UM'BRIA. In ancient geography, a country of Central Italy, corresponding loosely with the modern territorial division of the same name, which constitutes the Province of Perugia. At an early date the name Umbria was applied indefi nitely to a large territory in Central and Northern Italy. The Umbrians were among the oldest and most powerful nations of Italy. and probably held all the land in Central Italy between the Adriatic and the Tyrrhenian Sea. This territory was grad ually decreased by the encroachment of the Etruscans on the west, of the various Celtic tribes on the north, and of the Picentes on the south, until the Umbrians were shut off from the sea in the valleys east of the Apennines.
Umbria at the period of the Roman conquest. of Italy was hounded on the north by the Ager (Milieus, on the east by Picenum, on the south by the country of the Sabines, and on the west by Etruria. The historical prominence of the Um brians ends with the beginning of the third cen tury Re.; they were defeated by Rome in B.C. 30S, and, with the other confederated peoples, were crushed at the battle of Sentinum, B.C. 295.
After B.C. 220 the Via Flaminia ran through the country. Umbria, together with the Ayer Galli cus, which had been restored to the territory after the conquest of the Senones by the Romans, constituted the sixth region of Italy in Augus tus's division. Knowledge of the Umbrian civili zation and language has been gained chiefly from inscriptions, as the accounts left by ancient writers are of uncertain value. The most impor tant of these epigraphical remains are the seven bronze tablets found at Gubbio (the ancient Igurium, the medieval Eugubium) in 1444. See FUGUBINE TABLES; also, for the language, ITALIC LANGUAGES, paragraph Umbrian.
The district known in modern times as Umbria was a part of the Papal States until 1860. The Province of Perugia has an area of 3748 square miles. The population in 1901 was 675, 352. The surface is mountainous, but the valleys are fertile. Capital, Perugia (q.v.).