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

The use of the ethnic Campanus remains ambiguous: in ancient sources it can
refer to the inhabitants of the city of Capua and its civic territory, but sources
narrating wars often imply that the ethnic denoted those who belonged to a larger
political or military association. It also denoted the inhabitants of the region called
Campania490. It is usually agreed that the coins dating from the late fourth century
with the legends KAMIIANO, KAIIIZANOE, KAIZIiANOIM and
KAMIIANOE, and the coins of the Hannibalic War with the legend KAIIV were
minted by the Capuan civic community. It is also the accepted view that the meddix
tuticus Campanus of the inscriptions was the local, civic magistrate of Capua. On
balance, I would conclude that the ethnic probably denoted those who lived at Capua
and in its territory. The territory of the city of Capua was much larger than that of
any other urban community in Campania. It is also apparent that within the ager
Campanus, in spite of its extent and fertility, the only other larger settlement that
emerged was Atella. This supports the view that the area formed one administrative
unit directly under Capua's control.
The senate often appears in sources concerning Capuan affairs. It seems,
however, that this council was a local institution, whose members, the Capuan
aristocracy, lived in the city. Livy, Cicero, and Diodorus Siculus mention the
existence of an assembly. Other Samnite cities had two administrative bodies, like
Pompeii, and therefore it is reasonable to conclude that this was the local popular
assembly. Neither Livy nor Dionysius of Halicarnassus mention any federal council
at Capua with delegated members from states of the so-called league.
It is not plausible that following the Samnite occupation, Cumae became part
of the Capuan state, even for a short period of time. Samnite political institutions
490 See Section 3.2.2.
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