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

Beneventum, in the upper valleys of the rivers Calore and Tammaro. 104 The Caudini
lived around their main town, Caudium. 105 A fourth tribe, the Carracini, is mentioned
by Zonaras, Tacitus and Pliny the Elder. 106
They probably lived in the valley of the
river Sangro and in the surrounding mountains; their main settlements were Iuvanum
and Cluviae. In accounts of the Second Punic War the territories of the Hirpini and
the Caudini are clearly distinguished from Samnium. After the wars with Hannibal
ancient sources tend to apply the name Samnium to the lands and towns around
Bovianum, the capital of the Pentri tribe. 107
In 180 BC, the Romans settled 40,000
Ligurians in the ager Taurasinus, thereby separating the territories of the Pentri and
Hirpini.
The appearance of two further ethnic communities within the Samnite ethnic
conglomerate might not be incidental in the Hannibalic Wars. These wars may have
been a turning-point in the self-consciousness of the population of this territory. 108
The Pentri tribe could have taken advantage of the position they achieved by
remaining loyal to Rome during the wars, promoting and defining themselves as
safin-, `true Samnites' against other Samnite populations. A Latin inscription at
Aesernia dating from the second century BC confirms that the locals identified
themselves as Samnites to distinguish themselves from the colonists. 109 The ethnic
104 Ancient sources strongly emphasise the distinct characteristics of the Hirpini from the rest of the
Samnites: Livy 23.11.37,23.11.41,23.11.43,23.13.61,27.15; Cic. De divin. 1.79, De leg. agr.
3.8, Strabo 5.4.12, Sil. Ital. 8.569, App. B. C. 1.39.51, Vell. Pat. 2.16.68, Servius ad Aen. 11.
785, Polyb. 3.91.9. Their main settlement was Malventum (which the Romans changed to
Beneventum) Abellinum, Aeclanum, and Aequum Tuticum (whose name suggest that it was the seat
of a council). Compsa is attested on a helmet. The helmet is to be found in the Poldi Pezzoli Museum
in Milan. It bears two Oscan inscriptions in Greek script, ST Lu 37: '-OEQctav xaµrtvavav
tc'rartovTLvaa
2ov7t pEbLKLaL 7[o[-?. It has been suggested that the inscription refers to a
mercenary or allied contingent of Compsa, stationed at Metapontum during the 5`h century BC.
'05 Apart from their main settlement the towns of Telesia, Saticula, Caiatia, Trebula and Cubulteria
probably also belonged to the Caudini.
06 Zonaras 8.7.1 mentions a rebellion organized by a certain Lollius in 269 BC, Tac. Hist. 4.5;
Pliny. NH. 3.106.
107
Livy 22.13.1. Hannibal left the territories of the Hirpini and marched into Samnium.
108
Dench (1995) 210.
109 CIL 12 3201: Samnites inquolae. See also La Regina (1970-1) 452-3.
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