Editing Umbria (section)

===Antiquity===
The region is named for the [[Umbri]] people, an [[Italic people]] which was absorbed by the expansion of the [[Ancient Rome|Romans]]. The Umbri, unlike the Etruscans, with few exceptions did not live in an urban society, but occupied small dwellings located in the Apennines.<ref name =ron>Roncalli (1988), p.397</ref> [[Pliny the Elder]] recounted a fanciful derivation for the tribal name from the Greek ὄμβρος (''ombros'', "a shower"), which led to the idea that they had survived the Deluge familiar from Greek mythology, allowing them to claim to be the most ancient race in Italy.<ref>Pliny the Elder, ''The Natural History'', 3.6; 3.19.</ref> In fact, they belonged to a broader family of neighbouring peoples with similar roots. Their language was [[Umbrian language|Umbrian]], one of the [[Italic languages]], related to [[Latin]] and [[Oscan language|Oscan]]. The town of [[Gubbio]] houses today the longest and most important document of any of the [[Osco-Umbrian]] group of languages, the [[Iguvine Tablets]], written in Umbrian at the turn of the 2nd and 1st centuries BC.<ref name=tci243>AA. VV. (2004), p. 243</ref> The northern part of the region was occupied by [[Gauls|Gallic]] tribes.{{citation needed|date=May 2024}}

The Umbri probably sprang, like neighbouring peoples, from the creators of the [[Terramara]], and [[Proto-Villanovan culture]] in northern and central Italy, who entered north-eastern Italy at the beginning of the [[Bronze Age]].<ref name=EB1911/>

The [[Etruscans]] were the chief enemies of the Umbri. The Etruscan invasion extended from the western seaboard towards the north and east from about 700 to 500 BC. They eventually drove the Umbrians towards the [[Apennines|Apennine]] uplands and captured 300 Umbrian towns. Nevertheless, the Umbrian population does not seem to have been eradicated in the conquered districts.<ref name=EB1911/> The border between Etruria and Umbria was the Tiber river,<ref name=tci44>AA. VV. (2004), p. 44</ref> as testified by the ancient name of Todi, ''Tular'' ("border").<ref name=tci493>AA. VV. (2004), p. 493</ref>

After the downfall of the Etruscans, Umbrians aided the [[Samnium|Samnite]]s in their [[Samnite Wars|struggle]] against [[Ancient Rome|Rome]] (308 BC). Later communications with [[Samnium]] were impeded by the Roman fortress of [[Narni]]a (founded 229 BC on the place of the umbrian ''Nequinum'', conquered in 299 BC).<ref name=tci550>AA. VV. (2004), p. 550</ref><ref name=tci34/><ref name=EB1911/> Romans defeated the Samnites and their Gallic allies in the [[battle of Sentinum]] (295 BC).<ref name=tci34>AA. VV. (2004), p. 34</ref> Allied Umbrians and Etruscans had to return home and defend each of their territories against simultaneous Roman attacks, leaving the Samnites without their help at Sentinum.{{citation needed|date=August 2023}}

The Roman victory at Sentinum initiated a period of integration under the Roman rulers, who established some colonies, such as [[Spoletium]], and built the [[via Flaminia]] (219 BC).<ref name=tci34/> The via Flaminia became a principal vector for Roman development in Umbria.<ref name=tci34/> During [[Hannibal]]'s invasion during the [[second Punic war]], the [[battle of Lake Trasimene]] was fought inside the borders of today's Umbria,<ref name=tci34/> but the local people did not aid the invader.

During the [[Roman civil war]] between [[Mark Antony]] and [[Octavian]] (40 BC), the city of Perugia supported Antony and was almost completely destroyed by Octavian. In [[Pliny the Elder]]'s time, 49 independent communities still existed in Umbria, and the abundance of inscriptions and the high proportion of recruits in the [[Roman Army|imperial army]] attest to its population.<ref name=EB1911>{{EB1911|wstitle=Umbria|inline=1}}</ref> Under Augustus, Umbria became [[Roman Umbria|the Regio VI]] of Roman Italy.<ref name=tci34/>

Modern Umbria is different from [[Roman Umbria]]. Roman Umbria extended through most of what is now the northern Marche to [[Ravenna]], but excluded the west bank of the Tiber, which belonged to Etruria.<ref name=tci34/> Thus [[Perusia|Perugia]] was an Etruscan city and the area around Norcia was in the [[Sabine]] territory.<ref name=tci464>AA. VV. (2004), p. 464</ref>

After the collapse of the [[Roman Empire]], [[Ostrogoths]] and [[Byzantine Empire|Byzantines]] struggled for supremacy in the region, and the [[Battle of Taginae|decisive battle]] of the war between these two peoples took place near modern [[Gualdo Tadino]].<ref name=tci405>AA. VV. (2004), p. 405</ref>