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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

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

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Out <strong>of</strong> the three gens names <strong>of</strong> the Nolan meddices degetasii <strong>of</strong> inscriptions ST<br />

Cm 6 and 7 only the gens Gavia is attested in other Oscan-speaking communities: it<br />

appears in the Punta della Campanella inscription, on a bronze curse tablet from Capua<br />

and painted on a fragment <strong>of</strong> an amphora found in Fagifulae. 653 The gens Herennia<br />

appears only once, in Pompeii, whereas the gens Mulcia is 654<br />

unattested elsewhere.<br />

The names <strong>of</strong> magistrates in the Cippus Abellanus are also suggestive. The gens<br />

Vestiricina appears in both Abellan inscriptions and the same man is attested in two<br />

inscriptions out <strong>of</strong> three. 655<br />

It may be sheer chance, or perhaps because his family was<br />

careful to preserve its inscriptions.<br />

In conclusion, a substantial part <strong>of</strong> the genies attested at Nola appear elsewhere in<br />

Campania and Samnium, which confirms the picture <strong>of</strong> a regional elite suggested on the<br />

basis <strong>of</strong> Capuan inscriptions.<br />

5.6. Conclusions<br />

The extant literary accounts <strong>of</strong> the Samnite Wars and the Second Punic War,<br />

concentrate on the role <strong>of</strong> Nola. Very little is said about Abella, but it does not follow<br />

that it was subordinate to Nola. Nola was among several Campanian communities which<br />

had Naples mint coins <strong>for</strong> them. The facts that the Nolan coinage was produced <strong>for</strong> a<br />

short period and was inferior in size to the coinage <strong>of</strong> Hyrina makes it implausible that<br />

Nola issued coins to provide money <strong>for</strong> a confederation <strong>of</strong> communities that it headed. It<br />

653<br />

ST Cm 2, Cp 36, Sa 44.<br />

654 ST Po 41, ma(mercus) herenni IIII n(erü).<br />

655 ST Cm 3 and Cm 8.<br />

184

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