Key to Ancient Umbria
 


Site Map: Umbrians


Home: Key to Ancient Umbria      


Site Maps: Umbrians      Etruscans      Sabines      Romans


Red dot = Umbrian city;

Blue dot (Volsinii and Perusia) = neighbouring Etruscan city

Green dot (Nursia) = neighbouring Sabine city

Adapted from the Digital Atlas of the Roman Empire

Introduction

As set out in the home page, modern Umbria (a construct of 1861) can boast a group of towns and cities that:

  1. can trace their cultural roots:

  2. back to the period before the Roman conquest; or

  3. at least to the Roman period; and

  4. maintained their separate political identities after the Roman conquest, to the extent that they emerged as separate episcopal dioceses early in the Christian era.

There is a surprisingly large number of these:

  1. Ameria: Bishop Ilario (Hilarius) of Ameria attended the synod that Pope Hilarius convened in Rome in 465. 

  2. Asisium: The Gothic king of Italy, Totila, sent Bishop Aventius as his ambassador to Byzantium in 547.

  3. Fulginiae: Bishop Urbanus of Fulginiae attended the synod that Pope Felix III convened in Rome in 487.

  4. Forum Flaminii: Bishop Boniface of Forum Flaminii attended the synod that was convened in Rome in 502, at the end of the Laurentian Schism.

  5. Hispellum: Bishop Epiphanius of Hispellum attended the synod that Pope Felix III convened in Rome in 487.

  6. Iguvium: Pope Innocent I sent a copy of a decretal to Bishop Decentius of Gubbio in 416. 

  7. Interamna Nahars: According to his legend (BHL 8460), St Valentine, the first bishop of the city, was murdered in Rome by the Urban Prefect, Furiosus Placidus:

  8. He may well have been the historically-attested person of this name who held this office in 347 BC, in which case St Valentine would be the first historically-attested bishop of Interamna Nahar. 

  9. If not, then the first known bishop of the city would be Homobonus, whose surviving epitaph (CIL XI 4340) dates to ca. 400.

  10. Mevania: Bishop Innocentius of Mevania attended the synod that Pope Felix III convened in Rome in 487.

  11. Narnia: According to his legend (BHL 4614), St Juvenal was consecrated as the first bishop of Narnia in 364-71. 

  12. It is possible that he was indeed the first bishop of Narnia.

  13. However, the earliest securely-recorded bishop of the city is Pancratius, who was probably buried in the Duomo there in 493 AD.

  14. Nuceria: According to Andrea Czortek (referenced below, at p. 6 and note 38) Nuceria was probably a diocese in the 5th century, albeit that its episcopal status is not securely recorded until the 10th century.

  15. Ocriculum: Bishop Herculeus of Ocriculum attended the synod that Pope Felix III convened in Rome in 487.

  16. Plestia: Bishop Florentius of Plestia attended the synod that was convened in Rome in 502, at the end of the Laurentian Schism.

  17. Spoletium: Pope Liberius corresponded with bishop Caecilianus of Spoletium ahead of the Council of Milan in 355 AD

  18. Tadinum: Bishop Gaudentius of Tadinum attended the synod that was convened in Rome in 499, at the start of the Laurentian Schism.

  19. Tifernum Tiberinum: Bishop Eubodius (Eubodius, tifernas) attended the synod that Pope Hilarius convened in Rome in 465.

  20. Trebiae: Bishop Costantinus of Trebiae attended the synod that Pope Felix III convened in Rome in 487.

  21. Tuder: Bishop Cresconius of Tuder attended the synod that Pope Felix III convened in Rome in 487.

  22. Vettona: Bishop Gaudentius (Guadentius vettonensis) attended  attended the synod that Pope Hilarius convened in Rome in 465.

  23. Vicus Martana: This way station on Via Flaminia, near Tuder, was the site of a catacomb that was used for Christian burials in the 3rd-5th centuries, but it was probably abandoned shortly afterwards.  It:

  24. was probably the place called Martana that featured prominently in the legend of an important Umbrian saint, St Brictius; and

  25. may have been the place called Martana Tudertinorum that had episcopal status for a period in the 8th century.

The object of this website is to chart the history of these seventeen cities of ancient Umbria over this period of some 1,200 years, alongside a few other ancient places in modern Umbria:

  1. Carsulae, Forum Flaminii (near modern Foligno) and Vicus Martana (Massa Martana), whichwere founded in Umbria after the Roman conquest;

  2. Perusia (Perugia) and Volsinii (Orvieto), which were ancient Etruscan cities; and

  3. Nursia (Norcia), which shows signs of very early settlement, but which then disappears from the archeological record until ca. 290 BC, after the Roman conquest of the lands of the Sabines.

Site Maps for the pages on the Etruscans, the Sabines and the Romans can be found using the links at the top of the page.  In this page, I map out the locations of my pages on the Umbrians.

Ancient Umbria

The written, chronological history of the Umbrians begins in 310/9 BC, when a hostile Roman army crossed the Ciminian forest for the first time, intent on conquest.  Before this time, we are reliant on:

  1. a series of Greek scholars who speculated about the extent of their territory; and

  2. the surviving architectural and epigraphic records.

This body of evidence is discussed in the page Umbria Before the Roman Conquest, with detailed pages on:

  1. Umbrian Inscriptions before the Conquest  

  2. The Goddess Cupra

Roman Conquest of  Umbria

To follow

Roman Conquest of Umbria

Roman Umbria before the Social War (295 - 90 BC)

Umbria before the Social War      

Umbrian Magistracies     

Via Amerina    

Via Flaminia    

Inscriptions : Later Umbrian    

Inscriptions: Early Latin 


Umbria After the Social War


Umbria in the 4th Century

Tuscia et Umbria

Early Christianity in Umbria

Sources

Sources 1

Sources 2

Sources 3



Read more:

A. Czortek, “Il Cristianesimo a Gubbio tra Tarda Antichità e Alto Medioevo”, (2o13) on-line (use search engine)


Key to Ancient Umbria: Home


Return to Key to Umbria: History