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39-625: Most ancient Umbrian cities were settled in the 9th-4th centuries BC on easily defensible hilltops. Umbria was bordered by the Tiber and Nar rivers and included the Apennine slopes on the Adriatic. The ancient Umbrian language is a branch of a group called Oscan-Umbrian , which is related to the Latino-Faliscan languages . They are also called Ombrii in some Roman sources. Ancient Roman writers thought

78-622: A Germanic-speaking people, and no evidence that they had a connection to the Celtic peoples, per se, has been found. Livy suggested that the Insubres , another Gaulish tribe, might be connected; their Celtic name Isombres could possibly mean "Lower Umbrians," or inhabitants of the country below Umbria. Similarly Roman historian Cato the Elder , in his masterpiece Origines , defines the Gauls as "the progenitors of

117-558: A frittata breakfast. Participants then process to Saint Mary's Assumption Church for a special Mass followed by "L'Alzata". During the Alzata, three "stanga" (the H-shaped platforms to be placed upon teams' shoulders) are stood vertically as the large "ceri" (the pedestals) are fastened into them perpendicularly with wooden pegs. This hardware weighs approximately 400-450 pounds (900 in Gubbio) each and

156-522: A large part of central Italy that now belongs to the Marche ; at the same time, it excluded the Sabine country (generally speaking, the area around modern Norcia ) and the right bank of the Tiber , which – being inhabited by Etruscans – formed part of Regio VII Etruria : for example Perusia (the modern Perugia ) and Orvieto (its ancient name is unknown), two Etruscan cities – were not part of Roman Umbria; on

195-835: A process that began in May, 1978 and was formally completed in May, 2004. As customary in Italy, Gubbio refers to Jessup as its "Città Gemellata" or "Twinned City". 2009 will be celebrated as the 100th anniversary of Saint Ubaldo Day in Jessup and numerous commemorative celebrations were planned by the Saint Ubaldo Society to mark the occasion. Saint Ubaldo Day begins early in the morning with roving musicians from Valley View High School about town and an intimate ceremony at Saint John's Catholic Italian cemetery. Members of all three families, Sant' Ubaldo, San Giorgio, and Sant' Antonio, then gather together for

234-575: A religious position named kvestur (cognate to or a borrowing of Latin Quaestor ). The Umbrian social structure was divided into distinct groups probably based upon military rank. During the reign of Augustus , four Umbrian aristocrats became senators. Emperor Nerva ’s family was from Umbria. According to Guy Jolyon Bradley, " The religious sites of the region have been thought to reveal a society dominated by agricultural and pastoral concerns, to which town life came late in comparison to Etruria." Throughout

273-622: A strategic battleground fought over by the Church, the Lombards and the Byzantines, and suffered consequently, becoming partitioned among them and disappearing from history. The modern use of "Umbria" is due to a renaissance of local identity in the 17th century. Before its defeat by and assimilation to the Romans, Umbria was an independent region organized al a loose confederation of towns whose inhabitants spoke

312-516: Is also celebrated in Jessup, PA, a town with a large number of immigrants from the Gubbio area, as Saint Ubaldo Day . While we have little direct information about ancient Umbrian political structure, it is fairly clear that two men held the supreme magistracy of uhtur and were responsible for supervising rituals. Other civic offices included the marone , which had a lower status than uhtur (closely related to Latin auctor whence English "author"), and

351-550: Is an event celebrated on 15 May in the Italian town of Gubbio . It honors the life of Bishop Ubaldo Baldassini who was canonized as protector of Gubbio. It is also celebrated in the American town of Jessup, Pennsylvania The eve of his death anniversary, May 15, is marked in Gubbio by a procession known as Corsa dei Ceri . Jessup conducts a nearly identical " Race of the Saints " on

390-613: Is in Picenum . The strip of country "above" the Apennines, "extending as far as Ravenna ," is Gallia Togata. Thirteen towns are listed for it, which are south of the Po River , but are as far inland as Piacenza . This region is somewhat larger than the one of the same name in Augustus' time, comprising almost all of Emilia-Romagna . The towns are: Piacenza , Fidenza , Brescello , Parma , etc. For

429-490: Is reminiscent of the bier that carried Saint Ubaldo himself through Gubbio in proclamation of his heroism. The saints' statues are affixed after "capodieci" (team captains) climb atop the cross-members, where they bless the structures with holy water from "brocca", ceramic vases sent directly from Gubbio. The afternoon is spent socializing among neighbors. Many households assemble in their yards and on their sidewalks to offer homemade food and wine to passersby. During these hours,

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468-493: Is the name for one of the 11 administrative regions into which the emperor Augustus divided Italy . The main source for the regions is the Historia Naturalis of Pliny the Elder , who informs his readers he is basing the geography of Italy on the descriptio Italiae , "division of Italy", made by Augustus. The Regio Sexta ("6th Region") is called Umbria complexa agrumque Gallicam citra Ariminium (" Umbria including

507-631: The Second Punic War . The Praetorian Guard recruited from Etruria and Umbria. The Umbri played a minor role in the Social War and as a result were granted citizenship in 90 BC. Roman veterans were settled in Umbria during the reign of Augustus. The Umbrians descend from the culture of Terni , protohistoric facies of southern Umbria. The towns of Chianciano and Clusium (Umbrian: Camars ) near modern Arezzo contain traces of Umbrian habitation dating to

546-457: The Umbrian language . This circumstance prevailed in history during the early and middle Roman Republic . By the late republic, Umbria was part of Rome. The language was no longer generally spoken. Like any other region, over the centuries Region VI changed its borders. These changes are reflected in the writings of the imperial geographers. The sexta regio is described in some detail by Pliny

585-679: The deluge (literally "the inundation of the lands by thunderstorms, imbribus ). The Etruscans vanquished 300 Umbrian cities. Ancient Greek historians considered the Umbri as the ancestors of the Sabellian people, namely the Sabines and the Samnites , and the tribes which sprung from them, as the Marsi , Marrucini , Peligni , Picentes , Hirpini , and others. Their expansion was in a southward direction, according to

624-521: The 6th–4th centuries BC, Umbrian communities constructed rural sanctuaries in which they sacrificed to the gods. Bronze votives shaped as animals or deities were also offered. Umbrian deities include Feronia , Valentia, Minerva Matusia and Clitumnus . The Iguvine Tablets were discovered in 1444 at Scheggia , near Gubbio , Italy. Composed during the 2nd or 3rd centuries BC, they describe religious rituals involving animal sacrifice. The ancient sanctuary to Venus (or her Umbrian equivalent) at Hispellum

663-614: The 7th or 8th centuries BC. Terni (in Latin: Interamna Nahars ) was the first important Umbrian center. Its population was called with the name of Umbri Naharti . They were the largest, organized and belligerent tribe of the Umbrians and populated compactly across the basin of Nera River. This people is quoted 8 times in the Iguvine Tablets. Their importance is confirmed not only by the Iguvine Tablets and Latin historians, and by

702-504: The 9th-4th centuries BC, imported goods from Greece and Etruria were common, as well as the production of local pottery. The Romans first made contact with Umbria in 310 BC and settled Latin colonies there in 299 BC, 268 BC and 241 BC. They had completed their conquest of Umbria by approximately 260 BC. The Via Flaminia linking areas of Umbria was complete by 220 BC. Cities in Umbria also contributed troops to Rome for its many wars. Umbrians fought under Scipio Africanus in 205 BC during

741-560: The Abruzzo was the largest part of Gallia Togata, only that it was the largest part of the region settled by Sicilians and Liburnians. Similarly if Hadrianus is taken to be Adria in Veneto then Gallia Togata would appear to be a synonym for all Gallia Cisalpina . However, Veneto is not "this side of Rimini." Pliny states his belief that the Umbrians once held the north Adriatic coast, displacing Sicilians and Liburnians, and were in turn displaced by

780-511: The Elder . Gallia Togata went along the northern Adriatic coast of Italy in Marche from Ancona to "this side of Rimini." The southernmost point of Gallia Togata is Ancona. He mentions the Aesis River ( Esino ) north of there, Senagallia (Sinigaglia), Pisaurum ( Pesaro ) and then Fanum ( Fano ) at the mouth of the Metaurus ( Metauro ) River. There follows a folk-etymologic statement concerning

819-633: The Etruscans. The Gauls expelled them. Romans colonized the Gallic coast to control it, hence "togata." For Umbria proper Pliny simply lists the settlements: Spello , Todi , Amelia , Attiglio, Assisi , Arna, Iesi , Camerino , Casuentillum, Carsulae , Dolates Sallentini, Foligno , Market of Flaminius, Market of Julius, Market Brenta, Fossombrone , Gubbio , Terni , etc. Ptolemy, 2nd century geographer, does not lump Gallia Togata together with Umbria, but describes them as separate regions. In Ptolemy, Ancona

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858-518: The Gallic country this side of Rimini "). Umbria is named after an Italic people , the Umbri , who were gradually subjugated by the Romans in the 4th through the 2nd centuries BC. Although it passed the name on to the modern region of Umbria , the two coincide only partially. Roman Umbria extended from Narni in the South, northeastward to the neighborhood of Ravenna on the Adriatic coast, thus including

897-673: The Luzerne County court for incorporation in December, 1876, grew in subsequent decades along with the anthracite coal industry. The demand for miners brought many European immigrants to the Lackawanna Valley . Italians came to Jessup mostly from Gubbio and other communities of the Umbria region's Province of Perugia . Jessup's new sizable Perugian enclave transplanted the tradition of La Festa dei Ceri in 1909. It continued only until 1952 but

936-621: The Saturday of Memorial Day weekend. The procession through the streets features small statues of Saint Ubaldo, Saint George , and Saint Anthony , in order. They are mounted upon immense wooden pedestals each hoisted by a team of "Ceraioli" (runners) clad respectively in yellow, blue, or black. In Gubbio, the procession ends by carrying the ceri to the Basilica di Sant' Ubaldo, which stands on top of Gubbio's Mount Ingino. In this case, an obvious competition occurs as Saint Ubaldo's ceraioli try to close

975-567: The Umbri Ptolemy has only nine towns, omitting some of the major ones: Arna, Spello , Todi , etc. Regio VI included the territory of many towns of Umbrian, Gallic and Roman foundation. Some of them were originally Picentian centres. Pliny the Elder enumerates 44 cities in addition to other minor localities, of these cities today 25 belong to the Umbria region and 16 to the Marche region, 2 to Romagna and 1 to Tuscany . Saint Ubaldo Day Saint Ubaldo Day or Festa dei Ceri

1014-563: The Umbri to be of Gaulish origin; Cornelius Bocchus wrote that they were descended from an ancient Gaulish tribe. Plutarch wrote that the name might be a different way of writing the name of a northern European tribe, the Ambrones , and that both ethnonyms were cognate with "King of the Boii ". However, both Greek and Roman scholars sometimes conflated Celtic and Germanic peoples. The historical Ambrones originated in or around Jutland , were apparently

1053-567: The Umbri". The Ambrones are also mentioned, with the Lombards and the Suebi , among the tribes of Northern Europe in the poem Widsith . Pliny the Elder wrote concerning the folk-etymology of the name: The Umbrian people are thought the oldest in Italy; they are believed to have been called Ombrii (here, "the people of the thunderstorm," after ὅμβρος, "thunderstorm") by the Greeks because they survived

1092-462: The basilica doors before George and Anthony can join Ubaldo inside. The event in Gubbio is bigger in many ways: a longer course, more participants and thousands more spectators, and a higher level of excitement and intensity. The event in Gubbio may be a survival of a similar rite described in the pre-Christian Iguvine Tablets . The borough of Jessup, a suburb of Scranton , organized and presented to

1131-516: The city was founded by Dardanus in 847 BC. Perugia and Orvieto are not considered of Umbrian but Etruscan origin. According to the geographical distribution of the Umbrian territory, they are located on the left side of the Tiber River, which is part of the ancient Etruria. Umbri were on the opposite side of the river. According to the map of Regio Umbria and Ager Galliucus by Emperor Augustus ,

1170-628: The contrary Sarsina , Plautus birthplace, was considered to be "in Umbria", while today it is in the modern province of Forlì-Cesena , in Emilia-Romagna . The importance of Umbria in Roman and medieval times was intimately bound up with the Via Flaminia , the consular road that supplied Rome and served as a military highway into and out of the City: for this reason once the Roman empire collapsed, Umbria became

1209-465: The important and privileged role played by this city in Roman times, but also by the discovery, at the end of the 19th and early 20th centuries, of one of the larger mixed burial necropoleis (Urnfield culture and burial fields) in Europe, about 3000 tombs (Necropoli delle Acciaierie di Terni). Assisi , called Asisium by the Romans, was an ancient Umbrian site on a spur of Mount Subasio . Myth relates that

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1248-403: The major Umbrian city-states were: Terni , Todi , Amelia and Spoleto (the current part of southern Umbria). A 2020 analysis of maternal haplogroups from ancient and modern samples indicated a substantial genetic similarity among the modern inhabitants of Umbria and the area's ancient pre-Roman inhabitants, and evidence of substantial genetic continuity in the region from pre-Roman times to

1287-516: The name of the Umbri. People believe, he says, that they are named from the thunderstorms ( imbres ) of the deluge and therefore that they are the oldest people on Earth. (The ancient Greeks and Romans inherited a mythological tradition of a deluge independent of that of the Old Testament .) Some of his further statements appear to be equivocal, leading to some historical misidentification of Gallia Togata. He declares: "The largest part of this district

1326-481: The present with regard to mitochondrial DNA . Both modern and ancient Umbrians were found to have high rates of mtDNA haplogroups U4 and U5a, and an overrepresentation of J (at roughly 30%). The study also found that, "local genetic continuities are further attested to by six terminal branches (H1e1, J1c3, J2b1, U2e2a, U8b1b1 and K1a4a)" also shared by ancient and modern Umbrians. Regio VI Umbria Regio VI Umbria (also named Regio VI Umbria et Ager Gallicus )

1365-572: The rite of Ver Sacrum . Lepontic inscriptions have also been found in Umbria , in the area which saw the emergence of the Terni culture, which had strong similarities with the Celtic-speaking cultures of Hallstatt and La Tène . The Umbrian necropolis of Terni , which dates back to the 10th century BC, was virtually identical in every aspect to the Celtic necropolis of the Golasecca culture . During

1404-464: The saints are carried leisurely throughout Jessup on display and for practice. The procession is the main event and is termed a "race" more for its quick pace and level of excitement than for any competitive aspect. It begins in the uptown section of Jessup and winds its way through residential blocks before reaching the Church Street business district . This downhill stretch ends at Station Park in

1443-493: Was an important sacred place for Umbrian tribes from the 3rd c. BC and the site was monumentalised in the Republican age (2nd-1st century BC). The modern Festival of Ceri, celebrated every year in Gubbio on May 15 in honor of Bishop Ubald or Ubaldo of Gubbio (1084-1160), shares certain features with the rites described in the 3rd c. BC Iguvine tables mentioned above, and so may be a survival of that ancient pre-Christian custom. It

1482-473: Was occupied by Sicilians and Liburnians especially the territories of Palma, Praetutia and Adria." This Adria ( Hadrianus ) is Atri, Italy on the coast of Abruzzi south of Ancona. Praetutia is Interamnia Praetutia , capital city of the Petrutii. From Interamnea comes Teramo and from Praetutia comes Aprutium , later Abruzzo . The coast of Abruzzo was in Augustus' Region IV; however, Pliny does not say that

1521-422: Was revived for the borough's centennial celebration 24 years later. Certain years since then had up to 30,000 spectators joining Jessup's population of under 5,000 for the event, attracting national news media. Today, it is administered by the community's Saint Ubaldo Society and coupled with Jessup Hose Company No. 2's weekend-long carnival and picnic. Gubbio, incidentally, is "Sister City" to Jessup resulting from

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