Umbria

, a country of Italy, separated from Etruria by the Tiber, bounded on the north by the Adriatic sea, east by Picenum and the country of the Sabines, and south by the river Nar. Some derive the word Umbria ab imbribus , the frequent showers that were supposed to fall there, or from the shadow ( umbra ) of the A pennines which hung over it. Umbria had many cities of note. The Umbrians opposed the Romans in the infancy of their empire, but afterwards they became their allies, about the year ♦ A.U.C. 434. Catullus , bk. 40 , li. 11 .— Strabo , bk. 5 .— Pliny , bk. 3 , ch. 12 .— Dionysius of Halicarna us. ♦ ‘U.C.’ replaced with ‘A.U.C.’