Italici an Itali?
Name Used by the Italian Insurgents of the Social War (91–87 B.C.) to Call Themselves
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.12797/CC.26.2023.26.02Keywords:
Social War, Italici, ItaliAbstract
During the Social War, certain linguistic choices must have had particular importance for the rebel Italian allies who fought against Rome. This article aims to demonstrate why the insurgents were likely to have rejected the term Italici and adopted the name Itali as their self-designation. A thorough analysis of the meanings and connotations of Greek and Latin terms used for the inhabitants of Italy clearly indicates that during the war the ethnonym Itali allowed the rebel Italians to radically dissociate themselves from the Romans and strengthen their own common identity.
PlumX Metrics of this article
References
Primary sources
[Cicero], M. Tulli Ciceronis scripta quae manserunt omnia. Fasc. 4. Brutus, H. Malcovati (ed.), Leipzig 1970.
[Cicero], M. Tulli Ciceronis scripta quae manserunt omnia. Fasc. 48. De officiis. De virtutibus, C. Atzberg (ed.), Leipzig 1971.
[Cicero], M. Tulli Ciceronis scripta quae manserunt omnia. Fasc. 16. Orationes de lege agraria. Oratio pro C. Rabirio perduellionis reo, V. Marek (ed.), Berlin–New York 1983. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110964745
[Cicero], M. Tulli Ciceronis scripta quae manserunt omnia. Fasc.28. In M. Antonium orationes Philippicae XIV, P. Fedeli (ed.), Berlin–New York 1986. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110957631
[Cicero], Rhetorica ad Herennium, transl. H. Caplan, Cambridge, MA – London 1954.
Appian, Appiani Bellorum civilium liber primus, E. Gabba (ed. and transl.), Florence 1958.
Appian, Roman History, vols. I–II, transl. H. White, Cambridge, MA – London 1992.
Appian, Roman History. Civil Wars, vols. III, IV, transl. H. White, Cambridge, MA – London 1992.
Aristotle, Politics, transl. H. Rackham, Cambridge, MA – London 1932. DOI: https://doi.org/10.4159/DLCL.aristotle-politics.1932
Cato, Varro, On Agriculture, transl. W.D. Hooper, H.B. Ash, Cambridge, MA – London 1934. DOI: https://doi.org/10.4159/DLCL.varro-agriculture.1934
Catullus. Tibullus. Pervigilium Veneris, transl. F.W. Cornish et al., Cambridge, MA – London 1913.
Cicero, On the Republic. On the Laws, transl. C.W. Keyes, Cambridge, MA – London 1928. DOI: https://doi.org/10.4159/DLCL.marcus_tullius_cicero-de_re_publica.1928
Cicero, Pro Archia. Post Reditum in Senatu. Post Reditum ad Quirites. De Domo Sua. De Haruspicum Responsis. Pro Plancio, transl. N.H. Watts, Cambridge, MA 1923. DOI: https://doi.org/10.4159/DLCL.marcus_tullius_cicero-post_reditum_ad_quirites.1923
Cicero, Pro Caelio. De Provinciis Consularibus. Pro Balbo, transl. R. Gardner, Cambridge, MA – London 1958. DOI: https://doi.org/10.4159/DLCL.marcus_tullius_cicero-de_provinciis_consularibus.1958
Cicero, Pro Sestio. In Vatinium, transl. R. Gardner, Cambridge, MA – London 1958. DOI: https://doi.org/10.4159/DLCL.marcus_tullius_cicero-pro_sestio.1958
Cicero, The Verrine Orations, vol. I: Against Caecilius. Against Verres, Part 1; Part 2, Books 1-2, transl. L.H.G. Greenwood, Cambridge, MA – London 1928. DOI: https://doi.org/10.4159/DLCL.marcus_tullius_cicero-first_speech_verres.1928
Cicero, The Verrine Orations, vol. II: Against Verres, Part 2, Books 3-5, transl. L.H.G. Greenwood, Cambridge, MA – London 1935.
Diodorus Siculus, Library of History, vols. I–XI, various translators, Cambridge, MA – London 1933–1957. DOI: https://doi.org/10.4159/DLCL.diodorus_siculus-library_history.1933
Diodorus Siculus, Library of History, vol. XII: Books 33-40, transl. F.R. Walton, Cambridge, MA – London 1967.
Dionysius of Halicarnassus, Roman Antiquities, vols. I–VII, transl. E. Cary, Cambridge, MA – London 1937–1950. DOI: https://doi.org/10.4159/DLCL.dionysius_halicarnassus-roman_antiquities.1937
Florus, Epitome of Roman History, transl. E.S. Forster, Cambridge, MA – London 1929. DOI: https://doi.org/10.4159/DLCL.florus-epitome_roman_history.1929
Gellius, Attic Nights, vols. I–III, transl. J.C. Rolfe, Cambridge, MA – London, 1927. DOI: https://doi.org/10.4159/DLCL.gellius-attic_nights.1927
Herodotus, The Persian Wars, vols. I–IV, transl. A.D. Godley, Cambridge MA – London 1920–1925. DOI: https://doi.org/10.4159/DLCL.herodotus-persian_wars.1920
Livy, History of Rome, vols. I–XIV, various translators, Cambridge, MA – London 1919–1959. DOI: https://doi.org/10.4159/DLCL.livy-history_rome_2.1919
Ovid, Tristia. Ex Ponto, transl. A.L. Wheeler, Cambridge, MA – London 1924. DOI: https://doi.org/10.4159/DLCL.ovid-ex_ponto.1924
Ovid, Fasti, transl. J.G. Frazer, Cambridge, MA – London 1931. DOI: https://doi.org/10.4159/DLCL.ovid-fasti.1931
Ovid, Heroides. Amores, transl. G. Showerman, Cambridge, MA – London 1914. DOI: https://doi.org/10.4159/DLCL.ovid-heroides.1914
Plutarch, Lives, vols. I–XI, transl. B. Perrin, Cambridge MA – London 1914–1926.
Polybius, The Histories, vols. I–VI, transl. W.R. Paton, Cambridge, MA 2010–2012. DOI: https://doi.org/10.4159/DLCL.polybius-histories.2010
Sallust, The War with Catiline. The War with Jugurtha, transl. J.C. Rolfe, Cambridge, MA 2013. DOI: https://doi.org/10.4159/DLCL.sallust-war_jugurtha.2013
Strabo, Geography, transl. H.L. Jones, Cambridge, MA – London 1917–1932. DOI: https://doi.org/10.4159/DLCL.strabo-geography.1917
Thucydides, History of the Peloponnesian War, vols. I–IV, transl. C.F. Smith, Cambridge MA – London 1919–1923. DOI: https://doi.org/10.4159/DLCL.thucydides-history_peloponnesian_war.1919
Varro, On the Latin Language, vols. I–II, transl. R.G. Kent, Cambridge, MA – London 1938. DOI: https://doi.org/10.4159/DLCL.varro-latin_language.1938
Velleius Paterculus, Compendium of Roman History. Res Gestae Divi Augusti, transl. F.W. Shipley, Cambridge, MA – London 1924. DOI: https://doi.org/10.4159/DLCL.velleius_paterculus-compendium_roman_history.1924
P. Vergilius Maro, Aeneis, G.B. Conte (ed.), Berlin and New York 2011.
Secondary sources
Adams J.N., 2003, Bilingualism and the Latin Language, Cambridge, https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511482960. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511482960
Aigner Foresti L., 1995, ‘La tradizione antica sul ver sacrum’, [in:] Coercizione e mobilità umana nel mondo antico, M. Sordi (ed.), Milan, pp. 141–147.
Aleksandrowicz T., 1978, ‘Organizacja i program państwa Italików’, Meander 10, pp. 489–502.
Badian E., 1958, Foreign Clientelae 270–70 B.C., Oxford. DOI: https://doi.org/10.5652/kokusaikeizai.1958.270
Barchiesi A., 2008, ‘Bellum Italicum: l’unificazione dell’Italia nell’Eneide’, [in:] Patria diversis gentibus una? Unità politica e identità etniche nell’Italia antica, G. Urso (ed.), Pisa, pp. 243–260.
Bearzot C., 2014, ‘Dall’Italìa all’Italia’, [in:] Storia, civiltà e religione in Italia. Studi in occasione del 150o anniversario dell’Unità nazionale, A. Bianchi (ed.), Milan, pp. 31–42.
Beekes R., 2010, Etymological Dictionary of Greek, Leiden–Boston.
Borghi G., 2011, ‘Italia nella ricostruzione etimologica (note e considerazioni in margine a un libro esemplare)’, Rivista Italiana di Onomastica 17/2, pp. 642–662.
Bourdin S., 2017, ‘Le peuplement de l’Italie dans l’Énéide de Virgile. Situation historique ou reconstruction érudite?’, Les Mélanges de l’École française de Rome – Antiquité 129/1, pp. 7–17, https://doi.org/10.4000/mefra.4120. DOI: https://doi.org/10.4000/mefra.4120
Bourdin S., 2018, ‘Peuples et systèmes d’alliance dans l’Italie républicaine’, [in:] Bibere, ridere, gaudere, studere, hoc est vivere. Hommages à Francis Tassaux, A. Bouet, C. Petit-Aubert (éds.), Bordeaux, pp. 175–185.
Bourdin S., 2019, ‘Les ligues italiennes de la soumission àRome à l’intégration’, [in:] Empire, Hegemony or Anarchy? Rome and Italy, 201–31 BCE, K. Hölkeskamp et al. (eds.), Stuttgart, pp. 131–146.
Bradley G., 2019, ‘State Formation and the Social War’, [in:] Empire, Hegemony or Anarchy? Rome and Italy, 180–30 BCE, K. Hölkeskamp et al. (eds.), Stuttgart, pp. 167–189.
Briquel D., 1996, ‘Le taureau sur les monnaies des insurgés de la guerre sociale: à la recherche d’un symbole pour l’Italie’, Revue des Études Latines 74, pp. 108–125.
Brunt P.A., 1965, ‘Italian Aims at the Time of the Social War’, The Journal of Roman Studies 55, pp. 90–109, https://doi.org/10.2307/297433. DOI: https://doi.org/10.2307/297433
Campana A., 1987, La monetazione degli insorti italici durante la guerra sociale (91-87 a.C.), Soliera.
Cappelletti L., 2020, ‘Lo «Stato» degli Italici al tempo della guerra sociale (91-88 A.C.)’, [in:] Cittadinanza e nazione nella storia europea, L. Gagliardi, D. Kremer (eds.), Milan, pp. 51–74.
Càssola F., 1982, ‘Diodoro e la storia romana’, ANRW, 30.1, pp. 724–773, https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110844108-016. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110844108-016
Catalano P., 1978, ‘Aspetti spaziali del sistema giuridico-religioso romano.
Mundus, templum, urbs, ager, Latium, Italia’, ANRW II, 16.1, pp. 525–545, https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110854503-012. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110854503-012
Chantraine P., 1970, Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue grecque. Histoire des mots, vol. 2, Paris.
Dart C., 2009, ‘The ‘Italian Constitution’ in the Social War: A Reassessment’, Historia 58/2, pp. 215–224, https://doi.org/10.25162/historia-2009-0010. DOI: https://doi.org/10.25162/historia-2009-0010
Dart C., 2019, The Social War 91 to 88 BCE: A History of the Italian Insurgency against the Roman Republic, London–New York.
De Sensi Sestito G., 2014, ‘Italo, Italía, Italioti: alle origini di una nozione’, [in:] Unità multiple. Centocinquant’anni? Unità? Italia?, G. De Sensi Sestito, M. Petrusewicz (edd.), Soveria Mannelli, pp. 53–92.
Dench E., 1995, From Barbarians to New Men. Greek, Roman, and Modern Perceptions of Peoples from the Central Apennines, Oxford. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780198150213.001.0001
Devoto G., 1967, Gli antichi italici, Florence.
Erdkamp P., 2007, ‘Polibius and Livy on the Allies in the Roman Army’, [in:] The Impact of the Roman Army (200 BC – AD 476), L. de Blois et al. (eds.), Leiden–Boston, pp. 47–74. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1163/ej.9789004160446.i-589.17
Eychenne J.M., 1990, ‘Considérations numismatiques sur la guerre sociale’, Pallas 36, pp. 71–87, https://doi.org./10.3406/palla.1990.1215. DOI: https://doi.org/10.3406/palla.1990.1215
Faszcza M.N., 2017, ‘Kulturowe implikacje rzymskiej deditio w III–I wieku przed Chrystusem’, [w:] Kapitulacje w dziejach wojen. Z dziejów wojskowości polskiej i powszechnej, A. Niewiński (red.), Oświęcim, s. 8–24.
Firpo G., 1994, ‘Considerazioni sull’organizzazione degli Italici durante la guerra sociale’, [in:] Federazioni e federalismo nell’Europa antica. Alle radici della casa comune europea, C.S. Bearzot et al. (eds.), Milan, pp. 457–478.
Gabba E., 1965, Appiano e la storia delle guerre civili, Florence.
Gabba E., 1973a, ‘Italia e Roma nella «Storia» di Velleio Patercolo’, [in:] Esercito e società nella tarda Repubblica romana, E. Gabba (ed.), Florence, pp. 347–360.
Gabba E., 1973b, ‘Le origini della guerra sociale e la vita politica romana dopo l’89 a. C.’, [in:] Esercito e società nella tarda Repubblica romana, E. Gabba (ed.), Florence, pp. 193–345.
Gabba E., 1989, ‘Rome and Italy in the Second Century B.C.’, [in:] The Cambridge Ancient History, vol. 8, A.E. Astin et al. (eds.), Cambridge, pp. 197–243, https://doi.org/10.1017/CHOL9780521234481.008. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CHOL9780521234481.008
Gabba E., 1990, ‘Roma e l’Italia’, [in:] Roma e l’Italia. Radices imperii, C. Ampolo et al. (eds.), Milan, pp. 41–87.
Gabba E., 1994a, ‘Aspetti dell’assimilazione delle popolazioni italiche nel II secolo a.C.’, [in:] Italia Romana, E. Gabba (ed.), Como, pp. 33–43.
Gabba E., 1994b, ‘Il problema dell’«unità» dell’Italia romana’, [in:] Italia romana, E. Gabba (ed.), Como, pp. 17–31.
Giardina A., 1994, ‘L’identità incompiuta dell’Italia romana’, [in:] L’Italie d’Auguste à Dioclétien. Actes du colloque international de Rome (25-28 mars 1992), Rome, pp. 1–89.
Harris W.V., 1972, ‘Was Roman Law Imposed on the Italian Allies?’, Historia 21/4, pp. 639–645. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-08-016874-6.50076-X
Harris W.V., 1979, War and Imperialism in Republican Rome 327-70 B.C., Oxford.
Harris W.V., 2007, ‘Quando e come l’Italia divenne per la prima volta Italia? Un saggio sulla politica dell’identità’, transl. A. La Rocca, Studi Storici 48/2, pp. 301–322.
Hasenohr C., 2007, ‘Les Italiens à Délos: entre romanité et hellénisme’, Pallas 73, pp. 221–232.
Hatzfeld J., 1912, ‘Les Italiens résidant à Délos mentionnés dans les inscriptions de l’île’, Bulletin de Correspondance Hellénique 36, pp. 5–218, https://doi.org./10.3406/bch.1912.3146. DOI: https://doi.org/10.3406/bch.1912.3146
Heurgon J., 1957, Trois études sur le ver sacrum, Brusseles.
Humm M., 2009, ‘Rome et l’Italie dans le discours d’Appius Claudius Caecus contre Pyrrhus’, Pallas 79, pp. 203–220, https://doi.org/10.4000/pallas.14701. DOI: https://doi.org/10.4000/pallas.14701
Humm M., 2010, ‘Le concept d’Italie: des premiers colons grecs à la reorganisation augustéenne’, [in:] Mémoires d’Italie. Identités, représentations, enjeux (Antiquité et Classicisme), A. Colombo et al. (eds.), Como, pp. 36–66.
Ilari V., 1974, Gli Italici nelle strutture militari romane, Milan.
Keaveney A., 2005, Rome and the Unification of Italy, London, https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctt5vjjdq. DOI: https://doi.org/10.5949/liverpool/9781904675372.001.0001
Laffi U., 2001, ‘Il sistema di alleanze italico’, [in:] Studi di storia romana e di diritto, U. Laffi (ed.), Roma, pp. 17–43.
La Regina A., 2022, ‘Diomeneia, Oina, and a Legend of Arcadian Origins among the Lucani’, Rheinisches Museum für Philologie 165, pp. 50–65.
Lepore E., 1963, ‘L’Ίταλία nella formazione della comunità romano-italica’, Klearchos 20, pp. 89–113.
Letta C., 1972, I Marsi e il Fucino nell’antichità, Milan.
Letta C., 1994, ‘Dall’oppidum al nomen: i diversi livelli dell’aggregazione politica nel mondo osco-umbro’, [in:] Federazioni e federalismo nell’Europa antica, C.S. Bearzot et al. (eds.), Milan, pp. 387–405.
Letta C., 2008, ‘I legami tra i popoli italici nelle ‘Origines’ di Catone. Tra consapevolezza etnica e ideologia’, [in:] Patria diversis gentibus una?
Unità politica e identità etniche nell’Italia antica, G. Urso (ed.), Pisa, pp. 171–195.
Martin P.M., 1972, ‘Héraclès en Italie d’après Denys d’Halicarnasse (A.R. I, 34-44)’, Athenaeum 60, pp. 252–275.
Mazzarino S., 1973, Il pensiero storico classico, vol. I–II/1, Rome–Bari.
Mele A., 2011, ‘Italía terra di vitelli. Considerazioni storiche sull’origine del geonimo Italía’, Incidenza dell’Antico 9, pp. 33–64.
Mommsen T., 1886, ‘Der römische oder italische Fuss’, Hermes 21/3, pp. 411–423.
Mouritsen H., 1998, Italian Unification: A Study in Ancient and Modern Historiography, London.
Musti D., 1987, ‘Italia. Storia del nome’, [in:] Enciclopedia Virgiliana, vol. III, Rome, pp. 34–40.
Nissen H., 1883, Italische Landeskunde, vol. 1, Berlin.
Oakley S., 2002, ‘The Roman Conquest of Italy’, [in:] War and Society in the Roman World, J. Rich, G. Shipley (eds.), London–New York, pp. 9–37. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1201/9781003071341-2
Pais E., 1894, Storia d’Italia dai tempi più antichi sino alle guerre puniche: Storia della Sicilia e della Magna Grecia, Torino–Palermo.
Pallottino M., 1985, Storia della prima Italia, Milano.
Pallottino M., 1991, A History of Earliest Italy, transl. M. Ryle et al., Ann Arbor.
Pareti L., 1997, Storia della regione lucano-bruzzia nell’antichità, opera inedita a cura di A. Russi, Roma.
Peroni R., 1989, ‘Enotri, Ausoni e altre popolazioni dell’estremo sud dell’Italia’, [in:] C. Ampolo et al., Italia omnium terrarum parens, Milano, pp. 113–189.
Pobjoy M., 2000, ‘The First Italia’, [in:] The Emergence of State Identities in Italy in the First Millennium BC, E. Herring, K. Lomas (eds), London, pp. 187–211.
Poccetti P., 1984, ‘Romani e Italici a Delo. Spunti linguistici da una pubblicazione recente’, Athenaeum 72/3–4, pp. 646–656.
Poccetti P., 1988, ‘Lingua e cultura dei Brettii’, [in:] Per un’identità culturale dei Brettii, P. Poccetti (ed.), Naples, pp. 58–60.
Poccetti P., 2014, ‘L’‘identità variabile’ dell’Italia pre-romana: tradizioni, ideologie e loro riflessi moderni’, [in:] Da Italìa a Italia. Le radici di un’identità. Atti del cinquantunesimo Convegno di studi sulla Magna Grecia, K. Mannino, A. Siciliano (eds.), Taranto, pp. 320–359.
Russo F., 2010, ‘Il motivo della consanguinitas tra Romani ed Italici nella propaganda graccana’, Atene e Roma, Nuova Serie Seconda, 4/3–4, pp. 178–196.
Russo F., 2012a, ‘L’Italia nella prospettiva romana (III secolo a.C.)’, Studi Classici e Orientali 58, pp. 11–186.
Russo F., 2012b, ‘The Beginning of the First Punic War and the Concept of Italia’, [in:] Processes of Integration and Identity Formation in the Roman Republic, S.T. Roselaar (ed.), Leiden, pp. 35–50, https://doi.org/10.1163/9789004229600_004. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1163/9789004229600_004
Salmon E.T., 1958, ‘Notes on the Social War’, Transactions and Proceedings of the American Philological Association 89, pp. 159–184, https://doi.org/10.2307/283674. DOI: https://doi.org/10.2307/283674
Salmon E.T., 1967, Samnium and the Samnites, Cambridge.
Senatore F., 2006, La lega sannitica, Capri.
Sensal C., 2013, ‘Le discours sur la guerre sociale dans la Rhétorique à Herennius et chez Cicéron’, Dialogues d’histoire ancienne. Supplément 8, pp. 397–409, https://doi.org/10.3917/dha.hs80.0397. DOI: https://doi.org/10.3917/dha.hs80.0397
Sherwin-White A.N., 1973, The Roman Citizenship, Oxford.
Sironen T., 2006, ‘Minora Latino-Sabellica II. Un trofeo in osco da Poggio Cinolfo (AQ)’, Arctos 40, pp. 109–130.
Syme R., 1939, The Roman Revolution, Oxford.
Tagliamonte G., 2005, I Sanniti. Caudini, Irpini, Pentri, Carricini, Frentani, Milan.
Tarpin M., 2016, ‘L’appropriation du territoire par Rome: conquête, deditio, foedus, confiscation’, [dans:] L’Italia centrale e la creazione di una koiné culturale? I percorsi della “romanizzazione”, M. Aberson et al. (eds.), Genève, pp. 183–200.
Tataranni F., 2005, ‘Il toro, la lupa e il guerriero: l’immagine marziale dei Sanniti nella monetazione degli insorti italici durante la guerra sociale (90-88 a.C.)’, Athenaeum 93/1, pp. 291–304.
Wojtylak Ł., 2003, ‘On the Etymology of the Name “Italia”’, Incontri Linguistici 26, pp. 87–96.
Zavaroni A., Sani G., 2009, ‘Iscrizioni nord-umbre del bellum sociale nella Valle di Ospitale: prime indicazioni’, Klio 91/1, pp. 69–103, https://doi.org/10.1524/klio.2009.0004. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1524/klio.2009.0004
Ziółkowski A., 1994, ‘Podbój Italii przez Rzym. Motywy i mechanizmy’, [in:] Starożytny Rzym we współczesnych badaniach. Państwo – społeczeństwo – gospodarka, J. Wolski et al. (red.), Kraków, pp. 49–80.
Ziółkowski A., 2000, Storia di Roma, Milan.
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.