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

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

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

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Samnites. 347 Dionysius's passage, an imaginative speech by Roman soldiers<br />

stationed in Capua during the Samnite wars, <strong>of</strong>fers a similar picture: the Campani,<br />

guests <strong>of</strong> the Etruscans, betrayed their hosts, slew the men <strong>of</strong> the city and took their<br />

wives, houses, cities and lands. 348 As background we could imagine the migration <strong>of</strong><br />

small groups <strong>of</strong> Samnites from the Central Apennines, who were accepted into the<br />

Capuan urban community or settled in Capuan territory, and lived together with or<br />

under the dominant Etruscan element <strong>for</strong> a certain period <strong>of</strong> time, until they became<br />

numerous enough to take control, whether peacefully or by <strong>for</strong>ce. A terminus ante<br />

quern is provided by the agreement <strong>of</strong> the ancient sources that in 421/0 BC the<br />

Samnite Campani attacked Curnae with a strong army. 349 The city was looted, the<br />

citizens were reduced into slavery, and many were killed.<br />

The use <strong>of</strong> the word Cainpanus in Greek and Latin sources is complex. First,<br />

the substantive (and hence adjective) Campanus in the overwhelming majority <strong>of</strong> the<br />

ancient sources refers to the inhabitants <strong>of</strong> the city <strong>of</strong> Capua and its civic territory,<br />

the ager Campanus. 350 Other cities <strong>of</strong> the region, Naples, Nola and Nuceria, were<br />

independent communities and the substantive did not apply to them. There is a strong<br />

relation between the name <strong>of</strong> Capua and the substantive Campanus: coins struck<br />

between 415 and 405 BC show the legends KAMIIANO, KAIIIIANOE,<br />

KAIIIIANOI and KAMIIANOE, while those minted during the Second Punic War<br />

346<br />

Diod. Sic. 12.31.1.<br />

347<br />

Livy 4.37.1.<br />

348<br />

Dion. Hal. 15.3.4.<br />

349<br />

Livy 4.44.12; Dion. Hal. 12.76.4.<br />

350 Livy 7.30.6: `We Campanians, ..., are inferior neither in the splendour <strong>of</strong> our city, nor yet in the<br />

fertility <strong>of</strong> our soil, to any people.. '; 7.30.19,7.31.11; and numerous other examples, Vell. Pat. 1.1.<br />

14. and Val. Max. 5.1.5. The passage in Diod. Sic. (12.31.1, studied later) which mentions the<br />

foundation <strong>of</strong> the `Campani nation' clearly refers to the city <strong>of</strong> Capua.. Strabo also uses the ethnic in<br />

the same way: Strabo 5.4.13. For a similar argument see Rutter (1971) 55-61, especially 59-61.<br />

102

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