Online Encyclopedia
Search over 40,000 articles from the original, classic Encyclopedia Britannica, 11th Edition.
VENETI
Online EncyclopediaEncyclopedia Home :: VAN-VIR
del.icio.us it!
|
VENETI , the name given to two See also:ancient See also:European tribes. (i) A See also:Celtic See also:people in the N.W. of Gallia Celtica, whose territory corresponded roughly to the See also:department of See also:Morbihan. They were the most powerful maritime people on the See also:Atlantic and carried on a considerable See also:trade with See also:Britain. Their name still remains in the See also:town of See also:Vannes. In the See also:winter of 57 B.C., with some of their neighbours, they took up arms against the See also:Romans, and in 56 were decisively defeated in a See also:naval engagement, details of which are given in See also:Caesar's See also:Bell. See also:Gall. iii. and Dio See also:Cassius xxxix. 40-43. For criticisms of these narratives, and a discussion of the question of the See also:scene of operations, see T. R. See also:Holmes, Caesar's See also:Conquest of See also:Gaul (1899), pp. 205, 663, 674, and for the extent of their territory, P. 509.. (2) The inhabitants of a See also:district in the See also:north of See also:Italy (also called `Enrol, Heneti, by the Greeks). The extent of their territory before their See also:incorporation by the Romans is uncertain. It was at first included in Cisalpine Gaul, but under See also:Augustus was known as the tenth region of Italy (See also:Venetia and Histria). It was bounded on the W. by the Athesis (See also:Adige), or, according to others, by the Addua (See also:Adda); on the N. by the Cathie See also:Alps; on the E. by the Timavus (Timavo) or the Formio (Risano); on the S. by the Adriatic Gulf. From the earliest times the Veneti appear to have been a peaceful people, chiefly engaged in commercial pursuits. They carried ,on an extensive trade in See also:amber, which reached them overland from the shores of the Baltic.' They were especially famous for their skill in the training and breeding of horses, attributed to their stay in See also:Thrace, whence they brought the cult of Diomede into their See also:Italian See also:home. See also:Homer (Il. ii. 85) speaks of the Paphlagonian Heneti as breeders of ",See also:wild mules," and their fondness for horses is regarded as a See also:proof of their descent from the " See also:horse-taming" Trojans. See also:Dionysius, See also:tyrant of See also:Syracuse, who assisted them to repel the attacks of the Liburnian pirates, is said to have kept a See also:stud in their See also:country. See also:Herodotus mentions a curious (See also:marriage See also:custom, which seems of Eastern origin. Once a See also:year the marriageable maidens of a See also:village were collected together. Each See also:young See also:man See also:chose a See also:bride, for whom he had to pay a sum of See also:money in proportion to her beauty. The sums thus obtained were used by the public officials to See also:dower the less beautiful and thus afford them the See also:chance of obtaining a See also:husband. According to the pseudo-See also:Scymnus of See also:Chios (Periegesis, 400) the Veneti were See also:ford of wearing See also:black, a custom even now prevalent amongst them. They were a flourishing and wealthy people, and noted for their uprightness and morality. The first See also:historical mention of the, Veneti occurs in connexion with the See also:capture of See also:Rome by the Gauls, whose See also:retreat is said to have been caused by an irruption of the Veneti into their territory (See also:Polybius ii. r8). At the See also:request of the Romans they rendered them assistance in their See also:wars against the Gauls north and See also:south of the Po, and ever afterwards remained their loyal See also:allies. Some See also:time during the Second Punic See also:War they passed, not by right of conquest but by force of circumstances, under See also:Roman See also:rule. At first they possessed See also:complete See also:autonomy in See also:internal See also:administration; in 89 Gnaeus Pompeius See also:Strabo be-stowed upon them the See also:jus Latinum; they probably obtained the full See also:franchise from Caesar at the same time as the Transpadane Gauls (49). Under the See also:Empire Venetia and See also:Istria were included in the tenth region of Italy, with See also:capital See also:Aquileia. Down to the time of the Antonines the country enjoyed See also:great prosperity, which was interrupted by the invasion of the Quadi and See also:Marcomanni and a destructive See also:plague. From that time it was devastated at intervals by the barbarians—by the See also:Alamanni, See also:Franks and Juthungi in 286; by the Goths under See also:Alaric (beginning of the 5th See also:century); by the See also:Huns under See also:Attila (452), who utterly destroyed Aquileia and several other cities. Under See also:Theodoric the Great (ruler of Italy from 493--526) the See also:land had See also:rest, and in 568 was occupied by the See also:Lombards. The most important See also:river of Venetia was the Athesis (Adige); its See also:chief towns Patavipm (see See also:PADUA), Aquileia See also:Altinum (Altino), Belunum (See also:Belluno, still a considerable town). See also:Language.-We have nearly too See also:inscriptions which See also:record the language spoken by the tribe in pre-Roman days, the bulk of which we owe to the admirable and devoted excavations carried out at See also:Este since 1890 by Prof. A. Prosdocimi and Sign, A. Alfonsi. But a not unimportant number have also come to See also:light at See also:Verona and Padua, and at different points along the great North and South route of the See also:Brenner Pass, especially at Bozen; and there are a few more scanty and scattered monuments in the Carinthian Alps now preserved chiefly in the Museums at See also:Klagenfurt and See also:Vienna (the K.K. Naturhistorisches Museum, Ethnographische Abteilung). All but a few of these Venetic inscriptions were seen and transcribed by the See also:present writer in the See also:spring of 1908, and their texts with a careful collection of the See also:local and See also:personal names of the district made by See also:Miss S. E. See also:Jackson will appear as the first See also:part of "The Pre-See also:Italic Dialects" in the Proceedings of the See also:British Acadelny. The See also:alphabet of the inscriptions; in all its varieties, is probably (in spite of See also:Pauli, See also:Die Veneto., p. 226, whose See also:judgment seems somewhat arbitrary) either derived from or at least influenced by some See also:form of the See also:Etruscan alphabet, since it not merely coincides with that alphabet in several characteristic signs, such as the use of the See also:compound See also:symbol eh ') with the value of f, but lacks the symbols for the mediae B D G. These, or the sounds which had descended from them in Venetic, were represented by using symbols which in the Western See also:Greek alphabets denoted kindred sounds; z where we should expect d (See also:solo," he gave "), cl) 4, where wt should expect b (4 okiws, " Boius "), i' (i.e. x) where we should expect g (•s.xo, " ego "). But though we find the symbols in positions where they correspond to the mediae in kindred See also:languages, it is uncertain what the precise variety of See also:sound which they denoted was, thus, for example, Venetic •e•xo, is certainly See also:equivalent to the Latin ego, but we cannot be certain that the sound of the, twowords was precisely the same. The symbol for 0 is not used to denote d (since that is represented by z). In the inscriptions of Padua and Verona the sign is O and seems there to denote some variety of sound closely akin to t; the word which at Padua and Verona is written •e•kupe-See also:Bari•s• (probably meaning " charioteer ") appears as ecupetaris in Latin alphabet in an inscription published by See also:Ella Lattes (" Iscrizioni Inedite Venete ed Etrusche," Eendiconti del R. 1st. Lomb. di Sc. e i.e Serie II. vol. 34, 1901). The full Venetic alphabet at its best See also:period is preserved for us on several curious and interesting dedicatory See also:objects found at Este, which were offered to the goddess of the See also:place called Rehire, a name obviously equivalent to Latin Rectie, some of whose prerogatives, to See also:judge from the See also:long nails which are offered to her, frequently accompanied by small wedges, would seem to have been those of the goddess whom See also:Horace calls See also:Necessitas (Odes, is 35, z7), The offerings in question are thin See also:bronze plates of whose See also:surface the greater part is covered by alphabetic signs, with an 'inscription stating that such and such a worshipper makes an offering of the See also:plate to the Goddess Rectia. Besides the letters of the alphabet in their See also:order, these plates contain a See also:kind of See also:catalogue of the most See also:common See also:combination of letters, and although. none of the plates is now completely preserved this characteristic and their See also:general likeness to one another provide enough material to place the alphabet of Este beyond all doubt. It is written from right to See also:left, and the alternate lines curl See also:round so that the letters proceed in the opposite direction and stand with their feet turned towards those in the preceding See also:line. This characteristic, technically known as " See also:serpentine boustrophedon," with the sign for h (tjt), points to some connexion with the alphabets . of the See also:East Italic (" See also:Sabellic "): inscriptions (see SABELLIC). The alphabet of Este then, in what the archaeological remains show to have been the 4th and 3rd centuries B.C., was as follows:- 11 a, 1 c, l v, % z, lei h, ® 0,)1-k, 1 t, I rn,:l n, 'r1 p, Ml,ar,2andSs,Xt,Au,orm0,x,0. Pauli (Die Venter., p. 229) compares it to the Western Greek alphabet as used in Ells, but it is difficult to point to any especial See also:mark of See also:affinity with this particular See also:branch of the Western alphabet, while there are some marked See also:differences, such as X instead of Elean T, a instead of Elean (prevailingly) ) and k. )( instead of = and See also:Ill instead of the See also:regular Western a though the latter symbol is not quoted as occurring in Ells itself (E. S. See also:Roberts, Greek See also:Epigraphy, i. 390). Even the few words that have already been cited from the inscriptions will have shown that the language belongs to the Indo-European See also:group. Unfortunately the inscriptions of Este, although numerous, belong to only two classes, dedications and epitaphs; hence the forms with which they See also:supply us, though attested by welcome repetition, are somewhat limited in number. The typical beginning for a See also:dedication is mewo....zona•s•to sahnateh rehtiiah, i.e. " me dedit Rectiee Sanatrici, so and so gave me to the Healing Goddess Rectia '; and sometimes the form of the verb is simply a•into. The See also:correspondence of these two forms with the Greek See also:middle See also:aorist of the verb (f-Soro), and with the Latin donare is obvious, and the present writer is convinced, for reasons which it is impossible to See also:state fully here, that the dots which, it will be observed, are placed on either See also:side of the last sound of their syllable, denote the See also:accent of the word; the most striking See also:evidence being the coincidence in position of the dots with the place of the Greek accent on kindred words; for example, the cognomen Lehvo•s• on an inscription of See also:Vicenza is clearly identical with the Latin Laevus and the Greek Meeds. These signs are altogether absent from some words, e.g. from the See also:Accusative ,sxo (presumably a proclitic) and syllables containing the See also:letter Ill, whose form would make the dots a cumbrous addition. One other inscription of See also:special linguistic See also:interest should be cited here; it appears to be the artist's inscription of a See also:vase of the 6th century inc. found recently at Padua voile klutleari•s• vhax•s•to, where the first name appears to be identical with the Latin See also:Otho and to explain its aspirate, and the last word appears to be the Venetic equivalent of the Latin fecit, but to be in the middle See also:voice without any See also:augment: If this See also:interpretation be correct—and the use of froltue by Greek artists commends it strongly—the form illustrates in rather a striking way the See also:character of the language as intermediate between Greek and Latin.' In the archaeological aspect the Venetic remains are particularly interesting as representing very fully the culture of what is known as the See also:early See also:Iron See also:Age, the monuments of which were discovered in the excavations at See also:Villanova, and are now admirably exhibited in the Museum at See also:Bologna. The earliest begin, according to the generally accepted dating, from the nth century B.C. The remains at Este begin a very little later, but no inscriptions appear upon them until we reach the pottery of the 6th century B.C. ft remains therefore to be determined whether this Venetic language was the proper speech of the people who, as it' is generally supposed, brought with them the early Iron culture into Italy from north of the Alps in the I tth century B.C., or whether it was the language of the people of the See also:soil whom they conquered. So far as the scanty linguistic evidence at present extends, in the place names and the personal names of the Ligurian and the Venetic districts, it appears to the present writer on the whole to be more in favour of the second' view. This See also:probability would become a certainty if we could accept as established the view of See also:Professor' Ridgeway and others, which identifies the authors of the early Iron culture with the Umbrians of historical times and ascribes to them the Umbro-Safine language (which with Latin constitutes the Italic See also:division of the Indo-European languages), and which almost certainly was the language originally spoken by the patrician class at Rome (see further See also:SABINI). Even now it must be admitted that this view possesses a high degree of probability. The chief authority on the Venetic inscriptions published up to 1908 is Carl Paull (Attilal. Studzen, vol. 3, " Die' Veneter," See also:Leipzig, 1891), but so far as the present writer's observation maybe trusted the See also:text which Pauli gives of the inscriptions is somewhat defective. Some were reported by See also:Mommsen, Die Inschriften Norditalischex Alphabets (See also:Zurich, 1853) ; the rest have been recorded in the Notizie degli Scans as they appeared, by Ghirardini in the volumes for 188o and 1888, by Prosdocimi in that for 189o. These articles contain careful accounts of the archaeological remains. (R. S. Additional information and CommentsThere are no comments yet for this article.
» Add information or comments to this article.
Please link directly to this article:
Highlight the code below, right click, and select "copy." Then paste it into your website, email, or other HTML. Site content, images, and layout Copyright © 2006 - Net Industries, worldwide. |
|
|
[back] VENEREAL DISEASES (from " venery," i.e. the pursuit... |
[next] VENETIA |