Italy Italia (Latin) | |||||||||
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.svg) Roman Empire at its greatest extent (c. 117 AD), with Italy in red and provinces in pink | |||||||||
| Capital | Rome: full-fledged until Diocletianic times, from then on mostly onlyde jure.Mediolanum andRavenna: Imperial residences;de facto capital in the Late Empire (of the whole Empire or only the Western part) | ||||||||
| Common languages | Latin | ||||||||
| Religion | Roman polytheism, followed byNicene-Chalcedonian Christianity | ||||||||
| Government | Mixed constitution | ||||||||
| Legislature | Senate and People of Rome | ||||||||
| Historical era | Classical Antiquity,Late Antiquity | ||||||||
| Population | |||||||||
• AD 1 | Estimates vary from 4 to 10 million (c. 1 million in Rome)[1][2] | ||||||||
| ISO 3166 code | IT | ||||||||
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Roman Italy is the period of ancient Italian history going from thefounding andrise ofRome to the decline andfall of the Western Roman Empire; theLatin name of theItalian peninsula in this period wasItalia (continued to be used in theItalian language).[3] According toRoman mythology, Italy was the ancestral home ofAeneas, being the homeland of theTrojans progenitor,Dardanus; Aeneas, instructed byJupiter, moved to Italy after thefall of Troy, and his descendants,Romulus and Remus, were thefounders of Rome. Aside from the legendary accounts, Rome was an Italic city-state that changed its form of government fromKingdom (ruled, between 753 BC and 509 BC, by seven kings) toRepublic, and then grew within the context of a peninsula dominated by theGauls,Ligures,Veneti,Camunni andHistri in theNorth; theEtruscans,Latins,Falisci,Picentes,Umbri andSabines in theCentre; and theIapygian tribes (such as theMessapians), theOscan tribes (such as theSamnites) andGreek colonies in theSouth.
The consolidation of Italy into a single entity occurred during theRoman expansion in the peninsula, when Rome formed apermanent association with most of other the local tribes and cities; and Italy's inhabitants includedRoman citizens, communities withLatin Rights, andsocii.[4] The strength of the Italian confederacy was a crucial factor in therise of Rome, starting with thePunic andMacedonian wars between the 3rd and 2nd century BC. AsRoman provinces were being established throughout the Mediterranean, Italy maintained a special status with political, religious and financial privileges.[5] In Italy, Roman magistrates exercised theimperium domi (police power), as an alternative to theimperium militiae (military power) exercised in the provinces.
The period between the end of the 2nd century BC and the 1st century BC wasturbulent, beginning with theServile Wars, continuing with the opposition ofaristocratic élite topopulist reformers and leading to aSocial War in the middle of Italy. However,Roman citizenship was recognized to the rest of the Italians by the end of the conflict and then extended toCisalpine Gaul whenJulius Caesar becameRoman dictator. In the context of the transitionfrom Republic to Principate, Italy swore allegiance toAugustus and was then organized in eleven regions from theAlps to theIonian Sea with more thantwo centuries of stability afterward. Several emperors made notable accomplishments in this period:Claudius incorporated Britain into the Roman Empire,Vespasian subjugated theGreat Revolt of Judea and reformed the financial system,Trajan conqueredDacia and defeatedParthia, andMarcus Aurelius epitomized the ideal of thephilosopher king.
With the development of provincial governments and theproliferation of citizenship, Italy gradually lost its position as the empire's heartland, though it retained the ideological value as Romanhomeland.[6][7] TheCrisis of the Third Century hit Italy particularly hard, but the Roman Empire managed to survive and reconquer breakaway regions. In 286 AD, the EmperorDiocletian moved the imperial residence associated with the western territories (the laterWestern Roman Empire) from Rome toMediolanum.[8][better source needed] In 293 AD, Diocletian subdivided Italy intoprovinces and ended its special juridical privileges, which led to the loss of Italy's precedence over provinces.[9] Meanwhile, the islands ofCorsica,Sardinia,Sicily andMalta were added to Italy byDiocletian. The city of Rome declined as the center of power as new capitals were established outside Italy, such asNicomedia,Sirmium, and laterConstantinople.[10] However, Italy remained the centre of the Western Roman Empire inlate antiquity. Italian cities such as Mediolanum,Ravenna and Rome continued to serve as capitals for the West. TheBishop of Rome had gained importance gradually from the reign ofConstantine the Great, and was given religious primacy with theEdict of Thessalonica underTheodosius I. Italy was invaded several times by thewandering Germanic peoples and fell under the control ofOdoacer, whenRomulus Augustus was deposed in 476 AD. Afterwards, Italy was ruled by theOstrogoths and then briefly reconquered by theByzantine Empire. TheLombard invasion in 568 AD would begin the fragmentation of Italy which lasted until itsunification in 1861.
Following the end of theSocial War in 87 BC, Rome had allowedits fellow Italian allies full rights in Roman society and grantedRoman citizenship to all fellowItalic peoples.[11] After having been for centuries the heart of theRoman Empire, from the 3rd century the government and the cultural center began to move eastward: first theEdict of Caracalla in 212 AD, extended Roman citizenship to all free men within the Imperial boundaries.Christianity then began to establish itself as the dominant religion fromConstantine's reign (306–337), raising the power of Eastern metropolises, later grouped intoPentarchy.
Although not founded as a capital city in 330,Constantinople grew in importance. It finally gained the rank of eastern capital when given anpraefectus urbi in 359 and thesenators who wereclari became senators of the lowest rank asclarissimi. As a result, Italy began to decline in favour of the provinces, which resulted in the division of the Empire into two administrative units in 395: theWestern Roman Empire, with its capital atMediolanum (nowMilan), and theEastern Roman Empire, with its capital atConstantinople (nowIstanbul). In 402, the Imperial residence was moved toRavenna from Milan, confirming the decline of the city of Rome (which wassacked in 410 for the first time in almost eight centuries).
The nameItalia covered an area whose borders evolved over time. According toStrabo'sGeographica, before the expansion of theRoman Republic, the name was used by Greeks to indicate the land between thestrait of Messina and the line connecting thegulf of Salerno andgulf of Taranto (corresponding roughly to the current region ofCalabria); later the term was extended by Romans to include theItalian Peninsula up to theRubicon, a river located betweenNorthern andCentral Italy.
In 49 BC, with theLex Roscia,Julius Caesar gave Roman citizenship to the people of theCisalpine Gaul;[12] while in 42 BC the hitherto existing province was abolished, thus extending Italy to the north up to the southern foot of theAlps.[13][14] Under Augustus, the peoples of today'sAosta Valley and of the western and northern Alps were subjugated (so the western border of Roman Italy was moved to theVarus river), and the Italian eastern border was brought to theArsia inIstria.[14] Lastly, in the late 3rd century, Italy came to also include the islands ofSicily,Corsica and Sardinia, as well asRaetia and part ofPannonia.[15] The city ofEmona (modernLjubljana, Slovenia) was the easternmost town of Italy.
At the beginning of the Roman Imperial era, Italy was a collection of territories with different political statuses. Some cities, calledmunicipia, had some independence from Rome, while others, thecoloniae, were founded by the Romans themselves. Around 7 BC,Augustus divided Italy into elevenregiones, as reported byPliny the Elder in hisNaturalis Historia:
Italy was privileged by Augustus and his heirs, with the construction, among other public structures, of a dense network ofRoman roads. The Italian economy flourished: agriculture, handicraft and industry had noticeable growth, allowing the export of goods to the provinces.[16] The Italian population may have grown as well: three censuses were ordered by Augustus, in his role asRoman censor, in order to record the number of Roman citizens throughout the empire. The surviving totals were 4,063,000 in 28 BC, 4,233,000 in 8 BC, and 4,937,000 in AD 14, but it is still debated whether these counted all citizens, all adult male citizens, or citizenssui iuris.[17] Estimates for the population of mainland Italy, including Cisalpine Gaul, at the beginning of the 1st century range from 6,000,000 according toKarl Julius Beloch in 1886, to 14,000,000 according toElio Lo Cascio in 2009.[18]
During theCrisis of the Third Century, the Roman Empire was on the verge of disintegration under the combined pressures of invasions, military anarchy, civil wars, and hyperinflation. In 284, EmperorDiocletian restored political stability. He carried out thorough administrative reforms to maintain order. He created the so-calledTetrarchy whereby the empire was ruled by two senior emperors calledAugusti and two junior vice-emperors calledCaesars. He decreased the size of theRoman provinces by doubling their number to reduce the power of the provincial governors. He grouped the provinces into severaldioceses (Latin: diocesis) and put them under the supervision of the Imperialvicarius (vice, deputy), who was the head of the diocese. During the Crisis of the Third Century the importance of Rome declined because the city was far from the troubled frontiers. Diocletian and his colleagues usually resided in four Imperial seats. The Augusti, Diocletian andMaximian, who were responsible for the East and West respectively, established themselves atNicomedia, in north-westernAnatolia (closer to the Persian frontier in the east) andMilan, in northern Italy (closer to the European frontiers) respectively. The seats of the Caesars wereAugusta Treverorum (on the RiverRhine frontier) forConstantius Chlorus andSirmium (on the RiverDanube frontier) forGalerius, who also resided at Thessalonica.
Under Diocletian Italy became theDioecesis Italiciana. It includedRaetia. It was subdivided into the following provinces:
Constantine subdivided the Empire into fourpraetorian prefectures. TheDiocesis Italiciana became thePraetorian prefecture of Italy (praefectura praetoria Italiae), and was subdivided into two dioceses. It still includedRaetia. The two dioceses and their provinces were:
Diocesis Italia annonaria (Italy of theannona - its inhabitants had the obligation to provide the court, the administration and the troops, first allocated in Milan and then in Ravenna, supplies, wine and timber)[19]
Diocesis Italia suburbicaria (Italy "under the government of theurbs", i.e. Rome)
In 330,Constantine completed the rebuilding of Byzantium asConstantinople. He established the Imperial court, a Senate, financial and judicial administrations, as well as the military structures. The new city, however, did not receive an urban prefect until 359 which raised it to the status of eastern capital. After the death ofTheodosius in 395 and the subsequent division of the Empire, Italy was home base of theWestern Roman Empire. As a result of Alaric's invasion in 402 the western seat was moved fromMediolanum toRavenna.Alaric, king ofVisigoths, sacked Rome itself in 410; something that had not happened for eight centuries.Northern Italy was attacked byAttila'sHuns in 452.Rome was sacked in 455 again by theVandals under the command ofGenseric.
According toNotitia Dignitatum, one of the very few surviving documents of Roman government updated to the 420s, Roman Italy was governed by apraetorian prefect,Prefectus praetorio Italiae (who also governed theDiocese of Africa and theDiocese of Pannonia), onevicarius, and onecomes rei militaris. The regions of Italy were governed at the end of the fourth century by eightconsulares (Venetiae et Histriae,Aemiliae,Liguriae,Flaminiae et Piceni annonarii,Tusciae et Umbriae,Piceni suburbicarii,Campaniae, andSiciliae), twocorrectores (Apuliae et Calabriae andLucaniae et Bruttiorum) and sevenpraesides (Alpium Cottiarum,Rhaetia Prima andSecunda,Samnii,Valeriae,Sardiniae, andCorsicae). In the fifth century, with the Emperors controlled by their barbarian generals, the Western Imperial government maintained weak control over Italy itself, whose coasts were periodically under attack.
In 476, with the abdication ofRomulus Augustulus, the Western Roman Empire had formally fallen unless one considersJulius Nepos, the legitimate emperor recognized by Constantinople as the last. He was assassinated in 480 and may have been recognized by Odoacer. Italy remained underOdoacer and hisKingdom of Italy, and then under theOstrogothic Kingdom.
The Germanic successor states underOdoacer andTheodoric the Great continued to use the Roman administrative apparatus, as well as being nominal subjects of theEastern emperor atConstantinople. In 535Roman EmperorJustinian invaded Italy which suffered twenty years of disastrous war. In August 554, Justinian issued aPragmatic sanction which maintained most of the organization ofDiocletian.
The "Prefecture of Italy" thus survived, and was reestablished under Roman control in the course ofJustinian'sGothic War.
As a result of the Lombard invasion in 568, theByzantines lost most of Italy, except the territories of theExarchate of Ravenna – a corridor from Venice to Lazio via Perugia – and footholds in the south Naples and the toe and heel of the peninsula.
With theLongobards started the division of Italy, that lasted until 1861.
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