Iapygia
（
Ἰαπυγία). A division of Italy, forming what is called
the heel. It was called also Messapia, and contained two nations, the Calabri on the
northeast, and the Salentini on the southwest side. The name of Iapygia was not known to the
Romans, except as an appellation borrowed from the Greeks, to whom it was familiar. Among the
many traditions current with the latter people may be reckoned their derivation of this name
from Iapyx, the son of Daedalus (Pliny ,
Pliny H. N.
iii. 11). This story, however, belongs rather to fable than to history. There is no
positive evidence regarding the origin of the Iapyges, but their existence on these shores
prior to the arrival of any Grecian colony is recognized by the earliest writers of that
nation, such as Herodotus (vii. 170) and Hellanicus of Lesbos (
ap.
Dion. Hal. i. 22). Thucydides evidently considered them as barbarians (vii. 33), as did also
Scylax, in his
Periplus, and Pausanias (x. 1). It may be noticed that the name
of the Iapyges appears on one of the Eugubine Tables under the form
Iapuscom,
which might lead one to suppose that some connection once existed between this people and the
Umbri. See
Tabulae Iguvinae; and for
further observations, the articles
Italia;
Messapia.
