Lucania
Lucania was a historical region of
The precise limits were the river
Geography
Almost the whole area is occupied by the
Just within the frontier of Lucania rises
The
Etymology
Historians at University of Naples Eastern Studies concluded that the root of the name Lucania is derived from luc, the Osco-Sabellic peoples word for light, which has the same meaning in the Latin idiom. The people that moved from the Osco-Sabellic tribes to occupy the land east of the Sillaro River, which was an area associated with the morning star, Lucifer (Latin for bringer of light). Therefore, Lucania means eastern land or land from which there is light.[1] The study also explains why it is not Greek in origin. As noted in the History section on this page, the Greeks referred to this region of Italy as Oenotria.
History
Antiquity
The district of Lucania was so called from the people bearing the name
The mountainous interior was occupied by the tribes known as
A few
After this we find them engaged in hostilities with the
(272).Subsequently they were sometimes in alliance, but more frequently engaged in hostilities, during the
(90–88 BC) gave the finishing stroke.In the time of Strabo the Greek cities on the coast had fallen into insignificance, and owing to the decrease of population and cultivation malaria began to obtain the upper hand. The few towns of the interior were of no importance. A large part of the province was given up to pasture, and the mountains were covered with forests, which abounded in wild boars, bears and wolves. There were some fifteen independent communities, but none of great importance.
For administrative purposes under the
Middle Ages
After the fall of the
In the late 10th century the Byzantines began to re-enter the region of Lucania forming the
In the mid-11th century, Lucania was conquered by the
Cities and towns
The towns on the east coast were
Close to its southern frontier stood
Of the towns of the interior the most considerable was Potentia, still called Potenza. To the north, near the frontier of Apulia, was Bantia (Aceruntia belonged more properly to Apulia); while due south from Potentia was Grumentum, and still farther in that direction were Nerulum and Muranum.
In the upland valley of the Tanagrus were
The
Later use
The modern name
In 1932 the
Notes
- ^ "Come ti chiami? Lucania !!!". 10 February 2016.
- ^ see Conway, Italic Dialects, p. II sqq.; Mommsen, C.I.L. x. p. 2I; Roehl, Inscriptiones Graecae Antiquissimae, 547.
- ^ Cassiodorus: Chapter 1, Backgrounds and Some Dates Archived 2005-05-10 at the Wayback Machine
- ISBN 978-0-521-25551-6.
At the end of the twelfth century ... While in Apulia Greeks were in a majority – and indeed present in any numbers at all – only in the Salento peninsula in the extreme south, at the time of the conquest they had an overwhelming preponderance in Lucania and central and southern Calabria, as well as comprising anything up to a third of the population of Sicily, concentrated especially in the north-east of the island, the Val Demone.
- ISBN 978-1-107-00028-5.
However, the Byzantine revival of the tenth century generated a concomitant process of Hellenization, while Muslim raids in southern Calabria, and instability in Sicily, may also have displaced Greek Christians further north on the mainland. Consequently, zones in northern Calabria, Lucania and central Apulia which were reintegrated into Byzantine control also experienced demographic shifts, and the increasing establishment of immigrant Greek communities. These zones also acted as springboards for Greek migration further north, into regions such as the Cilento and areas around Salerno, which had never been under Byzantine control.
- ISBN 978-0-415-93930-0.
In Lucania (northern Calabria, Basilicata, and southernmost portion of today's Campania) ... From the late ninth century into the eleventh, Greek-speaking populations and Byzantine temporal power advanced, in stages but by no means always in tandem, out of southern Calabria and the lower Salentine peninsula across Lucania and through much of Apulia as well. By the early eleventh century, Greek settlement had radiated northward and had reached the interior of the Cilento, deep in Salernitan territory. Parts of the central and north-western Salento, recovered early, came to have a Greek majority through immigration, as did parts of Lucania.
- ISBN 978-88-365-0021-5p. 11
References
- public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Lucania". Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 17 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 92. This article incorporates text from a publication now in the