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

4.1. Introduction
Chapter 4. Cumae
This chapter examines the public institutions of Cumae and its relations to the
neighbouring cities. Ancient sources tell us that the Campani, the Samnite masters of
Capua, also took over Cumae, once a powerful Greek colony. The fact that the
Samnites conquered both cities in a short period of time has led scholars to believe,
following Sartori, that Cumae was one of the cities which formed part of a
confederation headed by Samnite Capua. 508 The aim of this chapter is to see if the
literary, archaeological and epigraphic evidence confirms the view, suggested in
section 3.5. above, that Cumae was independent from Capua.
4.2. The history and archaeology of
Samnite Cumae
Greek authors wrote abundantly about the public life and international politics of the
powerful colony of Cumae in the late sixth and fifth centuries BC, but literary
evidence becomes very scarce after the Samnite occupation of the city, probably
because Cumae ceased to play such an important role in the Greek world. We
therefore depend more heavily on archaeological material.
508
Sartori (1953) 17.
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