Praetutii (Pretuzi)

The Praetutii lived in the present-day province of Teramo in the northern region of Abruzzi in present-day east-central Italy. Along with the Adriani and Palmiensi they are sometimes grouped ancestrally with the Picenes living to their north beyond the Tonto River, although it is generally believed that the Adriani, Palmiensi, and Praetutii spoke Italic dialects and the Picenes either an illyrian or a pre-indo-European dialect.

The classifications of the Italics and Illyrians often overlap. The Praetutii are thought to have migrated from the mountainous regions into river valleys and toward the shore of the Adriatic in the eighth century B. C.E. Because of a similar Oscan dialect it has been theorized that they were descendants of the Sabines, who dominated much of central italy between the eighth and sixth centuries B. C.E. The main town of the Praetutii was interamna (modern Teramo), located at the confluence of the Vezzola and Tordino Rivers.

The Praetutii economy was based on farming and herding. In the fourth century B. C.E. the government of the Praetutii seems to have shifted from one of monarchy to an oligarchy, that is, from rule by one to rule by a small group. The Praetutii were in conflict with the Picenes that same century, as the Picenes expanded and advanced toward the Adriatic.

During the Third Samnite War between the Romans and the Samnites, which began in 298 B. C.E., the Praetutii joined the Samnites and their allies, in an attempt to stop the Romans, who were also expanding. The Picenes aligned themselves with the Romans. After a bitter and violent campaign led by the Roman Manius Curius Dentatus the Romans and allies defeated the Samnites and allies in 290 B. C.E. At that time the Praetutii, along with the Samnites, became civitas sine suffragio of Rome, that is, citizens without the right to vote in the Roman assembly. The land of the Praetutii became the Roman province of Ager Praetutianus. Many Picenes eventually settled there, displacing and absorbing the Praetutii. In 232 B. C.E. the Romans divided the region among Latin-speaking settlers, and the Praetutii as a distinct group dropped from the historical record.