The Aequi were an Italic tribe on a stretch of the Apennine Mountains to the east of Latium in central Italy who appear in the early history of ancient Rome. After a long struggle for independence from Rome, they were defeated and substantial Roman colonies were placed on their soil. Only two inscriptions believed to be in the Aequian language remain. No more can be deduced than that the language was Italic. Otherwise, the inscriptions from the region are those of the Latin-speaking colonists in Latin. The colonial exonym documented in these inscriptions is Aequi and also Aequicoli ("colonists of Aequium"). The manuscript variants of the classical authors present Equic-, Aequic-, Aequac-. If the form without the -coli is taken as an original, it may well also be the endonym, but to date further evidence is lacking.
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👉 Aequi in the context of Hernici
The Hernici were an Italic tribe of ancient Italy, whose territory was in Latium between the Fucine Lake and the Sacco River (Trerus), bounded by the Volsci on the south, and by the Aequi and the Marsi on the north.
Aequi in the context of Old Latium
Latium Vetus or Latium Antiquum (English: Old Latium) is a region of the Italian Peninsula bounded to the north by the Tiber River, to the east by the central Apennine Mountains, to the west by the Mediterranean Sea and to the south by Monte Circeo. It was the territory of the Latins, an Italic tribe which included the early inhabitants of the city of Rome. Later it was also settled by various Italic tribes such as the Rutulians, Volscians, Aequi, and Hernici. The region was referred to as "old" to distinguish it from the expanded region, Latium, that included the region to the south of Old Latium, between Monte Circeo and the river Garigliano – the so-called Latium adiectum ("attached Latium"). It corresponded to the central part of the modern administrative region of Lazio, Italy, and it covered an area measuring of roughly 50 Roman miles. It was calculated by Mommsen that the region's area was about 1860 square kilometres.
Aequi in the context of Justitium
Justitium (derived from the Latin term Juris statio) is a concept of Roman law, equivalent to the declaration of the state of emergency. Some scholars also refer to it as a state of exception, stemming from a state of necessity. It involved the suspension of civil business, typically including the courts, the treasury and the Senate and was ordered by the Roman higher magistrates. It was usually declared following a sovereign's death, during the troubled period of interregnum, but also in case of invasions. However, in this last case, it was not as much the physical danger of invasion that justified the instauration of a state of exception, as the consequences that the news of the invasion had in Rome; for example, justitium was proclaimed at the news of Hannibal's attacks. The earliest recorded occasion of justitium being invoked was for the same reason, when in 465 BC panic gripped the city due to a mistaken belief of imminent invasion by the Aequi.
According to Giorgio Agamben, justitium progressively came to mean, after the Roman Republic, the public mourning of the sovereign: a sort of privatization or diversion of the danger threatening the polis, as the sovereign claimed for himself the auctoritas, or authority, necessary to the rule of law. In his conceptualization, it is a period where the law is indefinitely suspended without being abrogated for the purpose of generating an "anomic space in which what is at stake is a force of law without law".
Aequi in the context of Aequian language
Aequian is an extinct Italic language presumed spoken by the people the Romans termed Aequi and Aequicoli living in the Alban hills of northeast Latium and the central Apennines east of them during the early and middle Roman Republic; that is, approximately from the 5th to the 3rd century BC, when they were defeated by the armies of Rome and were subsequently Romanized. As the area was heavily colonized by Latin speakers from Rome, most of the inscriptions from there are in Latin. Two undated inscriptions appear to be in a different dialect, termed Aequian by the scholars with the presumption that in fact they represent the language of the entire pre-Roman tribe. Not enough text survives to deduce any more than that it belonged to the Italic branch of the Indo-European language family.
Aequi in the context of Speculatores
The speculatores, also known as the speculatores augusti or the exploratores, were an ancient Roman reconnaissance agency. They were part of the consularis and were used by the Roman military. The speculatores were headquartered in the Castra Peregrina.
This organization probably originated from previous Greek military spies and scouts. There are references to a Roman scouting agency operating during the Samnite Wars and the speculatores being employed during the Roman war with the Aequi. Emperor Augustus reformed the Roman communications system. Among other reforms, he also added 10 speculatores to each legion. There was one speculator per cohort. They also served in the Praetorian Guard. They also served as political police, until they were replaced by the frumentarii as police in the third century. As bodyguards, they were tasked with clearing the emperor's pathway of crowds. To do this, they used a type of non-lethal spear known as a lancea. They also served as scouts, executioners, torturers, and assassins. During their operations, they worked in small numbers. Usually in pairs or as individuals. The speculatores were trained by an official known as a centurio exercitator to become skilled in fighting, horseriding, parading, and escorting. Three other officials had important roles in the speculatores. These were the centurio and the centurio speculatorum, centurio trecenarius, and the centurio speculatorum equitarum. There were around 300 members of the speculatores. They were chosen based on their discretion and loyalty. Many speculatores would go on to become couriers. Their duties led to them becoming feared and despised by the populace.