The ancient Italic people are all those peoples that lived in Italy (including the islands of Sicily and Sardinia) before the Roman domination. Not all of these various peoples are linguistically or ethnically closely related. Some of them spoke Italic languages, others spoke Greek because of the arrival of Hellenic colonists, while others belonged to [...]

The Ligurians, or Ligures, were an ancient people who inhabited the Italic peninsula since approximately the 12th century BC. Their origin is not known. The region they lived in stretched from Northern Italy into southern Gaul, comprising what is today northern Tuscany, and parts of Piedmont, Emilia-Romagna, Lombardy, Switzerland, Austria, Bavaria, and southern France. The Ligurians called [...]

The Latins were an Indoeuropean ancient people who migrated into Italy between the 11th and 10th centuries BC, finally settling in central Italy, in the Latium region, at the beginning of the 9th century BC. The Latins lived in independent city-states, had common religious beliefs, and a close sense of kinship, expressed in the myth that they [...]

The Oscans were an Indo-european people who settled in Southern Italy between the 10th and 9th centuries BC. From the 8th century on, they inhabited a region lying between Latium and Campania. They were related to the Samnites, who also spoke Oscan. As they were farmers, the Oscans first clashed with the Etruscans for possession of land in [...]

The Sabines were one of several Italic peoples of Indo-european origin. Between the 11th and 10th centuries BC they migrated into the Italic peninsula, settling in the central Appennines. The Sabines were the Latins’ neighbors, inhabiting also Latium north of the Anio before the founding of Rome. The language spoken by the Sabines belonged to [...]

The Etruscans were an ancient people who settled in the central and northern regions of the Italic peninsula between 10th and 9th centuries BC, establishing a flourishing civilization, which influenced on the later development of the Roman civilization. The most important Etruscan cities lay in the region between the Apennines and the River Tiber. This [...]