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Italia (Roman province)

 
Italia (Roman Province)

 
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Italia (Roman province)
 
 
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Italia, under the Roman Republic
Roman Republic

The Roman Republic was the phase of the Ancient Rome characterized by a republican form of government; a period which began with the overthrow of the Roman Roman Kingdom, c....
 and later Empire
Roman Empire

The Roman Empire was the Roman Republic phase of the Ancient Rome, characterised by an autocracy form of government and large territorial holdings in Europe and around the Mediterranean....
, was the name of the Italian peninsula
Italian Peninsula

The Italian Peninsula or Apennine Peninsula is one of the three peninsulas of Southern Europe , spanning 1,000 km from the Po Valley in the north to the central Mediterranean Sea in the south....
.

Under the Republic and Augustan organization
During the Republic, Italia (which extended at the time from Rubicon
Rubicon

Rubicon is a 29 km long river in northern Italy.The river flows from the Apennine Mountains to the Adriatic Sea through the southern Emilia-Romagna region between the towns of Rimini and Cesena....
 to Calabria
Calabria

Calabria , is a Regions of Italy in Southern Italy Italy, south of Naples, located at the "toe" of the Italian peninsula. It is bounded to the north by the region of Basilicata, to the south-west by the region of Sicily, to the west by the Tyrrhenian Sea, and to the east by the Ionian Sea....
) was not a province
Roman province

In Ancient Rome, a province was the basic, and until the Tetrarchy , largest territorial and administrative unit of the empire's territorial possessions outside of the Italia ....
, but rather the territory of the city of Rome
Rome

Rome is the capital city of Italy and Lazio, and is Italy's largest and most populous city, with 2,724,347 residents in an urban area of some ....
, thus having a special status: for example, military commanders were not allowed to bring their armies within Italia, and Julius Caesar
Julius Caesar

'Gaius Julius Caesar' , July 13, 100 BC ? March 15, 44 BC,) was a Roman Republic military and political leader. He played a critical role in the transformation of the Roman Republic into the Roman Empire....
 passing the Rubicon with his legions marked the start of the civil war.

The name Italia covered a portion of Italy that changed through time.






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Part of Tabula Peutingeriana
Italia, under the Roman Republic
Roman Republic

The Roman Republic was the phase of the Ancient Rome characterized by a republican form of government; a period which began with the overthrow of the Roman Roman Kingdom, c....
 and later Empire
Roman Empire

The Roman Empire was the Roman Republic phase of the Ancient Rome, characterised by an autocracy form of government and large territorial holdings in Europe and around the Mediterranean....
, was the name of the Italian peninsula
Italian Peninsula

The Italian Peninsula or Apennine Peninsula is one of the three peninsulas of Southern Europe , spanning 1,000 km from the Po Valley in the north to the central Mediterranean Sea in the south....
.

Under the Republic and Augustan organization


During the Republic, Italia (which extended at the time from Rubicon
Rubicon

Rubicon is a 29 km long river in northern Italy.The river flows from the Apennine Mountains to the Adriatic Sea through the southern Emilia-Romagna region between the towns of Rimini and Cesena....
 to Calabria
Calabria

Calabria , is a Regions of Italy in Southern Italy Italy, south of Naples, located at the "toe" of the Italian peninsula. It is bounded to the north by the region of Basilicata, to the south-west by the region of Sicily, to the west by the Tyrrhenian Sea, and to the east by the Ionian Sea....
) was not a province
Roman province

In Ancient Rome, a province was the basic, and until the Tetrarchy , largest territorial and administrative unit of the empire's territorial possessions outside of the Italia ....
, but rather the territory of the city of Rome
Rome

Rome is the capital city of Italy and Lazio, and is Italy's largest and most populous city, with 2,724,347 residents in an urban area of some ....
, thus having a special status: for example, military commanders were not allowed to bring their armies within Italia, and Julius Caesar
Julius Caesar

'Gaius Julius Caesar' , July 13, 100 BC ? March 15, 44 BC,) was a Roman Republic military and political leader. He played a critical role in the transformation of the Roman Republic into the Roman Empire....
 passing the Rubicon with his legions marked the start of the civil war.

The name Italia covered a portion of Italy that changed through time. According to Strabo
Strabo

Strabo was a Ancient Greeks history, geography and philosophy....
 (Geographia, ), at the beginning the name indicated the land between the strait of Messina
Strait of Messina

The Strait of Messina is the narrow section of water between the eastern tip of Sicily and the southern tip of Calabria in the south of Italy....
 and the line connecting the gulf of Salerno
Salerno

Salerno is a town in southern Italy, capital of the Province of Salerno of the same name, in the region of Campania. It is located on the Gulf of Salerno on the Tyrrhenian Sea....
 and gulf of Taranto
Gulf of Taranto

The Gulf of Taranto is a gulf of the Ionian Sea, in southern Italy.The Gulf of Taranto is almost square, 140 km long and wide, and is delimited by the capes Santa Maria di Leuca and Colonna ....
; later Italia was extended to include the whole Italian peninsula, as well as the Istria
Istria

File:Istria Croatian Adriatic.pngIstria , formerly Histria , is the largest peninsula in the Adriatic Sea. The peninsula is located at the head of the Adriatic between the Gulf of Trieste and the Bay of Kvarner....
n town of Colonia Pietas Iulia (Pola)
Pula

Pula is the largest city in Istria County, Croatia, situated at the southern tip of the Istria peninsula, with a population of 62,080 .Like the rest of the region, it is known for its mild climate, tame sea, and unspoiled nature....
; finally, Julius Caesar gave Roman citizenship to the people of the Gallia Transpadana— that part of Cisalpine Gaul
Cisalpine Gaul

Cisalpine Gaul was the Roman name for a geographical area , in the territory of modern-day northern Italy , inhabited by the Celts. Sometimes referred to as Gallia Citerior , Provincia Ariminum, or Gallia Togata ....
 that lay "beyond the Po"—, thus extending Italia up to the Alps.

With the end of the Social war (2nd century BC), Rome allowed the Italian allies to enter with full rights in the Roman society, giving the Roman citizenship to all the Italic peoples.

At the beginning of the Empire, Italia was a collection of territories with different statuses. Some cities, called municipii
Municipium

A municipium belonged to the second highest Social class of Ancient Rome cities, being inferior in status to the colonia . The first municipium was Tusculum....
, had some independence from Rome, others, the colonies, were founded by the Romans themselves. Around 7 BC, Augustus Caesar divided Italia into eleven regiones, as reported by Pliny the Elder
Pliny the Elder

Gaius Plinius Secundus , better known as Pliny the Elder, was an ancient author, naturalist or natural philosopher and naval and military commander of some importance who wrote Natural History ....
 in his Naturalis Historia ():

  • Regio I Latium et Campania
  • Regio II Apulia et Calabria
  • Regio III Lucania et Brutii
  • Regio IV Samnium
  • Regio V Picenum
  • Regio VI Umbria et Ager Gallicus
    Roman Umbria

    The Roman region of Umbria, Regio VI Umbria et ager Gallicus, was one of the eleven regions into which Augustus divided Italy; it is named after a proto-Italic people, the Umbri, who were gradually subjugated by the Romans in the 4th through the 2nd centuries BC....
  • Regio VII Etruria
  • Regio VIII Aemilia
  • Regio IX Liguria
  • Regio X Venetia et Histria
  • Regio XI Transpadana


The Italian "province" was privileged by Augustus and his heirs, with the construction, among other public structures, of a dense mesh of roads. The Italian economy flourished: agriculture, handicraft and industry had a sensible growth, allowing the export of goods to the other provinces. The Italian population grew as well: Three census were ordered by Augustus, to record the presence of male citizens in Italia. They were 4,063,000 in 28 BC, 4,233,000 in 8 BC, and 4,937,000 in AD 14. Including the women and the children, the total population of Italia at the beginning of the 1st century was around 10 million.

Italia in 2nd and 3rd centuries


Sesterius Antoninus Pius Italia Ric 0746a
When Roman citizenship was given to all the Empire, the Italian province started its decline, in favour of richer provinces. Furthermore, Italia suffered from the attacks of barbarian tribes, which happened at the end of the 3rd century (see Crisis of the third century
Crisis of the Third Century

Crisis of the Third Century was the crumbling and near collapse of the Roman Empire between 235 and 284 caused by invasion, civil war, Plague of Cyprian, and economic collapse....
 and Barracks emperor
Barracks emperor

A Barracks emperor was a Roman Emperor who seized power by virtue of his command of the army. Barracks emperors were especially common in the period from 235 through 284, during the Crisis of the Third Century....
s).

Diocletian
Diocletian

Gaius Aurelius Valerius Diocletianus , born Diocles and commonly known as Diocletian , was Roman Emperor from November 20, 284 to May 1, 305....
 divided the Empire into four parts (dioceses). The diocesis Italiae, ruled by the Augustus of the West
Western Roman Empire

The Western Roman Empire refers to the western half of the Roman Empire, from its division by Diocletian in 285; the other half of the Roman Empire was the Eastern Roman Empire, today widely known as the Byzantine Empire....
, was divided into two zones, each divided into smaller territories held by corrector
Corrector

A corrector is a person who or object that practices correction, usually by removing or rectifying errors.The word is originally a Roman title corrector, derived from the Latin verb corrigere, meaning "an action to rectify, to make right a wrong."...
es:
  • Italia suburbicaria ("under the government of Rome")
    • Tuscia et Umbria
    • Valeria
    • Campania et Samnium
    • Apulia et Calabria
    • Sicilia
    • Sardinia et Corsica
  • Italia annonaria, with capital Mediolanum
    Mediolanum

    Mediolanum, the ancient Milan, was an important Celts and then Ancient Rome centre of northern Italy. This article charts the history of the city from its settlement by the Insubres around 600 BC, through its conquest by the Ancient Rome and its development into a key centre of Western Christianity and capital of the Western Roman Empire, un...
     (Milan
    Milan

    Milan is the second largest city of Italy, located in the plains of Lombardy. It is the capital in the Province of Milan, as well as the Regions of Italy capital of Lombardy....
    )
    • Venetia et Histria
    • Aemilia et Liguria
    • Flaminia et Picenum
    • Raetia
      Raetia

      File:REmpire Rhetia.pngRaetia was a Roman province of the Roman Empire, bounded on the west by the country of the Helvetii, on the east by Noricum, on the north by Vindelicia, and on the south by Cisalpine Gaul....
    • Alpes Cottiae
      Alpes Cottiae

      Alpes Cottiae was a Roman province of the Roman Empire, one of three small provinces straddling the Alps between modern France and Italy. Its name survives in the modern Cottian Alps....
The former Italian regions of Alpes Poenninae
Alpes Poenninae

Alpes Poeninae was a province of the Roman Empire. It is believed that this is where Hannibal crossed the Alps, therefore resulting in Poeninae ....
 and Alpes Maritimae
Alpes Maritimae

Alpes Maritimae was a Roman province of the Roman Empire, one of three small provinces straddling the Alps between modern France and Italy. Founded in 14 BC by Augustus, its capital was Cemenelum, now Cimiez in the city of Nice, France....
 become part of the Diocesis Galliarum.

Italia in 4th and 5th centuries


When the barbarians became the most important problem, the Emperors
Roman Emperor

The Roman Emperor was the ruler of the Roman Empire during the imperial period . The Romans had no single term for the office: Latin language titles such as imperator , Augustus , Caesar and princeps were all associated with it....
 were obliged to move out of Rome, and even in other provinces, thus increasing even more the decline of Italia. In 330, Constantine I
Constantine I

Flavius Valerius Aurelius Constantinus , commonly known in English_language as Constantine I, Constantine the Great, or Saint Constantine , was Roman Emperor from 306, and the undisputed holder of that office from 324 until his death in 337....
 moved the capital of the empire to Constantinople
Constantinople

Constantinople was the empire capital of the Roman Empire , the Byzantine Empire , the Latin Empire , and the Ottoman Empire . Strategically located between the Golden Horn and the Sea of Marmara at the point where Europe meets Asia, Byzantine Constantinople had been the capital of a Christendom empire, successor to ancient ancient Greece...
, with the imperial court, economical administration, as well as the military structures (as the fleets
Roman Navy

The Roman Navy comprised the naval forces of the Roman state. Although the navy was instrumental in the Roman conquest of the Mediterranean Sea basin, it never enjoyed the prestige of the Roman legions....
 of Misenum
Misenum

Misenum is the site of an ancient port in Campania, in southern Italy. It is located on a cape on the northwest end of the Bay of Naples, at modern Miseno....
 and Ravenna
Ravenna

Ravenna is a city and comune in the Emilia-Romagna region of Italy. The city is inland, but is connected to the Adriatic Sea by a canal. Ravenna once served as the seat of the Western Roman Empire and later the Ostrogoths and the Exarchate of Ravenna....
).

After the death of emperor Theodosius
Theodosius I

Flavius Theodosius , also called Theodosius I and Theodosius the Great , was Roman Emperor from 379 to 395. Reuniting the eastern and western portions of the empire, Theodosius was the last emperor of both the Eastern Roman Empire and Western Roman Empire....
 (395), Italia became part of the Western Roman Empire
Western Roman Empire

The Western Roman Empire refers to the western half of the Roman Empire, from its division by Diocletian in 285; the other half of the Roman Empire was the Eastern Roman Empire, today widely known as the Byzantine Empire....
. Then came the years of the barbarian invasions, and the capital was moved from Mediolanum
Mediolanum

Mediolanum, the ancient Milan, was an important Celts and then Ancient Rome centre of northern Italy. This article charts the history of the city from its settlement by the Insubres around 600 BC, through its conquest by the Ancient Rome and its development into a key centre of Western Christianity and capital of the Western Roman Empire, un...
 to Ravenna (402). Alaric
Alaric

Alaric is a Germanic name.Alaric may also refer to:In history:* Alaric I king of Visigoths / Barbarian general in the Roman army. Sacked Rome in 410 CE...
, king of Visigoth
Visigoth

The Visigoths were one of two main branches of the Goths, an East Germanic tribe, the Ostrogoths being the other. Together these tribes were among the barbarians who disturbed the late Roman Empire during the Migration Period....
s, sacked Rome itself in 403; something that hadn't happened for seven centuries. Northern Italia was attacked by Attila's Huns
Huns

The Huns were a confederation of Central Asian Eurasian nomads or semi-nomads, who had established an empire in Eurasia. The Huns may have stimulated the Migration Period, a contributing factor in the collapse of the Roman Empire....
, and Rome was sacked again by the Visigoths under the command of Alaric I
Alaric I

Alaric I , was likely born about 370 on an Peuce Island at the mouth of the Danube. He was king of the Visigoths from 395–410 and the first Germanic peoples leader to take the city of Rome....
 in 410.

According to Notitia Dignitatum
Notitia Dignitatum

The Notitia Dignitatum is a unique document of the Ancient Rome imperial chanceries. One of the very few surviving documents of Roman government, it details the administrative organisation of the eastern and western Roman empires, listing several thousand offices from the imperial court down to the provincial level....
, a compilation of public civil and military officers that is considered updated to 420s for the western part of the Roman Empire, Italia was governed by a prefectus, Prefectus praetorio Italiae (who governed Italia, Illyricum
Illyricum

Illyricum can refer to:* Illyricum * Diocese of Illyricum* Praetorian prefecture of Illyricum...
 and Africa), one vicarius, and one comes rei militaris. The regions were governed by eight consulares (Venetiae et Histriae, Aemiliae, Liguriae, Flaminiae et Piceni annonarii, Tusciae et Umbriae, Piceni suburbicarii, Campaniae, and Siciliae), two correctores (Apuliae et Calabriae and Lucaniae et Bruttiorum) and four praesides (Alpium Cottiarum, Samnii, Sardiniae, and Corsicae).

With the Emperors controlled by their barbarian generals, the imperial government weakly controlled Italia, whose coasts were continuously under attack. In 476, with the death of Romulus Augustus and the return of the imperial ensigns to Constantinoples, the Western Roman Empire ends; for few decades Italia stayed united first under Odoacer
Odoacer

Odoacer , also known as Odovacar , was a Germanic general and the first non-Roman King of Italy after 476. He deposed the last Western Roman Emperor, Romulus Augustus, that year, but continued to rule first as a nominal client of Julius Nepos and, after Nepos' death in AD 480, as a client of the Eastern Roman Emperor....
 rule, then under the Ostrogoths and the Byzantine
Byzantine Empire

Byzantine Empire and Eastern Roman Empire are conventional names used to describe the Roman Empire during the Middle Ages, centered on its capital of Constantinople....
s, but after the Lombard
Lombards

The Lombards were a Germanic peoples originally from Northern Europe who settled in the valley of the Danube and from there invaded Byzantine Italian peninsula in 568 under the leadership of Alboin....
 invasion it was divided between several kingdoms, and would not be re-united for another thirteen centuries.

See also

  • History of Italy during Roman times
    History of Italy during Roman times

    This is an overview of the history of Italy during Roman times....
  • Italus
    Italus

    Italus was a legendary king of the Sicels or Oenotrians, who were among the earliest inhabitants of Italy. In his Fabularum Liber , Gaius Julius Hyginus recorded the myth that Italus was a son of Penelope and Telegonus....


External links

  • , poem by Rutilius Claudius Namatianus
    Rutilius Claudius Namatianus

    Rutilius Claudius Namatianus was a ancient Rome poet, notable as the author of a Latin poem, De Reditu Suo, in elegiac metre, describing a coastal voyage from Rome to Gaul in 416....
    , at The Latin Library
    The Latin Library

    The Latin Library is a website that collects public domain Latin texts. The texts have been drawn from different sources. Many were originally scanned and formatted from texts in the Public Domain....
    , describing the decadence of Italia and Rome around 410.