It is to commercial relations, rather than to any movement of immigration, that the composite character of Picene civilization should be attributed. In spite of the numerous details of their life which suggest analogies with the Balkans, or with Greece of the Dipylon period, there is no evidence that the population was derived, or substantially recruited, from either of these sources. The general stock of the inhabitants remained as it always had been, predominantly composed of the Mediterranean race origi nally derived from North Africa.
The essential characteristic of the Picenes is that they were primarily and above everything else fighting men. It has been pointed out that even before the dawn of the Iron Age they were obliged to defend their borders. They succeeded in maintaining their independence for many centuries. It is not surprising, there fore, that many tombs at Novilara contained weapons. The favourite arm was the spear, and the next in frequency was the dagger, of which there were several patterns. Swords seem to have been rather the weapons of the elite, and were extremely handsome. Helmets are fairly frequent, shields very rare, in the graves.
From graves of the 8th and 7th centuries B.C. at Novilara a complete picture may be recovered of the arms and equipment of a Picene foot soldier. His favourite sword was a broad and short weapon of iron, intended, like a sabre or a tulwar, for the heaviest cutting. Its edge was on the inside, and the hilt curved back at an angle like that of an ancient Bosnian hewing-knife. In fact there can be no doubt that swords of this kind were originally imported from the Balkans where the general type has always been well known. The curiously shaped sheath was made of wood, covered with sheets of bronze finely engraved with geometric patterns. Other swords found at Novilara are definitely Greek in origin, being of shapes familiar from the paintings on Dipylon vases. Similarly the helmets and shields are of Greek patterns, but the daggers, except when they seem to be original Italian products, follow the stock forms derived from the Hallstatt series prevalent all over Europe. The entire outfit is thus curiously hybrid in character, and quite unlike that of any other Italians. Not less characteristic than the armament of the men were the ornaments and apparel of the women. A certain number of ob jects were imported from the factories of Etruria or Bologna. Such are the bronze manicuring sets hung upon chatelaines attached to the waist, and the bronze ear-cleaners terminating in the figure of a monkey or of Aphrodite surrounded by doves. But the narrow girdles made of chain mail in links, the huge and elaborate pendants terminating in imitation sea-shells, the handsome torques and pectorals make an ensemble quite unlike anything found among Villanovans or Etruscans.
The rich cemeteries discovered along the coast in the neigh bourhood of Ancona have been little studied, and no full publica tion of them is yet available. All the material obtained from them may be seen in the Ancona museum, in the large buildings of a disused monastery in the city. The richest cemetery was that of Belmonte, but the collections from Cupra-marittima, Grotta mare and several smaller sites are also very important. Belmonte, in particular, which dates to the 6th and 5th centuries B.C., has yielded some very fine examples of Ionic Greek work in the minor arts. There are bronze bowls decorated with figurines of cast bronze, a favourite representation being that of Herakles as the tamer of lions and horses; jugs and vessels of hammered bronze and many superb carvings in amber, of which there was a prodigal abundance at this period. At Rapagnano were found two shield-bosses of bronze, ornamented with scenes of combat be tween mounted men and foot soldiers in the best Ionic style. Greek influence was entirely predominant in Picene art from the 6th century onwards, but it is important to observe that it found its way, not through Etruria, but quite directly from the Greek colonies of southern Italy. This is proved by the simultaneous presence in these tombs of the very distinctive and peculiar Apulian geometric pottery, which is unknown in Etruria.
Indeed, so far as present evidence avails, and allowing that it is dangerous to prophesy in regard to a region only partially explored, Etruscan influence on the Adriatic coast was very slight and unimportant. A tumulus of the 7th century found at Fabriano is almost entirely Etruscan in its contents, but as yet this is an isolated example. A certain amount of trade was undoubtedly carried on across the Apennines, but there is little in the general complex of Picene life which suggests a strong Etruscan impress. On the contrary, it remains a curiously individual and virile civilization, in spite of its many borrowings. The backbone of Picene commerce was constituted by a lively trade with Istria, which may be clearly traced by means of a comparative study of the objects found in the graves. Nothing, except the existence of a trade-system which centred at the head of the Gulf of Venice, could explain the remarkable circumstance that, in places as far apart as the Italian lakes, Istria, Picenum and Bosnia, there have been found torques, pendants and amulets so precisely similar that they must have been distributed by the same firm of agents.
See E. Brizio in Monumenti Antichi, vol. v. ; D. Randall-Maclver, The Iron Age in Italy (1927) ; and for a literary treatment from other points of view, F. von Duhn, Italische Griiberkunde, vol. i. (1924). (D. R.-M.)