THE EARLY ITALIC TRIBES With the Iron Age Italy and her population practically enter the historical period, even if some while after the more advanced Eastern Mediterranean and Near East civilizations from where arrived particular influences. At the beginning of the first millennium BC the following native tribes could be distinguished on Italian territory: the Ligures, on the coast that bears their name, in the northern Apennine valleys, part of the pre-alpine valleys and the …showed first 75 words of 2474 total…

…showed last 75 words of 2474 total…after the relative prosperity of the Augustan and Antonine periods, there was a profound reduction in cultivation and large-scale crops partially replaced specialized forms, such as grapes and olives. Another aspect was the growth of towns, which became the centres of political and economic life and thus also attracted an increasing population. Industrial production was organized by the State through its `fabricae', while craftsmanship took a corporate form that served to further harden social structures