Liguria (ancient world)
Liguria, in the context of the ancient world, refers to a northwestern coastal region of Italy along the Ligurian Gulf (Gulf of Genoa), which historically encompassed parts of northern Italy and southeastern France. The Ligurians, who inhabited this area, were described as a tough and diverse group with an unclear language, influenced by Iberian, Celtic, and to a lesser extent, Greek cultures. Historical accounts from the third century BC by authors like Polybius and Livy note Greek interactions and settlements along the coast and inland regions, indicating a blend of cultural influences.
During the Roman era, particularly between 238 and 117 BC, Rome conducted military campaigns to subdue the Ligurians, who were involved in conflicts such as the Second Punic War. Over time, the region was integrated into the Roman provinces of Transalpine and Cisalpine Gaul. Following the Roman conquest, Liguria became an important area of Augustan Italy, but later, its designation shifted to encompass different territories. By the late empire, the name Liguria was associated with a province north of the Po River, while the lands south of the river evolved into the district known as the Cottian Alps. Notably, the Roman emperor Pertinax was born in this region around AD 126.
Subject Terms
Liguria (ancient world)
The northwestern coastal strip of Italy on the Ligurian Gulf (Gulf of Genoa), extending into a mountainous hinterland, and originally comprising large additional areas of northern Italy (Cisalpine Gaul) and southeastern Transalpine Gaul (France)
The Ligurians, described as `aboriginal,’ were a tough, mixed people of undeterminable language, who came under Iberian, Celtic, and to a limited extent Greek influences. In the third century BC Polybius, Livy, and others indicate a measure of Greek penetration along the coasts and in the hinterland, from the river Rhodanus (Rhône) down as far as the Arnus (Arno).
Roman campaigns between 238 and 117 BC against the Ligurians (who supported the Carthaginian Mago at the end of the Second Punic War, c 205–203, and were denounced by Massalia [Massilia, Marseille] as pirates in 154 and later) gradually subjugated their various tribes, which were included in the provinces of Transalpine (Narbonese) and Cisalpine Gaul (seeGallia). Subsequently Liguria, comprising the elongated coastal area now known by that name together with territories extending northward as far as the Padus (Po), became a region of Augustan Italy; but in the later empire the name was transferred to a district or province to the north of the Po, including Mediolanum (Milan) and sometimes combined with Aemilia (Emilia), whereas the land south of the river, including the present Liguria, became the district or province of the Cottian Alps (the previous designation of a small Alpine princedom and province farther to the west). The emperor Pertinax was born in Liguria in AD 126. See alsoGenua.