Lucanian

Lucanian refers to anything relating to Lucania, an ancient region of southern Italy. The term can denote the people who inhabited the area, the culture that developed there, or the Oscan language they spoke. In ancient texts the inhabitants are called Lucani.

Geography and origins: Lucania roughly corresponds to the modern region of Basilicata, with coastal zones reaching parts of Campania and Calabria in antiquity. The Lucani were an Oscan-speaking Italic people who formed a loose confederation in the central-southern Apennines and interacted with neighboring groups, including the Bruttii and the Greek colonies on the coast.

History and language: Between the 5th and 3rd centuries BCE the Lucani frequently clashed with neighboring Italic peoples and with Greek colonists. They allied with other southern tribes at times, and their land was gradually brought under Roman control during the late 4th to 1st centuries BCE. In the late Empire the territory was administratively organized as the province of Lucania et Bruttium, and later remained part of southern Italy under various divisions. The Lucanian language was Oscan in the Osco-Ugrian family, closely related to other Oscan dialects of southern Italy; Latin eventually replaced it, leaving toponyms and some archaeological material as its remnants.

Legacy: In modern usage, Lucanian can describe historic Lucania or the people of Basilicata, and it appears in archaeology, classical studies, and discussions of southern Italy's ancient history.