The Marsi were an Italic people of ancient Italy, whose chief centre was Marruvium, on the eastern shore of Lake Fucinus (which was drained in the time of Claudius). The area in which they lived is now called Marsica. They originally spoke a language now termed Marsian and attested by several inscriptions.
The Marsi were first mentioned as members of a confederacy with the Vestini, Paeligni and Marrucini. [2] They joined the Samnites in 308 BC, [3] and, on their submission, became allies of Rome in 304 BC. [4] After a short-lived revolt two years later, for which they were punished by the loss of territory, [5] they were readmitted to the Roman alliance and remained faithful down to the Social War, their contingent [6] being always regarded as the flower of the Italian forces. [7]
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 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) 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. [8]
| Marsian | |
|---|---|
| Native to | Marruvium |
| Region | Marsica in Abruzzo |
| Extinct | ca. 150 BC |
Indo-European
| |
| Inscriptions in votive offerings | |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | ims |
ims | |
| Glottolog | mars1253 |
![Silver denarius, coinage of the Marsian Confederation, during the Social War (89 BC). The retrograde legend right (UILETIV [viteliu = Italia] ) is in Oscan Denarius-Marsic Federation-Syd 627-1-.jpg](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/2/29/Denarius-Marsic_Federation-Syd_627-1-.jpg/310px-Denarius-Marsic_Federation-Syd_627-1-.jpg)
The Linguist List classifies it as one of the Umbrian Group of languages.
The Marsian inscriptions are dated by the style of the alphabet from about 300 to 150 BC (the middle Roman Republic). Conway lists nine inscriptions, one from Ortona and two each from Marruvium, Lecce, Trasacco and Luco. In addition, there are a few glosses, a few place names and a few dozen personal names in Latin form. [9]
Their language differs very slightly from Roman Latin of that date; for apparently contracted forms, such as Fougno instead of Fucino, may really only be a matter of spelling. In final syllables, the diphthongs ai, ei, and oi all appear as e. On the other hand, the older form of the name of the tribe (dat. plur. Martses = Lat. Martiis) shows its derivation and exhibits the assibilation of -tio- into -tso-, proper to the Oscan language but strange to classical Latin.
The Bronze of Lake Fucinus was an inscribed bronze plaque found in 1877 near Luco 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 nor has it been seen since. The text of the plaque is as follows: [9]
It seems to be or describe a votive offering (donom) perhaps of boars (apruf) to the local goddess(es) Anctia (a[n]ctia) on behalf of the Marsian Legions (pro le[gio]nibus martses). [10]
The sanctuary of Lucus Angitiae, the chief temple and grove of the goddess Angitia stood at the southwest corner of Lake Fucinus, near the inlet to the tunnel of Claudius and the village of Luco dei Marsi. Angitia was widely worshipped in the central highlands [11] 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. [12] Their country was considered by Rome to be the home of witchcraft. [13]
The Italic languages form a branch of the Indo-European language family, whose earliest known members were spoken on the Italian Peninsula in the first millennium BC. The most important of the ancient languages was Latin, the official language of ancient Rome, which conquered the other Italic peoples before the common era. The other Italic languages became extinct in the first centuries AD as their speakers were assimilated into the Roman Empire and shifted to some form of Latin. Between the third and eighth centuries AD, Vulgar Latin diversified into the Romance languages, which are the only Italic languages natively spoken today, while Literary Latin also survived.
The Old Italic scripts are a family of similar ancient writing systems used in the Italian Peninsula between about 700 and 100 BC, for various languages spoken in that time and place. The most notable member is the Etruscan alphabet, which was the immediate ancestor of the Latin alphabet currently used by English and many other languages of the world. The runic alphabets used in northern Europe are believed to have been separately derived from one of these alphabets by the 2nd century AD.
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 significance.
The Sabines were an Italic people who lived in the central Apennine Mountains of the ancient Italian Peninsula, also inhabiting Latium north of the Anio before the founding of Rome.
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 languages, a term generally replaced by Sabellic in modern scholarship. Since that classification was first formulated, a number of other languages in ancient Italy were discovered to be more closely related to Umbrian. Therefore, a group, the Umbrian languages, was devised to contain them.
The Volsci were an Italic tribe, well known in the history of the first century of the Roman Republic. At the time they inhabited the partly hilly, partly marshy district of the south of Latium, bounded by the Aurunci and Samnites on the south, the Hernici on the east, and stretching roughly from Norba and Cora in the north to Antium in the south. Rivals of Rome for several hundred years, their territories were taken over by and assimilated into the growing republic by 300 BC. Rome's first emperor Augustus was of Volscian descent.
Vestini were an Italic tribe who occupied the area of the modern Abruzzo, included between the Gran Sasso and the northern bank of the Aterno river. Their main centres were Pitinum (near modern L'Aquila), Aufinum (Ofena), Peltuinum, Pinna (Penne) and Aternum (Pescara, shared with the Marrucini).
The Paeligni or Peligni were an Italic tribe who lived in the Valle Peligna, in what is now Abruzzo, central Italy.
Carl Darling Buck was an American philologist.
The Faliscan language is the extinct Italic language of the ancient Falisci, who lived in Southern Etruria. Together with Latin, it formed the Latino-Faliscan languages group of the Italic languages. It seems probable that the language persisted, being gradually permeated with Latin, until at least 150 BC.
The Etruscan alphabet was the alphabet used by the Etruscans, an ancient civilization of central and northern Italy, to write their language, from about 700 BC to sometime around 100 AD.
Volscian was a Sabellic Italic language, which was spoken by the Volsci and closely related to Oscan and Umbrian.
The Osco-Umbrian, Sabellic or Sabellian languages are an extinct group of Italic languages, the Indo-European languages that were spoken in Central and Southern Italy by the Osco-Umbrians before being replaced by Latin, as the power of Ancient Rome expanded. Their written attestations developed from the middle of the 1st millennium BC to the early centuries of the 1st millennium AD. The languages are known almost exclusively from inscriptions, principally of Oscan and Umbrian, but there are also some Osco-Umbrian loanwords in Latin. Besides the two major branches of Oscan and Umbrian, South Picene may represent a third branch of Sabellic. The whole linguistic Sabellic area, however, might be considered a dialect continuum. Paucity of evidence from most of the "minor dialects" contributes to the difficulty of making these determinations.
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.
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.
San Benedetto dei Marsi 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, 20 kilometres (12 mi) from the remains of another ancient site, Alba Fucens.
The Fucine Lake 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 in Italy, it was drained in 1878.
Marsica is a geographical and historical region in the Abruzzo, central Italy, including 37 comuni in the province of L'Aquila. It is located between the plain of the former Fucine Lake, the National Park of Abruzzo, Lazio and Molise, the plain of Carsoli and the valley of Sulmona.
The family of Social War coinage includes all the coins issued by the Italic allies of the Marsic confederation, Marsi, Peligni, Piceni, Vestini, Samnites, Frentani, Marrucini, and Lucani, during the Social War against Rome.
Lucus Angitiae was an Italic and Roman town and sanctuary with temple of the goddess Angitia, the ruins of which are located in the comune of Luco dei Marsi in the Abruzzo region of Italy.
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