Federico Russo

The vexata quaestio of the exact meaning of a famous Aristoxenos’ fragment about Poseidonia’s barbarization (“[the Greeks of Poseidonia] became barbarous Etruscans or Romans”) is here considered. The main problem focused by modern critics is the double and contemporary presence of Romans and Etruscans in Poseidonia at the end of fourth century B.C. But the lack of mention of another people, the Lucans, is more remarkable. The historical context of South Italy at the end of the fourth century B.C. suggests a new interpretation of Aristoxenos’ text: the alternative “Romans or Etruscans” could conceal a reference to the alleged Pelasgic origin of the Romans.