submission, and compelled to purchase peace by the surrender of one-half of the great forest of Sila, so valuable for its pitch and timber.
Their submission however was still but imperfect; and though they remained tranquil throughout the
First Punic War, the invasion of
Hannibal in the
Second proved difficult for the region, and some Bruttian cities supported the
Carthaginian general after the
Battle of Cannae. Rhegium (modern
Reggio Calabria remained firm, and was able to defy the Carthaginian arms throughout the war. In 215 BC,
Hanno, the lieutenant of Hannibal, after his defeat at
Grumentum
Grumentum ( grc, Γρούμεντον) was an ancient Ancient Rome, Roman city in the centre of Lucania, in what is now the ''comune'' of Grumento Nova, c. south of Potenza by the direct road through Anxia, and by the ''Via Herculia'', at the po ...
by
Tiberius Gracchus
Tiberius Sempronius Gracchus ( 163 – 133 BC) was a Roman politician best known for his agrarian reform law entailing the transfer of land from the Roman state and wealthy landowners to poorer citizens. He had also served in the Roma ...
, threw himself into Bruttium, where he was soon after joined by a body of fresh troops from Carthage under
Bomilcar: and from this time he made that region his stronghold, from whence he repeatedly issued to oppose the Roman generals in Lucania and Samnium, while he constantly fell back upon it as a place of safety when defeated or hard pressed by the enemy. The physical character of the country rendered it necessarily a military position of the greatest strength: and after the defeat and death of
Hasdrubal Hannibal himself put forces into some Bruttian territory, where he continued to maintain his ground against the Roman generals. There is very little information concerning the operations of the four years during which Hannibal retained his positions in this province: he appears to have made his headquarters for the most part in the neighbourhood of Crotona, but the name of
Castra Hannibalis retained by a small town on the
Gulf of Squillace
The Gulf of Squillace ( it, Golfo di Squillace; Latin: Scylleticus Sinus or Scyllaceus Sinus; Greek: ) is a body of water, an inlet of the Ionian Sea along the Calabrian coast of Italy.
The gulf is part of the Ionian Sea and makes up part of the e ...
, points to his having occupied this also as a permanent station. Meanwhile, the Romans, though avoiding any decisive engagement, were continually gaining ground on him by the successive reduction of towns and fortresses, so that very few of these remained in the hands of the Carthaginian general when he was finally recalled from Italy.
The ravages of so many successive campaigns inflicted a severe blow upon the prosperity of Bruttium: the measures adopted by the Romans to punish them completed their romanization. They were deprived of a great part of their territory, It was however some time before they were altogether crushed: for several years after the close of the Second Punic War, one of the praetors was annually sent with an army to watch over the Bruttians: and it was evidently with the view of more fully securing their subjection that three colonies of Roman veteran soldiers and their families were established in their territory, two of Roman citizens at Tempsa and Crotona, and a third with Latin rights at Hipponium, to which the name of
Vibo Valentia
Vibo Valentia (; Monteleone before 1861; Monteleone di Calabria from 1861 to 1928; scn, label= Calabrian, Vibbu Valenzia or ) is a city and ''comune'' (municipality) in the Calabria region of southern Italy, near the Tyrrhenian Sea. It is the ca ...
was now given. A fourth was at the same time settled at Thurii on their immediate frontier. Among the settlers at the latter were some ancestors of the first Roman Emperor,
Caesar Augustus.
So complete was the romanization of the region, that the Bruttians as a people are not mentioned separately except for a few exceptions. First, their country again became the theatre of war during the revolt of
Spartacus
Spartacus ( el, Σπάρτακος '; la, Spartacus; c. 103–71 BC) was a Thracian gladiator who, along with Crixus, Gannicus, Castus, and Oenomaus, was one of the escaped slave leaders in the Third Servile War, a major slave uprisin ...
, who after his first defeats by
Crassus, took refuge in the southernmost portion of Bruttium (called by
Plutarch
Plutarch (; grc-gre, Πλούταρχος, ''Ploútarchos''; ; – after AD 119) was a Greek Middle Platonist philosopher, historian, biographer, essayist, and priest at the Temple of Apollo in Delphi. He is known primarily for hi ...
the Rhegian peninsula), in which the Roman general sought to confine him by drawing lines of intrenchment across the isthmus from sea to sea. The insurgent leader however forced his way through, and again carried the war into the heart of Lucania.
Next, during the Civil Wars the coasts of Bruttium were repeatedly laid waste by the fleets of
Sextus Pompeius
Sextus Pompeius Magnus Pius ( 67 – 35 BC), also known in English as Sextus Pompey, was a Roman military leader who, throughout his life, upheld the cause of his father, Pompey the Great, against Julius Caesar and his supporters during the las ...
, and witnessed several conflicts between the latter and those of
Octavian
Caesar Augustus (born Gaius Octavius; 23 September 63 BC – 19 August AD 14), also known as Octavian, was the first Roman emperor; he reigned from 27 BC until his death in AD 14. He is known for being the founder of the Roman Pr ...
, who had established the headquarters both of his army and navy at Vibo.
Strabo speaks of the whole province as reduced in his time to a state of complete decay.
It was included by
Augustus
Caesar Augustus (born Gaius Octavius; 23 September 63 BC – 19 August AD 14), also known as Octavian, was the first Roman emperor; he reigned from 27 BC until his death in AD 14. He is known for being the founder of the Roman Pr ...
in the Third Region (
Regio III), together with Lucania; and the two provinces appear to have continued united for most administrative purposes until the fall of the
Roman Empire
The Roman Empire ( la, Imperium Romanum ; grc-gre, Βασιλεία τῶν Ῥωμαίων, Basileía tôn Rhōmaíōn) was the post- Republican period of ancient Rome. As a polity, it included large territorial holdings around the Mediter ...
, and were governed conjointly by a magistrate termed a
Corrector
A corrector (English plural ''correctors'', Latin plural ''correctores'') is a person or object practicing correction, usually by removing or rectifying errors.
The word is originally a Roman title, ''corrector'', derived from the Latin verb '' ...
. The ''
Liber Coloniarum'' however treats of the Provincia Bruttiorum as distinct from that of Lucania. Still, by the fifth century decline of the Western Empire, the region of Brettiōn was recorded as requesting help from the Roman Emperor from pirate raids on the coast, something that for years was recorded in error as occurring in
Britain
Britain most often refers to:
* The United Kingdom, a sovereign state in Europe comprising the island of Great Britain, the north-eastern part of the island of Ireland and many smaller islands
* Great Britain, the largest island in the United King ...
as the
Groans of the Britons, due to similarity of the names.
The Bruttians were never fully conquered and were always the ones who rebelled the most to the Roman Empire.
The Bruttian Military System
Bruttian Warriors and Highground Defences
The Bruttians inherit the style of the Armor (Greeks and Saminites) and the use of the Javel (Greeks) in fact the Bruttians' elitè warriors were the Javel Throwers(in the Pandosia Battle Alexander 1st of Epirus was killed by one of those). During times of peace and war they usually built outposts and fortresses on the hills and / or in excavations in the tuff
Roman gentes of Bruttian origin
*
Bruttia gens
Romans with ties to Brettiōn
The family of the emperor
Augustus
Caesar Augustus (born Gaius Octavius; 23 September 63 BC – 19 August AD 14), also known as Octavian, was the first Roman emperor; he reigned from 27 BC until his death in AD 14. He is known for being the founder of the Roman Pr ...
had ties to the Roman colony at
Thurii
Thurii (; grc-gre, Θούριοι, Thoúrioi), called also by some Latin writers Thurium (compare grc-gre, Θούριον in Ptolemy), for a time also Copia and Copiae, was a city of Magna Graecia, situated on the Tarentine gulf, within a sho ...
, such that
Mark Antony
Marcus Antonius (14 January 1 August 30 BC), commonly known in English as Mark Antony, was a Roman politician and general who played a critical role in the transformation of the Roman Republic from a constitutional republic into the au ...
accused him of having Brettian blood.
Cicero
Marcus Tullius Cicero ( ; ; 3 January 106 BC – 7 December 43 BC) was a Roman statesman, lawyer, scholar, philosopher, and academic skeptic, who tried to uphold optimate principles during the political crises that led to the esta ...
had a villa at
Vibo Valentia
Vibo Valentia (; Monteleone before 1861; Monteleone di Calabria from 1861 to 1928; scn, label= Calabrian, Vibbu Valenzia or ) is a city and ''comune'' (municipality) in the Calabria region of southern Italy, near the Tyrrhenian Sea. It is the ca ...
, and praised
Reggio Calabria as being one of the ten most beautiful cities in the world.
See also
*
List of ancient Italic peoples
This list of ancient Italic peoples includes names of Indo-European peoples speaking Italic languages or otherwise considered Italic in sources from the late early 1st millennium BC to the early 1st millennium AD.
Ancestors
*Proto-Indo-Europ ...
References
Sources
*
*
*{{cite book , last1=Szemerényi , first1=Oswald , title=Scripta Minora: Latin , date=1987 , publisher=Institut für Sprachwissenschaft der Universität Insbruck , isbn=385124592X , url=https://books.google.com/books?id=WnQpAQAAIAAJ
Osci
Tribes conquered by Rome