Carni

The Carni are usually considered a Gaulish tribe, although some associate them with the Venetic peoples, a group closely related to but probably distinct from the Celts.

Their area of settlement isn't known with precision.

Strabo confines them to the mountains, while Ptolemy assigns them two cities near the Adriatic coast.

They are likely eponymous of the regions of Carnia, Carniola and Carinthia.

The first historical date related to the arrival of the Carni is 186 BCE, when some fifty thousand Carni, composed of armed men, women and children, descend from the northeast corner of transpadane Italy towards the plains (in which they previously used to winter) and on a hill they establish a stable defensive settlement, Akileja, situated at the head of the Adriatic at the edge of the lagoons, about ten kilometers from the sea, on the river Natiso (modern Natissa).

The Romans have by 181/180 BCE forced back the Carni to the mountains, destroyed their settlement and established a defensive settlement not far from where the Gaulish invaders had attempted to settle, on land along the Natiso south of the Julian Alps but about eight miles north of the lagoons.

The colony is to serve as a frontier fortress to protect the Veneti, faithful Roman allies, during the Illyrian Wars and act as a buttress to check the advance of other warlike people, such as the hostile Carni and Histri tribes.

Aquileia is established with Latin rights by the triumvirate of Publius Cornelius Scipio Nasica, Caius Flaminius, and Lucius Manlius Acidinus, two of whom are of consular and one of praetorian rank.

They lead three thousand pedites (infantry), mainly from Samnium, who with their families form the bulk of the settlers; they are soon supplemented by native Veneti: Aquileia's strategic military position also serves to promote the Venetic trade in amber imported from the Baltic.

Tergeste, built mostly on a hillside that becomes a mountain at the head of the Adriatic Sea, was originally an Illyrian settlement but the town was later captured by the Carni; it falls to the Romans in 177 BCE.

Istria, the largest peninsula in the Adriatic Sea, located at the head of the Adriatic between the Gulf of Trieste and the Bay of Kvarner, is named for the Histri.

Classified in some sources as a "Venetic" Illyrian tribe, with certain linguistic differences from other Illyrians, the Romans describe the Histri as a fierce tribe of pirates, protected by the difficult navigation of their rocky coasts.

It had taken two military campaigns for the Romans to finally subdue them in 177 BCE.

Together with the Venetian part, the region is now called the X. Roman Region of "Venetia et Histria", the ancient definition of the northeastern border of Italy.

The eastern border of Italy, per ancient definition, is the river Arsia.

The eastern side of this river has been settled by people whose culture is different than Histrians.

Earlier influence of the Iapydes was attested here, while at some time between the fourth and first century BCE, the Liburnians extend their territory and it becomes a part of Liburnia.

On the northern side, Histria goes much further north and includes the newly garrisoned Tergeste (now the Italian city of Trieste, and the region of Venezia-Julia. For political reasons, modern Trieste and Venezia-Julia are not included in today’s Istria.)

The Romans had established their colony in Aquileia in 181 BCE and taken control of all Venetia in the north, thus expanding towards the Illyrian area from the northwest.

They had conquered Istria in the north of the eastern Adriatic coast, settled by tribe of Histri, in 177 BCE, while the Iapydes, the northern Liburnian neighbors, attacked Aquileia in 171 BCE, but these accidents have not involved the Liburnian territory.

The Liburnians probably keep away from direct conflicts with the Romans to safeguard their remaining naval activities.

Aquileia is connected by road with Bologna probably in 173 BCE.

Fifteen hundred more Latin colonists with their families are settled in the town in 169 BCE as a reinforcement to the garrison.

Tergeste, under Roman control from 177 BCE, had been granted the status of colony under Julius Caesar, who recorded its name as Tergeste in his Commentarii de bello Gallico (51 BCE).

During Roman times, Tergeste is defined an "Illyrian city" by Artemidorus of Ephesus, a Greek geographer, and "Carnic" by Strabo.

The border of "Roman Italia" has moved from the Timavo river to Formione (today Risano).

The Roman Tergeste flourishes due to its position as a crossroad from Aquileia, the main Roman city in the area, and Istria, and as a port as well, some ruins of which are still visible.

Octavian builds a line of walls around the city in 33-32 BCE, and supervises the construction of harbor facilities.