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TheCarni (Greek: Καρνίοι) were a tribe of theEastern Alps inclassical antiquity ofCeltic language and culture,[1] settling in the mountains separatingNoricum andVenetia. They probably gave their name toCarso,Carnia,Carinthia, andCarniola.
They are usually considered aGaulish tribe,[2] although some associate them with theVenetic peoples, a group closely related to but probably distinct from theCelts.[3]
Their area of settlement isn't known with precision.Strabo confines them to the mountains, whilePtolemy assigns them two cities near theAdriatic coast.
They are likely eponymous of the regions ofCarnia,Carniola andCarinthia.[4]
The first historical date related to the arrival of the Carni in "Akileja" is 186 BC, when some 50,000 Carni, composed of armed men, women and children, descended towards the plains (in which they previously used to winter) and on a hill they founded a stable defensive settlement,Akileja.
Roman Republic troops forced the Carni back into the Alps, destroyed their settlement, and founded a Roman defensive settlement at the northeast boundary. The new settlement was namedAquileia, after the former Celtic name Akileja.The triumvirs that founded that settlement were Publius Scipio Nasica, Caius Flaminius, and Lucius Manlius Acidinus.
In order to stem the Roman expansion and to acquire the fertile and more hospitable plains, the Carni tried to form alliances with theHistrian, theIapydes, and theTaurisci Celts. As Rome, in turn, was more and more becoming aware of the impending danger coming from the Carni and as it wanted to accelerate its own expansion, it sent to the north-east the legions of consulMarcus Aemilius Scaurus, who finally defeated the Carni in the battle of 15 November 115 BC.
The Carni submitted to theRoman Republic in the 2nd century BC, accepting its commands and its concessions. They received then the permission to populate and colonize the plain between the Julian pre-Alps and theLivenza river they had already tried to occupy previously in conflict with both the Romans andVeneti.
In the meantime, Aquileia enlarged its importance. It became aMunicipium Romanum in 90 BC. It was an important commercial and hand-craft production centre. Also it was the main port on theAdriatic sea and a garrison settlement.
In Late Antiquity, under the pressure ofGermanic andSlavic peoples, the mountainous area populated by the Latinized Carni shrank gradually narrowing toCarnia and Friulian plains alone, and accepting migration contributions fromCarniola,Carinthia and from other areas of the Empire. The phenomenon probably stabilized under theLombards' domination of Friuli.
