Ennio: Messapic Name with Roman Literary and Cultural Roots

Ennio is a name of Messapic origin. The Messapians inhabited the island of Crete and settled in the Salento peninsula since prehistoric times. The meaning of this name, in ancient Roman times, was used as a supername (Ennius), but it is unknown.

Among the figures who bore this name are the poet Virgilio Quinto Ennio, author of the ‘Annales’, an epic poem largely lost that narrates the history of Rome from its origins, and the writer Ennio Flaiano.