The triangular-shaped island of Sicily is separated from Italy by the strait of Messina, a channel which, at the narrowest part, is only two miles wide. At one time Sicily must have been joined to the mainland. Its mountains, which rise at their highest point in the majestic volcano of Aetna, nearly eleven thousand feet above sea level, are a continuation of those of Italy. The greater part of Sicily is remarkably productive, containing rich grainfields and hillsides green with the olive and the vine. Lying in the center of the Mediterranean and in the direct route of merchants and colonists from every direction, Sicily has always been a meeting place of nations. In antiquity Greeks, Carthaginians, and Romans contended for the possession of this beautiful island.
INFLUENCE OF GEOGRAPHICAL CONDITIONS
On Italian history, as on that of Greece, [2] we are able to trace the profound influence of geographical conditions. In the first place, the peninsula of Italy is not cut up by a tangle of mountains into many small districts. Hence it was easier for the Italians, than for the Greeks, to establish one large and united state. In the second place, Italy, which has few good harbors but possesses fine mountain pastures and rich lowland plains, was better adapted to cattle raising and agriculture than was Greece. The Italian peoples, in consequence, instead of putting to sea, remained a conservative, home-staying folk, who were slow to adopt the customs of other nations. Finally, the location of Italy, with its best harbors and most numerous islands on the western coast, brought that country into closer touch with Gaul, Spain, and northwestern Africa than with Greece and the Orient. Italy fronted the barbarous West.
48. THE PEOPLES OF ITALY
NEIGHBORS OF THE ROMANS
Long before the Romans built their city by the Tiber every part of Italy had become the home of wandering peoples, attracted by the mild climate and rich soil of this favored land. Two of these peoples were neighbors of the Romans—Etruscans on the north and Greeks on the south.
THE ETRUSCANS
The ancestors of the historic Etruscans were probably Aegean sea-rovers who settled in the Italian peninsula before the beginning of the eighth century B.C. The immigrants mingled with the natives and by conquest and colonization founded a strong power in the country to which they gave their name—Etruria. At one time the Etruscans appear to have ruled over Campania and also in the Po Valley as far as the Alps. Their colonies occupied the shores of Sardinia and Corsica. Their fleets swept the Tyrrhenian Sea. The Etruscans for several centuries were the leading nation in Italy.
[Illustration: A GRAECO-ETRUSCAN CHARIOT (Metropolitan Museum of Art, New
York)
The chariot was discovered in 1903 A.D. in an Etruscan cemetery near Rome. It dates from perhaps 600 B.C. Almost every part of the vehicle is covered with thin plates of bronze, elaborately decorated. The wheels are only two feet in diameter. Since the chariot is too small and delicate for use in warfare, we may believe it to have been intended for ceremonial purposes only.]