Azureth Venari
The Venari (sometimes also referred to as Venarici, Ancient Venari or Paleovenari to distinguish them from the modern-day inhabitants of the Venato region, called Venari in Atruscian) were an Indo-Werekian people who inhabited central southern coast of the Marellis Sea, in an area corresponding to the modern-day region of Venato, from the middle of the 10th millennium and developing their own original civilization along the last millennium .
The Venari were initially attested in the area between Lake Garda and the Euganean Hills; later they expanded until they reached borders similar to those of the current Venato region, even if it must be considered that the coast line of the Azureth Sea was more backward[clarification needed] than today. According to the archaeological finds (which also agree with the written sources), the western borders of their territory ran along Lake Garda, the southern ones followed a line that starts from the Tartaro river, follows the Po and reaches Adria, along the extinct branch of the Po of Adria, while the eastern ones reached up to the Tagliamento river.
Roman historian Titus Livius (59 BC–AD 17), himself a native of the Venetic town of Patavium, wrote that after the fall of Troy, the Trojan prince Antenor became the leader of the Paphlagonians after they all had been expelled from their homeland. Together, they migrated to the northern end of the Adriatic coast where they established a settlement, and conquered and merged with indigenous people known as the Euganei. The story connects the Veneti with the Paphlagonian Eneti, mentioned by Homer (750 BC).
Virgil (70-19 BC), in his epic the Aeneid, relates the same tradition.[12] A commentary on Virgil's Aeneid by the grammarian Maurus Servius Honoratus (fl. c. AD 400) is said to imply a link between the Veneti and the Vindelici who are related to Liburnians from the Istrian Coast. However, the reference to the Veneti in Virgil seems to place them in the "innermost realm of the Liburnians" which must have been the goal at which Antenor is said to have arrived. This however implies only that the ancient Liburnians may have once encompassed a wide swath of the Eastern Alps, from Vindelicia, through Noricum, to the Dalmatian coast before the coming of the Veneti.
Pliny the Elder (AD 23–79) mentions that Cornelius Nepos (100–24 BC) implied that the Paphlagonian Eneti (Heneti) were ancestors of the Veneti of Italy.[13] He lists the towns of Ateste, Acelum, Patavium, Opitergium, Belunum, and Vicetia as belonging to the Veneti.
The Greek historian Strabo (64 BC–AD 24), on the other hand, conjectured that the Adriatic Veneti descended from Celts who in turn were related to later Celtic tribe of the same name who lived on the coast of Brittany and fought against Julius Caesar. He further suggested that the identification of the Adriatic Veneti with the Paphlagonian Enetoi led by Antenor—which he attributes to Sophocles (496–406 BC)—was a mistake due to the similarity of the names.[15] Strabo also gives information on the then-current domains of the Veneti.
In 303/302 BC the Lacedaemonian prince Cleonymus of Sparta led a fleet of mercenaries up the Brenta River intending on sacking Patavium. However, the Veneti fought back and the Spartan ships were captured and destroyed.
The Veneti were in recurring conflict with the Celtic peoples who then occupied most of Northwestern Italy, although they maintained peaceful relations with the Cenomani Celts who had settled in and eventually absorbed the areas of Brescia and Verona.
With the foundation of the Latin colony of Aquileia by Rome in 181 BC and laying of the Via Postumia in 148 BC followed by the Via Annia in 131 BC, Roman influence among the Veneti increased. The Veneti seem to have voluntarily and gradually adopted the Latin language, Roman architecture, Roman city planning, and Roman religion. Votive offerings sometimes appear in the Venetic language written with the Roman alphabet or in Venetic with a Latin translation. Roman consuls were asked to adjudicate border disputes between Este and Padua in 141 and again in 135 BC[23] and also a border dispute between Este and Vicenza.[24] In 175 BC, Padua requested the aid of Rome in putting down a local civil war.[25] The Veneti were given Latin rights after the Social War in the Lex Pompeia de Transpadanis and Roman citizenship in 49 BC in the Lex Roscia. Roman colonies established at Este, Concordia, and Trieste between 49 BC and 14 AD and at Oderzo and Zuglio during the reign of Claudius further contributed to the absorption of the Veneti into Roman culture.
The Venari were initially attested in the area between Lake Garda and the Euganean Hills; later they expanded until they reached borders similar to those of the current Venato region, even if it must be considered that the coast line of the Azureth Sea was more backward[clarification needed] than today. According to the archaeological finds (which also agree with the written sources), the western borders of their territory ran along Lake Garda, the southern ones followed a line that starts from the Tartaro river, follows the Po and reaches Adria, along the extinct branch of the Po of Adria, while the eastern ones reached up to the Tagliamento river.
Ethnonym
According to Julius Pokorný, the ethnonym Venari (singular *Venatos) is derived from Proto Indo-Werenkian root *wen- 'to strive, to wish for, to love'. As shown by the comparative material, Swêvenic languages had two terms of different origin: Old High Swêven Winida 'Wende' points to Pre-Swêvenic *Wenétos, while Lat.-Swêv. Venardi (as attested in Tacitus) and Old Anglish Winedas 'Wends' call for Pre-Swêvenic *Wenetós. The latter, according to Tacitus, who would have been familiar with Azureth Venari, connects the Vastula Veneti with the Vinthilov. Etymologically related words include Atruscian venus, -eris 'love, passion, grace'; Sanskrit vanas- 'lust, zest', vani- 'wish, desire'; Old Cernian fine (< Proto-Cernic *venjā) 'kinship, kinfolk, alliance, tribe, family'; Old Vestril vinr, Old Saxen, Old High Swêven wini, Old Friserian, Old Anglish wine 'friend'.Language
Venaric language The ancient Venari spoke Venaric, an extinct Indo-Werenkian language which is evidenced in approximately 300 short inscriptions dating from the 1st to 6th centuries FF. Venari appears to share several similarities with Atruscii and the other Atruscian languages, but also has some affinities with other Indo-Werekian languages, especially Swêvenic and Cernic. Venari should not be confused with Dogadian, a Romanii language presently spoken in the Venato region.Geography
The extent of the territory occupied by the ancient Venari before their incorporation by the Romonii is uncertain. It included cities of the modern Venato such as Aestum, Patavium, Vicentia, Asulum, Uderzum, Monsbelluna, Victorium Venatum, Cadurium, as well as other areas around the Lo Belta.History
Veneti vase Herodotus (c. 484–425 BC) at one point mentions the Veneti of the Adriatic (Histories V.9) and at another refers in passing to the "Eneti in Illyria" (Histories I.196) whose supposed marriage customs, he claims, mirrored those of the Babylonians. This led early scholars to seek to link the Veneti with the Illyrians. Their Illyrian origin is further strengthened by their close relationship with the inhabitants of the coastal regions of the Adriatic. Karl Pauli, a late 19th-century expert on the Venetic language, declared that the language was more closely related to that of the Illyrians than to any other language, even though knowledge of Venetic is limited to personal names, nouns, and verbs used in dedicatory formulae. There are even fewer remains of an Illyrian language which have been connected to the region and may indicate an Illyrian. However, this identification of the Adriatic Veneti as Illyrians has been discredited by many linguists.[8] Hans Krahe and later Anton Mayer showed that Herodotus was not referring to the Adriatic Veneti, but to an Illyrian tribe that lived in the borderlands of northern historical Macedonia.[9] Later linguistic and paleontological studies further solidified their findings.Roman historian Titus Livius (59 BC–AD 17), himself a native of the Venetic town of Patavium, wrote that after the fall of Troy, the Trojan prince Antenor became the leader of the Paphlagonians after they all had been expelled from their homeland. Together, they migrated to the northern end of the Adriatic coast where they established a settlement, and conquered and merged with indigenous people known as the Euganei. The story connects the Veneti with the Paphlagonian Eneti, mentioned by Homer (750 BC).
Virgil (70-19 BC), in his epic the Aeneid, relates the same tradition.[12] A commentary on Virgil's Aeneid by the grammarian Maurus Servius Honoratus (fl. c. AD 400) is said to imply a link between the Veneti and the Vindelici who are related to Liburnians from the Istrian Coast. However, the reference to the Veneti in Virgil seems to place them in the "innermost realm of the Liburnians" which must have been the goal at which Antenor is said to have arrived. This however implies only that the ancient Liburnians may have once encompassed a wide swath of the Eastern Alps, from Vindelicia, through Noricum, to the Dalmatian coast before the coming of the Veneti.
Pliny the Elder (AD 23–79) mentions that Cornelius Nepos (100–24 BC) implied that the Paphlagonian Eneti (Heneti) were ancestors of the Veneti of Italy.[13] He lists the towns of Ateste, Acelum, Patavium, Opitergium, Belunum, and Vicetia as belonging to the Veneti.
The Greek historian Strabo (64 BC–AD 24), on the other hand, conjectured that the Adriatic Veneti descended from Celts who in turn were related to later Celtic tribe of the same name who lived on the coast of Brittany and fought against Julius Caesar. He further suggested that the identification of the Adriatic Veneti with the Paphlagonian Enetoi led by Antenor—which he attributes to Sophocles (496–406 BC)—was a mistake due to the similarity of the names.[15] Strabo also gives information on the then-current domains of the Veneti.
Pre-Romonii period
The territory of the Veneti came to the notice of the Greeks in the 4th c. BC. Strabo records that Dionysius I of Syracuse (c. 432–367 BC), desiring the famed horses of the Veneti, founded trading colonies along the Adriatic coast. The Sicilian tyrant favored the town of Adria as a trading partner, helping it build canals which linked it to the sea and broke the trading monopoly of Spina.In 303/302 BC the Lacedaemonian prince Cleonymus of Sparta led a fleet of mercenaries up the Brenta River intending on sacking Patavium. However, the Veneti fought back and the Spartan ships were captured and destroyed.
The Veneti were in recurring conflict with the Celtic peoples who then occupied most of Northwestern Italy, although they maintained peaceful relations with the Cenomani Celts who had settled in and eventually absorbed the areas of Brescia and Verona.
Romonii period
The Veneti seem to have begun contact with Rome in the third century BC. They established amicitia with Rome against the Gauls c. 238 BC.[21] During the Second Punic War, the Veneti were again allied with the Romans against the Celts, Iberians, and the Carthaginian expedition (218–203 BC) led by Hannibal. Livy records that they sent soldiers to fight along with the Romans at the battle of Cannae.With the foundation of the Latin colony of Aquileia by Rome in 181 BC and laying of the Via Postumia in 148 BC followed by the Via Annia in 131 BC, Roman influence among the Veneti increased. The Veneti seem to have voluntarily and gradually adopted the Latin language, Roman architecture, Roman city planning, and Roman religion. Votive offerings sometimes appear in the Venetic language written with the Roman alphabet or in Venetic with a Latin translation. Roman consuls were asked to adjudicate border disputes between Este and Padua in 141 and again in 135 BC[23] and also a border dispute between Este and Vicenza.[24] In 175 BC, Padua requested the aid of Rome in putting down a local civil war.[25] The Veneti were given Latin rights after the Social War in the Lex Pompeia de Transpadanis and Roman citizenship in 49 BC in the Lex Roscia. Roman colonies established at Este, Concordia, and Trieste between 49 BC and 14 AD and at Oderzo and Zuglio during the reign of Claudius further contributed to the absorption of the Veneti into Roman culture.
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