The Aborigines in

Roman mythology Roman mythology is the body of myths of ancient Rome as represented in the literature and visual arts of the Romans. One of a wide variety of genres of Roman folklore, ''Roman mythology'' may also refer to the modern study of these representa ...

are the oldest inhabitants of central

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 ...

, connected in legendary history with

Aeneas In Greco-Roman mythology, Aeneas (, ; from ) was a Trojan hero, the son of the Trojan prince Anchises and the Greek goddess Aphrodite (equivalent to the Roman Venus). His father was a first cousin of King Priam of Troy (both being grandsons ...

Latinus Latinus ( la, Latinus; Ancient Greek: Λατῖνος, ''Latînos'', or Λατεῖνος, ''Lateînos'') was a figure in both Greek and Roman mythology. He is often associated with the heroes of the Trojan War, namely Odysseus and Aeneas. Al ...

and Evander. They were supposed to have descended from their mountain home near Reate (an ancient Sabine town) upon

Latium Latium ( , ; ) is the region of central western Italy in which the city of Rome was founded and grew to be the capital city of the Roman Empire. Definition Latium was originally a small triangle of fertile, volcanic soil ( Old Latium) on w ...

, where they expelled the

Sicels The Sicels (; la, Siculi; grc, Σικελοί ''Sikeloi'') were an Italic tribe who inhabited eastern Sicily during the Iron Age. Their neighbours to the west were the Sicani. The Sicels gave Sicily the name it has held since antiquity, b ...

and subsequently settled down as Latini under a King

.Dr. Leonhard Schmitz ''A History of Rome, From the Earliest Times to the Death of Commodus, A.D. 192.'' p.8-9 Dionysius of Halicarnassus. ''Roman Antiquities'', I.9.

Etymology

The most generally accepted etymology of the

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, 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 ...

word aborigines is that it derives from ', according to which they were the original inhabitants of the country, although

Cato the Elder Marcus Porcius Cato (; 234–149 BC), also known as Cato the Censor ( la, Censorius), the Elder and the Wise, was a Roman soldier, senator, and historian known for his conservatism and opposition to Hellenization. He was the first to write hi ...

regarded them as Hellenic immigrants, not as a native Italian people. Other etymological explanations suggested are ', meaning " tree-born," and ', meaning "

nomad A nomad is a member of a community without fixed habitation who regularly moves to and from the same areas. Such groups include hunter-gatherers, pastoral nomads (owning livestock), tinkers and trader nomads. In the twentieth century, the po ...

s". Lycophron calls a people of central Italy, '.

Background

The Aborigines were possibly descendants of the

Pelasgians 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 original inhabitants of Greece and surrounding regions, or, more precisely, descendents of the

Oenotrians The Oenotrians (Οἴνωτρες, meaning "tribe led by Oenotrus" or "people from the land of vines - Οἰνωτρία") were an ancient Italic people who inhabited a territory in Southern Italy from Paestum to southern Calabria. By the sixth ...

, a tribe descended from Pelasgus by

Oenotrus In Greek mythology, Oenotrus ( Ancient Greek: Οἴνωτρος) was the youngest of fifty sons of Lycaon from Arcadia. Together with his brother Peucetius (Greek: Πευκέτιος), he migrated to the Italian Peninsula, dissatisfied because ...

, son of Lycaon, primeval king of Arcadia. Their earliest known home was Reate, an ancient Sabine town to the north-east of

near

Carseoli 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 th ...

. These Aborigines were driven from their mountain home by the Sabines and settled on the river Anio. The

, who inhabited Latium at the time, gave way to the Aborigines, and a portion of them emigrated to Sicily, providing the origin for the island's name. The emigration of the Sicels to Sicily is said to have taken place in either 1264 BC or 1035 BC (

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 ...

). The remaining Siculians joined with the Aborigines eventually becoming the people known as ''Prisci Latini'' (meaning ''old Latins''), that is ''Prisci et Latini'', or simply '' Latini''. The Aborigines did not become ''Latini'' until the reign of their king, Latinus, from whom the Romans attributed their name. This was after the arrival of the

Trojans Trojan or Trojans may refer to: * Of or from the ancient city of Troy * Trojan language, the language of the historical Trojans Arts and entertainment Music * ''Les Troyens'' ('The Trojans'), an opera by Berlioz, premiered part 1863, part 189 ...

with

in the aftermath of the

Trojan War In Greek mythology, the Trojan War was waged against the city of Troy by the Achaeans ( Greeks) after Paris of Troy took Helen from her husband Menelaus, king of Sparta. The war is one of the most important events in Greek mythology and ...

Cities

The following list is based on Dionysius of Halicarnassus.William Smit
''Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography'' (1854)
/ref> * Palatium: 25 '' stades'' from Reate. * Tribula: 60 stades from Reate. * Suesbula: 60 stades from Tribula, near the Ceraunian Mountains. * Suna: 40 stades from Suesbula, with an ancient temple of

Mars Mars is the fourth planet from the Sun and the second-smallest planet in the Solar System, only being larger than Mercury. In the English language, Mars is named for the Roman god of war. Mars is a terrestrial planet with a thin at ...

. * Mefula: about 30 stades from Suna (ruins with walls in Roman times). * Orvinium: 40 stades from Mefula. Apparently was once a large and famous city in its area with an ancient temple of

Minerva Minerva (; ett, Menrva) is the Roman goddess of wisdom, justice, law, victory, and the sponsor of arts, trade, and strategy. Minerva is not a patron of violence such as Mars, but of strategic war. From the second century BC onward, the R ...

. * Corsula: about 80 stades from Reate, following the Curian Way, a road thought to go through Reate. * Issa: an island surrounded by a lake, where the Aborigines relied on the marshy waters of the lake for defence. * Maruvium: Situated near Issa, on an arm of the same lake and distant forty ''stades'' from something called the ''Septem Aquae''. * Batia: 30 stades from Reate. * Tiora (or Matiene): at a distance of 300 stades from Reate. * Lista: 24 stades from Tiora, claimed to be the mother-city of the Aborigines, which the Sabines had captured by a surprise attack. * Cutilia: 70 stades from Reate. All of these cities are claimed to have been taken from the

Umbrians 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 ...

. In

itself the Aborigines had the cities Antemnae, Caenina, Ficulnea, Tellenae, and

Tibur Tivoli ( , ; la, Tibur) is a town and in Lazio, central Italy, north-east of Rome, at the falls of the Aniene river where it issues from the Sabine hills. The city offers a wide view over the Roman Campagna. History Gaius Julius Solin ...

some of which Dionysius attests were taken from the Siculians.Dionysius of Halicarnassus ''Roman Antiquities'' I.44, II.35

Notes

References

*{{EB1911, wstitle=Aborigines

Etymology

Background

Cities

See also

Notes

References

Further reading