Italia (Roman province)
Italia, under the
Roman Republic and later
Empire, was the name of the
Italian peninsula.
During the Republic, Italia (which extended at the time from
Rubicon to
Calabria) was not a
province, but rather the territory of the city of
Rome, thus having a special status: for example, military commanders were not allowed to bring their armies within Italia, and
Julius Caesar passing the Rubicon with his legions marked the start of the civil war.
The name
Italia covered a portion of Italy that changed through time. According to
Strabo (
Geographia,
v 1), at the beginning the name indicated the land between the
strait of Messina and the line connecting the gulf of
Salerno and
gulf of Taranto; later Italia was extended to include the whole Italian peninsula, as well as the
Istrian town of
Pola; finally, Julius Caesar gave Roman citizenship to the people of the
Gallia Transpadana— that part of
Cisalpine Gaul that lay "beyond the Po"—, thus extending Italia up to the Alps.
With the end of the Social war (
2nd century BC), Rome allowed the Italian allies to enter with full rights in the Roman society, giving the Roman citizenship to all the
Italic peoples.
At the beginning of the Empire, Italia was a collections of territories with different statuses. Some cities, called
municipii, had some independence from Rome, others, the colonies, where founded by the Romans themselves. Around
7 BC,
Augustus Caesar divided Italia into eleven
regiones, as reported by
Pliny the Elder in his
Naturalis Historia (
iii 46):
* Regio I
Latium et Campania* Regio II
Apulia et Calabria* Regio III
Lucania et Brutii* Regio IV
Samnium* Regio V
Picenum* Regio VI
Umbria et Ager Gallicus* Regio VII
Etruria* Regio VIII
Aemilia* Regio IX
Liguria* Regio X
Venetia et Histria* Regio XI
TranspadanaThe Italian "province" was privileged by Augustus and his heirs, with the construction, among other public structures, of a dense mesh of roads.The Italian economy flourished: agriculture, handicraft and industry had a sensible growth, allowing the export of goods to the otherprovinces. The Italian population grew as well: Three census were ordered by Augustus, to record the presence of male citizens in Italia. They were 4,063,000 in
28 BC, 4,233,000 in
8 BC, and 4,937,000 in AD
14. Including the women and the children, the total population of Italia at the beginning of the
1st century was around 10 million.
When the Roman citizenship was given to all the Empire, the Italian province started its decline, in favour of richer provinces. Furthermore, Italia suffered from the attacks of barbarian tribes, that happened at the end of the
3rd century (see
Crisis of the third century and
Barracks emperors).
Diocletian divided the Empire into four parts (
dioceses). The
diocesis Italiae, ruled by the
Augustus of the
West, was divided into two zones, each divided into smaller territories held by
correctores:
*
Italia suburbicaria ("under the government of Rome")
**
Tuscia et Umbria**
Valeria**
Campania et Samnium**
Apulia et Calabria**
Sicilia**
Sardinia et Corsica*
Italia annonaria, with capital
Mediolanum (
Milan)
**
Venetia et Histria**
Aemilia et Liguria**
Flaminia et Picenum**
Raetia**
Alpes CottiaeThe former Italian regions of
Alpes Poenninae and
Alpes Maritimae become part of the
Diocesis Galliarum.
When the barbarians became the most important problem, the
Emperors were obliged to move out of Rome, and even in other provinces, thus increasing even more the decline of Italia. In
330,
Constantine I moved the capital of the empire to
Constantinople, with the imperial court, economical administration, as well as the military structures (as the
fleets of
Misenum and
Ravenna).
After the death of emperor
Theodosius (
395), Italia became part of the
Western Roman Empire. Then came the years of the barbarian invasions, and the capital was moved from Mediolanum to Ravenna (
402).
Alaric, king of
Visigoths, sacks Rome itself in
403, after seven centuries from the last sack. Northern Italia is attacked by
Attila's
Huns, and Rome is sacked again in
410.
According to
Notitia Dignitatum, a compilation of public civil and military officers that is considered updated to
420s for the western part of the Roman Empire, Italia was governed by a prefectus,
Prefectus praetorio Italiae (who governed Italia,
Illyricum and
Africa), one
vicarius, and one
comes rei militaris. The regions were governed by eight
consulares (
Venetiae et Histriae,
Aemiliae,
Liguriae,
Flaminiae et Piceni annonarii,
Tusciae et Umbriae,
Piceni suburbicarii,
Campaniae, and
Siciliae), two
correctores (
Apuliae et Calabriae and
Lucaniae et Bruttiorum) and four
praesides (
Alpium Cottiarum,
Samnii,
Sardiniae, and
Corsicae).
With the Emperors controlled by their barbarian generals, the imperial government weakly controlled Italia, whose coasts were continuously under attack. In
476, with the death of
Romulus Augustus and the return of the imperial ensigns to Constantinoples, the Western Roman Empire ends; for few years Italia stayed united under
Odoacer rule, but later it was divided between several kingdoms, and will return to be under a single ruler only after thirteen centuries.
*
History of Italy during Roman times*
Italus*
Geographical spaces in Roman history (Italian)
*
De Reditu, poem by
Rutilius Namatianus, at
The Latin Library, describing the decadence of Italia and Rome around
410.
