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

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

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Nola, Naples and Cumae in 216 BC 589 According to Strabo, Pompeii functioned as a<br />

port <strong>for</strong> Nola, Nuceria and Acerrae, but the passage probably refers to his own day. 590<br />

Nola joined the Italic allies against Rome in the Social War and was<br />

who, in around 80 BC, established a veteran colony in its territory.<br />

besieged by Sulla,<br />

In conclusion, literary sources <strong>for</strong> the Samnite Wars and the Second Punic War are<br />

mainly concerned with Nola's relation with Rome. What comes through the literary<br />

evidence is Nola's unquestionable importance in the region, especially in the Second<br />

Punic War, when it accommodated a Roman garrison and provided a base <strong>for</strong> military<br />

operations against other Campanian settlements under the control <strong>of</strong> Hannibal. We<br />

hardly hear about Abella, except <strong>for</strong> its nuts, but it does not follow that it was because<br />

the town was subordinated to Nola. 591 Nothing can be gleaned from the sources about<br />

the extent <strong>of</strong> the territories <strong>of</strong> these cities and very little about their political<br />

organization.<br />

5.3. Coins<br />

Coins showing the name <strong>of</strong> Nola appeared at an early date. Some 170 didrachms survive<br />

which bear the city's name. 592 They are related through iconographic similarities to the<br />

more than 360 didrachms, found in scattered hoards in Campania, which bear variations<br />

<strong>of</strong> the legend Hyrina. 593 Both ethnics appear in the Oscan script, <strong>of</strong>ten mixed with Greek<br />

589<br />

Livy 23.15.3 - 6.<br />

590<br />

Strabo 5.4. S.<br />

59' Cato De Agr, 8.2.5; 133.2.4; Celsus De Agr. Fr. 30 line 8.<br />

592<br />

Rutter (1979) 60-80 the coins show the legend NQAAI )N<br />

593<br />

Legends (left to right) HVPIETES AS; YDINA; YDINA; YPINA; YPINAI; YDINAI; YIDINA;<br />

YDIANOE; YDNVA; VDNAI; VDINA; VDINAI; (right to left) ANIDY; VNIDY; ANIDY; NIDS;<br />

ANEDY; ANIPY; ANIDY; DNIDY; ANIDV; ANIDV; DNIDV;<br />

164

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