Bruttians

Occupying originally the mountains and hills of modern Calabria, they were the southernmost branch of the Osco-Umbrian Italic tribes, and were ultimately descended from the Samnites through the process of ver sacrum.

[8] It was included by Augustus in the Third Region (Regio III), together with Lucania; and the two provinces appear to have continued united for most administrative purposes until the fall of the Roman Empire, and were governed conjointly by a magistrate termed a Corrector.

This name remained unchanged even after the fall of the Western Roman Empire until from 650 AD the northern area under the direct control of the Lombards is indicated as Bruttium or Brettia in Byzantine documents.

The land occupied by the Bruttii was inhabited in the earliest times by the Oenotrians, a native Italic tribe whose name refers to winemaking, of which the Conii and Morgetes appear to have been subordinate divisions.

[11] The main wealth of Bruttium came from its forests especially in the conifers of the Sila mountains which provided shelter for grazing cattle and were a source of timber and pitch,[12] used for waterproofing in shipbuilding or for terracotta containers, for sealing the lids of dolia (vessels) for food products, and also used in medicine or cosmetics.

In the course of the 4th century a great change took place; the Lucanians (an Oscan people), who had been gradually extending their conquests towards the south, and had already made themselves masters of the northern parts of Oenotria, now pressed forwards into the Bruttian peninsula, and established their dominion over the interior of that country and many of the Greek outposts.

The wars of the latter as well as of his father with the Greek cities in southern Italy and the state of confusion and weakness to which these were reduced in consequence, probably contributed in a great degree to pave the way for the rise of the Bruttian power.

The Bruttii are represented by some ancient authors as a congregation of rebellious natives;[14] Justin describes them as headed by 500 youths of Lucanian origin who joined the shepherds living in the forests together with other predecessor Italic tribes from the area, not just the Oenotrians, but also the Ausones, Mamertines and Sicels.

[16] A recent proposal is that the majority of the Brettii descended from indigenous populations of protohistoric tradition, of whom we have inscriptions in the Achaean alphabet and in the Paleo-Italic language across almost the entire territory of present-day Calabria.

[21] The latter applied for assistance to Alexander, king of Epirus, who crossed over into Italy with an army, and carried on the war for several successive campaigns, during which he reduced Heraclea, Consentia, and Terina; but finally perished in a battle against the combined forces of the Lucanians and Bruttii, near Pandosia, 326 BC.

[22] They next had to contend against the arms of Agathocles of Syracuse, who ravaged their coasts with his fleets, took the city of Hipponium, which he converted into a strong fortress and naval station, and compelled the Bruttians to conclude a disadvantageous peace.

After repeated campaigns and successive triumphs of the Roman generals, Gaius Fabricius Luscinus and Lucius Papirius, the Bruttii were finally reduced to submission, and compelled to purchase peace by the surrender of one-half of the great forest of Sila, so valuable for its pitch and timber.

The physical character of the country rendered it necessarily a military position of the greatest strength: and after the defeat and death of Hasdrubal Hannibal himself put forces into some Bruttian territory, where he continued to maintain his ground against the Roman generals.

Meanwhile, the Romans, though avoiding any decisive engagement, were continually gaining ground on him by the successive reduction of towns and fortresses, so that very few of these remained in the hands of the Carthaginian general when he was finally recalled from Italy.

From Hannibal's departure towards Africa, measures adopted by the Romans under Caepio to punish them completed their romanisation and the ravages of so many successive campaigns inflicted a severe blow upon the prosperity of Bruttium.

In the last quarter of the 2nd century BC the Via Popilia[38] was opened which took on the role of backbone, not only military and political but also economic, of Romanisation and added to the existing Ionian and Tyrrhenian coastal routes which perhaps were restored and improved.

[39][40] During the Civil Wars the coasts of Bruttium were repeatedly laid waste by the fleets of Sextus Pompeius, and witnessed several conflicts between the latter and those of Octavian, who had established the headquarters both of his army and navy at Vibo.