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

earlier Greek agora, the later forum, became the centre of religious activity and
public life in the Samnite period. An inscription reveals that the large Doric
peripteral temple, built during the third century BC at the upper end of the forum,
was dedicated to Jupiter Flagius. 523 It was turned into the temple of the Capitoline
triad in Sullan times. The cult of Jupiter Flagius has also been noted at Capua on a
terracotta stela 524 The porticoed temple on the south side of the forum, built in the
Augustan period, reveals traces of constructions underneath, identified as public
buildings dating from the third century BC. 525
In the period between the second half of the fourth century and the mid-third
century BC, Cumae became a centre for the production of ceramic wares. Vases
produced at Cumae imitate late Attic red-figure models in their decoration. These
vases are extensively found in Cumaean tombs. 526 Warriors dressed in typically
Samnite armour are frequent motifs on these vases. Similar representations are also
found in tomb paintings at Capua, Naples and Paestum of the same period. It is
evident that these ceramics were intended for the use of the local market.
Cumae hardly ever appears in literary sources after the Samnite conquest.
When a plague broke out at Rome in 412/1 BC, Livy says that the Romans attempted
to purchase corn from Campania, but `the Samnites who held Capua and Cumae
insolently refused to permit envoys to trade with them'. 527 This passage is the only
possible indication of a relationship between the two cities, but it can
be interpreted
as an identical decision taken by two communities inhabited by the same people.
521 D'Onofrio (2002) 136-42.
522 Fratta (2002) 31-2.
523 Johannowsky (1959) 972. McKay (2004) 96 however argues that the temple was built in the period
between 400 and 380.
524 ST Cp 25. dedications for Jupiter Flagius or in Latin Fulgurius were found scattered in Italy in the
imperial period: lupiter Fulgurius Tonans in CIL XI 4172 (Interamna), lupiter Fulgurius Fulmen in IL
XII 1807 (Vienne).
525 McKay (2004) 96.
526 Gabrici (1913) 717.
146