Italia (Roman province)

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A portion of the Tabula Peutingeriana, a Roman map of the 4th century, depicting the southern part of Italia.

Italia, under the Roman Republic and later Empire, was the name of the Italian peninsula.

1 Under the Republic and Augustan organization
2 Italia in 2nd and 3rd centuries
3 Italia in 4th and 5th centuries
4 See also
5 References
6 External links

[edit] Under the Republic and Augustan organization

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 Transpadana

The 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 other provinces. 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.

[edit] Italia in 2nd and 3rd centuries

In this sestertius of Antoninus Pius, the personification of Italia is depicted on reverse.

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 Cottiae

The former Italian regions of Alpes Poenninae and Alpes Maritimae become part of the Diocesis Galliarum.

[edit] Italia in 4th and 5th centuries

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.