Ligures

The Ligures or Ligurians were an ancient people after whom Liguria, a region of present-day north-western Italy, is named. In pre-Roman times, the Ligurians occupied the present-day Italian region of Liguria, Piedmont, northern Tuscany, western Lombardy, western Emilia-Romagna and northern Sardinia, reaching also Elba and Sicily. They inhabited also the French region of Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur and Corsica. However, it is generally believed that around 2000 BC, the Ligurians occupied a much larger area, extenting as far as what today is Catalonia (in the north-eastern corner of the Iberian Peninsula). The origins of the ancient Ligurians are unclear, and an autochthonous origin is increasingly probable. Little is known about the ancient Ligurian language, which is based on placenames and inscriptions on steles representing warriors. The lack of evidence does not allow a certain linguistic classification; it may be Pre-Indo-European or an Indo-European language. Because of the strong Celtic influences on their language and culture, they were also known in antiquity as Celto-Ligurians. The Ligures are referred to as Ligyes (λιγούρες) by the Greeks and Ligures (earlier Liguses) by the Romans. According to Plutarch, the Ligurians called themselves Ambrones, which could indicate a relationship with the Ambrones of northern Europe. Liguria The geography of Strabo, from book 2, chapter 5, section 28 : The Alps are inhabited by numerous nations, but all Keltic with the exception of the Ligurians, and these, though of a different race, closely resemble them in their manner of life. They inhabit that portion of the Alps which is next the Apennines, and also a part of the Apennines themselves. This zone corresponds to the current region of Liguria in Italy as well as to the former county of Nice which could be compared today to the Alpes Maritimes. The writer, naturalist and Roman philosopher Pliny the Elder writes in his book "The Natural History" book III chapter 7 on the Ligurians and Liguria: The more celebrated of the Ligurian tribes beyond the Alps are the Salluvii, the Deciates, and the Oxubii (.