Picentes

The Picentes or Picentini (Ancient Greek: Πίκεντες, Πικεντῖνοι) were an Italic tribe who lived in Picenum in the northern Adriatic coastal plain of ancient Italy. The endonym, if any, and its language are not known for certain.

The definition of Picenum depends on the time period. The region between the Apennines and the Adriatic Sea south of Ancona (originally a Greek colony) was in Picenum during the entire early historic period. Between Ancona and Rimini to the north the population was multi-ethnic. In the Roman Republic it was Gallia Togata, but the Gauls were known to have combined or supplanted earlier populations. The ager Gallicus, as it was called, was considered both Gaul and Picenum. Under the Roman Empire the coast south of Rimini was united or reunited with the country south of Ancona as Picenum. By then the only language spoken was Latin.

From Ancona southward a language of the Umbrian Group was spoken, today called South Picene. It is attested mainly in inscriptions. Umbrian was an Italic language. North of Ancona around Pesaro a totally different language is attested by four inscriptions, only one of any length, termed for convenience North Picene. The inscriptions are not understood, and it is not possible to ascertain the language's relationships, if any to other languages. Some authors without evidence have given it the Picene tag on the theory that it may represent an original language spoken in all of Picenum south of Rimini.