There Basilicata It is a small region ofSouthern Italyknown for its double coastal view, facing both west, on Tyrrhenian Seaboth to the east, on Ionian Seabut also for the wonderful hinterland, in which we find the Dolomites Lucanianpart of the wild Pollino National Park and the well -known city of Matera, in the suggestive setting of the Murgia Matera. But Basilicata brought the name in the past Lucaniastill in use today even if not officially, which derives from the name of the people who lived this territory, i Lucanian: this name could derive luxMeaning what lightto indicate the East from which the Lucanians would arrive, or from LykosMeaning what wolfto indicate the wild nature of the territory.
The people of the Lucanians in the current Basilicata
Like all regions of the South, Basilicata is also the land of ancient population: Lucania, in fact, is to be precise region historical which included the whole territory of today’s Basilicatabut also part of the Campania Easternfrom the Puglia southern and of the Calabria northern.
The entire area was land of passage and exchange between peoples and cultures, thanks to the morphology of its territory. THE Five important rivers who crossed it (and who still cross it today), Basento, Bradano, Agri, Sinni and Cavone, allowed a comfortable way of communication between the coasts and the interior, promoting the population and development of the region.
Here, starting from Vento BC., The population of Samnite origin of the Lucanian. These people of shepherds And farmers It was initially divided into independent villages that gathered only in war time and had relationships, not very turbulent, with its neighbors.
Clashed with i settlers of magna Greece to the south and with the others Italic populations and the Romans To the north east and west, the Lucanians slowly lost their independence with the progressive Romanization of the peninsula, to be definitively absorbed in the socio-political fabric of Roman civilization in 273 BCwhile maintaining their own culture and institutions for a certain period. There are not many sources that bring us information on this people, but we know, for example, that through contacts with the Greek settlers of the South, they absorbed part of the Greek culture also adopting the alphabet.
The origin of the name Lucania (and the name Basilicata)
As often happens with the peoples who lived in the Italian peninsula in the pre -Roman era, the origin of the name of the Lucanians is lost in the mists of time and it has not yet been possible to trace a certain etymology.
The most accredited theories associate toponyms with the Lucanian name Luca (Lucca) And Lighter (Light) or other terms of Latin and Greek origin, such as lux And λευκός (leukós), Meaning what light, light or whiteto indicate the East, from which the Lucanians would arrive.
Other interpretations associate the term to the Latin word lucusMeaning what woodsor to the Greek word LykosMeaning what wolfboth in reference to the nature wild of the territory in which this population lived.
The name Lucania was used to name the Region up to XII century to then be replaced by Basilicatapresumably referred to BasilikósGreek term with which the officials Byzantine who administered the Italian territories incorporated into theRoman Eastern Empire. Then the official name of the Region returned era fascist (starting from 1932) and remained such until the promulgation of the Constitution Italian In the immediate post -war period.
