The Iapygians or Apulians (; el, Ἰάπυγες, ''Ĭāpyges''; la, Iāpyges, Iapygii,
Umbrian
Umbrian is an extinct Italic language formerly spoken by the Umbri in the ancient Italian region of Umbria. Within the Italic languages it is closely related to the Oscan group and is therefore associated with it in the group of Osco-Umbrian ...
''Iabuscer'') were an
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 ...
-speaking people, dwelling in an eponymous region of the southeastern
Italian Peninsula named Iapygia (modern
Apulia) between the beginning of the first millennium BC and the first century BC. They were divided into three tribal groups: the
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 ...
,
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 ...
and
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 ...
. After their lands were gradually colonized by 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 ...
from the late 4th century onward and eventually annexed to the
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 ...
by the early 1st century BC, Iapygians were fully Latinized and assimilated 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 ...
.
Name
The region was known to the Greeks of the 5th century BC as ''Iapygía'' (Ἰαπυγία), and its inhabitants as the ''Iápyges'' (Ἰάπυγες). It was probably the term used by the indigenous peoples to designate themselves. The name ''Iapyges'' has also been compared to that of the ''
Iapydes
The Iapydes (or Iapodes, Japodes; el, Ἰάποδες) were an ancient people who dwelt north of and inland from the Liburnians, off the Adriatic coast and eastwards of the Istrian peninsula. They occupied the interior of the country between the ...
'', an Illyrian tribe of northern
Dalmatia.
Some ancient sources treat Iapygians and Messapians as synonymous, and several writers of the Roman period referred to them as ''Apuli'' in the north, ''Poediculi'' in the centre, and ''Sallentini'' or ''Calabri'' in the south. Those discrepancies in the
exonyms
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, ...
may indicate that the sub-ethnic Iapygian structures were unstable and sometimes fragmented. By the middle of the third century, Iapygians were generally divided by contemporary observers among three peoples: the
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 ...
in the north, the
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 ...
in the centre, and the
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 ...
in the south.
Geography
Iapygia (modern-day
Apulia) was located in the southeastern part of the
Italian Peninsula, between the
Apennine Mountains and the
Adriatic Sea
The Adriatic Sea () is a body of water separating the Italian Peninsula from the Balkan Peninsula. The Adriatic is the northernmost arm of the Mediterranean Sea, extending from the Strait of Otranto (where it connects to the Ionian Sea) to t ...
.
The northeast area of the region, dominated by the massif of
Monte Gargano (1,055 m), was largely unsuited for agriculture and abandoned to forests. To the south and west of the Gargano stretched the largest plain of peninsular Italy, the
Tavoliere delle Puglie
300px, The Tavoliere seen from the Gargano promontory.
The Tavoliere delle Puglie (; ) is a plain in northern Apulia, southern Italy, occupying nearly a half of the Capitanata traditional region. It covers a surface of c. 3,000 km², once c ...
. Although it mainly consists of sands and gravels, the plain is also crossed by several rivers. In ancient times, the land was best suited for cereal cultivation and, above all, for the pasturage of sheep in the winter. The
Ofanto river
The Ofanto (), known in ancient times as Aufidus or Canna, is a river in southern Italy that flows through the regions of Campania, Basilicata, and Apulia, into the Gulf of Manfredonia near Barletta.
Geography
The river's source is on the Irpi ...
, one of the longest rivers of the
Italian Peninsula, marked the southern border of the plain. Despite their name, the impervious
Daunian Mountains
Daunian Mountains (in Italian Monti della Daunia or Monti Dauni, or also improperly Subappennino Dauno) are a mountain range in southern Italy, constituting the eastern appendix of the Campanian Apennines. They occupy the western fringe of Capit ...
(1,152 m), west of the plain, were strongly held by the
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 ...
, 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 ...
-speaking
Samnite tribe.
Central Iapygia was composed of the
Murge Plateau (686 m), an area poor in rivers. The western half of the massif was suitable only for grazing sheep; nearer the sea, the land was more adapted to cultivation, and likely used in ancient times to produce grains.
In the
Salento peninsula, the landscape was more varied, though still without river formation. Olives are known to have been cultivated in this area during the pre-Roman period, but the scale of the production is uncertain. Several
Greek colonies
Greek colonization was an organised colonial expansion by the Archaic Greeks into the Mediterranean Sea and Black Sea in the period of the 8th–6th centuries BC.
This colonization differed from the migrations of the Greek Dark Ages in that i ...
were located on the coast of the
Gulf of Taranto, nearby the indigenous
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 ...
in southern Iapygia, most notably
Taras, founded in the late 8th century BC, and
Metapontion, founded in the late 7th century.
Culture
Language
The Iapygians were a "relatively homogeneous linguistic community" speaking a non-
Italic,
Indo-European language, commonly called '
Messapic'. The language, written in variants of the Greek alphabet, is attested from the mid-6th to the late-2nd century BC. Some scholars have argued that the term 'Iapygian languages' should be preferred to refer to those dialects, and the term 'Messapic' reserved to the inscriptions found in the
Salento peninsula, where the specific
Messapian people dwelt in the pre-Roman era. The closest language to Messapic is
Albanian, with which it forms a common branch titled ''Illyric'' in Hyllested & Joseph (2022). Hyllested & Joseph (2022) in agreement with recent bibliography identify Greco-Phrygian as the IE branch closest to the Albanian-Messapic one. These two branches form an areal grouping - which is often called "Balkan IE" - with Armenian.
During the 6th century BC, Messapia, and more marginally Peucetia, underwent Hellenizing cultural influences, mainly from the nearby
Taras. The use of writing systems was introduced in this period, with the acquisition of the Laconian-Tarantine alphabet and its adaptation to the Messapic language. The second great Hellenizing wave occurred during the 4th century BC, this time also involving Daunia and marking the beginning of
Peuceti
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 ...
an and
Dauni
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 ...
an epigraphic records, in a local variant of the Hellenistic alphabet that replaced the older Messapic script.
By the 4th century BC, inscriptions from central Iapygia suggest that the local artisan class had acquired some proficiency in the
Greek language
Greek ( el, label= Modern Greek, Ελληνικά, Elliniká, ; grc, Ἑλληνική, Hellēnikḗ) is an independent branch of the Indo-European family of languages, native to Greece, Cyprus, southern Italy ( Calabria and Salento), southe ...
, while the whole regional elite was used to learning
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 ...
by the 3rd century BC. The
Oscan language
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 the ...
became also widespread after Italic peoples had occupied the territory in that period. Along with the Messapic dialects, Greek, Oscan and Latin were consequently spoken and written all together in the whole region of
Iapygia during the Romanization period, and bilingualism in Greek and Messapic was probably common in the
Salento
Salento (Salentino: ''Salentu'', Salentino Griko: ''Σαλέντο'') is a cultural, historical and geographic region at the southern end of the administrative region of Apulia in Southern Italy. It is a sub-peninsula of the Italian Peninsula, ...
peninsula.
Since its settlement, Messapic was in contact with the
Italic languages of the region. In the centuries before Roman annexation, the frontier between Messapic and
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 ...
ran through Frentania-
Irpinia
Irpinia (Modern Latin ''Hirpinia'') is a geographical and cultural region of Southern Italy. It was the inland territory of the ancient '' Hirpini'' tribe, and its extent matches approximately today's province of Avellino.
Geography
The territ ...
-
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 ...
-Apulia. An "Oscanization" and "Samnitization" process gradually took place which is attested in contemporary sources via the attestation of dual identities for settlements. In these regions an Oscan/Lucanian population and a large Daunian element intermixed in different ways.
Larinum
Larino ( nap, label= Campobassan dialect, Larìne; la, Larinum) is a town and ''comune'' of approximately 8,100 inhabitants in Molise, province of Campobasso, southern Italy. It is located in the fertile valley of the Biferno River.
The old t ...
, a settlement which has produced a large body of Oscan onomastics is described as a "Daunian city" and
Horace who was from
Venusia
Venosa ( Lucano: ) is a town and ''comune'' in the province of Potenza, in the southern Italian region of Basilicata, in the Vulture area. It is bounded by the comuni of Barile, Ginestra, Lavello, Maschito, Montemilone, Palazzo San Gerva ...
in the transboundary area between the Daunians and the Lucanians described himself as "Lucanian or Apulian". The creation of Roman colonies in southern Italy after the early 4th century BCE had a great impact in the Latinization of the area.
Religion
The late pre-Roman religion of the Iapygians appears as a substrate of indigenous beliefs mixed with
Greek elements. The Roman conquest probably accelerated the hellenisation of a region already influenced by contacts with
Magna Grecia from the 8th century BC onward.
Aphrodite
Aphrodite ( ; grc-gre, Ἀφροδίτη, Aphrodítē; , , ) is an ancient Greek goddess associated with love, lust, beauty, pleasure, passion, and procreation. She was syncretized with the Roman goddess . Aphrodite's major symbols inclu ...
and
Athena
Athena or Athene, often given the epithet Pallas, is an ancient Greek religion, ancient Greek goddess associated with wisdom, warfare, and handicraft who was later syncretism, syncretized with the Roman goddess Minerva. Athena was regarded ...
were thus worshipped in Iapygia as ''Aprodita'' and ''Athana'', respectively. Some deities of native origin have also been highlighted by scholars, such as ''Zis'' ('sky-god'), ''Menzanas'' ('lord of horses'), ''Venas'' ('desire'), ''Taotor'' ('the people, community'), and perhaps ''Damatura'' ('mother-earth').
Pre-Roman religious cults have also left few material traces. Preserved evidence indicates that indigenous Iapygian beliefs featured the sacrifices of living horses to the god Menzanas, the fulfilling of oracles for anyone who slept wrapped in the skin of a sacrificed ewe, and the curative powers of the waters at the
''herõon'' of the god
Podalirius
In Greek mythology, Podalirius or Podaleirius or Podaleirios ( grc, Ποδαλείριος) was a son of Asclepius.
Description
In the account of Dares the Phrygian, Podalirius was illustrated as ". . .sturdy, strong, haughty, and moody."
...
, preserved in Greek tales. Several cave sanctuaries have been identified on the coast, most notably the Grotta Porcinara sanctuary (
Santa Maria di Leuca
Santa Maria di Leuca, often spelled simply Leuca (, from ''Leukos'', "white"), is a ''frazione'' of the ''comune'' of Castrignano del Capo, in the Salento peninsula ( Apulia), southern Italy.
A part of the town once belonged to the ''comune'' of ...
), in which both Messapian and Greek marines used to write their vows on the walls.
It is likely that
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 ...
had no civic cult requiring public buildings, and if urban sanctuaries have been identified in
Daunia
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 ...
(at
Teanum Apulum Teanum Apulum is an ancient town of Apulia, southeastern Italy, near the modern town of San Paolo di Civitate.
It was located on the road between Larinum and Sipontum, at a crossing of the Fortore river, and was east of Larinum.
History
The tow ...
,
Lavello
Lavello ( Potentino: ) is a town and ''comune'' in the province of Potenza, in the region of Basilicata of southern Italy; it is located in the middle Ofanto valley.
History
The area of Lavello was settled in prehistoric times, as attested by ...
, or
Canosa), no conspicuous buildings are found before the Romanization period.
Dress
The Iapygian peoples were noted for their ornamental dress. By the 7th century BC, the Daunian aristocracy were wearing highly ornate costumes and much jewellery, a custom that persisted into the classical period, with depictions of Iapygians with long hair, wearing highly patterned short tunics with elaborate fringes. Young women were portrayed with long tunics belted at the waist, generally with a headband or diadem. On ritual or ceremonial occasions, the women of central Iapygia wore a distinctive form of mantle over their heads that left the headband visible above the brow.
Burial
Iapygian funeral traditions were distinct from those of neighbouring Italic peoples: whereas the latter banished adult burials to the fringes of their settlements, the inhabitants of Iapygia buried their dead both outside and inside their own settlements. Although females might occasionally be buried with weapons, arms, and armour, such grave-goods were normally reserved for male funerals.
Until the end of the 4th century BC, the normal practice among
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 ...
and
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 ...
was to lay out the body in a fetal position with the legs drawn up towards the chest, perhaps symbolizing the rebirth of the soul in the womb of Mother Earth. Messapians, by contrast, laid out their dead in the extended position as did other Italic peoples. From the 3rd century BC, extended burials with the body lying on its back began to appear in Daunia and Peucetia, although the previous custom survived well into the 2nd century BC in some areas.
History
Origin
The leading view among scholars, already mentioned by ancient sources and supported by archaeological evidence, is that Iapygians were probably
southern Illyrians who migrated from the Western
Balkans
The Balkans ( ), also known as the Balkan Peninsula, is a geographical area in southeastern Europe with various geographical and historical definitions. The region takes its name from the Balkan Mountains that stretch throughout the who ...
towards southeastern
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 ...
in the early first millennium BCE.
[; ; ; ]
Pre-Roman period
The Iapygians most likely left the eastern coasts of the
Adriatic for Italy from the 11th century BC onwards, merging with pre-existing
Italic and
Mycenean cultures and providing a decisive cultural and linguistic imprint. The three main Iapygian tribal groups–Daunians, Peucetians and Messapians–retained a remarkable cultural unity in the first phase of their development. After the 8th century BC, however, they began a phase marked by a process of differentiation due to internal and external causes.
Contacts between Messapians and Greeks intensified after the end of the 8th century BC and the foundation of the Spartan colony of
Taras, preceded by earlier pre-colonial Mycenaean incursions during which the site of Taras seems to have already played an important role. Until the end of the 7th century, however, Iapygia was generally not encompassed in the area of influence of
Greek colonial territories, and with the exception of Taras, the inhabitants were evidently able to avoid other Greek colonies in the region. During the 6th century BC Messapia, and more marginally Peucetia, underwent Hellenizing cultural influences, mainly from the nearby Taras.
The relationship between Messapians and Tarantines deteriorated over time, resulting in a series of clashes between the two peoples from the beginning of the 5th century BC. After two victories of the Tarentines, the Iapygians inflicted a decisive defeat on them, causing the fall of the aristocratic government and the implementation of a democratic one in Taras. It also froze relations between Greeks and the indigenous people for about half a century. Only in the late-5th and 6th centuries did they re-establish relationships. The second great Hellenizing wave occurred during the 4th century BC, this time also involving Daunia.
Roman conquest
The Roman conquest of Iapygia started in the late 4th century, with the subjugation of the Canusini and the
Teanenses. It paved the way for Roman hegemony in the entire peninsula, as they used their progression in the region to contain
Samnite power and encircle their territory during the
Samnite Wars
The First, Second, and Third Samnite Wars (343–341 BC, 326–304 BC, and 298–290 BC) were fought between the Roman Republic and the Samnites, who lived on a stretch of the Apennine Mountains south of Rome and north of the Lucanian tribe. ...
.
By the early third century, Rome had planted two strategic colonies,
Luceria
Luceria is an ancient city in the northern Apennines, located in the comune of Canossa in the Province of Reggio Emilia, on the right bank of the river Enza.
Toponym
The name might derive from ''lucus'', which means "sacred grove".
It is not ...
(314) and
Venusia
Venosa ( Lucano: ) is a town and ''comune'' in the province of Potenza, in the southern Italian region of Basilicata, in the Vulture area. It is bounded by the comuni of Barile, Ginestra, Lavello, Maschito, Montemilone, Palazzo San Gerva ...
(291), on the border of Iapygia and
Samnium
Samnium ( it, Sannio) is a Latin exonym for a region of Southern Italy anciently inhabited by the Samnites. Their own endonyms were ''Safinim'' for the country (attested in one inscription and one coin legend) and ''Safineis'' for the The ...
.
Social organization
In the early period, the Iapygian housing system was made up of small groups of
hut
A hut is a small dwelling, which may be constructed of various local materials. Huts are a type of vernacular architecture because they are built of readily available materials such as wood, snow, ice, stone, grass, palm leaves, branches, hid ...
s scattered throughout the territory, different from the later
Greco-Roman tradition of cities. The inhabitants of the rural districts gathered for common decisions, for feasts, for religious practices and rites, and to defend themselves against external attacks.
From the 6th century BC onward, the large but thinly occupied settlements that had been founded around the beginning of the first millennium BC began to take on a more structured form. The largest of them gradually gained the administrative capacity and the manpower to erect stone defensive walls and eventually to mint their own coins, indicating both urbanization and the assertion of political autonomy.
According to
Thucydides
Thucydides (; grc, , }; BC) was an Athenian historian and general. His '' History of the Peloponnesian War'' recounts the fifth-century BC war between Sparta and Athens until the year 411 BC. Thucydides has been dubbed the father of " scienti ...
, some of these Iapygian communities were ruled by powerful individuals in the late 5th century BC. A small number of them had grown into such large fortified settlements that they probably regarded themselves as autonomous city-states by the end of the 4th century, and some of the northern cities were seemingly in control of an extensive territory during that period.
Arpi
Arpi ( grc, Ἄρποι), Argyrippa ( grc, Ἀργύριππα), and Argos Hippium ( grc, Ἄργος Ἵππιον) was an ancient city of Apulia, Italy, 20 mi. W. of the sea coast, and 5 mi. N. of the modern Foggia. The first name was ...
, who had the largest earthen ramparts of Iapygia in the Iron Age, and
Canusium
Canosa di Puglia, generally known simply as Canosa ( nap, label= Canosino, Canaus), is a town and ''comune'' in the province of Barletta-Andria-Trani, Apulia, southern Italy. It is located between Bari and Foggia, on the northwestern edge of the ...
, whose territory probably straddled the
Ofanto River
The Ofanto (), known in ancient times as Aufidus or Canna, is a river in southern Italy that flows through the regions of Campania, Basilicata, and Apulia, into the Gulf of Manfredonia near Barletta.
Geography
The river's source is on the Irpi ...
from the coast up to
Venusia
Venosa ( Lucano: ) is a town and ''comune'' in the province of Potenza, in the southern Italian region of Basilicata, in the Vulture area. It is bounded by the comuni of Barile, Ginestra, Lavello, Maschito, Montemilone, Palazzo San Gerva ...
, appear to have grown into regional hegemonic powers.
This regional hierarchy of urban power, in which a few dominant city-states competed with each other in order to assert their own hegemony over limited resources, most likely led to frequent internecine warfare between the various Iapygian groups, and to external conflicts between them and foreign communities.
Warfare
As evidenced by items found in graves and warriors shown on red-figure vase paintings, Iapigyan fought with little other defensive armour than a shield, sometimes a leather helmet and a jerkin, exceptionally a breastplate. Their most frequent weapon was the thrusting spear, followed by the javelin, whereas swords were relatively rare. Bronze belts were also a common item found in warrior graves.
Scenes of combat depicted on red-figure vase paintings also demonstrate that the various Iapygian communities were frequently involved in conflict with each other, and that prisoners of war were taken for ransom or to be sold into slavery.
Economy
Archaeological evidence suggests that
transhumance
Transhumance is a type of pastoralism or nomadism, a seasonal movement of livestock between fixed summer and winter pastures. In montane regions (''vertical transhumance''), it implies movement between higher pastures in summer and lower val ...
was practised in pre-Roman Iapygia during the first millennium BC, and that wide areas of the region were reserved to provide pasture for transhumant sheep. Weaving was indeed an important activity in the 5th and 4th centuries BC. The textile made from wool was most likely marketed in the Greek colony of
Taranto
Taranto (, also ; ; nap, label= Tarantino, Tarde; Latin: Tarentum; Old Italian: ''Tarento''; Ancient Greek: Τάρᾱς) is a coastal city in Apulia, Southern Italy. It is the capital of the Province of Taranto, serving as an important com ...
, and the winter destination of Iapygian
pastoralists
Pastoralism is a form of animal husbandry where domesticated animals (known as "livestock") are released onto large vegetated outdoor lands (pastures) for grazing, historically by nomadic people who moved around with their herds. The animal s ...
probably located in the
Tavoliere plain, where the weaving industry was already well developed by the seventh or early sixth century BC, as evidenced by the depiction of weavers at work on a stelae.
See also
*
List of ancient Illyrian peoples and tribes
This is a list of ancient tribes in the ancient territory of Illyria ( grc-gre, Ἰλλυρία; la, Illyria). The name ''Illyrians'' seems to be the name of a single Illyrian tribe that was the first to come into contact with the ancient Greeks ...
*
List of ancient peoples of Italy
This list of ancient peoples living in Italy summarises groupings existing before and during the Roman expansion and conquest of Italy. Many of the names are either scholarly inventions or exonyms assigned by the ancient writers of works in anc ...
Notes
References
Bibliography
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{{Illyrians
Ancient peoples of Italy
Socii