Today it’s back to regularly
scheduled programming. I’m going to briefly look at the history of Italy. Of
course it’s difficult to really boil the entire history of Italy down into a few blog posts, but hopefully I can hit some of the high points.
Italy is perhaps best known for
the Roman Empire, but it’s history is very, very long. There is evidence of
human life in Italy dating back to prehistoric times. Other large civilizations
came before the Romans, too, including the Etruscans and Greeks. In the eighth and
seventh century B.C., the Greeks settled in southern Italy, bringing a Hellenic
influence to Italy. The Etruscans and Greeks in Italy did eventually fall to
Rome, however. The Roman period consisted of the Roman Republic and then the
Roman Empire (and of famous names like Julius Caesar!). At its height, the Roman
Empire was enormous- look at the map I found below to get an idea!
After the fall of the Roman
Empire, Italy consisted of a hodgepodge of city-states, with southern Italy
falling prey to Islamic attacks. Eventually, however, Italy emerged from this
dark period into the Renaissance, with Italian trade routes serving as conduits
of culture and knowledge. In 1348, the Black Death killed about one third of
Italy’s population, but Italy recovered from this disaster with a resurgence of
cities and trade. Many famous works of Italian art and scholarship came from
the Renaissance period, including works by Italian artists you are sure to
know, such as Leonardo da Vinci and Michelangelo.
Following the Renaissance, Italy
was invaded by numerous countries, most notably France and Spain. There was no
unified Italy as of yet, and the city-states did not band together to fight off
the foreign invaders. This means that Italy during this time period was
foreign-dominated…
More tomorrow on the Italy’s unification
and history in modern times!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Italy#Literature.2C_philosophy_and_science
http://www.italylogue.com/history
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Italy#Literature.2C_philosophy_and_science
http://www.italylogue.com/history
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