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

were established in the city, but there is no positive evidence between the fourth and
third centuries that Cumae was subordinated to Capua. A passage from the time of
the Second Punic war, however, is worthy of some attention. Livy mentions that the
Cainpani held regular religious festivals in the sanctuary at Hamae, three miles from
Cumae. 491 The two communities probably celebrated common cults in the sanctuary
and formed some kind of religious association, but Livy's description of the events
that follow does not imply political ties between the two. In the course of the
Hannibalic War Livy says the Capuans invited the senate of Cumae to Hamae for a
meeting, with the intent of taking them hostage. The Cumaeans, however, informed
the Romans and the Capuan plans fell through. This passage does not seem to
suggest that regular meetings of the two communities were held at the sanctuary, and
even less, that it was a federal council formed by the representatives of the two
communities.
The cities and towns of the supposed league seem to have reacted to
Hannibal's presence in different ways: Capua, Atella and Calatia joined Hannibal,
while other communities like Puteoli, Acerra, Suessula, Casilinum and Cumae
remained loyal to the Romans, although we do not know anything about Voltumum
and Literrum. Capua's relations to Calatia and Atella, are more problematic. In the
list of communities that revolted from Rome during the Hannibalic Wars, the
Atellani and the Calatini appear separately from the Campani. 492 Capua surrendered
first, then Atella and Calatia 493
It is certainly true that Livy always mentions Capua,
Atella and Calatia together. Occasionally, he adds the otherwise unattested
Sabatinum when he refers to their punishment by Rome after the war, but the fact
491
Livy 23.35.
492 Livy 22.61.11: Now these are the peoples that revolted: the Campanians, the Atellani, the
Calatini, the Hirpini, a part of the Apulians, all the Samnites but the Pentri, all the Bruttii etc.
493
Livy 26.26.5.
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