Umbri

Ethnolinguistic map of Italy in the Iron Age, before the Roman expansion and conquest of Italy.

The Umbri were an Italic people of ancient Italy.[1] A region called Umbria still exists and is now occupied by Italian speakers. It is somewhat smaller than the ancient Umbria.

Most ancient Umbrian cities were settled in the 9th-4th centuries BC on easily defensible hilltops. Umbria was bordered by the Tiber and Nar rivers and included the Apennine slopes on the Adriatic. The ancient Umbrian language is a branch of a group called Oscan-Umbrian, which is related to the Latino-Faliscan languages.[2]

  1. ^ Pliny (1961). "Chapter 19". Natural History with an English translation in ten volumes by H. Rackham. Vol. 3. Cambridge: Harvard University Press. pp. paragraphs 112-113.
  2. ^ Buck CD (1904). A grammar of Oscan and Umbrian : with a collection of inscriptions and a glossary. Robarts - University of Toronto. Boston : Ginn.