Editing Ligures

{{Short description|Ancient ethnic group in Northern Italy}}
{{Redirect|Liguri|other uses|Ligure (disambiguation)||}}
[[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]]. Ligures are located in the upper left corner of the map (green).]]

The '''Ligures''' or '''Ligurians''' were an ancient people after whom [[Liguria]], a region of present-day [[Northern Italy|north-western Italy]], is named.<ref name="Maggiani">{{cite web |url=http://www.treccani.it/enciclopedia/popoli-e-culture-dell-italia-preromana-i-liguri_(Il-Mondo-dell'Archeologia) |title= Popoli e culture dell'Italia preromana. I Liguri |last=Maggiani |first=Adriano |year=2004 |series=Il Mondo dell'Archeologia |publisher=Treccani editore |location= Rome|language=it |access-date=September 14, 2019 |quote=Alla relativa abbondanza delle fonti letterarie circa queste popolazioni, che una parte della critica storiografica di tradizione ottocentesca voleva estese dal Magra all'Ebro, non corrisponde un panorama archeologico altrettanto ricco, che anzi, anche all'interno della Liguria storica, è ben lungi dal presentare caratteri unitari. }}</ref> Because of the strong [[Celts|Celtic]] influences on their language and culture, they were also known in antiquity as '''Celto-Ligurians'''.<ref name="baldi">{{cite book |first=Philip |last=Baldi |author-link=Philip Baldi |title=The Foundations of Latin |publisher=Walter de Gruyter |year=2002 |page=112}}</ref>
	
In pre-Roman times, the Ligurians occupied the present-day [[Italian region]] of [[Liguria]], [[Piedmont]], northern [[Tuscany]], western [[Lombardy]], western [[Emilia-Romagna]], and northern [[Sardinia]], reaching also [[Elba]] and [[Sicily]].<ref>Leonard Robert Palmer, The Latin Language, London: Faber and Faber, 1954, p. 54</ref><ref>{{cite book| last1= Sciarretta| first1= Antonio| title= Toponomastica d'Italia. Nomi di luoghi, storie di popoli antichi| date= 2010| publisher = Mursia| location= Milano| isbn= 978-88-425-4017-5| pages= 174–194}}</ref> They inhabited also the [[Regions of France|French region]] of [[Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur]] and [[Corsica]];<ref name="Malden"/><ref name="Strabo">[[Strabo]], ''Geography'', book 4, chapter 6</ref><ref name="Livy">[[Livy]], ''History of Rome'', book XLVII</ref><ref>{{cite book|pages=689–692|title=Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography|first=William|last=Smith|year=1872|location=London|publisher=J. Murray}} Downloadable Google Books.</ref> however, it is generally believed that around [[20th century BC|2000 BC]] the Ligurians occupied a much larger area, extending as far as what is today [[Catalonia]] (in the north-eastern corner of the [[Iberian Peninsula]]).<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.britannica.com/topic/Ligurian|title = Ligurian &#124; people}}</ref><ref>Francisco Villar, ''Los Indoeuropeos y los origines de Europa: lenguaje e historia'', Madrid, Gredos, 1991,</ref><ref>''"Ligures en España" [[Martín Almagro Basch]]''</ref>

The origins of the ancient Ligurians are unclear, and an autochthonous origin is increasingly probable. What little is known today about the [[Ligurian (ancient language)|ancient Ligurian language]] is based on placenames and inscriptions on [[steles]] representing warriors.<ref name="gazzettadireggio.gelocal.it">{{cite web | url=https://gazzettadireggio.gelocal.it/reggio/cronaca/2019/06/19/news/sulle-pietre-dell-appennino-l-antica-cultura-dei-liguri-1.34174232 | title=Sulle pietre dell'Appennino l'antica cultura dei Liguri | date=18 June 2019 }}</ref><ref name="academia.edu">{{cite web | url=https://www.academia.edu/27643799 | title=Pietre Con Scritte e Figure dei Liguri Friniati Alle Caselle di Ospitale (Appennino Modenese) | last1=Tintorri | first1=Ivan | last2=Adolfo | first2=Zavaroni }}</ref> The lack of evidence does not allow a certain linguistic classification; it may be [[Pre-Indo-European languages|Pre-Indo-European]],<ref name="Treccanionline">{{cite news |url=http://www.treccani.it/enciclopedia/liguri |title=Liguri |year=2011 |department=Enciclopedie on line |website=Treccani.it |publisher=[[Treccani|Treccani -Istituto dell'Enciclopedia Italiana]] |location=Rome |language= it|quote=Le documentazioni sulla lingua dei Liguri non ne permettono una classificazione linguistica certa (preindoeuropeo di tipo mediterraneo? Indoeuropeo di tipo celtico?).}}</ref> or an [[Indo-European languages|Indo-European language]].<ref name="Ligurian language">{{cite web|url=http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/340884/Ligurian-language |title=Ligurian language |publisher=Britannica.com |date=2014-12-16 |accessdate=2015-08-29}}</ref>

== Name ==
The Ligures are referred to as ''Ligyes'' (Λιγυες) by the Greeks and ''Ligures'' (earlier ''Liguses'') by the [[Roman people|Romans]]. According to [[Plutarch]], the Ligurians called themselves ''Ambrones'', which could indicate a relationship with the [[Ambrones]] of northern Europe.<ref name="boardman">{{cite book|title=The Cambridge ancient history: Persia, Greece and the Western Mediterranean c. 525–479 BC|last=Boardman|first=John|year=1988|page=716}}</ref>

== Geographical area of ancient Liguria ==
{{main article|Liguria}}
[[File:Regio IX Liguria.jpg|thumb|Map of ancient Liguria, between the rivers [[Po (river)|Po]], [[Var (river)|Varus]] and [[Magra]]]]

The geography of [[Strabo]], from book 2, chapter 5, section 28 :
{{blockquote|The [[Alps]] are inhabited by numerous nations, but all [[Celts|Keltic]] with the exception of the Ligurians, and these, though of a different race, closely resemble them in their manner of life. They inhabit that portion of the Alps which is next the [[Apennines]], and also a part of the Apennines themselves.<ref name="ReferenceB">{{Cite web|url=http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.01.0239:book=2:chapter=5:section=28|title=Strabo, Geography, BOOK II., CHAPTER V., section 28|website=www.perseus.tufts.edu}}</ref>|[[Strabo]] ([[1st century BC]]).}}

This zone corresponds to the current region of [[Liguria]] in [[Italy]] as well as to the former [[county of Nice]] which could be compared today to the [[Alpes Maritimes]].

The writer, naturalist and Roman philosopher [[Pliny the Elder]] writes in his book "The Natural History" book III chapter 7 on the Ligurians and Liguria:

{{blockquote|The more celebrated of the Ligurian tribes beyond the Alps are the [[Salluvii]], the [[Deciates]], and the [[Oxubii]] (...) The coast of Liguria extends 211 miles, between the rivers [[Var (river)|Varus]] and [[Magra|Macra]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.02.0137%3Abook%3D3%3Achapter%3D7|title=Pliny the Elder, the Natural History, BOOK III. AN ACCOUNT OF COUNTRIES, NATIONS, SEAS, TOWNS, HAVENS, MOUNTAINS, RIVERS, DISTANCES, AND PEOPLES WHO NOW EXIST OR FORMERLY EXISTED., CHAP. 7.—OF THE NINTH1 REGION OF ITALY. 1 Italy was divided by Augustus into eleven districts; the ninth of which nearly corresponded to the former republic of Genoa}}</ref>|[[Pliny the Elder]] ([[1st century]]).}}
	
Just like Strabo, Pliny the Elder situates Liguria between the rivers [[Var (river)|Varus]] and [[Magra]]. He also quotes the Ligurian peoples living on the other side of the banks of the Var and the Alps. He writes in his book "The Natural History" book III chapter 6 :
	
{{blockquote|Gaul is divided from Italy by the river [[Var (river)|Varus]], and by the range of the [[Alps]] (...) Forum Julii Octavanorum, a colony, which is also called Pacensis and Classica, the river [[Argens|Argenteus]], which flows through it, the district of the Oxubii and that of the Ligauni above whom are the Suetri, the Quariates and the Adunicates. On the coast we have Antipolis, a town with Latian rights, the district of the Deciates, and the river [[Var (river)|Varus]], which proceeds from Mount Cema, one of the Alps.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.02.0137%3Abook%3D3%3Achapter%3D5|title=Pliny the Elder, the Natural History, BOOK III. AN ACCOUNT OF COUNTRIES, NATIONS, SEAS, TOWNS, HAVENS, MOUNTAINS, RIVERS, DISTANCES, AND PEOPLES WHO NOW EXIST OR FORMERLY EXISTED., CHAP. 5. (4.)—OF THE PROVINCE OF GALLIA NARBONENSIS}}</ref>|[[Pliny the Elder]] ([[1st century]]).}}

Transalpine Ligures are said to have inhabited the South Eastern portion of modern France, between the Alps and the [[Rhone river]], from where they constantly battled against the Greek colony of Massalia.<ref name="Malden">{{cite book |last1=Malden |first1=Henry |title=History of Rome |date=14 August 2010 |publisher=Nabu Press |isbn=978-1177213950 |quote=Pliny held the Sallyi, Deceates, and Oxybii, tribes upon the coast, to be Ligurians. Strabo is more cautious; and informs us that later writers called the Salyes, who extended along the coast a little further than Massalia (Marseilles), Celto-Ligyes (that is, Gallo-Ligurians), from the intermixture of the Gaulish population; but that the earlier Greeks called them Ligyes, and the country which the Massaliots occupied, Ligystic or Ligurian........This agrees with the account of [[Scylax of Caryanda|Scylax]], who makes the Rhone the limit of the pure Ligurians. [[Avienius]] fixes the same limit and the same must have been supposed by Aeschylus. [[Herodotus]] also speaks of the Ligyes who dwell above Massalia and here we may observe that from this Grecian colony the Greeks might derive a correct knowledge of the neighbouring people.}}</ref>
	
{{blockquote|The consul, Quintus Opimius, defeats the Transalpine Ligurians, who had plundered Antipolis and Nicaea, two towns belonging to the Massilians.<ref name="Livy"/>
|[[Livy]] ([[1st century BC]]).}}

{{blockquote|But though the early writers of the Greeks call the Sallyes "Ligures", and the country which the Massiliotes hold, "Ligustica," later writers name them "Celtoligures," and attach to their territory all the level country as far as [[Luberon|Luerio]] and the [[Rhône|Rhodanus]],<ref name="Strabo"/>|[[Strabo]] ([[1st century BC]]).}}

==History==
=== Copper and Bronze ages ===
[[File:Museo Civico Archeologico di Castelleone - St 60440, 60436, 60439, 62361 - punte di freccia.jpg|thumb|Flint arrowheads from the [[Polada culture]], [[Castelleone]] Civic Archaeological Museum.]]

Copper begins to be mined from the middle of the [[4th millennium BC]] in [[Liguria]] with the Libiola and Monte Loreto mines dated to [[37th century BC|3700 BC.]] These are the oldest copper mines in the western Mediterranean basin.<ref>[https://www.researchgate.net/figure/Monte-Loreto-Fourth-millennium-cal-BC-mineshaft-ML6_fig1_265409510 Mid fourth-millennium copper mining in Liguria, north-west Italy: The earliest known copper mines in Western Europe]</ref> It was during this period of the Copper Age in Italy that we find throughout Liguria a large number of anthropomorphic stelae in addition to rock engravings.<ref name="gazzettadireggio.gelocal.it"/><ref name="academia.edu"/>

[[Polada culture|The Polada Culture]] (a location near [[Brescia]], [[Lombardy]], Italy) was a cultural horizon extended in the [[Po Valley|Po valley]] from eastern Lombardy and [[Veneto]] to [[Emilia-Romagna|Emilia and Romagna]], formed in the first half of [[2nd millennium BC]] perhaps for the arrival of new people from the transalpine regions of [[Switzerland]] and Southern [[Germany]].{{sfn|Bietti Sestieri|2010|p=21}} Its influences are also found in the cultures of the Early Bronze Age of [[Liguria]], [[Romagna]], [[Corsica]], [[Sardinia]] ([[Bonnanaro culture]]) and Rhone Valley.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Lilliu |first1=Giovanni |title=La civiltà dei Sardi. Dal Paleolitico all'età dei nuraghi |date=2004 |publisher=Edizioni il Maestrale |isbn=978-88-86109-73-4}}</ref><ref name=EDA>Françoise Lorenzi, ''Les influences italiques dans la céramique de l'Age du Bronze de la Corse''.</ref><ref name=Bietti>[http://www.treccani.it/enciclopedia/protostoria_%28Enciclopedia-Italiana%29/ Anna Maria Bietti Sestieri, Protostoria]</ref> There are some commonalities with the previous [[Bell Beaker Culture]] including the usage of the [[Bow and arrow|bow]] and a certain mastery in metallurgy.<ref>An Early History of Horsemanship pg.129</ref> Apart from that, the Polada culture does not correspond to the Beaker culture nor to the previous [[Remedello culture]].

The [[Bronze]] tools and weapons show similarities with those of the [[Unetice Culture]] and other groups in north of [[Alps]]. According to [[Bernard Sergent]], the origin of the [[Ligurian (ancient language)|Ligurian]] linguistic family (in his opinion distantly related to the Celtic and Italic ones) would have to be found in the Polada culture and [[Prehistory of France#The Bronze Age|Rhone culture]], southern branches of the [[Unetice culture]].<ref>{{cite book |last1=Sergent |first1=Bernard |title=Les Indo-Européens. Histoire, langues, mythes. |date=1995 |publisher=Payot |isbn=2-228-88956-3 |page=416}}</ref>
	
It is said that the ligurians inhabited the Po valley around the 2,000 B.C., they not only appear in the legends of the Po valley, but would have left traces (linguistic and craft) found in the archaeological also in the area near the northern Adriatic coast.<ref>'''^'''Cfr. ''Rivista archeologica della provincia e antica diocesi di Como'', 1908, p. 135; ''Emilia preromana'' vol. 8-10, 1980, p. 69; Istituto internazionale di studi liguri, ''Studi genuensi'', vol. 9-15, 1991, p. 27.</ref> The Ligurians are credited with forming the first villages in the Po Valley of the [[facies of the pile dwellings and of the dammed settlements]],<ref>Fausto Cantarelli, ''I tempi alimentari del Mediterraneo: cultura ed economia nella storia alimentare dell'uomo'', vol. 1, 2005, p. 172.</ref> a society that followed the [[Polada culture]], and is well suited in middle and late [[Bronze Age]].

The ancient name of the Po river (Padus in Latin) derived from the [[Ligurian language (ancient)|Ligurian]] name of the river:<ref>Daiches, David; Anthony Thorlby (1972). ''Literature and western civilization'' (illustrated ed.). Aldus. p. 78.</ref> ''Bod-encus'' or ''Bod-incus.'' This word appears in the placename [[Bodincomagus]], a Ligurian town on the right bank of the Po downstream near today's Turin.<ref>Cfr. la voce ''fossa'' in Alberto Nocentini, ''l'Etimologico. Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana'', Firenze, Le Monnier, 2010. {{ISBN|978-88-0020-781-2}}.</ref>

According to a legend, Brescia and Barra ([[Bergamo]]) were founded by Cydno, forefather of the Ligurians.<ref name="ducato2">{{Cite web|url=http://www.ducatodipiazzapontida.it/index.php?lng=it&mod=articoli&pg=pagina&c=fc&articolo=1203712435|title=Ducato di Piazza Pontida|website=www.ducatodipiazzapontida.it}}</ref> This myth seems to have a grain of truth, because recent archaeological excavations have unearthed remains of a settlement dating back to 1200 BC that scholars presume to have been built and inhabited by Ligures.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.turismobrescia.it/en/percorso/origins-and-roman-brescia|title=History of Brescia: the origins and the Roman Brescia|website=turismobrescia.it|access-date=2014-06-20|archive-date=2014-02-09|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140209034028/http://www.turismobrescia.it/en/percorso/origins-and-roman-brescia|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.bresciamusei.com/ncastello.asp?nm=15&t=Storia+del+Colle+Cidneo|title=Storia del Colle Cidneo|website=bresciamusei.com|language=it|trans-title=History of the Cidneo Hill|access-date=2014-05-14|archive-date=2014-10-06|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141006082902/http://www.bresciamusei.com/ncastello.asp?nm=15&t=Storia+del+Colle+Cidneo|url-status=dead}}</ref> Others scholars attribute the founding of Bergamo and Brescia to the [[Etruscan civilization|Etruscans]].<ref name="ducato">{{cite web|url=http://www.ducatodipiazzapontida.it/index.php?lng=it&mod=articoli&pg=pagina&c=fc&articolo=1203712435|title=Ducato di Piazza Pontida|website=www.ducatodipiazzapontida.it|access-date=2019-12-08}}</ref><ref name="origini">{{cite web |title=Le origini |url=https://www.bresciastory.it/storiabs1.htm |website=www.bresciastory.it |publisher=Brescia Story |access-date=9 December 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080307024029/https://www.bresciastory.it/storiabs1.htm |archive-date=7 March 2008}}</ref>

=== Canegrate and Golasecca cultures ===
[[File:Cultura di Canegrate map.svg|thumb|Area of the [[Canegrate culture]]]]
The [[Canegrate culture]] (13th century BC) may represent the first migratory wave of the proto-Celtic<ref>Venceslas Kruta: ''La grande storia dei celti. La nascita, l'affermazione e la decadenza'', Newton & Compton, 2003, {{ISBN|88-8289-851-2}}, {{ISBN|978-88-8289-851-9}}</ref> population from the northwest part of the Alps that, through the [[Alpine passes]], penetrated and settled in the western [[Po River|Po]] valley between [[Lake Maggiore]] and [[Lake Como]] ([[Scamozzina culture]]). They brought a new [[funerary]] practice—[[cremation]]—which supplanted [[inhumation]]. It has also been proposed that a more ancient proto-Celtic presence can be traced back to the beginning of the Middle [[Bronze Age]] (16th-15th century BC), when north-western Italy appears closely linked regarding the production of bronze artifacts, including ornaments, to the western groups of the [[Tumulus culture]] ([[Central Europe]], 1600 BC - 1200 BC).<ref name=":2">"The Golasecca civilization is therefore the expression of the oldest [[Celts]] of Italy and included several groups that had the name of Insubres, Laevi, Lepontii, Oromobii (o Orumbovii)". (Raffaele C. De Marinis)</ref> The bearers of the Canegrate culture maintained its homogeneity for only a century, after which it melded with the Ligurian populations and with this union gave rise to a new phase called the [[Golasecca culture]],<ref>{{cite web|url=http://members.fortunecity.it/zichin/gola5.jpg|title=>Maps of the Golasecca culture|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110722033628/http://members.fortunecity.it/zichin/gola5.jpg|archive-date=2011-07-22|access-date=2010-08-10}}</ref><ref>G. Frigerio, ''Il territorio comasco dall'età della pietra alla fine dell'età del bronzo'', in ''Como nell'antichità'', Società Archeologica Comense, Como 1987.</ref> which is nowadays identified with the [[Lepontii]]<ref>{{cite book|title=The Celts|last=Kruta|first=Venceslas|publisher=Thames and Hudson|year=1991|pages=52–56}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|url=http://www.univie.ac.at/indogermanistik/download/Stifter/oldcelt2008_2_lepontic.pdf|title=Old Celtic Languages|last=Stifter|first=David|year=2008|pages=24–37}}</ref> and other Celto-Ligurian tribes.<ref>{{cite web|quote=Ligurian and Celto-Ligurian tombs of the Lombard lakes region, often holding cremations, reveal a special iron culture called the culture of Golasecca.| url=https://www.britannica.com/topic/ancient-Italic-people/Other-Italic-peoples#ref63581| title=Other Italic peoples: The Ligurians| date=21 August 2024}}</ref>

Within the Golasecca culture territory roughly corresponds with the territories occupied by those tribal groups whose names are reported by Latin and Greek historians and geographers:<ref name=":2" />
* [[Insubres|Insubri]]: in the area south of Lake Maggiore, in Varese and part of Novara with Golasecca, Sesto Calende, Castelletto sopra Ticino; from the fifth century BC this area remains suddenly depopulated, while the first settlement of Mediolanum (Milan) rises.
* [[Lepontii|Leponti]]: in the [[Canton of Ticino]], with Bellinzona and Sopra Ceneri; in the Ossola.
* [[Orobii|Orobi]]: in the area of Como and Bergamo.
* [[Laevi]] and [[Marici (Ligures)|Marici]]: in Lomellina (Pavia/Ticinum).

=== Founding of Genoa ===
{{Main|History of Genoa}}
The Genoa area has been inhabited since the fifth or fourth millennium BC.<ref>The objects found during the works for the underground had been exposed in the exhibition ''Archeologia Metropolitana. Piazza Brignole e Acquasola'', held at the Ligurian Archeology Museum (30 November 2009 - 14 February 2010) ([http://www.museidigenova.it/spip.php?article479] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131230235040/http://www.museidigenova.it/spip.php?article479|date=December 30, 2013|data=30 dicembre 2013}})</ref> According to excavations carried out in the city between 1898 and 1910, the Ligurian population that lived in Genoa maintained trade relations with the [[Etruscan civilization|Etruscans]] and the Greeks, since several objects from these populations were found.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Melli|first=Piera|title=Genova preromana. Città portuale del Mediterraneo tra il VII e il III secolo a.C.|year=2007 |publisher=Frilli|isbn=978-8875633363|language=it}}</ref><ref>Marco Milanese, ''Scavi nell'oppidum preromano di Genova'', L'Erma di Bretschneider, Roma 1987 [https://books.google.com/books?id=Ge0mrXTQVIUC&pg=PA11 on-line] in GoogleBooks; Piera Melli, ''Una città portuale del Mediterraneo tra il VII e il III secolo a.C.'', Genova, Fratelli Frilli ed., 2007.</ref> In the 5th century BC the first town, or [[oppidum]], was founded at the top of the hill today called Castello (Castle), which is now inside the medieval old town.<ref>Marco Milanese, ''Scavi nell'oppidum preromano di Genova'', L'Erma di Bretschneider, Roma 1987 testo on-line su GoogleBooks; Piera Melli, ''Una città portuale del Mediterraneo tra il VII e il III secolo a.C.", Genova, Fratelli Frilli ed., 2007.''</ref>

[[Thucydides]] (5th century BC) speaks of the Ligures having expelled the [[Sicanians]], an [[Iberians|Iberian]] tribe, from the banks of the river [[Júcar|Sicanus]], in Iberia.<ref name="dictionary">{{cite encyclopedia |url=https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.04.0064:entry=liguria-geo |title=Liguria |editor=William Smith |encyclopedia=Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography |year=1854}}</ref>

=== First contacts with Romans ===
[[File:Filicaia (camporgiano), tomba ligure, III sec. ac. 03.JPG|thumb|Discovery of a Ligurian tomb from the 3rd century BC in [[Camporgiano|Filicaia]], [[National Museum of Villa Guinigi]], [[Lucca]]]]

Ligurian sepulchres of the Italian Riviera and of Provence, holding cremations, exhibit Etruscan and Celtic influences.<ref name="britannica.com">[https://www.britannica.com/topic/ancient-Italic-people/Other-Italic-peoples#ref63581 Other Italic peoples: The Ligurians], Encyclopedia Britannica.</ref>

In the third century BC, the Romans were in direct contact with the Ligurians. However, Roman expansionism was directed towards the rich territories of [[Gaul]] and the Iberian Peninsula (then under [[Carthaginian Iberia|Carthaginian control]]), and the territory of the Ligurians was on the road (they controlled the Ligurian coasts and the south-western Alps).<ref name="romanoimpero">{{cite web|url=https://www.romanoimpero.com/2020/05/regio-ix-augustea-liguria.html|title=IX REGIO AUGUSTEA - LIGURIA|access-date=9 August 2023|language=it}}</ref>

Despite Roman efforts, only a few Ligurian tribes made alliance agreements with the Romans, notably the Genuates. The rest soon proved hostile. The hostilities were opened in 238 BC by a coalition of Ligurians and [[Boii]] Gauls, but the two peoples soon found themselves in disagreement and the military campaign came to a halt with the dissolution of the alliance. Meanwhile, a Roman fleet commanded by Quintus Fabius Maximus routed Ligurian ships on the coast (234-233 BC), allowing the Romans to control the coastal route to and from Gaul and to counter the Carthaginian expansion in [[Iberia]], given that the [[Pisa]]-[[Luni, Italy|Luni]]-[[Genoa]] sea route was now safe.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.arsmilitaris.org/pubblicazioni/GUERRE%20ROMANO%20liguri.pdf|title=GUERRE ROMANO- LIGURI|access-date=9 August 2023|language=it|page=1}}</ref>

In 222 BC the [[Insubres]], during a war with Romans occupied the [[oppidum]] of Clastidium, that at that time, it was an important locality of the Anamari (or [[Marici (Ligures)|Marici]]), a Ligurian tribe that, probably for fear of the nearby warlike Insubres, had already accepted the alliance with Rome the year before.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.romanoimpero.com/2020/02/battaglia-di-clastidium-222-ac.html|title=BATTAGLIA DI CLASTIDIUM (222 a.c.)|access-date=9 August 2023|language=it}}</ref>

For the first time, the Roman army marched beyond the Po, expanding into Gallia Transpadana. In 222 BC, the [[battle of Clastidium]] was fought and allowed Rome to take the capital of the Insubres, [[Mediolanum]] (modern-day [[Milan]]). To consolidate its dominion, Rome created the colonies of Placentia in the territory of the Boii and [[Cremona]] in that of the Insubres.<ref>Demandt, p. 86</ref>

=== Second Punic War ===
With the outbreak of the second Punic war (218 BC) the Ligurian tribes had different attitudes. Some, like the tribes of the [[Italian Riviera|west Riviera]] and the [[Apuani]], allied with the Carthaginians, providing soldiers to Hannibal's troops when he arrived in Northern Italy, hoping that the Carthaginian general would free them from the neighbouring Romans. Others, like the [[Taurini]], took sides in support of the Romans.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.piemonteautonomie.it/il-piemonte-in-epoca-romana/?pdf=46|title=Il Piemonte in epoca romana|access-date=9 August 2023|language=it}}</ref>

The pro-Carthaginian Ligurians took part in the [[Battle of the Trebia]], which the Carthaginians won. Other Ligurians enlisted in the army of [[Hasdrubal Barca]], when he arrived in Cisalpine Gaul (207 BC), in an attempt to rejoin the troops of his brother Hannibal. In the port of Savo (modern-day [[Savona]]), then capital of the Ligures Sabazi, [[triremes]] of the Carthaginian fleet of [[Mago Barca]], brother of Hannibal, which were intended to cut the Roman trade routes in the Tyrrhenian Sea, found shelter.<ref name="sanremostoria">{{cite web|url=https://www.sanremostoria.it/it/la-citta/la-storia/238-storia-di-sanremo-2-parte.html|title=Sanremo Romana e Villa Matuzia|access-date=9 August 2023|language=it}}</ref>

In the early stages of the war, the pro-Roman Ligurians suffered. The Taurini were on the path of [[Hannibal]]'s march into Italy, and in 218 BC, they were attacked by him, as he had allied with their long-standing enemies, the [[Insubres]]. The Taurini chief town of Taurasia (modern-day [[Turin]]) was captured by Hannibal's forces after a three-day siege.<ref>[[Polybius]] iii. 60, 8</ref>

In 205 BC, Genua (modern-day [[Genoa]]) was attacked and razed to the ground by Mago.<ref>Titus Livius, ''Ab Urbe Condita libri CXLII'' 21, 32,1 and 28, 46,7.</ref>

Near the end of the Second Punic War, Mago was among the [[Ingauni]], trying to block the Roman advance. At the [[Battle of Insubria]], he suffered a defeat, and later, died of wounds sustained in the battle. Genua was rebuilt in the same year.

Ligurian troops were present at the [[Battle of Zama]] in 202 BC, which marked the final end of Carthage as a great power.<ref>Polibius, ''Stories'', XV, 11.1</ref>

=== Roman conquest of Ligurians ===
[[File:Elmo guerriero pulica.jpg|thumb|Reproduction of the Pulica helmet, revovered into an Apuani grave|alt=]]
[[File:Tereglio (coreglia antelminelli), tomba ligure, III sec. ac. 02.JPG|thumb|Ligurian tomb, 3rd century BC, [[National Museum of Villa Guinigi]], [[Lucca]]]]

In 200 BC, the Ligures and [[Boii]] sacked and destroyed the Roman colony of [[Piacenza|Placentia]], effectively controlling the most important ford of the Po Valley.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.britannica.com/place/ancient-Rome/Roman-expansion-in-the-western-Mediterranean#ref298396|title = Ancient Rome - Roman expansion in the western Mediterranean| date=27 August 2024 }}</ref>

During the same period, the Romans were at war with the Apuani. Serious Roman efforts began in 182 BC, when both consular armies and a proconsular army were sent against the Ligurians. The wars continued into the 150s BC, when victorious generals celebrated two triumphs over the Ligurians. Here too, the Romans drove many natives off their land and settled colonies in their stead (''e.g.'', Luna and Luca in the 170s BC).<ref>{{cite web|url=https://catalogo.beniculturali.it/detail/ArchaeologicalProperty/0700309688|title=LUNI (insediamento)|access-date=9 August 2023|language=it}}</ref> During the same period, the Romans were at war with the Ligurian tribes of the northern Apennines.

By the end of the Second Punic War, however, hostilities were not over yet. Ligurian tribes and Carthaginian holdouts operating from the mountain territories continued to fight with guerrilla tactics. Thus, the Romans were forced into continuous military operations in northern Italy. In 201 BC, the Ingauni signed a peace treaty with Rome.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.treccani.it/enciclopedia/ingauni_%28Enciclopedia-Italiana%29/|title=INGAUNI|access-date=9 August 2023|language=it}}</ref>

It was only in 197 BC that the Romans, under the leadership of Minucius Rufus, succeeded in regaining control of the Placentia area by subduing the Celelates, Cerdicates, [[Ilvati]] and the Boii Gauls and occupying the [[oppidum]] of Clastidium.<ref>{{cite web|url=
https://www.openstarts.units.it/bitstream/10077/9871/1/MIGLIARIO.pdf|title=A proposito di penetrazione romana e controllo territoriale nel Piemonte orientale|access-date=9 August 2023|language=it|page=345}}</ref>

Genua was rebuilt by the proconsul [[Spurius Lucretius Tricipitinus|Spurius Lucretius]] in the same year. Having defeated Carthage, Rome sought to expand northwards, and used Genua as a support base for raids, between 191 and 154 BC, against the Ligurian tribes of the hinterland, allied for decades with Carthage.<ref name="romanoimpero"/>

A second phase of the conflict followed (197-155 BC), characterized by the fact that the Apuani Ligurians entrenched themselves on the Apennines, from where they periodically descended to plunder the surrounding territories. The Romans, for their part, organized continuous expeditions to the mountains, hoping to surround and defeat the Ligurians (taking care not to be destroyed by ambushes). In the course of these wars, the Romans celebrated fifteen triumphs and suffered at least one serious defeat.<ref name="sanremostoria"/>

Historically, the beginning of the campaign dates back to 193 BC on the initiative of the Ligurian conciliabula (federations), who organized a major raid going as far as the right bank of the river Arno. Roman campaigns followed (191, 188 and 187 BC); these were victorious, but not decisive.

In the campaign of 186 BC, the Romans were beaten by the Ligurians in the Magra valley. In this battle, which took place in a narrow and precipitous place, the Romans lost about 4000 soldiers, three eagle insignia of the second legion and eleven banners of the Latin allies. In addition, the consul Quintus Martius was also killed in the battle. It is thought that the place of the battle and the death of the consul gave rise to the place-name of Marciaso, or that of the Canal of March on Mount Caprione in the town of Lerici (near the ruins of the city of [[Luni, Italy|Luni]]), which was later founded by the Romans. This mountain had a strategic importance because it controlled the valley of Magra and the sea.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.cittadellaspezia.com/2014/12/01/storia-di-roma-e-medioevo-sintrecciano-sul-caprione-171330/|title=Storia di Roma e Medioevo s'intrecciano sul Caprione|date=December 2014 |access-date=9 August 2023|language=it}}</ref>

In 185 BC, the Ingauni and the [[Intimilii]] also rebelled and managed to resist the Roman legions for the next five years, before capitulating in 180 BC. The Apuani, and those of hinterland side still resisted.<ref>{{cite web|url=
https://www.arsmilitaris.org/pubblicazioni/GUERRE%20ROMANO%20liguri.pdf|title=GUERRE ROMANO- LIGURI|access-date=9 August 2023|language=it}}</ref>

However, the Romans wanted to permanently pacify Liguria to facilitate further conquests in Gaul. To that end, they prepared a large army of almost 36,000 soldiers, under the command of [[proconsul]]s [[Publius Cornelius Cethegus (consul 181 BC)|Publius Cornelius Cethegus]] and [[Marcus Baebius Tamphilus]], with the aim of putting an end to Ligurian independence.

In 180 BC, the Romans inflicted a serious defeat on the Apuani Ligures, and deported 40,000 of them to the regions of [[Samnium]]. This deportation was followed by another one of 7,000 Ligurians in the following year. These were one of the few cases in which the Romans [[Deportation|deported]] defeated populations in such a high number. In 177 BC other groups of Apuani Ligures surrendered to the Roman forces, and were eventually assimilated into Roman culture during the 2nd century BC, while the military campaign continued further north.<ref>{{cite thesis|first=William|last=Broadhead|year=2002|type=Ph.D.|title=Internal migration and the transformation of Republican Italy|institution=University College London|url=http://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/1317574/1/251994.pdf|page=15}}</ref>

The Frinatiates surrendered in 175 BC, followed by the [[Statielli]] (172 BC) and the Velleiates (158 BC). The last Apuani resistance was subdued in 155 BC by consul [[Marcus Claudius Marcellus (consul 166 BC)|Marcus Claudius Marcellus]].

The subjugation of the coastal Ligures and the annexation of the Alpes Maritimae took place in 14 BC, closely following the occupation of the central Alps in 15 BC.<ref>Dio LIV.22.3-4</ref>

The last Ligurian tribes (e.g. [[Vocontii]] and [[Salluvii]]) still autonomous, who occupied Provence, were subdued in 124 BC.<ref>Plinius the elder, ''Naturalis Historia'', III, 47.</ref>

=== Under Roman rule ===
{{Main|Roman Italy}}
[[File:Regioni dell'Italia Augustea.svg|thumb|Roman Italy, showing Liguria.]]
[[Cisalpine Gaul]] was the part of modern Italy inhabited by [[Celts]] during the 4th and 3rd centuries BC. Conquered by the [[Roman Republic]] in the 220s BC, it was a [[Roman province]] from c. 81 BC until 42 BC, when it was merged into [[Italy (Roman Empire)|Roman Italy]] as indicated in Caesar's will (''Acta Caesaris'').<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=RPj_FkEeVO4C&q=beyond+the+Rubicon|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20200522000630/https://books.google.it/books?id=RPj_FkEeVO4C&dq=beyond+the+Rubicon&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiI5YrC6rbkAhUvDmMBHXZOCMAQ6AEIKTAA|archive-date = 2020-05-22|title = Beyond the Rubicon: Romans and Gauls in Republican Italy|isbn = 9780198153009|last1 = Williams|first1 = J. H. C.|year = 2001| publisher=Oxford University Press }}</ref><ref name="DRR">{{cite book|title=Decline of the Roman republic: Volume 2|last=Long|first=George|year=1866|place=London}}</ref> In 49 BC all inhabitants of northern Italy received Roman citizenship.<ref name="AGL">Cassius Dio XLI, 36.</ref>

Around 7 BC, [[Augustus]] divided Italy into eleven ''regiones'', as reported by [[Pliny the Elder]] in his ''[[Pliny's Natural History|Naturalis Historia]].'' One of these was ''Regio IX: Liguria''.<ref name="AGR">{{cite book|title=Hiera Kala: Images of animal sacrifice in archaic and classical Greece|last=Brouwer|first=Hendrik H. J.|year=1989|place=Utrecht}}</ref> Genoa became the centre of this region and the Ligurian populations moved towards the definitive Romanization.

The official historical name did not have the Liguria apposition, due to the contemporary academic use of naming the Augustan regions according to the populations they understood. Regio IX included only the Ligurian territory. This territory extended from the Maritime and Cottian Alps and the Var river (to the west) to the Trebbia and the Magra bordering Regio VIII Aemilia and Regio VII Etruria (to the east), and the Po to the north.<ref>Strabo, ''Geography'', V, 1,1 and 2.1.</ref>

Pliny describes the region thus:<ref>Plinius the Elder, ''Naturalis Historia'', III, 49.</ref> "patet ora Liguriae inter amnes Varum et Macram XXXI Milia passuum. Haec regio ex descriptione Augusti nona est". [[File:Alba Iulia National Museum of the Union 2011 - Possible Statue of Roman Emperor Pertinax Close Up, Apulum.JPG|thumb|Pertinax, Roman emperor in 193 A.D. from [[Alba, Piedmont|Alba Pompeia]], Liguria.]]

People with Ligurian names were living south of [[Placentia, Italy|Placentia]], in Italy, as late as 102 AD.<ref name="boardman"/>

In 126 AD the Liguria region was the birthplace of [[Pertinax]], Roman soldier and politician who became [[Roman emperor|Roman Emperor]].

== Theories on the origin of the Ligurians ==

In the 19th century, the origins of the Ligures drew renewed attention from scholars. [[Amédée Thierry]], a French historian and journalist, linked them to the [[Iberians]].<ref>Amédée Thierry, ''Histoire des Gaulois depuis les temps les plus reculés'', 3 vols., 1828, 1834, 1845.</ref> The historian of the [[Bourgogne]] and specialist in its Gallic culture, Dominique-François-Louis Roget, Baron de Belloguet, would later claim a [[Gauls|Gallic]] origin of the Ligurians.<ref>Dominique François Louis Roget de Belloguet, ''Ethnogénie gauloise, ou Mémoires critiques sur l'origine et la parenté des Cimmériens, des Cimbres, des Ombres, des Belges, des Ligures et des anciens Celtes.'' Troisiéme partie: ''Preuves intellectuelles. Le génie gaulois'', Paris 1868.</ref> During the Iron Age the spoken language, the main divinities and the workmanship of the artifacts unearthed in the area of Liguria (such as the numerous [[torc]]s found) were similar to those of Celtic culture in both style and type.<ref>Gilberto Oneto ''Paesaggio e architettura delle regioni padano-alpine dalle origini alla fine del primo millennio'', Priuli e Verlucc, editori 2002, pp. 34–36, 49.</ref>

[[Karl Müllenhoff]], professor of Germanic antiquities at the Universities of Kiel and Berlin, studying the sources of the ''Ora maritima'' by [[Avienius]] (a [[Latin]] poet who lived in the 4th century AD, but who used as a source for his own work a [[Phoenicia]]n [[Periplum]] of the 6th century BC),<ref>[[Postumius Rufius Festus]] (qui est) [[Avienius]], ''Ora maritima'', 129–133 (indicating in an obscure way that the Ligures were living north of the  [[Oestriminis|"oestrymnic islands"]], equivalent to modern Portugal and Galicia); 205 (Ligures north of the city of Ophiussa [= again Portugal] in the Iberian peninsula); 284–285 (the stream [[Tartessus]] in southern Spain would be born in the "ligustine swamps").</ref> held that the name 'Ligurians' generically referred to various peoples who lived in western Europe, including the Celts, but thought the "real Ligurians" were a [[Neolithic Europe|Pre-Indo-European]] population.<ref>Karl Viktor Müllenhoff, ''Deutsche Alterthumskunde'', Vol. I: ''Die Phoenizier. Pytheas von Massalia'', 1870.</ref> Italian geologist and paleontologist [[Arturo Issel]] considered Ligurians to be direct descendants of the [[Cro-Magnon]] people that lived throughout Gaul from the [[Mesolithic]] period.<ref>Arturo Issel, ''Liguria geologica e preistorica'', Vol. II, Genoa 1892, pp. 356–357.</ref>

Those in favor of an [[Indo-European]] origin included [[Henri d'Arbois de Jubainville]], a 19th-century French historian, who argued in ''Les Premiers habitants de l'Europe'' (1877) that the Ligurians were the earliest Indo-European speakers of western Europe. Jubainville's "Celto-Ligurian hypothesis", as it later became known, was significantly expanded in the second edition of his initial study. It inspired a body of contemporary [[philology|philological]] research, as well as some archaeological work. The Celto-Ligurian hypothesis became associated with the [[Funnelbeaker culture]] and "expanded to cover much of Central Europe".<ref>See, in particular {{cite book|first=Colin|last=McEvedy|title=The Penguin Atlas of Ancient History by Colin McEvedy|date= 1967 |page=29}}</ref>

[[Julius Pokorny]] adapted the Celto-Ligurian hypothesis into one linking the Ligures to the [[Illyrians]], citing an array of similar evidence from Eastern Europe. Under this theory the "Ligures-Illyrians" became associated with the prehistoric [[Urnfield culture|Urnfield]] peoples.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Henning|first1=Andersen|title=Language Contacts in Prehistory: Studies in Stratigraphy|date=2003|publisher=John Benjamins Publishing|pages=16–17}}</ref>

The 1935 work of Frederick Orton even suggests that the Ligurians may have possibly been of [[Pashtun]] [[Afghan (ethnonym)|Afghan]] origin.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Orton |first=Sir Ernest Frederick |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DFyHGQAACAAJ |title=Links with Past Ages |date=1935 |publisher=W. Heffer & Sons, Limited |language=en|page=182}}</ref>

Today some accounts suggest that the Ligures represented the northern branch of an ethno-linguistic layer older than and very different from the [[Proto-Italic language|proto-Italic]] peoples. It was believed that a "Ligurian-[[Sicani]]an" culture occupied a wide area of southern Europe,<ref>{{cite book|last1=Sciarretta|first1=Antonio|title=Toponomastica d'Italia. Nomi di luoghi, storie di popoli antichi|date=2010|publisher=Mursia|location=Milano|isbn=978-88-425-4017-5|pages=174–194}}</ref> stretching from Liguria to Sicily and Iberia. However, while any such area would be broadly similar to that of the paleo-European "[[Tyrrhenians|Tyrrhenian culture]]" hypothesized by later modern scholars, there are no known links between the Tyrrenians and Ligurians.

There are others such as [[Dominique Garcia]], who question whether the Ligures can be considered a distinct ethnic group or culture from the surrounding cultures.<ref>{{cite book|last= Garcia |first=Dominique |date= 2012|title=From the Pillars of Hercules to the Footsteps of the Argonauts (Colloquia Antiqua) |url=https://www.academia.edu/1931957 |publisher=Peeters}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last= Haeussler  |first=Ralph |date= 2013|title=Becoming Roman?: Diverging Identities and Experiences in Ancient Northwest Italy |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=aNxmDAAAQBAJ&q=ligurian&pg=PA336|page=87|publisher=[[Routledge]]|isbn=9781315433202 }}</ref>

== Culture ==
=== Society ===
[[File:Zignago-statua stele-museo archeologia ligure.jpg|thumb|[[Statue menhir|Statue-menhir]] of a warrior recovered in [[Zignago]], Ligurian Archeology Museum of [[Genoa]]]]
The Ligurians never formed a centralized state, they were in fact divided into independent tribes, in turn organized in small villages or castles. Rare were the [[Oppidum|oppidas]], to which corresponded the federal capitals of the individual tribes or important commercial emporiums.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.consorzioilcigno.it/gli-antichi-liguri/dove-e-come-vivevano/|title=Dove e come vivevano gli antichi liguri|access-date=10 August 2023|language=it}}</ref>

Within the tribes, an egalitarian and communal spirit prevailed. If there was also a noble class, this was tempered by "tribal rallies" in which all the classes participated; there does not seem to have been any pre-organized magistracy. There were no dynastic leaders either: the Ligurian "[[king]]" was elected as leader of a tribe or a federation of tribes; only in late period did a real dynastic aristocratic class begin to emerge. Originally there was no slavery: [[Prisoner of war|prisoners of war]] were massacred or [[Human sacrifice|sacrificed]].<ref>Livius mentions the fate of the population of Mutina, once it fell into the hands of the Ligures.</ref>

[[Diodorus Siculus]], in the first century B.C., writes that women take part in the work of toil alongside men.<ref>[[Diodorus Siculus]], ''[[Bibliotheca historica]]'', V, 39, 1.</ref>

=== Religion ===
[[File:Tipo B, stele di taponecco (licciana) 01.JPG|thumb|[[Statue menhir]] from [[Lunigiana]]]]

Among the most important testimonies, the sacred mountain sites ([[Mont Bégo|Mont Bègo]], [[Monte Beigua]]) and the development of [[megalith]]icism (statues-stelae of [[Lunigiana]]) are worth mentioning.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.enciclopedialunigianese.it/storia/megalitismo/|title=Megalitismo|date=15 March 2018 |access-date=10 August 2023|language=it}}</ref>

The spectacular [[Mont Bégo]] in [[Vallée des merveilles]] is the most representative site of the numerous sacred sites covered with rock carvings, and in particular with cupels, gullies and ritual basins. The latter would indicate that a fundamental part of the rites of the ancient Ligurians, provided for the use of water (or milk, blood?). The site of  [[Mont Bégo]] has an extension and spectacularity comparable to the sites of [[Val Camonica]]. Another important sacred centre is [[Monte Beigua|Mount Beigua]],<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.archaeoastronomy.it/un_percorso_rituale.htm|title=UN PERCORSO RITUALE SULLE PENDICI MERIDIONALI DEL MONTE BEIGUA|access-date=10 August 2023|language=it}}</ref> but the reality is that many promontories in [[Northwest Italy|North-west Italy]] and the [[Alps]] present these types of sacred centres.

In general, it is believed that the Ligurian religion was rather primitive, addressed to supernatural tutelary gods, representing the great forces of nature,<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.tuttostoria.net/storia-antica.aspx?code=1388|title=La religiosità degli antichi liguri|access-date=10 August 2023|language=it}}</ref> and from which you could get help and protection through their divination.

Another important deity was [[Cycnus of Liguria]], who was a king of [[Liguria]], a beloved and kin of [[Phaethon]], who lamented his death and was subsequently turned into a [[swan]] and then a [[constellation]].<ref>William Smith, ''[[Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology]]'' [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.04.0104%3Aalphabetic+letter%3DC%3Aentry+group%3D40%3Aentry%3Dcycnus-bio-5 Cycnus]</ref>

=== Dress ===
[[Diodorus Siculus]] reports the use of a [[tunic]] tightened at the waist by a leather belt and closed by a clasp generally bronze; the legs were bare.<ref name="armies-macedonian-punic-wars" /> Other garments used were cloaks "[[sagum]]", and during the winter animal skins to shelter from the cold.<ref name="bibliotheca-historica">[[Diodorus Siculus]], ''[[Bibliotheca historica]]'', V, 39, 1-8.</ref>

Lucan in his ''[[Pharsalia]]'' (c. 61 AD) described Ligurian tribes as being long-haired, and their hair a shade of auburn (a reddish-brown):{{blockquote|Ligurian tribes, now shorn, in ancient days
First of the long-haired nations, on whose necks<br />
Once flowed the auburn locks in pride supreme.<ref>Lucan, Pharsalia, I. 496, translated by Edward Ridley (1896).</ref>}}

== Warfare ==
[[File:Bologna Museo Civico Archeologico Etruskische bronzen helm - necropole benacci 26-04-2012 12-11-14.JPG|thumb|[[Montefortino]] type helmet, [[The Archaeological Civic Museum (MCA) of Bologna]]]]
[[Diodorus Siculus]] describes the Ligurians as very fearsome enemies.

=== Tactics, unit types and equipment ===
The armament varied according to the class and the comfort of the owner, in general however the great mass of the Ligurian warriors was substantially [[light infantry]], armed in a poor way.<ref name="bibliotheca-historica"/><ref>Livius XXXIX I, 6</ref> The main weapon was the spear, with cusps that could exceed a [[cubit]] (about 45&nbsp;cm, or one and half foot ), followed by the sword, of [[Iron Age sword|Gallic shape]] (sometimes cheap because made with soft metals), very rarely the warriors were equipped with [[Bow and arrow|bows and arrows]].

The protection was entrusted to an oblong [[shield]] of wood,<ref>Polibius XXIX 14, 4</ref> always of Celtic typology (but to difference of this last one without metallic boss)<ref name=":0">{{cite web|url=http://www.adpvgnamparati.eu/|title=AD PUGNAM PARATI: Rievocazione Storica, Spettacolo, Sperimentazione|language=it-IT|access-date=2019-09-09}}</ref> and a simple helmet, of [[Montefortino helmet|Montefortino]] type.

The horned helmets, recovered in the Apuani tribe area, were probably used only for ceremonial purpose and they were worn by warchief, to underline their virility and military skills. The use of [[Armour|armor]] is not known. Even if it is possible that the richer warriors used [[Leather armor|armor in organic material]] like the Gauls<ref name=":0" /> or the Greek [[linothorax]].<ref>The commercial contacts with the Greeks and the militancy of Ligurian mercenaries in the ranks of the Greek and Carthaginian armies of the western Mediterranean, who effectively used this type of protection, may have led to their adoption by the Ligurians.</ref>

==== Cavalry ====
[[File:Pilier aux cavaliers d'Entremont.jpg|left|thumb|Pillar of [[Entremont (oppidum)|Entremont oppida]], representing a horseman with a head carried around the neck of the horse.|210x210px]]Strabo and Diodorus Siculus say they fought mostly on foot, because of the nature of their territory, but their phrasing implies that cavalry was not entirely unknown, and two recently discovered Ligurian graves have included harness fittings. Strabo says that the Salyes, a tribe located north of Massalia, had a substantial cavalry force, but they were one of the several Celto-Ligurian tribes, and the cavalry probably reflected a Celtic element.<ref name="armies-macedonian-punic-wars">[https://books.google.com/books?id=-7n8CwAAQBAJ&dq=ligures+warrior&pg=PA294 ''Armies of the Macedonian and Punic Wars'', page 294-96], Duncan Head, 2012</ref>
[[File:Roquepertuse. Statue de guerrier.jpg|thumb|Seated warrior from [[Roquepertuse]], [[Marseille History Museum]]]]

The Ligures seem to have been ready to engage as mercenary troops in the service of others. Ligurian auxiliaries are mentioned in the army of the Carthaginian general [[Hamilcar I of Carthage|Hamilcar I]] in 480 BC.<ref>Herodotus 7.165; Diodorus Siculus 11.1.</ref> Greek leaders in Sicily continued to recruit Ligurian mercenary forces as late as the time of [[Agathocles of Syracuse|Agathocles]].<ref name="dictionary" /><ref>Diodorus Siculus 21.3.</ref>

The [[Ingauni]], a tribe of sailors located around Albingaunum (nowadays [[Albenga]]) were famous to engage trade and piracy, hostiles to [[Roman Republic|Rome]],<ref>They were on Carthaginian side during the Second Punic War also.</ref> they were subdued by [[Roman consul|consul]] [[Lucius Aemilius Paullus Macedonicus|Lucius Emilius Paullus Macedonicus]] in 181 BC.<ref>[http://www.treccani.it/enciclopedia/ingauni "Ingauni"], Enciclopedia Treccani</ref>

=== Under Roman service ===
According to Plutarch, Ligurian auxiliaries fought for the Romans in the [[Battle of Pydna]], the decisive battle of [[Third Macedonian War]].<ref>Plutarch, The Lives of Emilius Paul and Timoleon XVIII</ref><ref name="armies-macedonian-punic-wars" />

[[Sallust]]ius and Plutarch say that during the [[Jugurthine War]] (from 112 to 105 BC)<ref>Salustio, Giugurtine War (In French)</ref> and the [[Cimbrian War]] (from 104 to 101 BC)<ref>Plutarch, ''Marius'', 20</ref> the Ligurians served as auxiliary troops in the Roman army. In the course of this last conflict they played an important role in the Battle of Aquae Sextae.

== Economy ==
[[File:Moneta dei Libui - Dracma tipo leone-lupo.jpg|thumb|Coin attributed to the Libui, an ancient Ligurian people settled in the territory of the current [[province of Vercelli]], [[Piedmont]]]]

The Ligurian economy was based on primitive agriculture, sheep farming, hunting and the exploitation of forests. Diodorus Siculus writes about the Ligurians:

<blockquote>Since their country is mountainous and full of trees, some of them use all day to cut wood, using strong and heavy dark; others, who want to cultivate the land, must deal with breaking stones, because it is so dry soil that you can not pick tools remove a sod, that with it do not rise stones. However, even if they have to fight with so many misfortunes, by means of stubborn work they go beyond nature [...] they often give themselves to hunting, and finding quantities of savage, with it they make up for the lack of bladders; and so it comes, that flowing through their snow-covered mountains, and getting used to practicing then more difficult places of the thickets, they harden their bodies, and strengthen their muscles admirably. Some of them, due to the famine of food, drink water, and live of meat of domestic and wild animals.<ref name="ReferenceA">(Diodorus Siculus, in Luca Ponte, Le genovesi)</ref></blockquote>

Thanks to the contact with the bronze "metal seekers", the Ligurians also dedicated themselves to mining.<ref>Examples of mining activities are witnessed in the Labiola mine.</ref>

The commercial activity is important. Already in ancient times the Ligurians were known in the Mediterranean for the trade of the precious Baltic amber. With the development of the Celtic populations, the Ligurians found themselves controlling a crucial access to the sea, becoming (sometimes in spite of themselves) custodians of an important way of communication.

Although they were not renowned navigators, they came to have a small maritime fleet, and their attitude to navigation is described as follows:

<blockquote>They sail for reason of shops on the sea of Sardinia and Libya, spontaneously exposing themselves to extreme dangers; they use smaller hulls than vulgar boats for this; nor are they practical of the comfort of other ships; and what is surprising is that they are not afraid to sustain the serious risks of storms.<ref name="ReferenceA"/></blockquote>

==Tribes==
{{main|List of ancient Ligurian tribes}}The Ligures lived divided into numerous tribes, among them were: the Genuati, who lived in what is now the area of the city of Genoa; the Tigulli, who lived in what is now the area of [[Trigoso]]; the [[Ingauni]], who lived in what is now the area of the city of [[Albenga]]; the [[Intimilii]] who lived in what is now the area of [[Ventimiglia]], the [[Apuani]] who lived in what is now the areas of the valleys of [[Magra]] and [[Serchio]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=Tutto sui Liguri: chi sono, da dove provengono |date=26 February 2022 |url=https://www.amegliainforma.it/2022/02/27/tutto-sui-liguri-chi-sono-da-dove-provengono/ |access-date=2023-05-12 |language=it-IT}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=The Polcevera Valley Palio of the Bronze Table {{!}} Visitgenoa.it The Polcevera Valley Palio of the Bronze Table |url=http://www.visitgenoa.it/en/polcevera-valley-palio-bronze-table |access-date=2023-05-12 |website=www.visitgenoa.it |language=en}}</ref>

== See also ==

* [[Ligurian (ancient language)]]
* [[Ancient peoples of italy]]
* [[Liguria]]
* [[Genoa]]

==References==
{{Reflist|30em}}

==Bibliography==
* ARSLAN E. A. 2004b, LVI.14 Garlasco, in ''I Liguri. Un antico popolo europeo tra Alpi e Mediterraneo'', Catalogo della Mostra (Genova, 23.10.2004-23.1.2005), Milano-Ginevra, pp.&nbsp;429–431.
* ARSLAN E. A. 2004 c.s., ''Liguri e Galli in Lomellina'', in ''I Liguri. Un antico popolo europeo tra Alpi e Mediterraneo'', Saggi Mostra (Genova, 23.10.2004–23.1.2005).
* {{cite book |last1=Bietti Sestieri |first1=Anna Maria |title=L'Italia nell'età del bronzo e del ferro: dalle palafitte a Romolo (2200-700 a.C.) |date=2010 |publisher=Carocci |isbn=978-88-430-5207-3 |language=it}}
* [[Raffaele De Marinis]], Giuseppina Spadea (a cura di), ''Ancora sui Liguri. Un antico popolo europeo tra Alpi e Mediterraneo'', De Ferrari editore, Genova 2007 ([http://www.marketpress.info/notiziario_det.php?art=54094 scheda sul volume]).
* John Patterson, ''Sanniti, Liguri e Romani'', Comune di Circello;Benevento
* [[Giuseppina Spadea]] (a cura di), ''I Liguri. Un antico popolo europeo tra Alpi e Mediterraneo'' (catalogo mostra, Genova 2004–2005), Skira editore, Genova 2004

==Further reading==
{{Commons category}}
* Berthelot, André. "LES LIGURES." Revue Archéologique 2 (1933): 245–303. www.jstor.org/stable/41750896.

{{Ligurian peoples}}
{{Italy topics}}

[[Category:Ligures| ]]
[[Category:History of Liguria]]
[[Category:Ancient peoples of Italy]]
[[Category:Ancient history of France]]
[[Category:History of Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur]]
[[Category:History of Piedmont]]
[[Category:History of Lombardy]]
[[Category:Transhumant ethnic groups]]