Editing Volsci

{{Short description|Italic Osco-Umbrian tribe in Ancient Italy}}
[[Image:Volsci.jpg|right|320px|thumb|Volscian settlements (in red)]]

The '''Volsci''' ({{IPAc-en|UK|ˈ|v|ɒ|l|s|k|iː}}, {{IPAc-en|US|ˈ|v|ɔː|l|-|,_|ˈ|v|ɒ|l|s|aɪ|,_|-|s|iː}},<ref>{{Cite American Heritage Dictionary|Volsci|access-date=31 May 2019}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/english/volsci|title=Volsci|work=[[Collins English Dictionary]]|publisher=[[HarperCollins]]|access-date=31 May 2019}}</ref><ref>{{Cite Merriam-Webster|Volsci|access-date=31 May 2019}}</ref> {{IPA|la|ˈwɔɫskiː|lang}}) were an [[Italic peoples|Italic]] tribe, well known in the history of the first century of the [[Roman Republic]]. At the time they inhabited the partly hilly, partly marshy district of the south of [[Latium]], bounded by the [[Aurunci]] and [[Samnites]] on the south, the [[Hernici]] on the east, and stretching roughly from [[Norba]] and [[Cora (Ancient Latin town)|Cora]] in the north to [[Antium]] in the south.<ref name="Chisholm1911"/> Rivals of Rome for several hundred years, their territories were taken over by and assimilated into the growing republic by 304 BC.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Smith |first=William |title=VOLSCI |url=https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.04.0064:id=volsci-geo |website=perseus.tufts.edu}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Volsci |url=https://www.britannica.com/topic/Volsci |website=britannica}}</ref> Rome's first emperor [[Augustus]] was of Volscian descent.

==Description by the ancient geographers==
[[Strabo]] says that the Volsci formed a sovereign state near the site of Rome.<ref>{{cite book |author=Strabo |author-link=Strabo |title=Geography |chapter=Book 5 Chapter 3 |publisher=Tufts University, Perseus Digital Library |url=https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.01.0239:book=5:chapter=3&highlight=volsci}}</ref> It was placed in the Pomentine plain, between the [[Latins (Italic tribe)|Latins]] and the [[Pontine marshes]], which took their name from the plain. 

The Volsci were divided in Antiates Volsci (capital Antium) on the Tyrrhenian coast,<ref name=":0" /> and Ecetran Volsci ([[Ecetra]]) in the hinterland.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Devoto |first=Giacomo |date=1937 |title=Volsci |url=https://www.treccani.it/enciclopedia/volsci_(Enciclopedia-Italiana)/ |website=Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana |language=it}}</ref>

==Language==
{{Main|Volscian language}}
The Volsci spoke [[Volscian language|Volscian]], a [[Sabellic]] [[Italic language]], which was closely related to [[Oscan language|Oscan]] and [[Umbrian language|Umbrian]], and more distantly to [[Latin]].<ref name="ClacksonHorrocks2011">{{cite book|author1=James Clackson|author2=Geoffrey Horrocks|title=The Blackwell History of the Latin Language|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=O-1Ckyirv8AC&pg=PT59|date=23 May 2011|publisher=John Wiley & Sons|isbn=978-1-4443-9358-3|pages=59–}}</ref>

In the Volscian territory lay the little town of Velitrae (modern [[Velletri]]), home of the ancestors of [[Augustus|Caesar Augustus]]. From this town comes an inscription dating probably from early in the 3rd century BC; it is cut upon a small bronze plate (now in the Naples Museum), which must have once been fixed to some [[votive object]], and dedicated to the god [[Declunus]] (or the goddess [[Decluna]]).<ref name="Chisholm1911">{{EB1911|inline=y|wstitle=Volsci |volume=28|pages=197–198|first=Robert Seymour|last=Conway|authorlink=Robert Seymour Conway}}</ref>

==Conflict with ancient Rome==
{{Main|Roman-Volscian wars}}
The Volsci were among the most dangerous enemies of [[ancient Rome]], and frequently allied with the [[Aequi]], whereas their neighbors, the [[Hernici]], were allied with Rome after 486 BC.<ref name="RosensteinMorstein-Marx2011">
{{cite book
|author1=Nathan Rosenstein
|author2=Robert Morstein-Marx
|title=A Companion to the Roman Republic
|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=C4rmmvFAKjoC&pg=PA279
|date=7 September 2011|publisher=John Wiley & Sons
|isbn=978-1-4443-5720-2|pages=279–
}}</ref><ref name="Chisholm1911"/>  

According to the semi-legendary history of early Rome, its seventh and last king, [[Lucius Tarquinius Superbus]], was the first to go to war against the Volsci, commencing two centuries of conflict between the two states.<ref name=":0">[[Livy]] ''[[Ab urbe condita (book)|Ab urbe condita]]'' 6.6; 6.9; 8.1</ref>

[[Gaius Marcius Coriolanus]], the legendary Roman warrior, earned his [[cognomen]] after capturing the Volscian town of [[Corioli]] in 493 BC. The reputed rise and fall of this Roman hero is chronicled in [[Plutarch]]'s ''[[Parallel Lives]]'', which served as the basis for the [[William Shakespeare|Shakespeare]] play, ''[[Coriolanus]]''.<ref name="Shakespeare1969">{{cite book|author=William Shakespeare|title=Coriolanus|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Aus8AAAAIAAJ|year=1969|publisher=CUP Archive|isbn=978-0-521-07529-9}}</ref> 

However, if [[Livy]]'s account of the [[Roman-Etruscan Wars#War with Clusium in 508 BC|war between Rome and Clusium]] is accurate, it would seem that the relationship between Rome and the Volsci was not always hostile. Livy writes that at the approach of the [[Clusium|Clusian]] army in 508 BC, with the prospect of a siege, the [[Roman senate]] arranged for the purchase of grain from the Volsci to feed the lower classes of Rome.<ref>[[Livy]] ''[[Ab urbe condita (book)|Ab urbe condita]]'' 2. 9</ref>

== Prominent Volsci ==

* [[Camilla (mythology)|Camilla]] in [[Virgil]]'s [[Aeneid]], a Volscian Warrior Maiden (like the legendary Amazons).
* [[Attius Tullus Aufidius]], leader of the Volsci during the [[Roman–Volscian wars]].

=== Prominent Romans of Volscian ancestry ===

* [[Augustus]], first Roman emperor.
* [[Decius]], Roman emperor from 249 to 251.

=== Roman Gentes of Volscian origin ===
* [[Balventia gens]]
* [[Messia gens]]
* [[Octavia gens]]
* [[Pomptina gens]]
* [[Publicia gens]]

==References==
{{reflist}}

==Further reading==
* Coarelli, Filippo. "Roma, i Volsci e il Lazio antico". In: ''Crise et transformation des sociétés archaïques de l'Italie antique au Ve siècle av. JC''. In: Actes de la table ronde de Rome (19-21 novembre 1987). Rome: École Française de Rome, 1990. pp.&nbsp;135–154. (Publications de l'École française de Rome, 137)<ref>{{Cite web |title=Roma, i Volsci e il Lazio antico |url=https://www.persee.fr/doc/efr_0000-0000_1990_act_137_1_3901 |access-date=March 3, 2025}}</ref>

[[Category:Volsci| ]]
[[Category:Italic peoples]]
[[Category:Ancient Italian history]]