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{{Short description|
{{Confusion|Latino (disambiguation)}}{{redirect|Latini|people with the last name Latini|Latini (surname)|other uses|Latin (disambiguation)}}
[[File:Volsci.jpg|thumb|right|400px|Map of fifth-century BC [[Old Latium|Latium]] and surrounding regions in present-day [[Italy]] that were eventually annexed by Rome to form "New Latium": The [[Alban Hills]], a region of early Latin settlement (from around 1000 BC) and the site of the ''Latiar'', the most important Latin communal festival, are located under the "U" in {{sc|latium}}. The region's two main lakes, Nemi and Albanus, are visible under the "I". The leading Latin city-states of Rome, Tibur ([[Tivoli, Lazio|Tivoli]]), Praeneste ([[Palestrina]]), [[Ardea, Lazio|Ardea]] and [[Gabii]] are shown.]]
[[File:Iron Age Italy.svg|thumb|Ethnolinguistic map of Italy in the [[Iron Age]], before the [[Roman conquest of Italy|Roman expansion and conquest of Italy]].]]
The '''Latins''' ([[Latin language|Latin
Their language, [[Latin]], belonged to the [[Italic languages|Italic branch]] of Indo-European. Speakers of Italic languages are assumed to have migrated into the [[Italian Peninsula]] during the late [[Bronze Age]] (1200–900 BC). The material culture of the Latins, known as the [[Latial culture]], was a distinctive subset of the [[proto-Villanovan culture]] that appeared in parts of the Italian peninsula in the first half of the 12th century BC. The Latins maintained close culturo-religious relations until they were definitively united politically under Rome in 338 BC, and for centuries beyond. These included common festivals and religious sanctuaries.
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Similarly, several authors have suggested that the [[Beaker culture]] of Central and Western Europe was a candidate for an early [[Proto-Indo-Europeans|Indo-European culture]], and more specifically, for an ancestral European branch of Indo-European dialects, termed "North-west Indo-European", ancestral to Celtic, Italic, Germanic and Balto-Slavic branches.<ref>"Almagro-Gorbea - La lengua de los Celtas y otros pueblos indoeuropeos de la península ibérica", 2001 p.95. In Almagro-Gorbea, M., Mariné, M. and Álvarez-Sanchís, J. R. (eds) ''Celtas y Vettones'', pp. 115-121. Ávila: Diputación Provincial de Ávila.</ref><ref>J.P. Mallory, 'The Indo-Europeanization of Atlantic Europe', in ''Celtic From the West 2: Rethinking the Bronze Age and the Arrival of Indo-European in Atlantic Europe'', eds J. T. Koch and B. Cunliffe (Oxford, 2013), p.17-40</ref> All these groups were descended from Proto-Indo-European speakers from Yamna-culture, whose migrations in Central Europe probably split off Pre-Italic, Pre-Celtic and Pre-Germanic from Proto-Indo-European.<ref name=Anthony/>{{sfn|Cornell|1995|p=31-34|loc=map 1}}{{sfn|Cornell|1995|p=41}}
[[File:Linguistic Landscape of Central Italy.png|thumb|left|400px|The linguistic landscape of Central Italy at the beginning of Roman expansion]]
Leaving archaeology aside, the geographical distribution of the ancient languages of the peninsula may plausibly be explained by the immigration of successive waves of peoples with different languages, according to Cornell. On this model, it appears likely that the "West Italic" group (including the Latins) were the first wave, followed, and largely displaced by, the East Italic (Osco-Umbrian) group. This is deduced from the marginal locations of the surviving West Italic niches. Besides Latin, putative members of the West Italic group are [[Faliscan language|Faliscan]] (now regarded as merely a Latin dialect),{{sfn|Cornell|1995|p=43}} and perhaps [[Siculian]], spoken in eastern [[Sicily]]. The West Italic languages were thus spoken in limited and isolated areas, whereas the "East Italic" group comprised the [[Oscan]] and [[Umbrian]] dialects spoken over much of central and southern Italy.{{sfn|Cornell|1995|p=42|loc=Map 2}} The chronology of Indo-European immigration remains elusive, as does the relative chronology between the Italic IE languages and the non-IE languages of the peninsula, notably the [[Etruscan language|Etruscan]], which is considered related to the [[Raetic language|Raetic]] spoken in the [[Alps]]. Other examples of non-IE languages in Iron Age Italy are the [[Camunic language]], spoken in the Alps, and the unattested [[Ligurian (ancient language)|ancient Ligurian]] and [[Paleo-Sardinian language]]s. Most scholars consider that Etruscan is a pre-IE survival, a [[Paleo-European languages|Paleo-European language]]<ref name=Haarmann2014>{{cite book |last1=Haarmann |first1=Harald |author-link1=Harald Haarmann |year=2014 |chapter=Ethnicity and Language in the Ancient Mediterranean |editor1-last= McInerney|editor1-first= Jeremy |title=A Companion to Ethnicity in the Ancient Mediterranean |language=en |location=Chichester, UK |publisher=John Wiley & Sons, Inc |publication-date=2014 |pages=17–33 |doi=10.1002/9781118834312.ch2 |isbn= 9781444337341}}</ref> part of an older European linguistic substratum,{{sfn|Cornell|1995|p=44}} spoken long before the arrival of proto Indo-European speakers. Some scholars have earlier speculated that Etruscan language could have been introduced by later migrants. The ancient Greek historian [[Herodotus]] preserves the tradition that the ''Tyrrhenoi'' (Etruscans) originated in [[Lydia]] in [[Anatolia]],<ref>Herodotus ''Histories'' I.94</ref> but Lydians spoke an [[Indo-European languages|Indo-European]] language, completely different from the Etruscan language. Despite, a possible support for an eastern origin for Etruscan may be provided by two inscriptions in a language closely related to Etruscan found on the island of [[Lemnos]] in the northern [[Aegean
== Language ==
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[[File:Column of Marcus Aurelius - detail2.jpg|thumb|right|The "Rain Miracle": Jupiter the Rainmaker rescues the Romans during the [[Marcomannic Wars]] (AD 166–80). The soldiers of legion ''[[Legio XII Fulminata|XII Fulminata]]'', who were surrounded by the [[Quadi]] Germans and severely dehydrated, were saved by a thunderstorm, which reportedly materialised out of a clear sky. Note the god's wings. Detail from the [[Column of Marcus Aurelius]], Rome]]
According to the mainstream Kurgan hypothesis, the earliest Indo-
# The kinship-system of PIEs is considered by anthropologists to best fit the so-called "Omaha" system, i.e. a patrilineal exogamous society, i.e. a society in which descent is recognised through the father's line and spouses are taken from outside the kinship-group.{{sfn|Fortson|2010|p=20}} This is certainly the case with Roman society.
# Supreme sky-god: It has been securely reconstructed that the chief god of PIEs was a male sky-god, known as "Father Sky", from which descends the chief Latin god, [[Jupiter (mythology)|Jupiter]], deriving from archaic "Dieus - pater" ("sky-father").{{sfn|Fortson|2010|p=25}} PIEs also venerated a god of thunder and lightning.{{sfn|Fortson|2010|p=26}} Among the Latins, this deity appears to have been merged with the sky-god, as Jupiter was ascribed the power to hurl thunderbolts. Among others, Jupiter was ascribed the epithets ''Jupiter Tonitrans'' ("Jupiter the Thunderer"), ''Jupiter Pluvius'' ("Jupiter the Rainmaker"), and ''Jupiter Fulgurator'' ("Jupiter the Thunderbolt-Flinger")
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=== Latin communal tribal cults ===
[[File:Monte Cavo Visto da castel gandolfo.jpg|thumb|right|400px|View of ''Albanus mons'' ([[Monte Cavo]], 949m), the sacred mount of the Latins in the Alban Hills. The annual religious rites of the [[Latin Festival]] were held on its summit. In foreground, the [[lago Albano|Alban lake]], filling the caldera of an extinct volcano]]
Despite their frequent internecine wars, the Latin city-states maintained close culturo-religious relations throughout their history. Their most important common tribal event was the four-day ''Latiar'' or ''[[Feriae Latinae]]'' ("Latin Festival"), held each winter on the sacred ''mons Albanus'' ([[Monte Cavo]], Alban Hills, SE of Rome), an extinct volcano. The climax of the festival was a number of sacrifices to Jupiter Latiaris ("Jupiter of Latium"); the sacrificed meat was shared by the representatives of the Latin communities. These elaborate rituals, as did all Roman religious ceremonies, had to be performed with absolute precision and, if any procedural mistakes were made, had to be repeated from the start. The Latin Festival continued to be held long after all ''Latium Vetus'' was integrated into the Roman Republic after 338 BC (from then on, the [[Roman consul]]s presided over them) and into the [[Principate|Roman imperial era]]. The historian [[Livy]], writing around AD 20, ascribed Rome's disastrous defeat by the Carthaginian general [[Hannibal]] at the [[Battle of Lake Trasimene]] in 217 BC to the impiety of the consul [[Gaius Flaminius (consul 223 BC)|Gaius Flaminius]], who, in his eagerness to join his army at its assembly-point of [[Arretium]],
Latin cultural-religious events were also held at other common cult-centres e.g. the major common shrine to [[Diana (mythology)|Diana]] at [[Ariccia|Aricia]]. This may be the sacred grove to Diana which a fragment of Cato's ''Origines'' recorded dedicated, probably {{circa|500 BC}}, by various Latin communities under the leadership of the dictator of [[Tusculum]], Egerius Baebius.{{sfn|Cornell|1995|p=297}} Cornell argues that the temple of Diana reportedly founded by the Roman king [[Servius Tullius]] on the [[Aventine hill]] at Rome was also a common Latin shrine, as it was built outside the ''pomerium'' or City boundary.{{sfn|Cornell|1995|p=295}} There was also an important Latin cult-centre at [[Lavinium]]. Lavinium hosted the cult of the [[Penates]], or Latin ancestor-gods. Cornell suggests that the "Sanctuary of the 13 altars" discovered in the 1960s at Lavinium was the site of the Penates cult. Since each of the altars differ in style and date, it has been suggested that each was erected by a separate Latin city-state.{{sfn|Cornell|1995|p=109}}
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Romulus himself was the subject of the famous legend of the suckling she-wolf (''lupa'') that kept Romulus and his twin [[Remus]] alive in a cave on the [[Palatine Hill]] (the ''[[Lupercal]]'') after they had been thrown into the river [[Tiber]] on the orders of their wicked uncle, [[Amulius]]. The latter had usurped the throne of Alba from the twins' grandfather, king [[Numitor]], and then confined their mother, [[Rhea Silvia]], to the [[Vesta (mythology)|Vesta]]l convent. They were washed ashore by the river, and after a few days with the wolf, were rescued by shepherds.
Mainstream scholarly opinion regards Romulus as an entirely mythical character, and the legend fictitious. On this view, Romulus was a name fabricated to provide Rome with an eponymous founding hero, a common feature of classical foundation-myths; it is possible that Romulus was named after Rome instead of ''vice versa''. The name contains the Latin diminutive ''-ulus'', so it means simply "Roman" or "little Roman".{{sfn|Cornell|1995|p=119}} It has been suggested that the name "Roma" was of [[Etruscan language|Etruscan origin]], or that it was derived from the Latin word ''ruma'' ("teat"), presumably because the shape of the Palatine Hill and/or Capitoline Hill resembled a woman's breasts. If
In contrast, [[Andrea Carandini]], an archaeologist who has spent most of his career excavating central Rome, advanced the theory that Romulus was a historical figure who indeed founded the city in {{circa|753 BC}}, as related by the ancient chroniclers, by ploughing a symbolic sacred furrow to define the city's boundary.<ref>{{cite book |last=Carandini |first=Andrea |author-link=Andrea Carandini |year=2011 |title=Rome: Day One}}</ref> But Carandini's views have received scant support among fellow scholars.
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A genetic study published in ''[[Science (journal)|Science]]'' in November 2019 examined the remains of six Latin males buried near [[Rome]] between 900 BC and 200 BC. They carried the paternal haplogroups [[Haplogroup R-M269|R-M269]], [[Haplogroup T-M184#T1a1a (L208)|T-L208]], [[Haplogroup R-M269|R-P311]], R-PF7589 and [[Haplogroup R-M269#R-P312|R-P312]] (two samples), and the maternal haplogroups [[Haplogroup H (mtDNA)#H1|H1aj1a]], [[Haplogroup T (mtDNA)|T2c1f]], [[Haplogroup H (mtDNA)#H2|H2a]], [[Haplogroup U (mtDNA)#Haplogroup U4|U4a1a]], [[Haplogroup H (mtDNA)#H11|H11a]] and [[Haplogroup H (mtDNA)#H10|H10]].{{sfn|Antonio et al.|2019|loc=Table 2 Sample Information, Rows 29-32, 36-37}} These examined individuals were distinguished from preceding populations of Italy by the presence of 30% [[steppe ancestry]].{{Sfn|Antonio et al.|2019|p=4 Table S15}} Two out of six individuals from Latin burials were found have a mixture of local Iron Age ancestry and ancestry from an [[Aegean Sea|Eastern mediterranean]] population. Among modern populations, four out of six were closest to [[Northern Italy|Northern]] and [[Central Italy|Central Italians]], and then Spaniards, while the other two were closest to Southern Italians.{{sfn|Antonio et al.|2019|p=2}} Overall, the genetic differentiation between the Latins, [[Etruscans]] and the preceding proto-Villanovan population of Italy was found to be insignificant.{{sfn|Antonio et al.|2019|p=3}}
Examined individuals from the city of Rome during the time of the [[Roman Empire]] (27 BCE – 300 CE) bore
===Physical appearance===
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*Barker, Graeme. ''Landscape and Society: Prehistoric Central Italy''. London: Academic Press, 1981.
*Bietti Sestieri, Anna Maria, Ellen Macnamara, and Duncan R Hook. ''Prehistoric Metal Artefacts From Italy (3500-720BC)In the British Museum''. London: British Museum, 2007.
*Bradley, Guy Jolyon, [[Elena Isayev]], and Corinna Riva. ''Ancient Italy: Regions without Boundaries''. Exeter, UK: University of Exeter Press, 2007.
*Brown, A. C. ''Ancient Italy before the Romans''. Oxford: Ashmolean Museum, 1980.
*Forsythe, Gary. ''A Critical History of Early Rome: From Prehistory to the First Punic War''. Berkeley: University of California Press, 2005.
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