Abstract
In ancient accounts of Rome’s conquest of Italy, various ethne and populi are said to inhabit the peninsula. However, the narratives that convey this information are at least 200 years later than the period that they describe, and rely on sources that are themselves late and complex. To what extent did the Italian “peoples” of the ancient narratives exist as such, and to what degree did Italian communities perceive themselves as ethnically distinct? This paper discusses some key questions, themes and problems concerning ethnicity in ancient Italy in the first millennium BC-with a focus on the last four centuries BC. Although Italian communities occasionally joined together along ethnic lines, such as when dealing with Rome, ethnicity was in fact one of several forms of collective identity that could be activated in ancient Italy, including civic identities as well as class, gender and familial identities.
Keywords:
ethnicity; Italy; Roman history