Veneti

The Veneti were an Indo-European people who settled in northeastern Italy after the middle of the 2nd millennium BC. C., and developed a civilization throughout the following millennium. A relationship can be established between the town and a Venetian culture, something unique among the towns of northern Italy; that is to say, that the ancient Venetians can be attributed a material and artistic culture in their territory, Venetia. These cultural elements developed throughout the 1st millennium BCE. C., although over time they were subject to a series of external influences. The archaeological record is particularly rich regarding this population and its identity.

The Venetians initially settled in the area between Lake Garda and the Euganean Hills; Later they expanded until they occupied a territory more or less coinciding with the current Veneto, although it is necessary to consider that the Adriatic Sea coastline was more backward than today. According to archaeological discoveries, which also coincide with information from written sources, the western limit of their territory ran along Lake Garda; the southern limit followed a line that started from the river Tartarus, continued through the Po, and reached Adria, through the extinct branch of the Po of Adria; and the eastern border reached the Tagliamento.

Beyond this last river the Illyrians had established themselves, although up to the Isonzo, the Venetian presence was so strong that one could speak of a Veneto-Illyrian population. In contrast, the northern borders were less defined and homogeneous. In any case, the Venetian territory ran up the Adige, Brenta and Piave rivers towards the Alps, which formed a natural border. The Venetian presence in the Alps has left a record especially in the Cadore Dolomites, in Lagole.

Ethnonym

The Veneti were called Veneti in Latin and Enetoi (Ἐνετοί) in ancient Greek. References to "Veneti" located in places very distant from each other. For Strabo, the Latin name is venetus and in romanized Greek, henetikós, meaning "among the Greeks". Herodotus pointed to the enetas among the Illyrian tribes; Caesar wrote of having subdued the "Veneti" of Armorica, the only people in Gaul to have mastered the art of shipbuilding; Tacitus and Pliny the Elder located the "Venedi" in the course of the Vistula River bordering on the Bastards, Finnics and Sarmatians, while Claudius Ptolemy called the Gulf of Gdańsk Venedicus sinus . Pomponius Mela mentioned Lake Constance as the Venetus lacus; and lastly, Pliny the Elder mentioned the "venetulani" like a people disappeared from Lazio.

All these towns and landforms were located in disparate places in Europe. The frequency of this ethnonym in areas so distant from each other through a historical and linguistic relationship between the different peoples that have used it, but rather as a single linguistic derivation, which is repeated several times independently, from from the same Indo-European root *wen ("love"). The "Venetians" (*wenetoi), therefore, would be the "beloved", or perhaps the "lovable" or "friendly".

History

The history of the Venetians can be divided into two stages: the ancient, which goes from the origins to the V a. C. where the Venetian cultural originality is most evident; and a more recent one, going up to the I century a. C., in which they lived, firstly, the influence of the Celts, and later, a slow Roman assimilation.

In the earliest period, they had cultural relations with the Villanovian civilization, with Greece and the Orient, and later also with the Etruscans. In the most recent period, on the other hand, the Veneti came into contact mainly with the Gauls, who were to the West: the Cenomani (with whom they allied, just like with the Romans). On the other hand, to the south, were the Boyos, with whom they were often at war; to the northeast, the Carnos, and to the east and southeast, they had contact mainly with the Illyrian populations. In addition, within the Veneto there were some Gallic settlements, although of minimal size and probably not always of a peaceful type. The Celtic cultural influence became more and more important, and the Venetian culture was mutating and adapting. The important relationship with the Balkan populations on the other side of the Adriatic such as the Illyrians was also maintained, to such an extent that Greek historians easily confused the two peoples. The Illyrians were considered close relatives of the Veneti until the beginning of the XX. Later, contact with Roman civilization became decisive, especially due to the repeated alliances that united Venetians and Romans and the traditional hypothesis of a relationship between Venetians and Latins. Venetian culture gradually assimilated into Roman culture, already at the end of the Republican era, although, presumably, some Venetian particularities remained until the end of the imperial age in marginal areas.

In the Bronze Age between 1350 and 1150 B.C. C. the terramarícolas towns of the low plains of the Veneto entered in vast commercial circuits that involved the coasts of the Baltic, the area of the Danube and the Carpathians, the Aegean and the eastern Mediterranean. In the southern Venetian plain, between 1150 and 900 AD, the great pre-urban center of Frattesina arose, a trade crossroads between the Baltic, the Eastern Alps and Cyprus, with a socio-economic system strongly hierarchical. Next, Villamarzana developed, and, later, Montagnana. Over the course of the [X century B.C.E. C. Treviso, Oderzo and Concordia also grew.

In the Iron Age, around 800 B.C. C., some of the great centers of southern Veneto were abandoned. In parallel, Este and Padua were founded. Between 800 and 600.C. the hegemonic centers were dominated by powerful groups of the aristocracy. The first large necropolis arose in the limits of the cities. In the middle of the Iron Age, between 600 B.C. C. and 400 B.C., the powerful Venetian city-states had well-defined territories; instead, the hilly and mountainous areas were organized into cantonal-type districts. The city-states of the plain had orthogonal road systems similar to those of Padan Etruria. He had important relations with the Etruscan world; Padova with the sea, and the northeast border.

In Altino, in the Venetian lagoon, in Adria and Espina, the Venetians found Etruscan and Greek traders. A Spartan fleet led by Cleonimo attacked the Paduans in 302 BC. They managed to repulse them but suffered heavy losses. In the late Iron Age, between 400 and 200 BC. C., the Celtic populations invaded northern Italy and part of the Adriatic coast. The Venetians, allies of the Romans, participated in the a. C. in the battle of Clastidium against the insubres, the boyos and the gesatos, a Gallic tribe. After that, there was a peaceful entry of the Venetian world into the political and cultural orbit of Rome.

The origin

Myth in Roman historiography

According to Roman historiography, the Veneti were a population from Paphlagonia, a region of Asia Minor, along the Black Sea. They were expelled from there, and for this reason they participated in the Trojan War, where the wise old man Antenor begged the Trojans to return Helen to the Greeks. In Troy died Pilemene, the commander of the enetas (the Greek name for the Venetians), who, left without a homeland and without a guide, headed for Antenor. After various vicissitudes, Antenor brought them along the western shore of the northern Adriatic Sea. Here, the population expelled the Euganeans, a local population that took refuge in the alpine valleys, and of which no relevant records remain.

In Virgil's narrative, Antenor is presented as one of the founders of Padua. It also points to a relationship between the Venetians and Diomedes, the deified hero, who founded, in addition to Thorn, the important port of Adria, which, despite having Venetian origins, is better known as a Greek emporium, an Etruscan center and, finally, a Gallic one.. Pliny the Elder made the following statement about the Veneti, referring to what Cato had written:

Venetos troiana stirpe ortos auctor est Cato

Caton ensures that the venets descend from the trojan styrepe.

Strabo, on the other hand, defended a different hypothesis, in which the Veneti were a Celtic population: this was because he was aware of the existence of a population that bears the same name: the Veneti of Armorica (the present-day Britain).

Wetland Hypothesis

If the hypothesis that sees the Venetians as an Eastern European population, divided and dispersed after a large diaspora, is quite realistic, the location of their homeland in an area of Greek culture is not at all realistic, nor is it nor the narrative of a migratory movement across the sea.

For a long time, modern historiography has accepted the hypothesis, inspired by Herodotus, of an Illyrian affiliation of the Venetians, who would have been the westernmost branch of that set of Indo-European populations. In his Histories, the Greek historian speaks of the Ἐνετοί as a part of the Illyrian people settled along the Adriatic. 19th century, remained widely shared, even when, in the first half of the XX, Vittore Pisani and Hans Krahe showed that Herodotus was actually referring to an Illyrian tribe established in the Balkan Peninsula, and not in the Italic area.

Research on the linguistic material has led to the exclusion of an Illyrian affiliation of the Venetians, as Krahe himself proposed in the 1940s. After a first proposal to link the Venetic language to the Osco-Umbrian Italic languages, the consideration of Venetic as part of the Latino-Faliscan family, which also includes Latin, gained weight among academics. At this point, however, the investigation of the Indo-European discipline is still open as recognized, for example, by Francisco Villar.

In this way, modern research has found itself in substantial agreement with what had already been stated in Latin historiography: the Veneti shared a common protohistoric origin with the Latins, although not through that common link with Ancient Greece (and, particularly, with Troy) that the Romans postulated through the myth of Antenor. The Veneto-Latin Indo-European ensemble had formed as a separate group in an area of central Europe, probably located within the borders of present-day Germany and was part of a vast Indo-European continuum that spanned Europe. Central-Eastern from the beginning of the 3rd millennium BCE. From there it moved south in the course of the 2nd millennium BCE. C., probably around the 15th century BC. C.: a part of these people, which gave rise to the Latins, continued advancing to present-day Lazio; while the group that gave rise to the Venetians settled in the northern Gulf of Venice, and stayed there permanently.

Characteristics of the Venetian settlements

The emigrants who arrived in the Veneto area from the northeast were probably small groups of settlers, rather than a large mass of the population. Beyond the questions about their origin, the Veneti had a complex culture, founded on skilled warriors and merchants. It is likely that the new settlers overlapped with the native population of the Gulf of Venice, the pre-Indo-European Euganeans.

Heyday (8th century BC - 2nd century BC)

The Venetians created a unitary culture that had its maximum development between the VIII century century B.C. C. and the II century B.C. C. a clearly different culture with respect to the others of protohistoric Italy. The peculiarities of this population, present throughout the territory in which they settled, were mainly the production of bronze and clay, strong religious beliefs, artistic expression, agriculture, armor and clothing, the structure of the nuclei first proto-urban and later urban and cattle raising.

Integration into the Roman world

The Cispadan region was inhabited in the III century BC. C. by warlike populations, especially the Gauls, who, since the previous century, had made incursions into the region. The Romans, faced with the Gauls, turned to the Veneti to gain their support, since they considered themselves related to them due to the legend of Antenor. The Romans and the Veneti established relations of friendship and alliance: as early as 283. c. the Roman Senate had made a pact with the Veneti and the Cenomaniac Gauls to stop the Gallic invasion. Contacts probably began earlier, already in 390 BC. C.: when the Senones de Breno Gauls occupied Rome, perhaps it was precisely the intervention of the Venetians that forced the Senones to agree with the Romans.

In 225 B.C. C. the Romans sent ambassadors to the Veneti and the Cenomanian Gauls to form an alliance against the Boi Gauls and the Insubres, who threatened the Roman borders. The Veneti and Cenomanians also remained on the Roman side during the Second Punic War, while the rest of the Gallic populations allied with Carthage. At the end of the war, to ensure their hegemony in Cisalpine Gaul, since the Gauls and the Ligurians did not accept Roman supremacy, Rome began a real war of conquest, also then supported by the Veneti and the Cenomani. It is probable that at this historical moment, the Venetian people were united to the Romans through amicitia, unlike the Gauls who did so through a foedus : this last type The liaison was used mainly in the Hellenic states, and actually agreed to a neutrality, which could become the alliance only in exceptional cases.

The Veneti were not a warlike people, and were not involved in major battles or wars. However, they were not isolated, but maintained commercial and cultural ties with nearby Etruria and adopted certain artistic-social characteristics of the Greek merchants of the colonies. They were friendly with Rome and relied on it to ward off the threat of a Gallic invasion: in exchange for protection, they allowed the Romans to settle their territory peacefully and ultimately colonize it by building roads, bridges, and towns. Therefore, Veneto was not forcibly conquered by the Romans, but was incorporated peacefully. Over time, the Venetian culture was lost and was replaced and partially assimilated by the Roman culture.

Society

Villages and homes

The Venetians first settled in small villages, mainly between the Adige and Lake Garda but also in the pre-alpine areas of Valbelluna. At that time, the Padan plain was covered by forests and wetlands. One of the largest Venetian necropolises, perfectly preserved, is located in Mel, between Belluno and Feltre. The inhabited centers were emerging along the watercourses, in sandy areas, taking advantage of the fact that it is very permeable and dries quickly; as well as in the hills. The villages were made up of a few rectangular-plan huts, grouped and connected to each other; when the town grew, houses were built with more rooms and with private parts dedicated to craft activities.

The houses were formed by walls with a wooden skeleton that was generally covered with clay, while the base was made of stone to reduce humidity. The floors were made of beaten mud, while the roof was thatched. The heart of the houses was the fireplace, which was made of a clay base in which fragments of ceramics and stones were placed to conserve heat, acting as insulators. Around him the family gathered. The main centers also had ports: not only those along the coast, but also those through which rivers with sufficient volume passed. In the latter case, it was dug into a network of canals that allowed ships to dock. Houses in mountainous areas were different from those built on the plains or on the hills: they were semi-buried houses, with foundations stone and wooden walls, preferably exposed to the south, in order to receive as much light and heat as possible.

Around the main centers, the Venetians developed a process of deforestation and organized themselves into ever larger cities, especially along the Adige, Brenta and Piave rivers. The main cities were Este, Altino, Padua, Montebelluna, Oppeano and Gazzo Veronese.

Trade and markets

They had strong contacts with the Greek world, both direct and mediated by the peoples of southern Italy; with Etruria and with the nearby eastern towns. From Etruria and Greece came refined bronzes; from the Caucasus pearls decorated with vitreous paste and from Egypt earthenware pendants. They also had contacts with sailors from the most distant shores of the Mediterranean, who brought ceramic objects (Daunia, Ionian and Attic with black and red figures) with rich decorations.

Clothes

From the archaeological finds, in which there is an abundance of representations of priests, chiefs, and nobles, we can infer that the Venetians wore large, heavy woolen cloaks, which rested on their shoulders. Under the cloak, women and men wore a tunic made of lighter fabric than the cloak, with sleeves that could be long or short, similar to those worn by the Romans and Etruscans. For women, the tunic was held up with a belt (although it was also used by men and children), from which, at the bottom, folds were formed. In some cases aprons were put on. Women also wore, on the head or on the shoulders, a shawl or cape, similar to that used in Veneto (mainly in Venice and in the mountains) until the XX. The Venetians also wore wide-brimmed hats turned up at the brim, which were signs of distinction, as well as boots, used mainly for riding, and pointed shoes. From the images that have come down to us we can deduce that it was a custom for men to shave their heads.

Numerous clothing ornaments have come down to us, such as brooches, pendants, brooches, necklaces, bracelets and earrings, also made with precious materials such as gold, silver, coral, amber and pearls.

Weapons

Initially, warriors carried round shields similar to those of Greek hoplites, helms with low shields and crests, and were often depicted with a long-tipped spear. Later, great swords, oval-shaped shields and helmets similar to those used by the Gauls spread.

Language

Italic languages in the Iron Age, the Vegetable in the Northeast of Italy corresponds to the area IE1 of the map.

Do not confuse with the modern Vereto language, Romance language.

The language of the Veneti was Venetic, an independent Indo-European language, which is attested in inscriptions dating from the VI a. C. up to the I century B.C. C., written first in the Etruscan alphabet and, later, in the Latin alphabet (both derived from the Greek alphabet). Although its classification is uncertain, it shares several phonetic and morphological similarities with Latin, to the point that the hypothesis that there is a genetic relationship between the two languages, which would have arrived in Italy during the same migratory movement of Indo-European populations from central or central-eastern Europe. The introduction of writing in the Northern Etruscan alphabet can be located around 600 BC. C.

Religion

There are not many written records on the religion of the Venetians, but many of the places of worship, necropolises, and religious material have been found. The places of worship were almost never closed buildings, but the rites were carried out, generally, in sacred groves, in places free of vegetation and surrounded by large trees. Inside, processions with songs and dances took place. sacred symbols and, in small wooden aedicules, sacred symbols were located.^{[citation needed]} The number of places of worship suggests the existence of a priestly class, whose duty was light the sacred fires and perform animal sacrifices, as well as writing, which was a privilege of few.^{[citation required]}

In the Venetian necropolis, one can distinguish the modest gifts of the less affluent classes and those of the richest, which were stored together with the mortal remains as grave goods. The body of the deceased was cremated and the ashes placed in special urns. During the burial, food and drinks were offered to the gods: that is, the ritual of funeral banquets was practiced. There is awareness of the presence of worship to natural elements, and in particular to medicinal water (or, at least, considered as such), through which the divinity intervened to restore health: the ceremony included the request for healing of the patient, a procession and then there were offerings to some idol.

In Este a plate has been found that has given the name of a deity: Reitia, goddess of healing and nature, protector of births and goddess of fertility. She is represented with typical Venetian clothing and with the key to open the door to the afterlife. In addition, in the territories inhabited by the Venetians, many sortes have been found, tablets made of animal bones with inscriptions, thrown by fortune-tellers to know auspices. Some examples of these tablets have been found in Magrè di Schio, in Asolo and on Monte Summano, in the province of Vicenza.

Art

Yelmo véneto de Oppeano (sixth century BC). Florence, National Archaeological Museum

. The Venetians were specialists in the art of sítulas, which were made by making bronze sheets that were modeled. With this material they also made vases, lids, belts, and sheaths for daggers and swords. The sheets were worked by hitting them from the back, in such a way that the design rose on the opposite side, creating a bas-relief.

With the Venetians, for the first time there was a shift from geometric representation to natural and human figures, as can be seen in the important sítula Benvenuti. This vessel, from which the lower part is missing, ending in a base that gradually narrowed to, finally, become wider again; It was part of the grave goods from a female tomb, discovered in the Benvenuti necropolis. It is the first and most important example of a sítula with human representations. The three bands are visible in which men, human activities (war, careers and commerce) and mythological figures are represented. Both the situlas, as well as the belts, helmets and plates present decorative motifs related to daily life on the surface, such as trade, agricultural activities, rituals and war, along with fantastic animals of oriental origin.

As far as the shape is concerned, the only precedents for Venetian situlas are Eastern and Central European manufactures. On the other hand, as regards the subjects represented, the only precedent is the tintinnabulum in the Golden Tomb in Bologna, from the VII a. C. This art was probably born in the Venetian area, where it developed for centuries, passing from more natural to more artificial forms, in a "baroque" sense. The most recent examples known to date are coin sheets.

The horse, called Ekvo by the ancient Venetians, animal-totem of the protohistory of Europe, played a major role in their culture. These animals were bred for their economic value and as a symbol of aristocratic and military dominance. The horses of the Venetians were known for their racing ability and were often depicted in ex-voto, in the most sacred areas. There are hundreds of bronze statuettes in the shape of a horse or rider on horseback, from places of worship in the Veneto region. Horses also enjoyed reserved burial spaces in the necropolis. The horse appeared in various Venetian products as a symbolic image or decorative element, as well as in some tombs, such as that of Piovego, dating from the VI century. and century V a. C., along with the man he had cared for for life.