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

BC, after the final defeat of the Latins at Pedum. Both affected Capua. Livy says that
1600 Campanian equites were granted Roman citizenship as a reward and their
fellow citizens were compelled to pay a tax or levy (vectigal) to them. 362 Livy
suggests that all the inhabitants of Capua were given Roman citizenship without
suffrage in the second settlement 363 This is confirmed by other ancient sources and
is accepted by historians, although the earlier reward to the 1600 cavalrymen has
caused debates among scholars. 364 The end of the Latin Wars left Capua with a blend
of obligations to and benefits from Rome: it became a socius of Rome, lost some of
its lands and was obliged to provide Rome with soldiers. The citizenship without a
vote, however, allowed the right of commerce and intermarriage with Romans, while
the political and legal institutions of Capua were maintained and permitted to
function.
The last important change in Capua's position occurred at the end of the Second
Punic War. After the battle of Cannae, in 216 BC, Capua joined Hannibal's side,
because they thought Hannibal could win and in order to evade its growing military
obligation towards Rome 365
It is now accepted that a second phase of the Capuan coinage can be linked to this
period. 366 Numerous bronze and some gold and silver coins
have been found bearing
the legend KAPV, clearly referring to Capua. The cities of Atella and Calatia also
362 Livy mentions that the grant of citizenship and the regular payment to the equites were recorded on
a bronze tablet placed in the Temple of Castor and Pollux, protectors of cavalrymen, in the Forum
Romanum: Livy 8.11.16.
363 Livy S. 11.16; Livy 8.14.10.
364 Frederiksen (1984) 191-8 points out that by the time of the Punic wars the equites had only the
same rights as the rest of the Capuans and there is not further mention of the vectigal. Frederiksen
therefore concludes that the 1600 cavalrymen were honoured with personal grants of citizenship and a
one-off gift. Sherwin-White (1973) 40 raises that possibility that they were granted the right to Roman
citizenship by migrating to Rome.
365 Livy 23.7.1-2.
366 Rutter (2001) nr. 479-510.
106