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

The descriptions of the political institutions of Capua in ancient sources,
particularly those of the senate and the popular assembly, seem to suggest that they
were concerned with the affairs of the city of Capua rather than of a federation of
communities.
3.3. Administrative institutions in the epigraphic evidence
The aim of this section is to see how the epigraphic evidence complements or alters
the general picture of the ancient literary sources about the administrative institutions
of Capua in the independent Samnite period of the city.
The only Oscan inscriptions of Capua come from a funerary context. They are
traditionally called iüvilas inscriptions after the word that occurs in most of them.
The inscriptions are dedications on behalf of individuals or genres, and advertise or
record sacrifices held during certain public or private holidays. Most of the
inscriptions come from the necropolis of fondo Patturelli, an estate outside the
eastern gate of Capua, south of the Appian way. 424 A smaller number seem to have
been found at a different location, fondo Tirone 425 This is another estate north of
Capua where it is thought there was another necropolis and a sanctuary. The
typology of the inscriptions from the fondo Tirone is the same as those of the fondo
Patturelli, but owing to the unclear circumstances of the discovery of the inscriptions
it is doubtful whether they came from the fondo Tirone at all 426
424
The owner of this land, Carlo Patturelli, discovered traces of an ancient sanctuary by chance in
1845. A monumental altar and a substantial body of tufa statues, terracotta antefixes and statues,
inscriptions etc. were found. Excavations began in 1873, but were not well documented, and most of
the finds were lost or destroyed. It soon became clear that the sanctuary was surrounded by several
altars and that it stood at the centre of a necropolis. This site is known as the fondo Patturelli, but no
traces of the necropolis and the sanctuary are visible today.
425 ST Cp 20, ST Cp 21, ST Cp 22, ST Cp 23, and ST Cp 24,
426 1 am grateful for this piece of information to Prof. Crawford (see his forthcoming article).
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