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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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supposed confederation the members <strong>of</strong> this family seem to have been freedmen <strong>of</strong> no<br />

political importance. 839 The common origins <strong>of</strong> an elite seem to be a weak argument <strong>for</strong><br />

the political organization <strong>of</strong> the supposed Nucerian League. It is true that the number <strong>of</strong><br />

the members <strong>of</strong> the gens Sittia was high in the coastal towns <strong>of</strong> the southern part <strong>of</strong> the<br />

Neapolitan bay, and Teutsch has collected more Sittii in Pompeii. 840 However, numerous<br />

members <strong>of</strong> this gens appear also at Rome, Ostia and Terracina, not <strong>of</strong> inferior status. 41<br />

Furthermore, all the inscriptions Beloch cited presumably date from the first and second<br />

centuries AD, that is from the period when the supposed League must<br />

have been<br />

dissolved <strong>for</strong> at least two centuries. Oscan gentilicia are <strong>of</strong>ten found in more than one<br />

political community. 842 The prominence <strong>of</strong> the Sittii in several towns <strong>of</strong> southern<br />

Campania does not imply that those towns <strong>for</strong>med a federation.<br />

The second argument in which Beloch mentions the gens Sittia is that <strong>of</strong> the so-<br />

called confederation <strong>of</strong> Cirta. The Nucerian P. Sittius, an entrepreneur and leader <strong>of</strong> a<br />

mercenary contingent he had collected in Spain and Italy, received part <strong>of</strong> the territory <strong>of</strong><br />

Massinissa from Caesar <strong>for</strong> his services to him, divided among his soldiers. 843 Beloch<br />

argued that Sittius founded colonies and drew up a constitution <strong>for</strong> the region similar to<br />

the arrangements <strong>of</strong> the Nucerian league, his homeland: the capital <strong>of</strong> the League was<br />

the Colonia Julia Juvenalis Honoris et Virtutis Cirta. Three colonies were subordinate to<br />

Cirta: Colonia Veneria Rusicade, Colonia Sarnensis Mileu and Colonia Minervia<br />

Chullu. 844 These colonies were known as the IIII Coloniae Cirtenses. Beloch claimed<br />

that the colonies were named after the patron deities <strong>of</strong> the three leading cities <strong>of</strong> the<br />

Nucerian confederation, that is Pompeii, Nuceria and Surrentum. He also suggested that<br />

839<br />

Beloch (1877) 286-9.<br />

840<br />

Teutsch (1962) 65.<br />

841<br />

Teutsch (1962) 65.<br />

842<br />

See sections 2.5,3.4 and 5.5.<br />

843<br />

App. Bell. Civ. 4.54.<br />

250

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