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

Etruscan gens Ane. 486 Heurgon, citing Schulze, gave a list of other family names of
likely Etruscan origin: Casellius, Helvius, Loesius, Nasennius, Pettius and
Saedius 487 This list suggests that the original Etruscan leaders of Capua probably
continued to be part of the social and political elite even after the conquest of the city
by the Samnites.
The study of the Capuan elite suggests that it was restricted and hereditary,
but not closed. We have evidence for names of Etruscan origin, which implies that
Etruscan families and their descendants were not excluded from taking part in the
Capuan political life in the Samnite period. Bearers of Capuan elite family names are
found in other Campanian cities and both literary and epigraphic evidence suggests
that the leading families of Capua also had links with Rome.
3.5. Conclusions: The supposed Campanian confederation
The only model for the organization of the Campanian confederation is
Beloch's thesis that the federal magistrate was the meddix tuticus and the meddices
without qualifying adjective were the representatives of the participating cities of the
league. 488 This model was rejected by Rosenberg, who argued that the meddix tuticus
was the local magistrate of the city of Capua. 489 The thesis of the existence of the so-
called Campanian confederation is still the accepted view, but historians do not
explain its organization and institutions.
ass Heurgon (1942) 105.
486 Buonamici (1932) 258.
487 Heurgon (1942) 111-2. Casellius: ST Cp 25, Helvius: ST Cp 27 and 28, Loesius: meddix of 211
BC, Nasennius: ST Cp 19, Pettius: meddix ST Cp 29 and 30, Saedius: ST Cp 9.
488
Beloch (1877) 295-6.
489
Rosenberg (1913) 18.
136