Italia (Roman Empire)

Italia, under the Roman Republic and later Empire, was the name of the Italian peninsula.

Under the Republic and Augustan organization

During the Republic, Italia (which extended at the time from Rubicon to Calabria) was not a province, but rather the territory of the city of Rome, thus having a special status: for example, military commanders were not allowed to bring their armies within Italia, and Julius Caesar passing the Rubicon with his legions marked the start of the civil war.

The name "Italia" covered a portion of Italy that changed through time. According to Strabo ("Geographia", [http://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Strabo/5A*.html#1.1 v 1] ), at the beginning the name indicated the land between the strait of Messina and the line connecting the gulf of Salerno and gulf of Taranto; later Italia was extended to include the whole Italian peninsula, as well as the Istrian town of Colonia Pietas Iulia (Pola); finally, Julius Caesar gave Roman citizenship to the people of the "Gallia Transpadana"— that part of Cisalpine Gaul that lay "beyond the Po"—, thus extending Italia up to the Alps.

With the end of the Social war (2nd century BC), Rome allowed the Italian allies to enter with full rights in the Roman society, giving the Roman citizenship to all the Italic peoples.

At the beginning of the Empire, Italia was a collection of territories with different statuses. Some cities, called "municipii", had some independence from Rome, others, the colonies, were founded by the Romans themselves. Around 7 BC, Augustus Caesar divided Italia into eleven "regiones", as reported by Pliny the Elder in his "Naturalis Historia" ( [http://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/L/Roman/Texts/Pliny_the_Elder/3*.html#46 iii 46] ):

* Regio I "Latium et Campania"
* Regio II "Apulia et Calabria"
* Regio III "Lucania et Brutii"
* Regio IV "Samnium"
* Regio V "Picenum"
* Regio VI "Umbria et Ager Gallicus"
* Regio VII "Etruria"
* Regio VIII "Aemilia"
* Regio IX "Liguria"
* Regio X "Venetia et Histria"
* Regio XI "Transpadana"

The Italian "province" was privileged by Augustus and his heirs, with the construction, among other public structures, of a dense mesh of roads.The Italian economy flourished: agriculture, handicraft and industry had a sensible growth, allowing the export of goods to the otherprovinces. The Italian population grew as well: Three census were ordered by Augustus, to record the presence of male citizens in Italia. They were 4,063,000 in 28 BC, 4,233,000 in 8 BC, and 4,937,000 in AD 14. Including the women and the children, the total population of Italia at the beginning of the 1st century was around 10 million.

Italia in 2nd and 3rd centuries

When Roman citizenship was given to all the Empire, the Italian province started its decline, in favour of richer provinces. Furthermore, Italia suffered from the attacks of barbarian tribes, which happened at the end of the 3rd century (see Crisis of the third century and Barracks emperors).

Diocletian divided the Empire into four parts ("dioceses"). The "diocesis Italiae", ruled by the "Augustus" of the West, was divided into two zones, each divided into smaller territories held by "correctores":
* "Italia suburbicaria" ("under the government of Rome")
** "Tuscia et Umbria"
** "Valeria"
** "Campania et Samnium"
** "Apulia et Calabria"
** "Sicilia"
** "Sardinia et Corsica"
* "Italia annonaria", with capital "Mediolanum" (Milan)
** "Venetia et Histria"
** "Aemilia et Liguria"
** "Flaminia et Picenum"
** "Raetia"
** "Alpes Cottiae"The former Italian regions of Alpes Poenninae and Alpes Maritimae become part of the "Diocesis Galliarum".

Italia in 4th and 5th centuries

When the barbarians became the most important problem, the Emperors were obliged to move out of Rome, and even in other provinces, thus increasing even more the decline of Italia. In 330, Constantine I moved the capital of the empire to Constantinople, with the imperial court, economical administration, as well as the military structures (as the fleets of Misenum and Ravenna).

After the death of emperor Theodosius (395), Italia became part of the Western Roman Empire. Then came the years of the barbarian invasions, and the capital was moved from Mediolanum to Ravenna (402). Alaric, king of Visigoths, sacked Rome itself in 403; something that hadn't happened for seven centuries. Northern Italia was attacked by Attila's Huns, and Rome was sacked again by the Visigoths under the command of Alaric I in 410.

According to "Notitia Dignitatum", a compilation of public civil and military officers that is considered updated to 420s for the western part of the Roman Empire, Italia was governed by a prefectus, "Prefectus praetorio Italiae" (who governed Italia, Illyricum and Africa), one "vicarius", and one "comes rei militaris". The regions were governed by eight "consulares" ("Venetiae et Histriae", "Aemiliae", "Liguriae", "Flaminiae et Piceni annonarii", "Tusciae et Umbriae", "Piceni suburbicarii", "Campaniae", and "Siciliae"), two "correctores" ("Apuliae et Calabriae" and "Lucaniae et Bruttiorum") and four "praesides" ("Alpium Cottiarum", "Samnii", "Sardiniae", and "Corsicae").

With the Emperors controlled by their barbarian generals, the imperial government weakly controlled Italia, whose coasts were continuously under attack. In 476, with the death of Romulus Augustus and the return of the imperial ensigns to Constantinoples, the Western Roman Empire ends; for few decades Italia stayed united first under Odoacer rule, then under the Ostrogoths and the Byzantines, but after the Lombard invasion it was divided between several kingdoms, and would not be re-united for another thirteen centuries.

ee also

*History of Italy during Roman times
*Italus

References

* [http://www.telemaco.unibo.it/rom/italia/oggetto.htm Geographical spaces in Roman history] (Italian)

* [http://members.ozemail.com.au/~igmaier/map.htm Map of the Roman state c. 400] (Compilation 'notitia dignitatum')

External links

* [http://www.thelatinlibrary.com/rutilius.html "De Reditu"] , poem by Rutilius Claudius Namatianus, at The Latin Library, describing the decadence of Italia and Rome around 410.