The Marsi were an Italic people of

ancient Italy The history of Italy covers the ancient period, the Middle Ages, and the modern era. Since classical antiquity, ancient Etruscans, various Italic peoples (such as the Latins, Samnites, and Umbri), Celts, '' Magna Graecia'' colonists, and oth ...

, whose chief centre was

Marruvium San Benedetto dei Marsi ( la, Marruvium, ; grc, Μαρούϊον, translit=Maroúïon) is a ''comune ''and town in the province of L'Aquila in the Abruzzo region of central Italy. It is on the eastern shore of the dried Lake Fucino, from the rema ...

, on the eastern shore of

Lake Fucinus The Fucine Lake ( it, Lago Fucino or ) was a large endorheic lake in western Abruzzo, central Italy, stretching from Avezzano in the northwest to Ortucchio in the southeast, and touching Trasacco in the southwest. Once the third largest lake i ...

(which was drained in the time of

Claudius Tiberius Claudius Caesar Augustus Germanicus (; 1 August 10 BC – 13 October AD 54) was the fourth Roman emperor, ruling from AD 41 to 54. A member of the Julio-Claudian dynasty, Claudius was born to Nero Claudius Drusus, Drusu ...

). The area in which they lived is now called Marsica. They originally spoke a language now termed Marsian which is attested by several inscriptions.

History

The Marsi were first mentioned as members of a confederacy with the

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 ...

, Paeligni and

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'' (San V ...

. They joined the

Samnites The Samnites () were an ancient Italic people who lived in Samnium, which is located in modern inland Abruzzo, Molise, and Campania in south-central Italy. An Oscan-speaking people, who may have originated as an offshoot of the Sabines, they for ...

in 308 BC, and, on their submission, became allies 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 ...

in 304 BC. After a short-lived revolt two years later, for which they were punished by the loss of territory, they were readmitted to the Roman alliance and remained faithful down to the Social War, their contingent being always regarded as the flower of the Italian forces. The Latin colony of Alba Fucens near the northwest corner of the lake was founded in the adjoining Aequian territory in 303 BC so that, from the beginning of the 3rd century, the Marsians were in touch with a Latin-speaking community, to say nothing of the Latin colony of

Carsioli Carsoli (Marsicano: ') is a town and ''comune'' in the province of L'Aquila, Abruzzo (central Italy). The ancient Roman city lies southwest of the modern town. History The ancient city, known as ''Carsioli'' (or ''Carseoli''), was founded in the ...

farther west. The earliest pure Latin inscriptions of the district seem to be C.I.L. IX 3827 and 3848 from the neighbourhood of Supinum; its character generally is of the Gracchan period, though it might be somewhat earlier. In the

Social War (91–87 BC) The Social War (from Latin , properly 'war of the allies'), also called the Italian War or the Marsic War, was fought from 91 to 87 BC between the Roman Republic and several of its autonomous allies () in Roman Italy, Italy. The Italian alli ...

which, owing to the prominence of the Marsian rebels, is often known as the Marsic War, they fought bravely against odds under their leader Q. Pompaedius Silo and, though they were frequently defeated, the result of the war was the enfranchisement of the allies. All the coins of Pompaedius Silo have the Latin legend "Italia", while the other leaders in all but one case used

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 th ...

Language

The Marsian language is the extinct language of the Marsi. It is classified by the Linguist List as one of the

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 lan ...

group of languages.

Corpus

The Marsian inscriptions are dated by the style of the alphabet from about 300 to 150 BC (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 Kin ...

). Conway lists nine inscriptions, one from

Ortona Ortona (Neapolitan language, Abruzzese: '; grc, Ὄρτων, Órtōn) is a coastal town and municipality of the Province of Chieti in the Italy, Italian region of Abruzzo, with some 23,000 inhabitants. In 1943 Ortona was the site of a Battle o ...

and two each from

Lecce Lecce ( ); el, label=Griko, Luppìu, script=Latn; la, Lupiae; grc, Λουπίαι, translit=Loupíai), group=pron is a historic city of 95,766 inhabitants (2015) in southern Italy. It is the capital of the province of Lecce, the province ...

Trasacco Trasacco (Marsicano: ') is a ''comune'' and town in the province of L'Aquila in the Abruzzo region of central-eastern Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. I ...

and

Luco Luco dei Marsi is a ''comune'' and town in the province of L'Aquila in the Abruzzo region of central-eastern Italy. It is part of the Marsica. The town was probably founded by the Roman Emperor Claudius to house workers in the drying of the ''Lacu ...

. In addition, there are a few glosses, a few place names and a few dozen personal names in Latin form.

Phonology

Their language differs very slightly from Roman

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 ...

of that date; for apparently contracted forms, such as instead of , may really only be a matter of spelling. In final syllables, the

diphthong A diphthong ( ; , ), also known as a gliding vowel, is a combination of two adjacent vowel sounds within the same syllable. Technically, a diphthong is a vowel with two different targets: that is, the tongue (and/or other parts of the speech o ...

s ''ai'', ''ei'', and ''oi'' all appear as ''e''. On the other hand, the older form of the name of the tribe (dat. plur. = Lat. ) shows its derivation and exhibits the assibilation of ''-tio-'' into ''-tso-'', proper to 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 th ...

but strange to classical Latin.

Bronze of Lake Fucinus

The Bronze of

was an inscribed bronze plaque found in 1877 near

during the draining of the lake, from an ancient settlement that had been covered by the lake. The bronze was placed in the Museum of Prince Alessandro Torlonia, where it was photographed for publication. It was lost in 1894 and it has not been seen since. The text of the plaque is as follows: : , , , : , , , , : , . It seems to be or describe a votive offering () perhaps of boars () to the local goddess(es) Anctia () on behalf of the Marsian Legions (pro le ioibus martses).

Religion

The sanctuary of

Lucus Angitiae Lucus Angitiae was an Italic and Roman town, the ruins of which are located in the comune of Luco dei Marsi, in the province of L'Aquila in the Abruzzo region of Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republ ...

, the chief temple and grove of the goddess

Angitia Angitia was a goddess among the Marsi, the Paeligni and other Oscan-Umbrian peoples of central Italy. She was associated in antiquity with snake-charmers who claimed her as their ancestor. Roman interpretations probably obscure her Marsian signi ...

stood at the southwest corner of Lake Fucinus, near the inlet to the tunnel of

and the village of Luco dei Marsi. Angitia was widely worshipped in the central highlands as a goddess of healing, especially skilled to cure serpent bites by charms and the herbs of the Marsian woods, which was carried out by local inhabitants until modern times. Their country was considered by Rome to be the home of witchcraft.see Hor. ''Sat.'' i, 9, 29, Epod. 17, 28, &c.

References

Bibliography

* ;Attribution * Endnote: ** (from which some portions of this article are taken; on the Fucino-Bronze, ''ib.'' p. 294) {{Authority control Socii Ancient Abruzzo Marsica