Marrucini
Encyclopedia
The Marrucini were an ancient tribe which occupied a small strip of territory around the ancient Teate (modern Chieti
), on the east coast of Abruzzo
, Italy
, limited by the Aterno and Foro Rivers. Other Marrucini centers included Ceio (San Valentino in Abruzzo Citeriore
), Iterpromium (whose ruins are under the Abbey of San Clemente at Casauria), Civitas Danzica (Rapino
), and the port of Aternum (Pescara
), shared with the Vestini
.
, and it entered the Roman Alliance as a separate unit at the end of that war (see further Paeligni
).
nian date.
The form of the name is of considerable interest, as it shows the suffix -NO- superimposed upon the suffix -CO-, a change which probably indicates some conquest of an earlier tribe by the invading Safins (or Sabini).
Chieti
Chieti is a city and comune in Central Italy, 200 km northeast of Rome. It is the capital of the Province of Chieti in the Abruzzo region...
), on the east coast of Abruzzo
Abruzzo
Abruzzo is a region in Italy, its western border lying less than due east of Rome. Abruzzo borders the region of Marche to the north, Lazio to the west and south-west, Molise to the south-east, and the Adriatic Sea to the east...
, Italy
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
, limited by the Aterno and Foro Rivers. Other Marrucini centers included Ceio (San Valentino in Abruzzo Citeriore
San Valentino in Abruzzo Citeriore
San Valentino in Abruzzo Citeriore is a mountain hill town in the province of Pescara, part of the Abruzzo region in central Italy.The town's name comes from St...
), Iterpromium (whose ruins are under the Abbey of San Clemente at Casauria), Civitas Danzica (Rapino
Rapino
Rapino is a comune and town in the Province of Chieti in the Abruzzo region of Italy....
), and the port of Aternum (Pescara
Pescara
Pescara is the capital city of the Province of Pescara, in the Abruzzo region of Italy. As of January 1, 2007 it was the most populated city within Abruzzo at 123,059 residents, 400,000 with the surrounding metropolitan area...
), shared with the Vestini
Vestini
Vestini is the Roman exonym for an ancient Italic tribe that occupied the area of the modern Abruzzo included between the Gran Sasso and the northern bank of the Aterno river...
.
History
The tribe is first mentioned in history as a member of a confederacy with which the Romans came into conflict in the second Samnite War, 325 BC325 BC
Year 325 BC was a year of the pre-Julian Roman calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Camillus and Scaeva...
, and it entered the Roman Alliance as a separate unit at the end of that war (see further Paeligni
Paeligni
The Paeligni or Peligni were an Italic people who lived in the Valle Peligna, in what is now Abruzzo, central Italy.-History:The Paeligni are first mentioned as a member of a confederacy which included the Marsi, Marrucini and Vestini, with which the Romans came into conflict in the Second Samnite...
).
Language
Something of the language of the Marrucini is known from an inscription known as the "Bronze of Rapino" or Tabula Rapinensis, which belongs to about the middle of the 3rd century BC (now in a Russian museum). It is written in Latin alphabet, but in a dialect which belongs to the North Oscan group. The name of the city or tribe which it gives us is touta marouca, and it mentions also a citadel with the epithet tarincris. Several of its linguistic features, both in vocabulary and in syntax, are of considerable interest to the student of Latin or Italic grammar (e.g. the use of the subjunctive, without any conjunction, to express purpose, a clause prescribing a sacrifice to Ceres being followed immediately by pacr si ut propitia sit). The earliest Latin inscriptions are of CiceroCicero
Marcus Tullius Cicero , was a Roman philosopher, statesman, lawyer, political theorist, and Roman constitutionalist. He came from a wealthy municipal family of the equestrian order, and is widely considered one of Rome's greatest orators and prose stylists.He introduced the Romans to the chief...
nian date.
The form of the name is of considerable interest, as it shows the suffix -NO- superimposed upon the suffix -CO-, a change which probably indicates some conquest of an earlier tribe by the invading Safins (or Sabini).