Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 11.djvu/62

* ITALY. 46 human occupation of Italy were followed in the Neolithic period by dolichocephalic potterj'- niakcrs nml liuiUlprs of pile dwellinjrs on the lakes of the northern lionlerland, ami by mound-builders in the Po Valley, who on the marshy lowlands built tumuli, called terra- mare (q.v. ), with level tops, and on them erected dwellings and villages, which were pro- tected by ditches. The germ of Italian culture lay in this epoch. The peoples were many, though in the regions separated by the Po the.y l>eU)nged to only two races. Industrialism had taken the place of savagery. The polished axe, the scraper, weights, and spindles of terracotta, coarse and fine pottery, slate ornamented with etchings, toilet articles and domeslic utensils of bone and antler, linen fabrics, acorns, hazelnuts, and seeds of flax, w'heat, barley, poppies, and apples, all show that a mixed people then existed. Italian antiquities cannot be classified rigidly by means of those in France or other European countries. There are three reasons for this. In the fir.st place, the progress of industrialism depends on physical geography in its widest sense. As no two areas are alike in this respect, no two culture growths can be identical. In the second place, the primitive inhabitants of Italy, though they may show racial traits of early peoples of France and the Balkan Peninsula, had their own varietal peculiarities. In the third place, the pedagogic influence of outside sugges- tions cannot be the same with any two races, however small an area they may occupy. In the prcKluct of activity there will be a mixture of ingredients, the one furnished by the people accultured, the other by their foreign teachers. The most ancient peoples of Italy known to the historian belonged to a dolichocephalic race. They may be classed in the Mediterranean species and called Ligurians. They were akin to the Iberians of Spain and the Pelasgians of Greece, a colony of whom, greatly modified by local mixture, became Etruscans. Toward the close of the Neolithic period there came into the north of Italy a brachyceplialic people who brought with them copper, and occupied most of the Po Valley, fomiding there the Umbrian dominion. This short-headed race modified the biological characters, the customs, and the speech of this northern region. Thus arose a sharp division of the Peninsula into two distinct ethnic areas, that of the broad-headed Alpine or Celtic type of Central Europe, north of the Apennines, and the true long-headed Jleditcrranean or Ligurian type in the south. Later on appeared the tall, blond race from what is now the Gennan Empire, and from the regions farther east, Cim- bri, Goths, Ostrogoths, Visigoths, Saxons, and Lombards. These conquerors were long-headed also, like the Pelasgians. They did not pro- foundly modify the physical characters of the population. The skulls of the peoples along the Po are varied from place to place. Biologically the two divisions of Italy exist as they did be- fore the Teutonic invasions. Venetians are l.fififi meters or 6.5. .5 inches in stature, and the propor- tion of head-width to head-length among the Piedmontese is .86. In the other ethnological division of Italy. Sardinian soldiers are only 1.619 meters or 63.68 inches in stature, and the ratio of head-width to head-length is .77. History. When Metternich. in 1S4.5. said that Italy "represents simply a group of independent ITALY. States, united under the same geographical term," he was describing a state of atl'airs which had existed ever since the downfall of tiie Roman Empire in the lifth century. This lack of unity makes it almost impossible to present the history of Italy under one head, but necessitates a study of the separate States. | See especially the articles on Venue : Florence; Oe.noa; Milan; LoxiBARoy; Savoy; Tt'.scANv; Naples: Rome; Sicily; Papal States.) Through the repeated invasions of the barbarians into Italy dur- ing the lifth century, many portions of the country had been depopulated and government had become very weak. The old free population had long since disappeared, and the land was chielly in the bands of powerfiU nobles, who were al)le to maintain bands of retainers by means of which they coiId protect themselves against marauders. Finally in 470 the last independent Em])eror of the West. Romulus Augustulus, was dethroned by Odoacer, a chief of the German tribe of the Heruli. This event is usually taken as marking the end of the Roman Emjiire and the beginning of the Middle Ages. As a matter of fact.therc was no abrupt transition: for Oiloacer and his (iermanic successors continued the old Constitution, which, however, had ceased to be etl'ective for some time before 47l>, and gradually disappi'ared. though for centuries it was invoked by all rulers of Italy. Oiloacer did not enjoy his crown long, but was treacherously murdered in 493 by Theodoric the Great (q.v.). >mder whos6 leadership the Ostrogoths had invaded Italy. For the last time in many centuries Italy was prosperous: for Theodoric was just and wise, and the natives were treated mildly, being judged equitably and allowed to retain, to a large ex- tent, their property. But the Italians, who were largely Catholics, were discontented under their Arian masters. The result was that, for- getting or underestimating Byzantine despotism, they welcomed the attempts of Belisarius (q.v.) and Narses (q.v.). the generals of the Byzantine Emperor Justinian, to drive out the barbarians after the death of Theodoric. in 526. In ,t.52 the last of the Gothic Kings, Teja, fell in the terrific battle at Blount Vesuvius, and the remainder of the Goths disajipeared among the Italians. The Byzantine sway was of short duration; for after the recall of the capable Narses in 567, the Lombards (q.v.). a Germanic people, invaded Italy, according to the account of Paulus Dia- conus (q.v.). called in by Narses himself in re- venge for his recall. Their King was Alhoin. who made Pavia his capital, and from that city as a starting-point continuous expeditions were sent in all directions, so that soon nothing was left to the Byzantine Empire except the south and the Exar- chate of Ravenna. After the death of Alboin. in 57.3, the Lombards for a long time had no King, but separate bands united under various leaders, known as 'duces.' They were Arians. as the Goths had been before them, and hence there was contin- uous strife between them and the native Italians, which increased as the pojies became more power- ful and the real rilers of Rome. Finally a new Kimr. Agilulf. who ruled from 590 to GI6, became a convert to Catholicism, and for some time comparative harmony prevailed. But the Lom- bards from piditical necessity were driven to seek possession of the city of Rome, and there- upon the popes called in the Franks to aid them. These under the vigorous leadership of Pepin