Submitted for award of PhD September 2006. - King's College London

1.1. Contents of the thesis
Chapter 1. Introduction
This thesis examines the political institutions of the Samnites in two geographical
regions, the central Apennines and Campania, in the period between the fifth and
first centuries BC. New finds of inscriptions and tile-stamps attesting magistrates and
new archaeological data from the central Apennines make it worth re-examining
previous arguments on leadership views. From the last quarter of the fifth century
BC, the Samnites from the central Apennines occupied most of the cities of
Campania. They took their language and their own political institutions with them, as
literary, epigraphic and numismatic evidence confirm. By studying and comparing
the evidence from these two regions together, I hope to develop a more holistic and
better founded interpretation of the political institutions of each known community.
The Samnites of the central Apennines are generally supposed to have formed
a permanent league to govern their territories, to wage wars and to celebrate common
cults. So too, some of the cities of Campania are supposed to have formed three
confederations under the leadership of Capua, Nola and Nuceria. The aim of the
thesis is to see if the existence of the highland Samnite league and the confederations
of Campania can be confirmed from the evidence for political institutions in these
two regions. A recurrent question is the meaning of the title of the meddix and the
various adjectives, especially tuticus, by which it was usually qualified. The rest of
this chapter reviews scholarship in the field.
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