In the historic period they were speaking Oscan (as well as Greek), leading to their classification as Italics. The Bruttii are classified as an italic tribe. They lived in the region of Bruttium, present-day Calabria, on Italy’s southwestern peninsula opposite Sicily. Their principal towns consisted of their capital Consentia (modern Cosenza), Clampetia (modern Amantea), and Petelia (near modern Strongoli).
In the mid-fourth century B. C.E. the Brutii, along with the Lucani, neighbors to their north, made war on colonies of Greeks, seizing Hipponium (modern Vibo Valentia) in 356 B. C.E. Alexander i, king of Epirus and Agathocles, tyrant of Syracuse, pacified them, but they regained the town in the early third century B. C.E. The Bruttii supported the Greeks under Pyrrhus, king of Epirus, against the ROMANS. After his defeat at Beneventum (modern Benvento) in the Pyrrhic War of 280-275 B. C.E. the Romans claimed half the Bruttii territory in the Sila Forest and established colonies
See Britons; Celts.
A Bulgarian girl herds sheep in the late 19th or early 20th century. (Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division [LC-USZ62-105350])
At Hipponium and Rhegium (now Reggio di Calabria).
The Bruttii rose up again against the Romans in support of the Carthaginians under Hannibal in the Second Punic War of 218-201 B. C.E. After Roman victory the Bruttii lost independent status. The Romans built a road to the region in 132 B. C.E. During the slave revolt against Rome under Spartacus in 73-71 B. C.E. the rebels stayed for a time in Bruttium. Although the Bruttii did not openly support him, some among them may have joined his force.
World History
