Ancient Abruzzo

thumb|Amiternum, an ancient city founded by the Sabines right|thumb|Map showing the location of the Sabines. The border with Latium to the south was the Aniene river; however, it is possible that Sabines extended to Lake [[Regillus slightly to the south of it near Gabii.]]

thumb|Samnite soldiers depicted on a tomb frieze in [[Nola. From the 4th century BC|331x331px]] The Samnites () were an ancient Italic people who inhabited Samnium, a region located in the modern inland Abruzzo, Molise, and Campania in south-central Italy. thumb|Italy in 400 BC An Oscan-speaking people, who originated as an offshoot of the Sabines, they formed a confederation consisting of four tribes: the Hirpini, Caudini, Caraceni, and Pentri. Ancient Greek historians considered the Umbri as the ancestors of the Samnites. Their migration was in a southward direction, according to the rite of

Latin hail

thumb|300px|Location of the Aequi (Equi) in central Italy, 5th century BC.

thumb|300px|Ethnolinguistic map of Italy in the Iron Age, before the Roman expansion and conquest of Italy thumb|285px|right|Augustus' Regio V – Picenum, from the 1911 Atlas of William R. Shepherd.

thumb|300px|Approximate distribution of languages in Iron Age#Italy|Iron Age Italy during the sixth century BC, before the Roman expansion and conquest of Italy

The Marsi were an Italic people of ancient Italy, whose chief centre was Marruvium, on the eastern shore of Lake Fucinus (which was drained in the time of Claudius). The area in which they lived is now called Marsica. They originally spoke a language now termed Marsian which is attested by several inscriptions.

The Marrucini were an Italic tribe that occupied a small strip of territory around the ancient Teate (modern Chieti), on the east coast of Abruzzo, Italy, limited by the Aterno and Foro Rivers. Other Marrucinian centers included Ceio (San Valentino in Abruzzo Citeriore), Iterpromium (whose ruins are under the Abbey of San Clemente at Casauria), Civitas Danzica (Rapino), and the port of Aternum (Pescara), shared with the Vestini.

thumb|380px|The territory of the Vestini in a 1624 map by Philip Clüver published in Italia Antiqua. thumb|380px|Vestini country, looking inland at Gran Sasso from [[Pescara.]]

The Praetutii were an ancient Italic tribe of central Italy. They are thought to have lived around Interamnia (or Interamna), which became modern Teramo, and to have given their name to Abruzzo. The ancient accounts, however, are substantially confused, when it comes to more precise location and details.

VI century a.C. statue