The Sicani (or Sikanoi) were an ancient people of Italy who dwelt along the Tiber river. In later times, a portion of them migrated to Sicily, giving their name to the region of Sicily later known as Sicania. The Italian Republic or Italy (Italian: Repubblica Italiana or Italia) is a country in southern Europe. ... Tiber River in Rome The River Tiber (Italian Tevere), the third longest river in Italy (disputed — see talk page) at 406 km (252 miles) after the Po and the Adige, flows through the Campagna and Rome in its course from Mount Fumaiolo to the Tyrrhenian Sea, which it reaches in... Sicily (Sicilia in Italian) is an autonomous region of Italy and the largest island in the Mediterranean Sea, with an area of 25,700 sq. ...
It is unclear whether the Sicani spoke an Indo-European language. Proto-Indo-European Indo-European studies Indo-European is originally a linguistic term, referring to the Indo-European language family. ...
See also: Siceli. Elymi. According to Thucydides (vi:2), before the arrival of Greek colonists, the Sicels (or Siculi) were one of the three tribes who inhabited Sicily: the Sicels (Greek Sikeloi) in eastern Sicily (as well as southern Italy), who spoke an Indo-European language, and the Sicani (Greek Sikanoi) and Elymi (Greek... The Elymian people (Greek Elymoi, Latin Elymi) were an ancient civilization located in Sicily. ...
SICANI, in ancient geography, generally regarded (together with the Elymi) as the oldest inhabitants of Sicily.
Sicania (the country of the Sicani) and the Siculi or Siceli are mentioned in Homer (Odyssey, xx.
At first the Sicani occupied nearly the whole of the island, but were gradually driven by the Siceli into the interior and the N. and N.W. They lived chiefly in small towns and supported themselves by agriculture.
Though largely hypothetical, a logical theory has been advanced that the Sicanians were not initially part of any Indo-European population, though recent discoveries imply at least isolated contact with some Mycenean and Minoan cultures --probably on the basis of trade.
Living independently of other societies, the earliest Sicani naturally would have developed as a unique population lacking clearly-defined cultural links to the Indo-European cultures of Italy, Greece and the eastern Mediterranean.
Sicani, Elymians, Sicels), if possible, must be postponed to the analysis of more samples and hopefully more informative uniparental DNA markers such as the recently available DHPLC-SNP polymorphisms of the Y chromosome.