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

Rome and Naples. 577 One may doubt, however, whether Roman citizens were
living in
the ager Campanus at such an early date. Palaeopolis, probably the old town of Naples,
was mostly inhabited by the Cumaeans who had fled there following the occupation of
Cumae by the Samnites in the late fifth century BC. 578 Palaeopolis faced military
reprisals by the Romans. The Samnites installed a garrison at Naples with the
participation of two thousand soldiers from Nola and four thousand Samnites. The
Roman consul, L. Cornelius Lentulus, was informed of a levy proclaimed by the
Samnite magistrates in preparation to, help their ally, Palaeopolis, to meet the Roman
threat. 579 Livy 'says that reinforcements were on their way to Palaeopolis both from
Tarentum and from the Samnites. 580 The Samnite alliance, however, did not last very
long. Naples was internally divided, with the leading classes preferring the Roman
alliance, and the people preferring the Samnite alliance. The promised Samnite troops
failed to arrive and the Neapolitans endured a long, exhausting siege. Finally, the pro-
Roman group prevailed, the Nolans and the Samnites were forced to flee from Naples,
and the city was handed over to the Roman general Q. Publilius Philo 581
In these events Nola appears as a leading town of the region, closely allied to the
highland Samnites. Nola is not mentioned again until its capture by the Roman dictator
C. Poetelius in 313 BC when it presumably was-made an ally of Rome. 582 Abella is not
mentioned at all in this period. Certainly it was less important than Nola, but there is no
reason to interpret its absence in the narrative as evidence for its subordination to Nola.
We hear about Nola for the first time during the Second Punic War in 216 BC
when Livy mentions disagreement between the pro-Roman senate and the people
577
Livy 8.22.5.
578
Livy 8.22.5.
579
Livy 8.23.1-4.
sso
Livy 8.25.7-9.
581
Livy 8.26.3-6.
162