Monday, November 10, 2008

General consensus regarding Lombard invasion numbers


There seems to be some unscholarly dispute regarding just how many Lombards entered, invaded, and conquered Northern Italy in 568. Some would exaggerate the numbers, while others would trivialize them. I believe that the following quote gives us an idea of the general consensus among historians.

"Estimates of the number range between about fifty thousand and two hundred thousand adult males, so we may be talking about a population of four or five hundred thousand people altogether." --Professor Thomas Noble, Chairperson, Department of History, University of Notre Dame, on the Lombard invasion population numbers in 568 AD.

It doesn't even make that much difference to us, as the Etruscans and early Italic tribes (Ligurians, Venets, etc.) remain the heart, soul, and root stock of Northern Italy. The north was loosely united under one culture by the Etruscans, and centuries later, officially united under the Lombards. The two southern Lombard provinces were largely autonomous.

More and more, admittedly slowly, we are seeing a revisionism regarding the ancient Greeks as the undisputed founder of Western Civilization. All one has to do is compare the Greek and Etruscan dates and achievements to see that the evidence is contestable. I still think that Greece is the symbolic start of Western-European Civilization, in any case. Also, the Etruscans have an origin in the pre-Hellenic regions, which confuses the issue even more.

"We keep on believing the teaching that the Greeks and above all the Romans are the peoples to whom the Western world owes its origins. All of this is considerably exaggerated and based on historical falsehoods. However, I have ascertained instead that it is the Etruscans, coming from the East, who are the true founders of our European culture." --Professor Graziano Baccolini, University of Bologna, 'Reflections on the Etruscan Civilization'

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