Messapians
The Messapians were an
Starting in the third century BC, Greek and Roman writers distinguished the indigenous population of the Salento peninsula differently. According to Strabo, the names Iapygians, Daunians, Peucetians and Messapians were exclusively Greek and not used by the natives, who divided the Salento in two parts. The southern and Ionian part of the peninsula was the territory of the Salentinoi, ranging from Otranto to Leuca and from Leuca to Manduria. The northern part on the Adriatic belonged to the Kalabroi and extended from Otranto to Egnatia with its hinterland.[2]
After the conquest of the Salento by the Roman Republic in 266 BC[3] the distinction between the Iapygian tribes blurred as they were assimilated into ancient Roman society. Strabo makes it clear that in his time, the end of the first century BC, most people used the names Messapia, Iapygia, Calabria and Salentina interchangeably for the Salento.[4] The name Calabria for the entire peninsula was made official when the Roman emperor Augustus divided Italy in regions and gave the whole region of Apulia the name Regio II Apulia et Calabria.[5] Archaeology still follows the original Greek tripartite division of tribes based on the archaeological evidence.[6]
Name
The names Messapii (Ancient Greek: Μεσσάπιοι) and Messapia are usually interpreted as "(the place) Amid waters", Mess- from
The Messapic tribal name Kalabroi/Calabri has been connected to the Dardanian Galabroi/Galabri in the Balkans.[9]
History
Origins
The origin of the Messapii is debated. The most credited theory is that they came from Illyria as one of the Illyrian tribes who settled in Apulia and that they emerged as a sub-tribe distinct from the rest of the Iapyges. It seems that the Iapyges spread northwards from the Salento.[11][12]
The pre-Italic settlement of
Conflict with Taras
In 473 BC, the Greek city of
During the Second Peloponnesian War between Athens and Sparta, the Mesapii were allies of Athens. They provided archers for Athens' massive expeditionary force sent to attack Syracuse in Sicily (415–13 BC). The expedition was a disaster and the entire force was destroyed.
In 356 BC, an alliance between Messapii and Lucani led to the conquest of Heraclea and Matapontus. In 342 BC, Tarentum called for the aid of Archidamus III of Sparta. Archidamus died in battle under the walls of the Messapian city of Manduria in 338 BC.[14]
In 333 BC, Tarentum called Alexander I of Epirus to help them in their war with their Lucani. Alexander defeated the Messapii. He died in a battle against the Lucani in 330 BC.[15]
After the campaign of Alexander I, the Messapii switched allegiance. They allied with Tarentum and Cleonymus of Sparta, who campaigned in the region in 303–02 BC to help Tarentum against, again, the Lucani.[16]
Conquest by the Roman Republic
During the
During the Pyrrhic Wars (280–275 BC), the Messapii sided with Tarentum and
In 272 BC, the Romans captured Tarentum. In 267 BC, Rome conquered the Messapii and
This city became Rome's port for sailing to the eastern Mediterranean. Subsequently, the Messapii were rarely mentioned in the historical record. They became Romanised.During
Language and writing
The
The language became extinct following the Roman conquest of the region,[23] which began during the late 4th century BC.[27] It has been preserved in about 300 inscriptions written in the Greek alphabet and dating from the 6th to the 1st century BC.[22]
Geography
Messapia was relatively urbanized and more densely populated compared to the rest of Iapygia. It possessed 26–28 walled settlements, while the remainder of Iapygia had 30–35 more dispersed walled settlements. The Messapian population has been estimated at 120,000 to 145,000 people before the Roman conquest.[28] The main Messapic cities included:
- Alytia (Alezio)
- Brundisium/Brentesion (Brindisi)
- Cavallino
- Hodrum/Idruntum (Otranto)
- Hyria/Orria (Oria)
- Kaìlia (Ceglie Messapica)
- Manduria
- Mesania (Mesagne)
- Neriton (Nardò)
- Rudiae (outside Lecce)
- Mios/Myron (Muro Leccese)
- Thuria Sallentina (Roca Vecchia)
- Uzentum (Ugento)
Other Messapic settlements have been discovered near Francavilla Fontana, San Vito dei Normanni and in Vaste (Poggiardo).
See also
- Ancient Italic peoples
- Messapian pottery
- Messapian shepherds
- Opis of Messapia
Footnotes
- ^ Carpenter, Lynch & Robinson 2014, p. 2, 18 and 38.
- ^ Carpenter, Lynch & Robinson 2014, p. 38–39.
- ^ Carpenter, Lynch & Robinson 2014, p. 46.
- ^ Strabo 1924, 6.3.5.
- ^ Colafemmina 2012, p. 1.
- ^ Carpenter, Lynch & Robinson 2014, p. 40.
- ^ Matzinger 2014, pp. 1–2.
- ^ Marchesini 2020, p. 496.
- ^ Baliu 2012, p. 68.
- ^ Maggiulli, Sull'origine dei Messapi, 1934; D’Andria, Messapi e Peuceti, 1988; I Messapi, Taranto 1991
- ^ Kathryn Lomas, "Cities, states and ethnic identity in southeast Italy" E. Herring and K. Lomas (eds), The Emergence of State Identities in Italy in the First Millennium BC (London, 2000).
- ISBN 0-415-03463-9, p. 85. "...from Illyrians, known as Iapyges, who settled first in the heel of Italy and then spread north..."
- ^ Herodotus, The Histories, 7. 170
- ^ Diodoro Siculus, Library of History, 16.63
- ^ Arrian of Nicomedia, The Anabasis of Alexander, 3.6
- ^ Diodorus Siculus, The Library of History, 12.4
- ^ Plutarch, Parallel Lives, The life of Pyrrhus, 13.5–6, 15.4–5
- ^ Dionysius of Halicarnassus, Roman Antiquities, 20.1.1–6, 8
- ^ Zonaras, Extracts of History, 8.7
- ^ Florus, Epitome of Roman History, 15
- ^ West 2007, p. 15...To these can be added a larger body of inscriptions from south-east Italy in the Messapic language, which is generally considered to be Illyrian...
- ^ a b Mallory & Adams 1997, pp. 378f.
- ^ a b Carpenter, Lynch & Robinson 2014, p. 18.
- ^ Woodard 2008, p. 11...A linking of the two languages, Illyrian and Messapic must however remain a linguistically unverifiable hypothesis..
- ^ Trumper 2018, p. 385: "Overall, the complex of Albanian dialects remains a solid block of the Albanoid group still relatable with Messapic (observed in place naming in Apulia: some towns have no etymon outside Albanoid sources, for example in toponyms such as Manduria)."
- )
- S2CID 159745099.
- ^ Yntema 2008, p. 383.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Matzinger 2016, p. 20.
References
- Baliu, Begzad (2012). Onomastikë dhe identitet [Onomastics and Identity] (PDF) (in Albanian). Era. ISBN 978-9951-04-071-6.
- Carpenter, T. H.; Lynch, K. M.; Robinson, E. G. D., eds. (2014). The Italic People of Ancient Apulia: New Evidence from Pottery for Workshops, Markets, and Customs. New York City, New York: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 9781139992701.
- Colafemmina, Cesare (2012). The Jews in Calabria. Leiden, The Netherlands: Brill. ISBN 9789004234123.
- Lamboley, Jean-Luc (2002). "Territoire et société chez les Messapiens". Revue belge de Philologie et d'Histoire. 80 (1): 51–72. .
- ISBN 978-1-884964-98-5, (EIEC)
- Marchesini, Simona (2020). "Messapico". Palaeohispanica (in Italian) (20): 495–530. ISSN 1578-5386.
- Matzinger, Joachim (2014), Einführung ins Messapische (in German), Vienna
{{citation}}
: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link) - Matzinger, Joachim (2016). Die Altbalkanischen Sprachen (PDF) (Thesis). Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München - Fakultät Albanologie.
- Trumper, John (2018). "Some Celto-Albanian isoglosses and their implications". In Grimaldi, Mirko; Lai, Rosangela; Franco, Ludovico; Baldi, Benedetta (eds.). Structuring Variation in Romance Linguistics and Beyond: In Honour of Leonardo M. Savoia. John Benjamins Publishing Company. p. 385. ISBN 9789027263179.
- ISBN 978-0199280759.
- Woodard, Roger D. (2008). The Ancient Languages of Europe. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-1-139-46932-6.
- Yntema, Douwe (2008). "Polybius and the Field Survey Evidence of Apulia". In de Ligt, Luuk; Northwood, Simon (eds.). People, Land, and Politics: Demographic Developments and the Transformation of Roman Italy, 300 BC–AD 14. Leiden, The Netherlands: Brill. ISBN 9789047424499.
Primary
- ISBN 9780674992016.
Further reading
- van Dijk, Willemijn (2010). "Tribale tradities en de beleving van het verleden Messapische cultusplaatsen in de 6de tot 3de eeuw voor Christus". Tijdschrift voor Mediterrane Archeologie (in Dutch). 22 (43): 8–13.
- D'Andria, Francesco. "Greci ed indigeni in Iapigia". In: Modes de contacts et processus de transformation dans les sociétés anciennes. Actes du colloque de Cortone (24-30 mai 1981) Rome : École Française de Rome, 1983. pp. 287–297. (Publications de l'École française de Rome, 67) [www.persee.fr/doc/efr_0000-0000_1983_act_67_1_2465]
- Lamboley, Jean-Luc (1982). "Les hypogées indigènes apuliens". Mélanges de l'École française de Rome: Antiquité (in French). 94 (1): 91–148. .
- Lamboley, Jean-Luc (1996). Recherches sur les Messapiens, IVe-IIe siècle avant J.-C. Bibliothèque des Écoles françaises d'Athènes et de Rome (in French). Vol. 292. Rome: Ecole française de Rome. ISBN 2-7283-0360-6.
- Lamboley, Jean-Luc (2002). "Territoire et société chez les Messapiens". Revue belge de philologie et d'histoire. Antiquité - Oudheid (in French). 80 (1): 51–72. .
- Mastronuzzi, Giovanni & Ciuchini, Paolo. (2011). "Offerings and rituals in a Messapian holy place: Vaste, Piazza Dante (Puglia, Southern Italy)". In: World Archaeology. 43. 676-701. [DOI: 10.1080/00438243.2011.624773]
External links
- Civiltà messapica (in Italian)