Bruttii

Attributes: | +25% Unit Defenses, +25% City Faction Morale

The **Bruttii** are a small-medium Sabellic faction located in the northern part of the eponymous region Bruttium in southern Italy.

Their starting neighbours are the Lucani, Sybaris and Kroton.

### In-game Description

"The Bruttii are an Oscan-speaking people who inhabit modern Calabria. Named after the Lucani word for "rebels" due to their foundation during a rebellion against the Lucani in the 4th century BCE. The Lucani only ruled the lands of the Bruttii for about 30 years prior to this rebellion, having conquered the territory from Oenotrians, who are represented in-game as Bruttii."

### Starting Cities

* **Cosentia**: Cosentia is the capital of the Bruttii located in a valley where two rivers meet. It stands as a major bulwark against Greek domination of the nearby Sabellic tribes; the minor village of Pandosia sits right next to Consentia, and it would serve as the site of a major battle which killed the Greek invader Alexander of Epirus and ended Greek attempts to expand in Italy.
* **Clampetia**: Clampetia (Lampetia to the Greeks) is a coastal city of the Bruttii possibly located on the Lampetes promontory, a raised piece of land near the north of the Hipponian Gulf. However, other sources describe its location similarly to the modern city of Amantea, which is not near any such promontory, creating some confusion as to its exact location.
* **Bescia**: Located at modern Bisignano, Bescia (also known as Besidia or Besidianum to the Romans) is a town of the Bruttii thought to have been settled since the 15th or 14th centure BCE.
* **Vergae**: Vergae, modern Roggiano Gravina, is a minor city of the Bruttii located on a hill near the river Esaro.

### Strategy

Your Greek neighbours have a vastly superior brigade roster in the early-game thanks to their immediate access to hoplites without needing to construct a barracks first. As such, it may be better to deal with the Greeks through diplomacy in the early-game, and focus your initial expansion on the Lucani who may be easier to whittle down despite having more cities to draw recruits from.

To help deal with your Greek neighbours, it might be beneficial to prioritize the military skill tree to buff your brigades' stats and unlock new unit types quickly.

### Trivia & History

* As referenced in the in-game tooltip, the Bruttii seem to be used to represent the original Oenotrian inhabitants of Bruttium rather than the Bruttii proper, as the latter didn't emerge as a distinct entity until the 350s BC and weren't actually contemporaneous with some of the other factions in-game. Their territorial extent seems to correspond with the last hold-out of the Oenotrians, after being driven out of Lucania by the Lucani. The starting situation in the region is nonetheless somewhat anachronistic, however, as the Oenotrians had a larger territory that still included parts of Lucania by the time Sybaris still existed.
* Presumably, the Bruttii were chosen as stand-ins for the Oenotrians due to a better name recognizability and a better documented role in history. Also, the ethnic affiliation of the Oenotrians is uncertain and they may not have been properly Sabellic, making it more difficult to represent them within the game's existing faction groups.
* Made up of Lucanian and Oenotrian elements, the Bruttii historically rebelled from the Lucani in the 350s BC, a few decades after the Lucani conquered the last remaining Oenotrians in this area. They quickly carved out a large territory in Bruttium, posing an existential threat to the nearby Greeks and conquering several of their more notable cities, such as Thurii (a later city founded where Sybaris had been), Terina and Hipponion.
* In the 330s BC, King Alexander of Epirus came to the defense of the Greek colonies against Lucanian, Bruttian and Iapygian aggression. Alexander managed to capture several Bruttian cities (such as Terina and Cosentia), but was eventually killed in battle against the Lucani and Bruttii.
* Like the Lucani, the Bruttii sided with Pyrrhus of Epirus against Rome, and were conquered by the Romans because of it. Some of the Bruttii later also sided with Hannibal of Carthage during the Second Punic War.
* The faction's icon is taken from ancient coins found in Bruttium depicting a crab.