Early European History Part 29

SICILY

The triangular-shaped island of Sicily is separated from Italy by the strait of Messina, a channel which, at the narrowest part, is only two miles wide. At one time Sicily must have been joined to the mainland. Its mountains, which rise at their highest point in the majestic volcano of Aetna, nearly eleven thousand feet above sea level, are a continuation of those of Italy. The greater part of Sicily is remarkably productive, containing rich grainfields and hillsides green with the olive and the vine. Lying in the center of the Mediterranean and in the direct route of merchants and colonists from every direction, Sicily has always been a meeting place of nations. In antiquity Greeks, Carthaginians, and Romans contended for the possession of this beautiful island.

INFLUENCE OF GEOGRAPHICAL CONDITIONS

On Italian history, as on that of Greece, [2] we are able to trace the profound influence of geographical conditions. In the first place, the peninsula of Italy is not cut up by a tangle of mountains into many small districts. Hence it was easier for the Italians, than for the Greeks, to establish one large and united state. In the second place, Italy, which has few good harbors but possesses fine mountain pastures and rich lowland plains, was better adapted to cattle raising and agriculture than was Greece. The Italian peoples, in consequence, instead of putting to sea, remained a conservative, home-staying folk, who were slow to adopt the customs of other nations. Finally, the location of Italy, with its best harbors and most numerous islands on the western coast, brought that country into closer touch with Gaul, Spain, and northwestern Africa than with Greece and the Orient. Italy fronted the barbarous West.

48. THE PEOPLES OF ITALY

NEIGHBORS OF THE ROMANS

Long before the Romans built their city by the Tiber every part of Italy had become the home of wandering peoples, attracted by the mild climate and rich soil of this favored land. Two of these peoples were neighbors of the Romans--Etruscans on the north and Greeks on the south.

THE ETRUSCANS

The ancestors of the historic Etruscans were probably Aegean sea-rovers who settled in the Italian peninsula before the beginning of the eighth century B.C. The immigrants mingled with the natives and by conquest and colonization founded a strong power in the country to which they gave their name--Etruria. At one time the Etruscans appear to have ruled over Campania and also in the Po Valley as far as the Alps. Their colonies occupied the sh.o.r.es of Sardinia and Corsica. Their fleets swept the Tyrrhenian Sea. The Etruscans for several centuries were the leading nation in Italy.

[Ill.u.s.tration: A GRAECO-ETRUSCAN CHARIOT (Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York)

The chariot was discovered in 1903 A.D. in an Etruscan cemetery near Rome.

It dates from perhaps 600 B.C. Almost every part of the vehicle is covered with thin plates of bronze, elaborately decorated. The wheels are only two feet in diameter. Since the chariot is too small and delicate for use in warfare, we may believe it to have been intended for ceremonial purposes only.]

ETRUSCAN CIVILIZATION

These Etruscans, like the Hitt.i.tes of Asia Minor, [3] are a mysterious race. No one as yet has been able to read their language, which is quite unlike any Indo-European tongue. The words, however, are written in an alphabet borrowed from Greek settlers in Italy. Many other civilizing arts besides the alphabet came to the Etruscans from abroad. Babylonia gave to them the principle of the round arch and the practice of divination. [4]

Etruscan graves contain Egyptian seals adorned with hieroglyphics and beautiful vases bearing designs from Greek mythology. The Etruscans were skillful workers in iron, bronze, and gold. They built their cities with ma.s.sive walls, arched gates, paved streets, and underground drains. In the course of time a great part of this Etruscan civilization was absorbed in that of Rome.

[Ill.u.s.tration: AN ETRUSCAN ARCH The Italian city of Volterra still preserves in the Porta dell' Arco an interesting relic of Etruscan times. The archway, one of the original gates of the ancient town, is about twenty feet in height and twelve feet in width. On the keystone and imposts are three curious heads, probably representing the guardian deities of the place.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: CHARACTERS OF THE ETRUSCAN ALPHABET About eight thousand Etruscan inscriptions are known, almost all being short epitaphs on gravestones. In 1892 A.D. an Etruscan ma.n.u.script which had been used to pack an Egyptian mummy, was published, but the language could not be deciphered.]

THE GREEKS

As teachers of the Romans the Etruscans were followed by the Greeks. About the middle of the eighth century B.C. h.e.l.lenic colonies began to occupy the coasts of Sicily and southern Italy. The earliest Greek settlement was c.u.mae, near the bay of Naples. [5] It was a city as old as Rome itself, and a center from which Greek culture, including the Greek alphabet, spread to Latium. A glance at the map [6] shows that the chief Greek Colonies were all on or near the Sea, from Campania to the gulf of Tarentum. North of the "heel" of Italy extends an almost harborless coast, where nothing tempted the Greeks to settle. North of Campania, again, they found the good harbors already occupied by the Etruscans. The Greeks, in consequence, were never able to make Italy a completely h.e.l.lenic land.

Room was left for the native Italian peoples, under the leaders.h.i.+p of Rome, to build up their own power in the peninsula.

THE ITALIAN HIGHLANDERS

The Italians were an Indo-European people who spoke a language closely related, on the one side, to Greek and, on the other side, to the Celtic tongues of western Europe. They entered Italy through the Alpine pa.s.ses, long before the dawn of history, and gradually pushed southward until they occupied the interior of the peninsula. At the beginning of historic times they had separated into two main branches. The eastern and central parts of Italy formed the home of the highlanders, grouped in various tribes.

Among them were the Umbrians in the northeast, the Sabines in the upper valley of the Tiber, and the Samnites in the south. Still other Italian peoples occupied the peninsula as far as Magna Graecia.

THE LATINS

The western Italians were known as Latins. They dwelt in Latium, the "flat land" extending south of the Tiber between the Apennines and the Tyrrhenian Sea. Residence in the lowlands, where they bordered on the Etruscans, helped to make the Latins a civilized people. Their village communities grew into larger settlements, until the whole of Latium became filled with a number of independent city-states. The ties of kins.h.i.+p and the necessity of defense against Etruscan and Sabine foes bound them together. At a very early period they had united in the Latin League, under the heads.h.i.+p of Alba Longa. Another city in this league was Rome.

49. THE ROMANS

FOUNDING OF ROME

Rome sprang from a settlement of Latin shepherds, farmers, and traders on the Palatine Mount. [7] This was the central eminence in a group of low hills south of the Tiber, about fifteen miles by water from the river's mouth. Opposite the Palatine community there arose on the Quirinal Hill another settlement, which seems to have been an outpost of the Sabines.

After much hard fighting the rival hill towns united on equal terms into one state. The low marshy land between the Palatine and Quirinal became the Forum, or common market place, and the steep rock, known as the Capitoline, formed the common citadel. [8]

[Ill.u.s.tration: Map, VICINITY OF ROME.]

UNION OF THE SEVEN HILLS

The union of the Palatine and Quirinal settlements greatly increased the area and population of the Roman city. In course of time settlements were made on the neighboring hills and these, too, cast in their lot with Rome.

Then a fortification, the so-called "Wall of Servius," was built to bring them all within the boundaries of the enlarged community. Rome came into existence as the City of the Seven Hills.

MYTHS OF EARLY ROME

Long after the foundation of Rome, when that city had grown rich and powerful, her poets and historians delighted to relate the many myths which cl.u.s.tered about the earlier stages of her career. According to these myths Rome began as a colony of Alba Longa, the capital of Latium. The founder of this city was Ascanius, son of the Trojan prince Aeneas, who had escaped from Troy on its capture by the Greeks and after long wanderings had reached the coast of Italy. Many generations afterwards, when Numitor sat on the throne of Alba Longa, his younger brother, Amulius, plotted against him and drove him into exile. He had Numitor's son put to death, and forced the daughter, Rhea Silvia, to take the vows of a Vestal Virgin. [9]

[Ill.u.s.tration: AN EARLY ROMAN COIN Shows the twins, Romulus and Remus as infants suckled by a wolf.]

ROMULUS AND REMUS

But Rhea Silvia, beloved by Mars, the G.o.d of war, gave birth to twin boys of more than human size and beauty. The wicked Amulius ordered the children to be set adrift in a basket on the Tiber. Heaven, however, guarded these offspring of a G.o.d; the river cast them ash.o.r.e near Mount Palatine, and a she-wolf came and nursed them. There they were discovered by a shepherd, who reared them in his own household. When the twins, Romulus and Remus, reached manhood, they killed Amulius and restored their grandfather to his kingdom. With other young men from Alba Longa, they then set forth to build a new city on the Palatine, where they had been rescued. As they scanned the sky to learn the will of the G.o.ds, six vultures, birds of Jupiter, appeared to Remus; but twelve were seen by Romulus. So Romulus marked out the boundary of the city on the Palatine, and Remus, who in derision leaped over the half-finished wall, he slew in anger. Romulus thus became the sole founder of Rome and its first king.

SUCCESSORS OF ROMULUS

Romulus was followed by a Sabine, Numa Pompilius, who taught the Romans the arts of peace and the wors.h.i.+p of the G.o.ds. Another king destroyed Alba Longa and brought the inhabitants to Rome. The last of Rome's seven kings was an Etruscan named Tarquin the Proud. His tyranny finally provoked an uprising, and Rome became a republic.

SIGNIFICANCE OF THE MYTHS

These famous tales have become a part of the world's literature and still possess value to the student. They show us what the Romans themselves believed about the foundation and early fortunes of their city. Sometimes they refer to what seem to be facts, such as the first settlement on the Palatine, the union with the Sabines on the Quirinal, the conquest of Alba Longa, and Etruscan rule at Rome. The myths also contain so many references to customs and beliefs that they are a great help in understanding the social life and religion of the early Romans.

50. EARLY ROMAN SOCIETY

THE ROMANS AN AGRICULTURAL PEOPLE

Agriculture was the chief occupation of the Roman people. "When our forefathers," said an ancient writer, "would praise a worthy man, they praised him as a good farmer and a good landlord; and they believed that an praise could go no further." [10] Roman farmers raised large crops of grain--the staple product of ancient Italy. Cattle-breeding, also, must have been an important pursuit, since in early times prices were estimated in oxen and sheep. [11]

[Ill.u.s.tration: A ROMAN FARMER'S CALENDAR A marble cube, two feet high, of about 31-29 B.C.

The month of May, x.x.xI days, The nones fall on the 7th day.

The day has 19-1/2 hours.

The night has 9-1/2 hours The sun is in the sign of Taurus The month is under the protection of Apollo.

The corn is weeded The sheep are shorn The wool is washed Young steers are put under the yoke.

The vetch of the meadows is cut.

The l.u.s.tration of the crops is made.

Sacrifices to Mercury and Flora.]

ECONOMIC CONDITIONS

In such a community of peasants no great inequalities of wealth existed.