A sketch of a king

According to Gaius Iulius Hyginus, Italos was the son of Telegonos, who was in turn son of Odysseus and the witch Circe, originally of Corsica. Antiochus of Syracuse wrote in his antiquitates romanae on the other hand, that he was an oenotrian by birth. The oenotrians seem to be an italic tribe heavily influenced by greek culture in the south of Italy like the oscans and lucanians. Even though, Antiochus said the peninsula of Calabria was named after Italos, before the greather peninsula was named Italy. There is not so much known from Italos, but according to Aristoteles (Politics, 7.1329b ) and Thukydides (The Peloponneisan War, 6.2.4.), it was he who conveeted his people from a pastoral to a agricultural society. Even more he was the first oenotrian leader to establish a system of common meals as one of his ordinances.

Julien Sita, August 6th 2021.