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

Aesernia, a Latin colony, and Aufidena, probably a praefectura, became regional
centres. The communication lines and transhumance trails certainly contributed to
the emergence of these centres. Literary sources mention Bovianum and Saepinum as
wealthy and populous during the Samnite Wars, and archaeology attests considerable
urbanisation at Saepinum in the second century BC. We know little about Terventum
and Fagifulae.
The building of sanctuaries also intensified during the second century BC.
Three waves of constructing sanctuaries are known before the Social War. The
architecture and decoration of these sanctuaries shows closer relations to temples
found in Campania and the Greek world: they do not suggest Roman influence.
Temples, however, more often than not are associated with towns.
2.4. Administrative institutions
2.4.1. Touta and pagi
A study of the administrative institutions of the Samnite heartland between the fourth
and first centuries BC is not without its difficulties. The most significant problems
are the sheer amount of evidence and the ambiguity of administrative terminology.
This section discusses the institutions of the touta and the meddix tuticus and other
offices as attested in the epigraphic and numismatic evidence. All the Oscan
inscriptions from the region date from the period between the Second Punic War and
the Social War.
219
Capini, Campochiaro, in Franchi dell'Orto-La Regina (1978) 440.
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