Venetia
1.
A district in the north of Italy, originally included under the general name of Gallia
Cisalpina, but made by Augustus the tenth
regio of Italy. It was bounded
on the west by the river Athesis, which separated it from Gallia Cisalpina; on the north by
the Carnic Alps; on the east by the river Timavus, which separated it from Istria; and on the
south by the Adriatic Gulf. Its inhabitants, the Veneti, frequently called Heneti (
Ἑνετοί) by the Greeks, were not an Italian race, but their real
origin is doubtful, as their language was certainly not Keltic (Polyb. ii. 17). Herodotus
speaks of them as an Illyrian race, and this is probably a correct view (
Herod.i. 196; v. 9). In consequence of their hostility to the Keltic tribes in their
neighbourhood, they formed at an early period an alliance with Rome; and
their country was defended by the Romans against their dangerous enemies. On the conquest of
the Cisalpine Gauls, the Veneti likewise became included under the Roman dominions. The
Veneti continued to enjoy great prosperity down to the time of the Marcomannic wars, in the
reign of the emperor Aurelius; but from this time their country was frequently devastated by
the barbarians who invaded Italy; and at length, in the fifth century, many of its
inhabitants, to escape the ravages of the Huns under Attila, took refuge in the islands off
their coast, on which now stands the city of Venice. The chief towns of Venetia in ancient
times were Patavium, Altinum, and Aquileia.
2.
A district in the northwest of Gallia Lugdunensis, inhabited by the Veneti. Off their coast
was a group of islands called Insŭlae
Venetĭcae (Belle-Ile). The name is preserved in the modern Vannes.
