Editing Parma (section)

===Antiquity===
The city was most probably founded and named by the [[Etruscans]], for a ''parma'' or ''palma'' (circular shield) was a [[Latin language|Latin]] borrowing, as were many Roman terms for particular arms, and the names ''Parmeal'', ''Parmni'' and ''Parmnial'' appear in Etruscan inscriptions. [[Diodorus Siculus]]<ref>XXII, 2,2; XXVIII, 2,1</ref> reported that the Romans had changed their rectangular shields for round ones, imitating the Etruscans. Whether the Etruscan encampment acquired its name from its round shape, like a shield, or from its metaphorical function as a shield against the Gauls to the north, remains uncertain.

The [[Ancient Rome|Roman]] colony was founded in 183 BC, together with Mutina ([[Modena]]); 2,000 families were settled. Parma had a certain importance as a road hub over the [[Via Aemilia]] and the Via Claudia. It had a forum, in what is today the central Garibaldi Square. In April 43 BC the city was destroyed.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gT4C6YTyUywC|title=The Letters of Cicero: B.C. 44-43|publisher=G. Bell and Sons|date=1900}}</ref> Subsequently [[Augustus]] rebuilt it. During the [[Roman Empire]], it gained the title of ''Julia'' for its loyalty to the imperial house.

[[Attila]] sacked the city in 452,<ref>
{{cite book
| last1 = Domenico
| first1 = Roy Palmer
| chapter = Parma
| title = The Regions of Italy: A Reference Guide to History and Culture
| year = 2002
| url =  https://books.google.com/books?id=wZ-PMNC5XOkC
| location = Westport, Connecticur
| publisher = Greenwood Publishing Group
| publication-date = 2002
| page = 93
| isbn = 9780313307331
| access-date = 2019-05-05
| quote = Atila the Hun put Parma to the torch in 452, as did Totila the Ostrogoth in the mid-500s. It was rebuilt a number of times as a Lombard capital, the site of a Byzantine treasury, and, from the ninth century, a bishopric.
}}
</ref> and the Germanic king [[Odoacer]] later gifted it to his followers. During the [[Gothic War (535–552)|Gothic War]], however, [[Totila]] destroyed it. It was then part of the [[Byzantine Empire|Byzantine]] [[Exarchate of Ravenna]] (changing its name to ''Chrysopolis'', "Golden City", probably due to the presence of the imperial treasury) and, from 569, of the [[Lombards|Lombard]] Kingdom of Italy. During the Middle Ages, Parma became an important stage of the [[Via Francigena]], the main road connecting Rome to Northern Europe; several castles, hospitals and inns were built in the following centuries to host the increasing number of pilgrims who passed by Parma and Fidenza, following the Apennines via Collecchio, Berceto and the Corchia ranges before descending the Passo della Cisa into Tuscany, heading finally south toward Rome.

The city had a medieval Jewish community.<ref>
[https://www.jpost.com/Travel/Jerusalem/Italys-poetic-Parma-region Italy's poetic Parma region] - "Italy has one of the oldest European Diaspora communities and a Jewish presence has been documented in Rome for more than 2,200 years. However, Jews only arrived in the Emilia-Romagna region during the 13th century."</ref> The [[Biblioteca Palatina, Parma|Palatine Library]] houses the largest collection of Hebrew manuscripts in Italy, and the second-largest in the world after the Bodleian Library in Oxford.<ref>
[https://jguideeurope.org/en/region/italy/emilia-romagna/parma/ Parma] - "The Palatine Library is as well home to the largest Italian collection of Hebrew manuscripts, and the second largest in the world after the Bodleian Library in Oxford. The documents were a gift of Maria Luigia Duchess."</ref>