Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 23.djvu/750

Rh that the Picentes, led by the woodpecker (picus) of Mars, marched forth to occupy what is now the March of Ancona. But it was probably only after a long struggle that this conquest was effected, for from another tradition we learn that the Sabines, after carrying on war against the Umbrians for a long time, at length vowed a sacred spring, and dedicated all the produce of the year to the gods. Then at length they became victorious (Strabo, v. 250). Thus, by the advance of the Gauls from the north and the Picentes from the south, the Umbrians were shut off from the seaboard, and confined to the district known as Umbria in historical times. When Rome began the consolidating of Italy, Umbria consisted of the region bounded by the Ager Gallicus on the N., by Etruria (the Tiber) on the W., by Picenum on the E., and by the Sabines on the S. The Umbrians kept a desperate hold of this district, which lies between the two arms of the Apennines. This position indicates of itself that they had been driven before stronger foes. Henceforward they play but an insignificant part in Italian history. This is explained by the physical formation of their country. It is an extremely mountainous region, with a few small plains between, which were noted for their fertility. Hence arose a number of small but thriving communities, none of which had the capacity of developing into a leading state such as Rome became for the Latins. Their want of seaports likewise excluded them from trade, the mouths of all the rivers which flowed from their country being in the hands of their enemies.

Of the Umbrians political and municipal organization little is known. In addition to the city (tola) they seem to have had a larger territorial division in the tribus (trifu, ace.) as we gather from Livy (xxxi. 2, per Umbriam quam tribum Sapiniam vocant; ef. xxxiii. 37) and from the Eugubine Tables (trifor Tarsinates, vi. B. 54). From the fertility of their land their communities were very prosperous. The olive and vine flourished in their valleys; they grew spelt abundantly; and the boars of Umbria were famous. Ancient authors describe the Umbrians as leading effeminate lives, and as closely resembling their Etruscan enemies in their habits (Theopompus, fragm. 142; Pseudo-Scymnus, 366-8). It is almost certain that each race influenced and modified the other to a large extent. Mommsen has pointed out that the names of many towns in Etruria are Umbrian, a fact which shows how persistent even after conquest was their influence in that region. On the other hand, we have conclusive proof of strong Etruscan influences in Umbria. For instance, they undoubtedly borrowed their alphabet and the art of writing from the Etruscans. Their writing runs from right to left. The alphabet consists of nineteen letters. It has no separate symbols for 0, G, Q; the aspirates &amp;lt;t&amp;gt; and x are wanting; on the other hand, it possesses forms for Z and V, and has likewise the Etruscan /( 8 ). It also has a symbol d peculiar to itself for expressing the sound of palatal k when followed by either e or i. It is also very probable that they borrowed the art of coining money from Etruria. Two towns are known to have issued coins, which consist entirely of bronze, and belong almost entirely to the series of ees grave. The most important is that of Tuder (Todi), which must have been a place of some note. It was a strong fortress on the left bank of the Tiber on the confines of Etruria. Iguvium (Gubbio), which struck coins after the standard of Tuder, was a strong place likewise on the western or Etruscan side of the Apennines. The fact that it is only in towns on the side next Etruria that a coinage is found indicates that it was from the Etruscans they borrowed the art. The Umbrians counted their day from noon to noon. But whether they borrowed this likewise from the Etruscans we do not know (Pliny, ii. 77). In their measuring of land they employed the vorsus, a measure common to them and the Oscans (Frontinus, De Limit., p. 30), 3 J of which went to the Roman jugerum. When the Romans undertook the conquest of Italy, the most feeble resistance of all was offered to them by the Umbrians. In the great struggle between the Samnite confederacy and Rome Umbria played an insignificant part. It is probable that all through the Second Samnite "War their sympathies were altogether on the side of their Samnite kinsmen, and that some assistance was afforded by individual communities. It is not unlikely therefore that it was with a view to keep the Umbrians in check that the Romans planted a colony at Nequinum on the Nar, whose inhabitants were known as Nartes Interamnates, and who are included with the Etruscans, lapydes, and Tadinates in the list of persons who were forbidden to be e-esent at the sacred rites of Iguvium. At length in 308 the mbrians made a vigorous effort to aid the Samnites, which, had it taken place earlier in the war, might have had the most import ant influence on the issue of the struggle. As it was, it came too late; the Etruscans had already laid down their arms. The Umbrians, who threatened to march on Rome, were intercepted by Rullianus with the Roman army from Samnium on the upper Tiber, a step which the Samnites now broken could not prevent; and this was sufficient to disperse the Umbrian levies. When the Third Samnite War broke out, the Umbrians took no active part in its operations; but how their sympathies lay is evident from their affording a ready passage to the Samnite army under Gellius Egnatius on its march to Etruria, 296 When the battle of Sentinum (295) finally crushed the Samnites and Etruscans, Umbria remained in the hands of the Romans. Henceforward the process of Latinizing went on steadily, for by the 1st century we find them employing the Latin alphabet in copies of the ancient sacerdotal ritual of Iguvium (see {{EB9 article link|Eugubine Tables). We know that the Oscan language only finally expired in the 1st century of our era, and there is no reason for believing that the Umbrian had disappeared much earlier. When the Romans conquered tho k Senones, 280, the Ager Gallicus was restored to Umbria, and both together formed under the empire the sixth region of Italy.

Strabo (v. 227) regards Ravenna as the boundary of Umbria. The Via Flaminia passed up through it from Ocriculum to Ariminum, along which lay the important towns of Narnia (Narni) Carsulse (Carsigliano), Mevania (Bevagna), Forum Flaminii, Nuceria, and Forum Sempronii. To the east lay Interamna (Terni), the probable birthplace of Tacitus, Spoletium (Spoleto), and the most important town of Camerinum on the side of the Apennines towards Picenum. On the side towards Etruria lay Tuder (Todi), Iguvium, which occupied a very advantageous position close to the main pass through the Apennines, Ameria (Amelia), and Hispellum (Spello); on the Clitumnus (Clitunno) was Assisium (Assisi), the birthplace of Propertius, whilst far to the north lay Sarsina, the birthplace of Plautus. For the position of the country in the time of Augustus, see vol. xiii. Plate V.

See Bréal, Les Tables Eugubines, 1875; Bücheler, Umbrica, 1883; Kirchhoff, ''Griech. Alphabet, 4th ed., 1887; Head, Historia Numorum'', 1887.{{float right|({{abbr|{{sc|w. ri.}}|William Ridgeway}})}} {{EB1911 Fine Print/e}} {{EB1911 fine print/e}}  {{ti|1em|{{larger|UMMERAPOORA}}, another form of {{EB9 article link|Amarapura}} (q.v.).}}  {{ti|1em|{{larger|UNAO}}, a British district in the Lucknow division of Oudh, India, under the jurisdiction of the lieutenant-governor of the North-Western Provinces. The area of the district is 1768 square miles, and it is bounded on the N. by Hardoi, E. by Lucknow, S. by Rai Bareli, and W. by the Ganges. Unao is very flat, and has no features of particular interest. Rich and fertile tracts, studded with groves, alternate with stretches of waste land and plains of barren usar t the whole being intersected with small streams, the water from which is extensively used for irrigation. The Ganges is the only navigable river in the district. The temperature varies from about 75 to 103 in the hot weather, and from 46 to 79 in the cold season. The average annual rainfall is about 34 inches.}} {{EB1911 Fine Print/s}} In 1881 the population was 899,069 (males 461,167, females 437,902); of these 830,342 were Hindus, 68,677 Mohammedans, and 49 Christians. Unao, the capital and administrative head quarters, 9 miles north-east of Cawnpore, had 9509 inhabitants. The cultivated area of Unao amounted in 1885-86 to 598,131 acres, and 289,356 acres were returned as cultivable. The principal crops are rice, wheat, and other food grains, cotton, sugar-cane, and in digo. The cultivation is mainly dependent on irrigation. The principal exports are grain of all kinds, gur, ghi, tobacco, and a little indigo and saltpetre; and the chief imports are piece goods, salt, iron, cotton, spices, &c. The gross revenue of the district in 1885-86 amounted to 183,083, the land yielding 144,914. During the mutiny of 1857-58 Unao was the scene of several severe engagements between General Havelock's little army and the rebels. On the death of Raja Jasa Sinh, one of the leading rebels, and the capture of his two sons, the whole family estates were confiscated, and the villages either restored to their former owners or given to other landholders for their loyalty. {{EB1911 Fine Print/e}}  {{ti|1em|{{larger|UNDULATORY THEORY}}.{{gap|1em}}See {{EB9 article link|Optics}} and {{EB9 article link|Wave Theory}}.}}  {{ti|1em|{{larger|UNGVAR}}, chief town of the county Ung, in the north east of Hungary, stands on the river Ung. It is the seat of the bishop of Munkacs, and has a fine Greek cathedral, an episcopal seminary, a lyceum, a gymnasium, and also a teachers college, a county hall, and an interesting ancient castle. The town and district produce good wine in large quantity, and abound in mineral springs. There is a good trade in timber and china clay. The population in 1886 was 13,460.}}

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