Adriatic Veneti

The Veneti (also called heneti in Latin, ενετοί [enetoi] in Greek) were an ancient people who inhabited north-eastern Italy, in an area corresponding to the modern-day region of the Veneto.

The ancient Veneti spoke Venetic, an extinct Indo-European language which is attested in approximately 300 short inscriptions dating from the 6th to 1st centuries BC. Venetic appears to share several similarities with Latin and the Italic languages, but also has some affinities with other IE languages, especially Germanic and Celtic. Venetic should not be confused with Venetian, a Romance language presently spoken in the region.

In Italy, these ancient people are also referred to as Paleoveneti to distinguish them from the modern-day inhabitants of the Veneto region, called Veneti in Italian. They are generally believed to be unrelated to the Gaulish Veneti, a Celtic tribe formerly living in the Belgian coast.

Many tribes thought to be Illyrians are actually Veneti

Geography
The extent of the territory occupied by the ancient Veneti before their incorporation by the Romans is uncertain. It was at first included in Cisalpine Gaul, but later became known as the tenth region of Italy. It was bounded on the west by the Athesis (Adige), or according to others, by the Addua (Adda); on the north by the Alps; on the east by the Timavus (Timavo river in Friuli-Venezia Giulia) and on the south by the Adriatic Gulf.

Classical sources
A people called the Enetoi is mentioned by Homer (who lived ca. 850 BC) in the Iliad, as inhabiting Paphlagonia on the southern coast of the Black Sea in the time of the Trojan War (ca. 1200 BC). The Paphlagonians are listed among the allies of the Trojans in the war, where their king Pylaemanes and his son Harpalion perished.

Roman historian Titus Livius (59 BC – AD 17), himself a native of the Veneti town of Patavium, claims that Trojan leader Antenor, together with a large number of Paphlagonians who had been expelled from their homeland by a revolution, migrated to the northern end of the Adriatic coast, where they later merged with indigenous people known as the Euganei. Pliny the Elder (AD 23–79) attributes to Cornelius Nepos (100–24 BC) the identification of the Enetoi with the ancient Veneti. 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 were the same as the Celtic tribe of the same name who formerly lived on the Belgian coast 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. Strabo also gives information on the then-current domains of the Veneti (Book V, Chapter 1).

Pre-Roman period
In 302 BC, in the reign of Cleonimus of Sparta, the Spartans tried to sail up the Brenta River indending os sacking Patavium; but the ships were captured and destroyed by the Veneti. They had recurrent fights with the Celtic peoples who then occupied most of Northern Italy, but also had peaceful relations with the Cenomani Celts who had settled in the region of Brescia and Verona, and eventually absorbed them. During the early expansion of Rome, they allied with the Romans against the Celts, Germans, and the Carthaginian expedition (218-203 BC) led by Hannibal.

Current research
Many archeological excavations are still underway in the Veneto today at sites such as Este, Padua, Oderzo, Adria, Vicenza, Verona and Altinum. Studies are also being done on the vast influence of the Greeks in the Adriatic and their interaction with the Veneti, particularly focusing on the Euboeans, Phocaeans and Corinthians. Villanovan and more significantly, Etruscan activity in the region and their strong links to the Veneti are also attested to.

Modern surveys on the Veneti and other Ancient Italic peoples, including the Venetic inscriptions from Este, were published by A. L. Prosdocimi, A. M. C. Bianchi and L. Capuis

Additional primary sources

 * Polybius - ii.17.4-6, 18.1-3; ii.23.1-3; ii.24.7-8
 * Xenophon - Anabasis (Xenophon), (known as Anabasis III in the Loeb Classical Library edition), I.viii.5; V.ii.22, iv.13, v.12, 22, vi.3, 6; VI.i.1, 6, 11, 13, 14, 15. ISBN 0-674-99101-X