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

that he had captured Taurasia, Cisauna (in? ) Samnium and the whole of
Lucania. 91
Scipio Barbatus, who was consul in 298 BC, probably died about twenty years later,
but La Regina has argued that the inscription as we have it was made after the death
of his son, L. Cornelius L. f. Cn. n. Scipio, consul of 259, in around 230 BC,
although Coarelli dates it to the early second century BC. 92 Bovianum appears to
have been captured twice more by the Romans, and later Aufidena, Aquilonia and
Saepinum were also taken. 93 A new wave of hostilities arose with the arrival of
Pyrrhus in Italy. The eventual Samnite defeat was reinforced by the establishment of
Roman colonies at Beneventum (268 BC) and Aesernia (263 BC), which involved a
loss of land to the Latin colonies and the strengthening of the military presence.
Sources give us very little direct information about the political structure of the
highland Samnites. The mention of the Pentri implies that the Samnites had other
tribal units as well. Furthermore, Livy occasionally refers to Samnitium populi 94
Salmon, mentioned above, identified the Samnitium populi with the four known
Samnite tribes. The word, however, is ambivalent as it can mean both an urban
centred community and a larger political unit including several units with urban
bases. Thus, the expression Samnitium populi could well denote Samnite tribes but
also autonomous urban communities. In the accounts of the Samnite Wars, ancient
sources provide us with very little information about Samnite tribal units: only the
name of the Pentri appears, other tribal names emerge only in the descriptions of
later historical events, mainly the Punic Wars, as will be mentioned in section 2.2.3.
90 Livy 9.31.4.
91 CIL 12 7, p. 377-8. Patterson in his article of (1985a) 185-99 excluded the possibility that the
expression Samnio in the text was an accusative sing. without the final `d', thus confirming that the
term refers to a region.
92 La Regina (1968) 173-5, Coarelli (1972) 89-90.
93 Bovianum: 9.44.14 (305 BC); Bovianum and Aquilonia 10.12.9 (298 BC); 10.44.5 (293 BC);
Saepinum 10.45.12-14 (293 BC)
94 Populus: Livy 7.31.7,8.2.3,9.11.2. Populi: 9.20.1,10.14.9.
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