TheAborigines inRoman mythology are the oldest inhabitants of centralItaly, connected in legendary history withAeneas,Latinus andEvander. They were supposed to have descended from their mountain home nearReate (an ancientSabine town) uponLatium, where they expelled theSicels and subsequently settled down asLatini under a KingLatinus.[1][2]
The most generally accepted etymology of theLatin word aborigines is that it derives fromab origine, according to which they were theoriginal inhabitants of the country, althoughCato the Elder regarded them asHellenic immigrants, not as a native Italian people.[3] For this reason, scholars have argued that the word actually has a pre-Latin origin, which has been lost, andab origine is an example ofetymological reinterpretation.[4]
Other etymological explanations suggested arearborigines, meaning "tree-born," andaberrigines, meaning "nomads".Lycophron calls a people of central ItalyBoreigonoi, meaning "Boreal people".[5]
The Aborigines were possibly descendants of thePelasgians, the original inhabitants of Greece and surrounding regions,[1][6] or, more precisely, descendants of theOenotrians, a tribe descended fromPelasgus byOenotrus, son ofLycaon, primeval king of Arcadia.[7] Their earliest known home wasReate, an ancientSabine town to the north-east ofLatium nearCarseoli.[2] These Aborigines were driven from their mountain home by the Sabines and settled on the riverAnio.[1] TheSicels, who inhabited Latium at the time, gave way to the Aborigines, and a portion of them emigrated to Sicily, providing the origin for the island's name.[1] The emigration of the Sicels to Sicily is said to have taken place in either 1264 BC[8] or 1035 BC (Thucydides).[1]
The remaining Siculians joined with the Aborigines eventually becoming the people known asPrisci Latini (meaningold Latins), that isPrisci et Latini, or simplyLatini.[1] The Aborigines did not becomeLatini until the reign of their king, Latinus, from whom the Romans attributed their name. This was after the arrival of theTrojans withAeneas in the aftermath of theTrojan War.[9]
The following list is based onDionysius of Halicarnassus.[10][11]
All of these cities are claimed to have been taken from theUmbrians.[12] InLatium itself the Aborigines had the citiesAntemnae,Caenina,Ficulnea,Tellenae, andTibur some of which Dionysius attests were taken from theSiculians.[11][13]
This article incorporates text from a publication now in thepublic domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Aborigines".Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press.