ABSTRACT
Wandering immigrants to the Italian peninsula brought with them their own dialects of ancient speech. Three of these, Umbrian, Oscan, and Latin, emerged as contenders for the ultimate language of the region. Latin, which was spoken from about 800 BC in the comparatively small area of Latium, became enriched by features of local Sabine and Etruscan speech, and much more significantly by Greek. Legend has it that Greek settlers came to Italy shortly after the Trojan War, which took place in about 1220 BC. Certainly, there was a Greek trading post in the Bay of Naples by 775 BC. The fifty years or so following the traditional date for the founding of Rome of 753 BC coincide with the composition of the Greek epic poems, the Odyssey and Iliad, and the establishment and circulation throughout the Greek world of the Greek alphabet.
