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145-543: The cult of Venus Verticordia was established in 220 BC, just before the beginning of the Second Punic War , in response to advice from a Sibylline oracle , when a series of prodigies was taken to signify divine displeasure at sexual offenses among Romans of every category and class, including several men and three Vestal Virgins . Her statue was dedicated by a young woman, chosen as the most pudica (sexually pure) in Rome by

290-665: A Carthaginian army in New Carthage (modern Cartagena ) and led it northwards along the Iberian coast in May or June. It entered Gaul and took an inland route, to avoid the Roman allies to the south. At the battle of Rhone Crossing , Hannibal defeated a force of local Gauls which sought to bar his way. A Roman fleet carrying the Iberian-bound army landed at Rome's ally Massalia (modern Marseille ) at

435-705: A claim to the land. There were several rebellions on the island of Sicily against the King Ferdinand II , but the end of the kingdom was not brought about until the Expedition of the Thousand in 1860, led by Giuseppe Garibaldi , an icon of Italian Unification, with the support of the House of Savoy and its Kingdom of Sardinia with its economic, political and cultural powerhouse in Northern Italy. The expedition resulted in

580-453: A committee of Roman matrons. At first, the statue was probably housed within the temple to Fortuna Virilis. This cult, older than that to Venus Verticordia but possibly perceived as weak or gone to seed, may have benefited from the moral and religious support of Venus as a relatively new but senior deity; for Ovid , Venus's acceptance of the epithet and its responsibilities represented the goddess's own change of heart. In 114 BC Venus Verticordia

725-589: A deep reform of the laws culminating with the promulgation of the Constitutions of Melfi (1231, also known as Liber Augustalis ), a collection of laws for his realm that was remarkable for its time and a source of inspiration for a long time afterward. It made the Kingdom of Sicily a centralised state and established the primacy of written law . With relatively small modifications, the Liber Augustalis remained

870-474: A distance and avoided close combat. The latter cavalry were usually Numidians . The close-order Libyan infantry and the citizen-militia would fight in a tightly packed formation known as a phalanx . On occasion some of the infantry would wear captured Roman armour, especially among Hannibal 's troops. Both Iberia and Gaul provided large numbers of experienced infantry and cavalry. These infantry were unarmoured troops who would charge ferociously, but had

1015-434: A distance, a short sword and a 90-centimetre (3 ft) shield. The rest were equipped as heavy infantry , with body armour , a large shield and short thrusting swords . They were divided into three ranks: the front rank also carried two javelins, while the second and third ranks were equipped with a thrusting spear instead. Legionary sub-units and individual legionaries both fought in relatively open order . It

1160-607: A fleet of 60 quinqueremes ; and established supply depots at Ariminum and Arretium in preparation for marching north later in the year. Two armies of four legions each, two Roman and two allied but with stronger than usual cavalry contingents, were formed. One was stationed at Arretium and one on the Adriatic coast; they would be able to block Hannibal's possible advance into central Italy and were positioned to move north to operate in Cisalpine Gaul. In early spring 217   BC

1305-606: A force of 18,000. Despite these losses, the Romans besieged Capua , the Carthaginians' key ally in Italy. Hannibal offered battle to the Romans; Livy's account of the subsequent fighting is unclear, but the Romans seem to have suffered heavy casualties while the Carthaginians were unable to lift the siege. Hannibal then assaulted the Romans' siege works, but was again unable to relieve the city. In 211   BC Hannibal again offered battle to

1450-525: A force of Numidian cavalry to Sicily, which was led by the skilled Liby-Phoenician officer Mottones, who inflicted heavy losses on the Roman army through hit-and-run attacks. A fresh Roman army attacked the main Carthaginian stronghold on the island, Agrigentum , in 210   BC and the city was betrayed to the Romans by a discontented Carthaginian officer. The remaining Carthaginian-controlled towns then surrendered or were taken through force or treachery and

1595-548: A lesser extent Gaeta , Molfetta and Trani , rivalled other Italian maritime republics in their domestic prosperity and maritime importance. From 999 to 1139, the Normans occupied all the Lombard and Byzantine possessions in southern Italy , ended a millennium of imperial Roman rule in Italy and eventually expelled the Muslims from Sicily. The Norman Kingdom of Sicily under Roger II

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1740-555: A reputation for breaking off if a combat was protracted. The Gallic cavalry, and possibly some of the Iberians, wore armour and fought as close-order troops; most or all of the mounted Iberians were light cavalry. Slingers were frequently recruited from the Balearic Islands. The Carthaginians also employed war elephants ; North Africa had indigenous African forest elephants at the time. Garrison duty and land blockades were

1885-875: A striking series of defeats for the Sicilian armies against the growing troops of Garibaldi. After the capture of Palermo and Sicily, he disembarked in Calabria and moved towards Naples, and in the meantimem the Piedmontese also invaded the Kingdom from the Marche . The last battles fought were that of the Volturnus in 1860 and the siege of Gaeta , where King Francis II had sought shelter in thepe of for help, which never came. The last towns to resist Garibaldi's expedition were Messina , which surrendered on 13 March 1861, and Civitella del Tronto , which surrendered on 20 March 1861. The Kingdom of

2030-486: A vast booty of gold, silver and siege artillery . He released the captured population and liberated the Iberian hostages held there by the Carthaginians, in an attempt to ensure the loyalty of their tribes. In the spring of 208   BC Hasdrubal moved to engage Scipio at the battle of Baecula . The Carthaginians were defeated, but Hasdrubal was able to withdraw the majority of his army and prevent any Roman pursuit; most of his losses were among his Iberian allies. Scipio

2175-449: Is a macroregion of Italy consisting of its southern regions . The term " Mezzogiorno " today mostly refers to the regions that are associated with the people, lands or culture of the historical and cultural region that was once politically under the administration of the former Kingdoms of Naples and Sicily (officially denominated as one entity Regnum Siciliae citra Pharum and ultra Pharum , i.e. "Kingdom of Sicily on

2320-589: Is mainly Mediterranean ( Köppen climate classification Csa), except at the highest elevations (Dsa, Dsb) and the semi-arid eastern stretches in Apulia and Molise, along the Ionian Sea in Calabria and the southern stretches of Sicily (BSw). The largest city of southern Italy is Naples , an originally Greek name that it has historically maintained for millennia. Bari , Taranto , Reggio Calabria , Foggia , and Salerno are

2465-594: Is nonetheless often subsumed into the Mezzogiorno . The Italian National Institute of Statistics (ISTAT) employs the term " south Italy " ( Italia meridionale , or just Sud , i.e. "south") to statistically identify in its reportings the six mainland regions of southern Italy without Sicily and Sardinia, which form a distinct statistical region under the ISTAT denominated " Insular Italy " ( Italia insulare , or simply Isole "Islands"). These same subdivisions are at

2610-473: Is the best surviving source for this part of the war. Several of the city states in southern Italy allied with Hannibal, or were captured when pro-Carthaginian factions betrayed their defences. These included the large city of Capua and the major port city of Tarentum (modern Taranto). Two of the major Samnite tribes also joined the Carthaginian cause. By 214   BC the bulk of southern Italy had turned against Rome, although there were many exceptions and

2755-575: Is the most representative of these Byzantine monuments. From then to the 11th-century Norman conquest the south of the peninsula was constantly plunged into wars between the Byzantines, Lombardy, and the Aghlabid dynasty . The latter established two emirates in southern Italy : the Emirate of Sicily and, for 25 years, the Emirate of Bari . Amalfi , an independent republic from the 7th century until 1075, and to

2900-492: The Aetolian League , a coalition of Greek city states which was already at war with Macedonia. In 205   BC this war ended with a negotiated peace. A rebellion in support of the Carthaginians broke out on Sardinia in 213   BC, but it was quickly put down by the Romans. Prior to 215 BC Sicily remained firmly in Roman hands, blocking the ready seaborne reinforcement and resupply of Hannibal from Carthage. Hiero II ,

3045-882: The Battle of the Metaurus . At the battle of Ilipa in 206 Scipio permanently ended the Carthaginian presence in Iberia. Scipio invaded Carthaginian Africa in 204 BC, compelling the Carthaginian Senate to recall Hannibal's army from Italy. The final engagement of the war took place between armies under Scipio and Hannibal at Zama in 202 and resulted in Hannibal's defeat and in Carthage suing for peace . The peace treaty dictated by Rome stripped Carthage of all of its overseas territories and some of its African ones. An indemnity of 10,000 silver talents

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3190-1088: The Chalcidean / Cumaean variety of the Greek alphabet , which was adopted by the Etruscans ; the Old Italic alphabet subsequently evolved into the Latin alphabet , which became the most widely used alphabet in the world. Many of the new Hellenic cities became very rich and powerful like Neapolis (Νεάπολις, Naples , "New City"), Syrakousai (Συράκουσαι, Syracuse ), Akragas (Ἀκράγας, Agrigento ), and Sybaris (Σύβαρις, Sibari ). Other cities in Magna Graecia included Tarentum (Τάρας), Metapontum (Μεταπόντιον), Heraclea (Ἡράκλεια), Epizephyrian Locri (Λοκροὶ Ἐπιζεφύριοι), Rhegium (Ῥήγιον), Croton (Κρότων), Thurii (Θούριοι), Elea (Ἐλέα), Nola (Νῶλα), Syessa (Σύεσσα), Bari (Βάριον), and others. Although many of

3335-628: The Crown of Aragon . At his death in 1458, the kingdom was again divided . Ferrante , Alfonso's illegitimate son, inherited Naples. When Ferrante died in 1494, Charles VIII of France invaded Italy by using the Angevin claim to the throne of Naples, which his father had inherited on the death of King René's nephew in 1481, as a pretext, which started the Italian Wars . Charles VIII expelled Ferrante’s successor, Alfonso II of Naples , from Naples in 1495. However, he

3480-540: The First Punic War was the issue of control of the independent Sicilian city state of Messana (modern Messina ). In 264   BC Carthage and Rome went to war. The war was fought primarily on Sicily and its surrounding waters; the Romans also unsuccessfully invaded North Africa in 256   BC. It was the longest continuous conflict and the greatest naval war of antiquity, with immense materiel and human losses on both sides. In 241   BC, after 23 years of war,

3625-512: The House of Anjou , who had likewise been ruling it. Thus, the peace was formal recognition of an uneasy status quo . Although the king of Spain had seized both two crowns in the 16th century, the administrations of the two halves of the Kingdom of Sicily remained separated until 1816, when they were reunited in the Kingdom of Two Sicilies . In 1442, Alfonso V conquered the Kingdom of Naples and unified Sicily and Naples once again as dependencies of

3770-598: The House of Hohenstaufen and the papacy led to Sicily's conquest by Charles I , Duke of Anjou . Opposition to French officialdom and taxation combined with incitement of rebellion by agents from the Byzantine Empire and the Crown of Aragon led to the Sicilian Vespers insurrection and successful invasion by king Peter III of Aragon in 1282. The resulting War of the Sicilian Vespers lasted until 1302

3915-655: The Lombards , who annexed the area of Cosenza to their Duchy of Benevento . Consequently, the Lombard and the Byzantine areas became influenced by Eastern monasticism, and much of southern Italy experienced a slow process of orientalisation in religious life (rites, cults and liturgy), which accompanied a spread of Eastern churches and monasteries that preserved and transmitted the Greek and Hellenistic tradition. The Cattolica monastery in Stilo

4060-502: The Peace of Caltabellotta divided the old Kingdom of Sicily into two. The island of Sicily, called the "Kingdom of Sicily beyond the Lighthouse" or the Kingdom of Trinacria, went to Frederick III of the House of Barcelona , who had been ruling it. The peninsular territories, called Kingdom of Sicily contemporaneously but Kingdom of Naples by modern scholarship, went to Charles II of

4205-651: The Treaty of Utrecht in 1713, Naples was given to Charles VI , the Holy Roman Emperor . He also gained control of Sicily in 1720, but Austrian rule did not last long. Both Naples and Sicily were conquered by a Spanish army during the War of the Polish Succession in 1734, and Charles, Duke of Parma , a younger son of King Philip V of Spain was installed as King of Naples and Sicily from 1735. Charles inherited

4350-475: The battle of Insubria in 203   BC. After a Roman army invaded the Carthaginian homeland in 204   BC, defeating the Carthaginians in two major battles and winning the allegiance of the Numidian kingdoms of North Africa, Hannibal and the remnants of his army were recalled. They sailed from Croton and landed at Carthage with 15,000–20,000 experienced veterans. Mago was also recalled; he died of wounds on

4495-520: The "Mezzogiorno" after the Second World War . In the 1946 referendum , the region voted to keep the monarchy, with its greatest support coming in Campania . Politically, the region was at odds with the north, which won the referendum to establish a republic. Today, the south remains less economically developed than the northern and central regions, which enjoyed an " economic miracle " in the 1950s and

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4640-581: The "absolutely antithetical conditions" of northern and southern Italy at the time of Italian unification in 1861, when south and north were united again after more than one thousand years. Gramsci remarked that in Northern Italy, the historical period of the Comunes had given a special boost to history and in northern Italy existed an economic organization similar to that of the other states of Europe, propitious to further development of capitalism and industry , but in southern Italy, history had been different, and

4785-419: The "civilized, Piedmontese north" (167) to intervene. Another viewm however, was marked by disdain for southern Italy. According to the article, "such manifestations of the south's difference threaten the glowing and gloating sense of northern superiority" (167). These viewpoints clearly indicate the divide between northern and southern Italy in the 1860s. In an attempt to explain the striking difference between

4930-722: The "spur" of the boot, the peninsula of Monte Gargano ; on the Tyrrhenian Sea , the Gulf of Salerno , the Gulf of Naples , the Gulf of Policastro and the Gulf of Gaeta are each named after a large coastal city. Along the northern coast of the Salernitan Gulf and on the south of the Sorrentine Peninsula runs the Amalfi Coast . Off the peninsula's tip is the isle of Capri . The climate

5075-504: The 1960s and became highly industrialized. Starting from the unification of Italy in 1861–1870, a growing economic divide between the Northern provinces and the southern half of Italy became evident. In the early decades of the new kingdom, the lack of effective land reform, heavy taxes, and other economic measures imposed on the south, along with the removal of protectionist tariffs on agricultural goods imposed to boost northern industry, made

5220-568: The 37 with which he left Iberia  – some time in November; the Romans had already gone into their winter quarters. Hannibal's surprise entry into the Italian peninsula led to the cancellation of Rome's planned campaign for the year: an invasion of Africa. Shortly after arriving in Italy the Carthaginians captured the chief city of the hostile Taurini (in the area of modern Turin ) and seized its food stocks. In late November 218   BC

5365-569: The Adriatic coast, then turned south into Apulia , hoping to win over some of the ethnic Greek and Italic cities of southern Italy. News of the defeat again caused a panic in Rome. The head of the embassy that was sent to Carthage right before the war broke out in 218 BC, Quintus Fabius Maximus, was elected dictator by the Roman Assembly and adopted the " Fabian strategy " of avoiding pitched battles, relying instead on low-level harassment to wear

5510-523: The Bourbons in the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies were staunch supporters of a feudal system, had feared the traffic of ideas and had tried to keep their subjects insulated from the agricultural and industrial revolutions of Northern Europe. The study by Mack Smith is confirmed by the Italian historian and left-wing politician Antonio Gramsci in his book The Southern Question by which the author emphasizes

5655-518: The Carthaginian cavalry routed the cavalry and light infantry of the Romans at the battle of Ticinus . As a result, most of the Gallic tribes declared for the Carthaginian cause and Hannibal's army grew to more than 40,000 men. The Senate ordered the army in Sicily north to join the force already facing Hannibal, thus abandoning the plan to invade Africa. The combined Roman force under the command of Sempronius

5800-494: The Carthaginian forces in Iberia were divided into three armies which were deployed apart from each other, the Romans split their forces. This strategy resulted in two separate battles in 211, usually referred to jointly as the battle of the Upper Baetis . Both battles ended in complete defeat for the Romans, as Hasdrubal had bribed the Romans' mercenaries to desert. The Roman survivors retreated to their coastal stronghold north of

5945-475: The Carthaginians caught a Roman army off guard outside Herdonia, heavily defeating it after its commander accepted battle . Livy then has Hannibal fighting the inconclusive battle of Numistro , although modern historians doubt his account. The Romans stayed on Hannibal's heels, fighting another pitched battle at Canusium in 209 BC and again suffering heavy losses. This battle enabled another Roman army to approach Tarentum and capture it by treachery . In

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6090-539: The Carthaginians crossed the Apennines unopposed, taking a difficult but unguarded route. Hannibal attempted to draw the main Roman army under Gaius Flaminius into a pitched battle by devastating the area they had been sent to protect provoking Flaminius into a hasty pursuit. Hannibal set an ambush and in the battle of Lake Trasimene completely defeated the Roman army, killing 15,000 Romans, including Flaminius, and taking 10,000 prisoners . A cavalry force of 4,000 from

6235-543: The Carthaginians were defeated. Under the Roman-dictated Treaty of Lutatius Carthage ceded its Sicilian possessions to Rome. Rome exploited Carthage's distraction during the Truceless War against rebellious mercenaries and Libyan subjects to break the peace treaty and annex Carthaginian Sardinia and Corsica in 238 BC. Under the leadership of Hamilcar Barca , Carthage defeated the rebels in 237 BC. With

6380-476: The Crown of Aragon and France resumed their war over the kingdom, ultimately resulting in an Aragonese victory leaving Ferdinand in control of the kingdom by 1504. The kingdom remained disputed between France and Spain for the next several decades. The French efforts to gain control of it became feebler as the decades went on, and Spanish control was never genuinely endangered. The French finally abandoned their claims to

6525-447: The Ebro, from which the Carthaginians again failed to expel them. Claudius Nero brought over reinforcements in 210   BC and stabilised the situation. In 210 BC Publius Cornelius Scipio , arrived in Iberia with further Roman reinforcements. In a carefully planned assault in 209   BC he captured the lightly defended centre of Carthaginian power in Iberia, New Carthage, seizing

6670-477: The Greek cities of southern Italy ( Magna Graecia ) submitted. During this period of Roman expansion, Carthage, with its capital in what is now Tunisia , had come to dominate southern Iberia , much of the coastal regions of North Africa, the Balearic Islands , Corsica , Sardinia and the western half of Sicily. By 264   BC Carthage was the dominant external power on Sicily, and Carthage and Rome were

6815-461: The Greek elements that once formed Magna Graecia. After Pyrrhus of Epirus failed in his attempt to stop the spread of Roman hegemony in 282 BCE, the south fell under Roman domination and remained in such a position until the barbarian invasions (the Gladiator War is a notable suspension of imperial control). It was restored to Eastern Roman control in the 530s after the fall of Rome in

6960-501: The Greek inhabitants of Magna Graecia were entirely Latinized during the Middle Ages , pockets of Greek culture and language remained and have survived to the present day. One example is the Griko people in Calabria ( Bovesia ) and Salento ( Grecìa Salentina ), some of whom still maintain their Greek language ( Griko language ) and customs. The Griko language is the last living trace of

7105-518: The Greek settlers and the native peoples were initially hostilem especially with the Iapygian tribes. The Hellenic influence eventually shaped their culture and way of life. The Romans used to call the area of Sicily and coastal southern Italy Magna Graecia ("Great Greece") since it was so densely populated by coastal Greek colonies ; the ancient geographers differed on whether the term included Sicily or merely Apulia and Calabria with Strabo being

7250-402: The Iberian tribes was too fragile and the Roman forces in the area too strong for him to execute the planned movement. In 215 Hasdrubal eventually acted, besieging a pro-Roman town and offering battle at Dertosa , where he attempted to use his cavalry superiority to clear the flanks of the Roman army while enveloping their centre on both sides with his infantry. However, the Romans broke through

7395-399: The Italian institutional sources the problems of southern Italy had existed way before Italian unification, and Giustino Fortunato emphasised that the Bourbons were not the only ones responsible for the problems of the south, which had ancient and deep origins in the previous centuries of poverty and isolation, caused by domination by foreign governments. In literature, the period around 1860

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7540-411: The Jing of Naples Ferdinand II had no interest in doing useful works to improve the neglected condition of public hygiene, particularly in the provinces, where scarcity of sewer systems and often water shortages were known issues. The problem of brigandage is explained in the book Heroes and Brigands by the southern Italian historian and politician Francesco Saverio Nitti , outlining that brigandage

7685-430: The Macedonian king, Philip V , pledged his support to Hannibal, initiating the First Macedonian War against Rome in 215   BC. The Romans were concerned that the Macedonians would attempt to cross the Strait of Otranto and land in Italy. They strongly reinforced their navy in the area and despatched a legion to stand guard, and the threat petered out. In 211   BC Rome contained the Macedonians by allying with

7830-528: The Po and appropriating large areas of the best land. Most of the Gauls resented this intrusion. During 218   BC there was some naval skirmishing in the waters around Sicily; the Romans repulsed a Carthaginian attack and captured the island of Malta . In Cisalpine Gaul (modern northern Italy), the major Gallic tribes attacked the Roman colonies there, causing the settlers to flee to their previously established colony of Mutina (modern Modena ), where they were besieged. A Roman relief force broke through

7975-405: The Romans by marching his army overland from Iberia, through Gaul and over the Alps to Cisalpine Gaul (modern northern Italy). Reinforced by Gallic allies he obtained crushing victories over the Romans at the battles of Trebia (218) and Lake Trasimene (217). Moving to southern Italy in 216 Hannibal defeated the Romans again at the battle of Cannae , where he annihilated the largest army

8120-412: The Romans could still field multiple armies, which in total greatly outnumbered his own forces. The greatest gain was the second largest city of Italy, Capua, when Hannibal's army marched into Campania in 216 BC. The inhabitants of Capua held limited Roman citizenship and the aristocracy was linked to the Romans via marriage and friendship, but the possibility of becoming the supreme city of Italy after

8265-556: The Romans had ever assembled. After the death or capture of more than 120,000 Roman troops in less than three years, many of Rome's Italian allies , notably Capua , defected to Carthage, giving Hannibal control over much of southern Italy. As Syracuse and Macedonia joined the Carthaginian side after Cannae, the conflict spread. Between 215 and 210 BC the Carthaginians attempted to capture Roman-held Sicily and Sardinia, but were unsuccessful. The Romans took drastic steps to raise new legions: enrolling slaves, criminals and those who did not meet

8410-426: The Romans stormed Syracuse in a surprise night assault and captured several districts of the city. Meanwhile, the Carthaginian army was crippled by plague . After the Carthaginians failed to resupply the city, the rest of Syracuse fell in the autumn of 212   BC; Archimedes was killed by a Roman soldier. Carthage sent more reinforcements to Sicily in 211   BC and went on the offensive. In 211 BC Hannibal sent

8555-459: The Second Punic War is the historian Polybius ( c.  200  – c.  118 BC ), a Greek sent to Rome in 167   BC as a hostage. He is best known for The Histories , written sometime after 146   BC. Polybius's work is considered broadly objective and largely neutral between Carthaginian and Roman points of view. Polybius was an analytical historian and wherever possible interviewed participants, from both sides, in

8700-481: The Second Punic War is missing after 216 BC or only exists in fragmentary form. As a result, the main source for much of the war is the account written by the Roman historian Livy . This is commonly used by modern historians where Polybius's account is not extant. Livy relied heavily on Polybius, but wrote in a more structured way, with more details about Roman politics; he was also openly pro-Roman. His accounts of military encounters are often demonstrably inaccurate;

8845-546: The Sicilian grain supply to Rome and its armies was resumed. For 11 years after Cannae the war surged around southern Italy as cities went over to the Carthaginians or were taken by subterfuge and the Romans recaptured them by siege or by suborning factions within to give them entry. Hannibal repeatedly defeated Roman armies, but wherever his main army was not active the Romans threatened Carthaginian-supporting towns or sought battle with Carthaginian or Carthaginian-allied detachments; frequently with success. By 208   BC many of

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8990-442: The Spanish throne from his older half-brother in 1759, he left Naples and Sicily to his younger son, Ferdinand IV . Despite the two kingdoms being in a personal union under the House of Bourbon from 1735 onwards, they remained constitutionally separated. Being a member of the House of Bourbon , King Ferdinand IV was a natural opponent of the French Revolution and Napoleon . In January 1799, Napoleon Bonaparte , in

9135-446: The Two Sicilies was dissolved and annexed to the new Kingdom of Italy , which was founded in the same year. At the time of Italian unification, the gap between the former northern states of Italy and the southern two Sicilies was significant: northern Italy had about 75,500 kilometers of roads and 2,316 kilometers of railroads, combined with a wide range of canals connected to rivers for freight transportation; iron and steel production

9280-414: The Two Sicilies, though this meant control only of the mainland portion of the kingdom. Throughout this Napoleonic interruption, King Ferdinand remained in Sicily, with Palermo as his capital. After Napoleon's defeat, King Ferdinand IV was restored by the Congress of Vienna of 1815 as Ferdinand I of the Two Sicilies . He established a concordat with the Papal States , which previously had

9425-437: The Veneralia, women and men asked Venus Verticordia for her help in affairs of the heart, sex, betrothal and marriage. Fortuna Virilis was given cult on the same day. This Ancient Rome –related article is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . This article about a religious festival is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . Second Punic War The Second Punic War (218 to 201 BC)

9570-417: The West in 476, and some form of imperial authority survived until the 1070s. Total East Roman rule was ended by the Lombards by Zotto 's conquest in the final quarter of the 6th century. After the Gothic War (535–554) until the arrival of the Normans , much of southern Italy's destiny was linked to the fortunes of the Eastern Empire even though Byzantine domination was challenged in the 9th century by

9715-467: The annexed territory of the former Two Sicilies and the economic and political powerhouse centred in the north, racist theories were postulated , suggesting that such a divide had its roots in the coexistence of two mostly incompatible races. The British historian Denis Mack Smith describes the radical difference between Northern and the newly-annexed southern Italy in 1860 as both halves being on quite different levels of civilization. He pointed out that

9860-439: The area has had it record numbers of emigration. The most prevalent issue in southern Italy is its inability to attract businesses and therefore create jobs. Between 2007 and 2014, 943,000 Italians were unemployed, 70% being Italians from the south. Employment in the south is ranked the lowest when compared to countries in the European Union. Italians from the south are also ranked the lowest in terms of financial contributions into

10005-480: The armies in the battle of Cannae . The Roman legions forced their way through Hannibal's deliberately weak centre, but Libyan heavy infantry on the wings swung around their advance, menacing their flanks. Hasdrubal Gisco led the Carthaginian cavalry on the left wing and routed the Roman cavalry opposite, then swept around the rear of the Romans to attack their cavalry on the other wing. The heavily outnumbered Carthaginian infantry held out until Hasdrubal charged into

10150-403: The article "This is Not Italy! Ruling and Representing the South", it is clear how the northern elites considered the south. The Piedmontese north felt the need to invade the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies and establish a new form of governance based on the northern system, since they viewed the south as underdeveloped and lacking in social capital. Those views of the south can largely be attributed to

10295-410: The author underscored the Sicilians' problems of having to change their old lifestyle and remaining on their island. The novel was adapted by Luchino Visconti for his homonymous 1963 film The Leopard . The southern economy greatly suffered after the Italian unification, and the process of industrialisation was interrupted. This situation of persistent backwardness in the socioeconomic development of

10440-581: The basis of Sicilian law until 1819. His royal court in Palermo from around 1220 to his death saw the first use of a literary form of an Italo-Romance language, Sicilian , which had a significant influence on what was to become the modern Italian language . He also built the Castel del Monte and in 1224 founded the University of Naples , now called, after him, Università Federico II . In 1266, conflict between

10585-434: The besieging Roman forces, this time they declined to leave their fortifications. In desperation Hannibal again assaulted them and again failed to break through. He next marched his army towards Rome, hoping to compel the Romans to abandon the siege to defend it; however, the besieging force stayed in place and Capua fell soon afterwards. The city was stripped of its political autonomy and placed under Roman appointees. In 210

10730-630: The bottom of the Italian First level NUTS of the European Union and the Italian constituencies for the European Parliament . Nonetheless, Sardinia and especially Sicily are included as "southern Italy" in most definitions of the southern Italy macroregion. In a similar fashion to France 's Midi ("midday" or "noon" in French ), the Italian term " Mezzogiorno " refers to the intensity and

10875-520: The brink of collapse. Within a few weeks of Cannae a Roman army of 25,000 was ambushed by Boii Gauls in Cisalpine Gaul at the battle of Silva Litana and annihilated. Fabius became consul in 215 BC and was re-elected in 214 BC. Little has survived of Polybius's account of Hannibal's army in Italy after Cannae. Livy gives a fuller record, but according to Goldsworthy "his reliability is often suspect", especially with regard to his descriptions of battles; many modern historians agree, but nevertheless his

11020-421: The centre of the Carthaginian line and then defeated each wing separately, inflicting severe losses. It was no longer possible for Hasdrubal to reinforce Hannibal in Italy. The Carthaginians suffered a wave of defections of local Celtiberian tribes to Rome. The Roman commanders captured Saguntum in 212   BC and in 211   BC hired 20,000 Celtiberian mercenaries to reinforce their army. Observing that

11165-516: The cities and territories which had joined the Carthaginian cause had returned to their Roman allegiance. Fabius captured the Carthaginian-allied town Arpi in 213 BC. In 212 BC Hannibal destroyed the Roman army of Centenius Penula at the battle of the Silarus in northwest Lucania. Later the same year, Hannibal defeated another Roman army at the battle of Herdonia , with 16,000 men lost from

11310-894: The classicist Adrian Goldsworthy says Livy's "reliability is often suspect", and the historian Phillip Sabin refers to Livy's "military ignorance". Other, later, ancient histories of the war exist, although often in fragmentary or summary form. Modern historians usually take into account the writings of Diodorus Siculus and Cassius Dio , two Greek authors writing during the Roman era ; they are described by John Lazenby as "clearly far inferior" to Livy, but some fragments of Polybius can be recovered from their texts. The Greek moralist Plutarch wrote several biographies of Roman commanders in his Parallel Lives . Other sources include coins, inscriptions, archaeological evidence and empirical evidence from reconstructions. Most male Roman citizens were liable for military service and would serve as infantry ,

11455-464: The colonies. Naples enjoyed a demographic and economic rebirth, mainly due to the interest of King Victor Emmanuel III , who was born there. In the 1950s, the Cassa per il Mezzogiorno was set up as a huge public master plan to help industrialise the south by land reforms creating 120,000 new small farms and by the "Growth Pole Strategy" whereby 60% of all government investment would go to the south to boost

11600-633: The consul Claudius Nero . They reinforced the Romans under the second consul, Marcus Salinator , who were already facing Hasdrubal. This combined Roman force attacked at the battle of the Metaurus and destroyed the Carthaginian army, killing Hasdrubal. This battle confirmed Roman dominance in Italy and marked the end of their Fabian strategy. Without the expected reinforcement Hannibal's forces were compelled to evacuate allied towns and withdraw to Bruttium . In 205   BC Mago Barca, another of Hannibal's younger brothers, landed in Genua in north-west Italy with

11745-456: The eastern coast of the Black Sea , Eastern Libya and Massalia ( Marseille ). They included settlements in Sicily and the southern part of the Italian peninsula. The first Greek settlers found Italy inhabited by three major populations: Ausones , Oenotrians and Iapyges (the last of which were subdivided into three tribes: Daunians , Peucetians and Messapians ). The relationships between

11890-442: The events he wrote about. Modern historians consider Polybius to have treated the relatives of Scipio Aemilianus , his patron and friend, unduly favourably but the consensus is to accept his account largely at face value. The modern historian Andrew Curry sees Polybius as being "fairly reliable"; Craige Champion describes him as "a remarkably well-informed, industrious, and insightful historian". Much of Polybius's account of

12035-457: The evident Roman disasters proved too strong a temptation. The treaty between them and Hannibal can be described as an agreement of friendship, since the Capuans had no obligations. When the port city of Locri defected to Carthage in the summer of 215   BC it was immediately used to reinforce the Carthaginian forces in Italy with soldiers, supplies and war elephants. It was the only time during

12180-615: The fall of the last indigenous state , was an integral part of the Council of Aragon instead and remained as such until the first years of the XVIII° century, when Sardinia was ceded to Austria and eventually handed over to the Alpine -based House of Savoy in 1720. After the War of the Spanish Succession in the early 18th century, possession of the kingdom again changed hands. Under the terms of

12325-439: The fighting, and Iberian and Gallic forces fought on both sides. There were three main military theatres during the war: Italy, where Hannibal defeated the Roman legions repeatedly, with occasional subsidiary campaigns in Sicily, Sardinia and Greece; Iberia, where Hasdrubal , a younger brother of Hannibal, defended the Carthaginian colonial cities with mixed success before moving into Italy; and Africa, where Rome finally won

12470-406: The full complement of the legions deployed would have been in excess of 100,000 men, plus, as always, a similar number of allied troops. The majority were deployed in southern Italy in field armies of approximately 20,000 men each. This was insufficient to challenge Hannibal's army in open battle, but sufficient to force him to concentrate his forces and to hamper his movements. During 215   BC

12615-673: The heel and the boot itself. It is an arm of the Ionian Sea . The island of Sardinia , situated to the west of the Italian peninsula and right below the French island of Corsica , may also often be included. On the eastern coast is the Adriatic Sea , leading into the rest of the Mediterranean through the Strait of Otranto (named after the largest city on the tip of the heel). On the Adriatic, south of

12760-524: The highest in the south, and illiteracy in the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies reached 87%. In 1860, the southern merchant navy amounted to 260,000 tons, and the northern merchant navy came to 347,000 tons, apart from the Venetian Navy, which was annexed in 1866 and assessed at 46,000 tons. In 1860 the whole Italian merchant navy was the fourth largest in Europe at about 607,000 tons. The southern merchant navy

12905-436: The historical Kingdom of the Two Sicilies , including Abruzzo , Apulia , Basilicata , Calabria , Campania , Molise , and Sicily . The island of Sardinia, although being culturally , linguistically and historically less related to the aforementioned regions than any of them is to one another is frequently included as part of the Mezzogiorno , often for statistical and economical purposes. Southern Italy forms

13050-399: The invader down, until Rome could rebuild its military strength. Hannibal was left largely free to ravage Apulia for the next year. Fabius was unpopular at this period with parts of the Roman army, public and the senate, for avoiding battle while Italy was being devastated by the enemy: there was awareness that his tactics would not lead to a quick end to the war. Hannibal marched through

13195-565: The kingdom by the Treaty of Cateau-Cambrésis in 1559. With the Treaty of London (1557), the new client state of the so-called Presidi ("state of the garrisons") was established and governed directly by Spain as part of the Kingdom of Naples. The administration of the Kingdom of Naples and Sicily, as well as of the Duchy of Milan , was run by the Council of Italy . The island of Sardinia, which had fully come to be under Iberian sovereignty in 1409 upon

13340-491: The legions from behind. As a result, the Roman infantry was surrounded with no means of escape. At least 67,500 Romans were killed or captured. Miles describes Cannae as "Rome's greatest military disaster". Toni Ñaco del Hoyo describes the Trebia, Lake Trasimene and Cannae as the three "great military calamities" suffered by the Romans in the first three years of the war. Brian Carey writes that these three defeats brought Rome to

13485-412: The letters of correspondents in southern Italy who sent biased letters to leaders of the north, specifically Camillo Benso , urging the invasion and reformation of the south. Although those views of the south were condescending, they also came with a genuine belief that to create a unified Italy, help from the north was necessary. Viewing southern Italy as barbaric served as a sort of justification to allow

13630-413: The lower part of the Italian "boot", containing the ankle ( Campania ), the toe ( Calabria ), the arch ( Basilicata ), and the heel ( Apulia ), Molise (north of Apulia) and Abruzzo (north of Molise) along with Sicily, removed from Calabria by the narrow Strait of Messina . Separating the "heel" and toe of the "boot" is the Gulf of Taranto , named after the city of Taranto , which is at an angle between

13775-674: The majority of Rome's allies in central Italy remained loyal. All except the smallest towns were too well fortified for Hannibal to take by assault, and blockade could be a long-drawn-out affair, or if the target was a port, impossible. Carthage's new allies felt little sense of community with Carthage, or even with each other. They increased the number of places which Hannibal's army was expected to defend from Roman retribution, but provided relatively few fresh troops to assist him in doing so. Such Italian forces as were raised resisted operating away from their home cities and performed poorly when they did. An important part of Hannibal's campaign in Italy

13920-400: The most common operations. When armies were campaigning, surprise attacks, ambushes and stratagems were common. More formal battles were usually preceded by the two armies camping 2–12 kilometres (1–7 mi) apart for days or weeks; sometimes forming up in battle order each day. If either commander felt at a disadvantage, they might march off without engaging. In such circumstances it

14065-455: The most prominent advocate of the wider definitions. With this colonisation, Greek culture was exported to Italy in its dialects of the Ancient Greek language , its religious rites and its traditions of the independent polis . An original Hellenic civilization soon developed, later interacting with the native Italic and Roman civilisations . The most important cultural transplant was

14210-520: The mouth of the Rhone, but Hannibal evaded the Romans and continued to Italy. The Carthaginians reached the foot of the Alps by late autumn and crossed them in 15 days, surmounting the difficulties of climate, terrain and the guerrilla warfare tactics of the native Ligurians. Hannibal arrived in Cisalpine Gaul with 20,000 infantry, 6,000 cavalry and an unknown number of elephants – the survivors of

14355-654: The name of the French Republic , captured Naples and proclaimed the Parthenopaean Republic , a French client state, as successor to the kingdom. King Ferdinand fled from Naples to Sicily until June of that year. In 1806, Bonaparte, by then French Emperor, again dethroned King Ferdinand and appointed his brother, Joseph Bonaparte , as King of Naples. In the Edict of Bayonne of 1808, Napoleon removed Joseph to Spain and appointed his brother-in-law, Joachim Murat , as King of

14500-626: The next largest cities in the area. The region is geologically very active, except for Salento in Apulia , and highly seismic: the 1980 Irpinia earthquake killed 2,914 people, injured more than 10,000 and left 300,000 homeless. In the 8th and the 7th centuries BCE, for various reasons, including demographic crisis (famine, overcrowding etc.), the search for new commercial outlets and ports, and expulsion from their homeland, Greeks began to settle in southern Italy. Also during this period, Greek colonies were established in places as widely separated as

14645-519: The northern boundary of the Carthaginian sphere of influence . At some time during the next six years Rome made a separate agreement with the city of Saguntum , which was situated well south of the Ebro. In 219   BC a Carthaginian army under Hannibal besieged Saguntum , and after eight months captured and sacked it. Rome complained to the Carthaginian government, sending an embassy headed by Quintus Fabius Maximus to its senate with peremptory demands. When these were rejected Rome declared war in

14790-410: The offensive in Iberia and were badly defeated but maintained their hold on the north-east. In 209 BC the new Roman commander Publius Scipio captured Carthago Nova , the main Carthaginian base in the peninsula. In 208 Scipio defeated Hasdrubal , although Hasdrubal was able to withdraw most of his troops into Gaul and then Cisalpine Gaul in spring 207 BC. This new Carthaginian invasion was defeated at

14935-425: The old tyrant of Syracuse of forty-five-years standing and a staunch Roman ally, died in 215   BC and his successor Hieronymus was discontented with his situation. Hannibal negotiated a treaty whereby Syracuse came over to Carthage, at the price of making the whole of Sicily a Syracusan possession. The Syracusan army proved no match for a Roman army led by Claudius Marcellus and by spring 213   BC Syracuse

15080-501: The other Roman army was also defeated at the battle of Umbrian Lake and annihilated. The prisoners were badly treated if they were Romans; captured Latin allies were well treated by the Carthaginians and many were freed and sent back to their cities, in the expectation they would speak well of Carthaginian martial prowess and of their treatment. Hannibal hoped some of these allies could be persuaded to defect . The Carthaginians continued their march through Etruria , then Umbria , to

15225-509: The other side of the Strait " and "across the Strait") and which later shared a common organization into Italy's largest pre-unitarian state , the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies . The island of Sardinia , which was not part of the aforementioned polity and had been under the rule of the Alpine House of Savoy , which would eventually annex the Bourbons' southern Italian kingdom altogether,

15370-455: The paternalist Bourbon administrations produced nothing of value. The bourgeois class did not exist, agriculture was primitive and insufficient to satisfy the local market, there were no roads, no ports and the few waterways that the region had were not exploited because of the region's special geographical features. The living conditions of the people of the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies are also illustrated by Raffaele De Cesare, who reported that

15515-506: The position of sunshine at midday in the south of the Italian peninsula . The term came into vogue after the annexation of the Bourbon Kingdom of the Two Sicilies by the mainland-based Savoyard Kingdom of Sardinia , and the subsequent Italian unification of 1861. Southern Italy is generally thought to comprise the administrative regions that correspond to the geopolitical extent of

15660-454: The preeminent powers in the western Mediterranean. Relationships were good, the two states had several times declared their mutual friendship and there were strong commercial links. According to the classicist Richard Miles Rome's expansionary attitude after southern Italy came under its control combined with Carthage's proprietary approach to Sicily caused the two powers to stumble into war more by accident than design. The immediate cause of

15805-468: The regions of southern Italy compared to the other regions of the country, especially the northern ones, is known as the Southern question . Poverty and organised crime were long-standing issues in southern Italy as well and it got worse after unification. Cavour stated the basic problem was poor government, and believed the solution lay in the strict application of the Piedmontese legal system. The main result

15950-408: The remnants of his Spanish army. It soon received Gallic and Ligurian reinforcements. Mago's arrival in the north of the Italian peninsula was followed by Hannibal's inconclusive battle of Crotona in 204   BC in the far south of the peninsula. Mago marched his reinforced army towards the lands of Carthage's main Gallic allies in Cisalpine Gaul, but was checked by a large Roman army and defeated at

16095-487: The richest and most fertile provinces of Italy, hoping the devastation would draw Fabius into battle, but Fabius refused. The Roman populace derided Fabius as "the Delayer" (in Latin , Cunctator ) and in 216 BC elected new consuls: Gaius Terentius Varro , who advocated pursuing a more aggressive war strategy, and Lucius Aemilius Paullus , who advocated a strategy somewhere between Fabius's and that suggested by Varro. In

16240-448: The rise of Benito Mussolini , the "Iron Prefect", Cesare Mori , tried to defeat the powerful criminal organizations flowering in the south with some degree of success. However, when connections between mafia and the fascists emerged, Mori was removed, and fascist propaganda declared the mafia defeated. Economically, Fascist policy aimed at the creation of an Italian Empire and southern Italian ports were strategic for all commerce towards

16385-525: The siege, but was then ambushed and itself besieged. An army had previously been raised by the Romans to campaign in Iberia, but the Roman Senate detached one Roman and one allied legion from it to send to north Italy. Recruiting fresh troops to replace these delayed the army's departure for Iberia until September. At the same time a Roman army in Sicily under the consul Sempronius Longus was preparing for an invasion of Africa. Meanwhile, Hannibal assembled

16530-509: The silver mines, agricultural wealth, manpower , military facilities such as shipyards , and territorial depth to stand up to future Roman demands with confidence. Hamilcar ruled as a viceroy and was succeeded by his son-in-law, Hasdrubal , in 229   BC and then his son, Hannibal, in 221   BC. In 226   BC the Ebro Treaty was agreed with Rome, specifying the Ebro River as

16675-421: The situation nearly impossible for many tenant farmers, small businesses and land owners. Multitudes chose to emigrate rather than try to eke out a meagre living, especially from 1892 to 1921. In addition, the surge of brigandage and mafia provoked widespread violence, corruption and illegality. Prime Minister Giovanni Giolitti once conceded that places existed "where the law does not operate at all". After

16820-448: The southern economy by attracting new capital, stimulating local firms, and providing employment. However, the objectives were largely missed, and the south became increasingly subsidised, dependent on the state and incapable of generating private growth itself. Presently, huge regional disparities still persist. Problems still include pervasive organised crime and very high unemployment rates. Southern Italy's lack of progress in bettering

16965-411: The spring of 207   BC Hasdrubal Barca repeated the feat of his elder brother by marching an army across the Alps. He invaded Cisalpine Gaul with an army of 35,000 men, intending to join forces with Hannibal, but Hannibal was unaware of his presence. The Romans facing Hannibal in southern Italy tricked him into believing the whole Roman army was still in camp, while a large portion marched north under

17110-450: The spring of 216 BC Hannibal seized the large supply depot at Cannae on the Apulian plain. The Roman Senate authorised the raising of double-sized armies by Varro and Paullus, a force of 86,000 men, the largest in Roman history up to that point. Paullus and Varro marched southward to confront Hannibal and encamped 10 km (6 mi) away. Hannibal accepted battle on the open plain between

17255-552: The spring of 218   BC. Since the end of the First Punic War Rome had also been expanding, especially in the area of north Italy either side of the River Po known as Cisalpine Gaul . Roman attempts to establish towns and farms in the region from 232 BC led to repeated wars with the local Gallic tribes, who were finally defeated in 222. In 218 the Romans pushed even further north, establishing two new towns, or "colonies", on

17400-544: The suppression of the rebellion, Hamilcar understood that Carthage needed to strengthen its economic and military base if it were to confront Rome again; Carthaginian possessions in Iberia (modern Spain and Portugal) were limited to a handful of prosperous coastal cities in the south and Hamilcar took the army which he had led in the Truceless War to Iberia in 237   BC and carved out a quasi-monarchical, autonomous state in southern and eastern Iberia. This gave Carthage

17545-399: The usual property qualification; this vastly increased the number of men they had under arms. For the next decade the war in southern Italy continued, with Roman armies slowly recapturing most of the Italian cities that had joined Carthage. The Romans established a lodgement in north-east Iberia in 218 BC; the Carthaginians repeatedly attempted and failed to reduce it. In 211 the Romans took

17690-557: The voyage and some of his ships were intercepted by the Romans, but 12,000 of his troops reached Carthage. The Roman fleet continued on from Massala in the autumn of 218   BC, landing the army it was transporting in north-east Iberia, where it won support among the local tribes. The Romans' lodgement between the Ebro and the Pyrenees blocked the route from Iberia to Italy, making the despatch of reinforcements from Iberia to Hannibal difficult. A Carthaginian attack in late 218   BC

17835-483: The war Carthage reinforced Hannibal. A second force, under Hannibal's youngest brother Mago , was meant to land in Italy in 215   BC but was diverted to Iberia after a major Carthaginian defeat there. Meanwhile, the Romans took drastic steps to raise new legions: enrolling slaves, criminals and those who did not meet the usual property qualification. By early 215   BC they were fielding at least 12 legions; by 214   BC 18; and by 213   BC 22. By 212 BC

17980-490: The war. The First Punic War had ended in a Roman victory in 241   BC after 23 years and enormous losses on both sides. After the war Carthage expanded its holdings in Iberia where in 219   BC a Carthaginian army under Hannibal besieged, captured and sacked the pro-Roman city of Saguntum . In early 218   BC Rome declared war on Carthage, beginning the Second Punic War. Later that year, Hannibal surprised

18125-525: The war. The Carthaginian fleet rarely put to sea, and when it did it was usually to escort transport ships; it rarely acted aggressively. This gave the Romans naval superiority for the duration of the war. The Roman Republic had been aggressively expanding in the southern Italian mainland for a century and had conquered peninsular Italy south of the Arno River by 270   BC, after the Pyrrhic War when

18270-410: The wealthier equites providing a cavalry component. Traditionally, when at war the Romans would raise four legions , each of 4,200 infantry and 300 cavalry. Approximately 1,200 of the infantry, poorer or younger men unable to afford the armour and equipment of a standard legionary , served as javelin -armed skirmishers , known as velites . They carried several javelins, which would be thrown from

18415-421: Was 17,000 tons per year. By contrast, in the former Bourbon southern state, there were 14,700 kilometers of roads, 184 kilometers of railroads (only around Naples), no canals connected to rivers and iron and steel production was 1,500 tons per year. In 1860, illiteracy rates on the Italian peninsula averaged 75%, with the lowest level of 54% in the northwestern Kingdom of Sardinia (also known as " Piedmont ") and

18560-678: Was a direct threat to the city. When they did, they fought as well-armoured heavy infantry armed with long thrusting spears, although they were notoriously ill-trained and ill-disciplined. In most circumstances Carthage recruited foreigners to make up its army. Many were from North Africa and these were frequently referred to as "Libyans". The region provided several types of fighters, including: close-order infantry equipped with large shields, helmets, short swords and long thrusting spears ; javelin-armed light infantry skirmishers; close-order shock cavalry also known as "heavy cavalry" carrying spears; and light cavalry skirmishers who threw javelins from

18705-438: Was an upsurge in brigandage . Therefore, the south experienced great economic difficulties resulting in massive emigration leading to a worldwide Italian diaspora , especially to North America , South America , Australia and other parts of Europe. Many natives also relocated to the industrial cities in northern Italy, such as Genoa , Milan and Turin . A relative process of industrialisation has developed in some areas of

18850-400: Was besieged . Both Polybius' and Livy's accounts of the siege focus on Archimedes ' invention of war machines to counteract Roman siege warfare, which was already made difficult by the strong defences of the city. A large Carthaginian army led by Himilco was sent to relieve the city in 213   BC and several further Sicilian cities deserted the Romans. In the spring of 212   BC

18995-625: Was characterised by its competent governance, multi-ethnic nature and religious tolerance . Normans, Jews, Muslim Arabs, Byzantine Greeks, Lombards and "native" Sicilians lived in relative harmony. However, the Norman domination lasted only several decades before it formally ended in 1198 with the reign of Constance of Sicily , and was replaced by that of the Swabian Hohenstaufen dynasty, thanks to Constance's marriage to Henry VI , member of this family. In Sicily, King Frederick II endorsed

19140-466: Was depicted by the Sicilian writer Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa in his famous novel Il Gattopardo ( The Leopard ), set in Sicily at the time of Italian unification. In a famous final scene, Prince Salina, when invited to join the senate of unified Italy, tells a high-ranking Piedmontese officer that "the Sicilian will never want to change, because the Sicilian feels perfect...". With theoe and other words,

19285-508: Was difficult to force a battle if the other commander was unwilling to fight. Forming up in battle order was a complicated and premeditated affair, which took several hours. Infantry were usually positioned in the centre of the battle line, with light infantry skirmishers to their front and cavalry on each flank. Many battles were decided when one side's infantry force was attacked in the flank or rear and they were partially or wholly enveloped . Both states possessed large fleets throughout

19430-530: Was endemic in southern Italy, since the Bourbons themselves relied on it as their military agent. Unlike in southern Italy, there was little brigandage in the other annexed states of Northern and Central Italy, like the Kingdom of Lombardy–Venetia , the Duchy of Parma , the Duchy of Modena , the Grand Duchy of Tuscany and the Papal States . According to the southern Italian historian Giustino Fortunato , and

19575-518: Was given her own temple. She was meant to persuade Romans of both sexes and every class, whether married or unmarried, to cherish the traditional sexual proprieties and morality known to please the gods and benefit the State. During the Veneralia, her cult image was taken from her temple to the men's baths, where it was undressed and washed in warm water by her female attendants, then garlanded with myrtle . At

19720-460: Was lured into combat by Hannibal on ground of his choosing at the battle of the Trebia . The Carthaginians encircled the Romans and only 10,000 out of 40,000 were able to fight their way to safety. Having secured his position in Cisalpine Gaul by this victory, Hannibal quartered his troops for the winter among the Gauls. The latter joined his army in large numbers, bringing it up to 50,000 men. There

19865-522: Was made up of sailing vessels mainly for fishing and coastal shipping in the Mediterranean Sea and had very few steamships, even if one of the first steamers was built and fitted out in Naples in 1818. Both the merchant and the military navies were insufficient compared to the great coastal extent of southern Italy, defined by the Italian historian Raffaele De Cesare: "… a great pier towards the south". In

20010-869: Was not able to prevent Hasdrubal from leading his depleted army over the western passes of the Pyrenees into Gaul. In 207   BC, after recruiting heavily in Gaul, Hasdrubal crossed the Alps into Italy in an attempt to join his brother, Hannibal, but was defeated before he could. Southern Italy Southern Italy ( Italian : Sud Italia , Italian: [ˈsud iˈtaːlja] , or Italia meridionale , Italian: [iˈtaːlja meridjoˈnaːle] ; Neapolitan : 'o Sudde ; Sicilian : Italia dû Suddi ), also known as Meridione ( Italian: [meriˈdjoːne] ) or Mezzogiorno ( Italian: [ˌmɛddzoˈdʒorno] ; Neapolitan: Miezojuorno ; Sicilian: Menzujornu ; lit.   ' Midday ' ),

20155-416: Was repelled at the battle of Cissa . In 217   BC 40 Carthaginian and Iberian warships were beaten by 35 Roman and Massalian vessels at the battle of Ebro River , with the loss of 29 Carthaginian ships. In 216 Hasdrubal received orders from Carthage to move into Italy and join up with Hannibal to put pressure on the Romans in their homeland. Hasdrubal demurred, arguing that Carthaginian authority over

20300-400: Was shock when news of the defeat reached Rome, but this calmed once Sempronius arrived, to preside over the consular elections in the usual manner. The consuls-elect recruited further legions, both Roman and from Rome's Latin allies; reinforced Sardinia and Sicily against the possibility of Carthaginian raids or invasion; placed garrisons at Tarentum and other places for similar reasons; built

20445-438: Was soon forced to withdraw because of the support of Ferdinand II of Aragon to his cousin, Alfonso II's son Ferrantino . Ferrantino was restored to the throne but died in 1496 and was succeeded by his uncle, Frederick IV . The French, however, did not give up their claim and, in 1501, agreed to a partition of the kingdom with Ferdinand of Aragon, who abandoned his cousin, King Frederick. The deal soon fell through, however, and

20590-442: Was the long-standing Roman procedure to elect two men each year as senior magistrates , known as consuls , who in time of war would each lead an army. An army was usually formed by combining two Roman legions with a similarly sized and equipped pair of legions provided by their Latin allies . These legions usually had a larger attached complement of cavalry than Roman ones. Carthaginian citizens only served in their army if there

20735-606: Was the second of three wars fought between Carthage and Rome , the two main powers of the western Mediterranean in the 3rd century BC. For 17 years the two states struggled for supremacy, primarily in Italy and Iberia , but also on the islands of Sicily and Sardinia and, towards the end of the war, in North Africa. After immense materiel and human losses on both sides, the Carthaginians were once again defeated. Macedonia , Syracuse and several Numidian kingdoms were drawn into

20880-464: Was to attempt to fight the Romans by using local resources; raising recruits from among the local population. His subordinate Hanno was able to raise troops in Samnium in 214 BC, but the Romans intercepted these new levies in the battle of Beneventum and eliminated them before they rendezvoused with Hannibal. Hannibal could win allies, but defending them against the Romans was a new and difficult problem, as

21025-681: Was to be paid over 50 years. Carthage was prohibited from waging war outside Africa, and in Africa only with Rome's express permission. Henceforth it was clear Carthage was politically subordinate to Rome. Rome used Carthaginian military activity against the Numidians as a pretext to declare war again in 149   BC starting the Third Punic War . In 146   BC the Romans stormed the city of Carthage , sacked it, slaughtered most of its population and completely demolished it . The most reliable source for

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