Samnium
Samnium(Italian:Sannio) is aLatinexonymfor a region ofSouthern Italyanciently inhabited by theSamnites.Their ownendonymswereSafinimfor the country (attested in one inscription and one coin legend) andSafineisfor thepeople.[1]The language of these endonyms and of the population was theOscan language.However, not all the Samnites spoke Oscan, and not all the Oscan-speakers lived in Samnium.
Ancient geographers were unable to relay a precise definition of Samnium's borders. Moreover, the areas it included vary depending on the time period considered.[2]The main configurations are the borders it had during thefloruitof the Oscan speakers, from about 600 BC to about 290 BC, when it was finally absorbed by theRoman Republic.
The original territory of Samnium should not be confused with the later territory of the same name. Rome's firstEmperor,Augustus,dividedItalyinto 11 regions.[3]Although these entities only served administrative purposes, and were identified with the sole numeral, by scholarly convention theRegio IVhas been dubbed "Samnium".Ancient Samnium had actually been divided into three of the Augustan regions.[4]
Etymology[edit]
Etymologically the name Samnium is generally recognized to be a form of the name of theSabines,who wereUmbrians.[5]From Safinim, Sabinus, Sabellus and Samnis anIndo-Europeanroot can be extracted, *sabh-, which becomes Sab- inLatino-Faliscanand Saf- inOsco-Umbrian:Sabini and *Safineis. The eponymous god of the Sabines, Sabus, seems to support this view. The Greek terms, Saunitai and Saunitis, remain outside the group. Nothing is known of their origin.
At some point in prehistory, a population speaking a common language extended over both Samnium andUmbria.Salmon conjectures that it was common Italic and puts forward a date of 600 BC, after which the common language began to separate into dialects. This date does not necessarily correspond to any historical or archaeological evidence; developing a synthetic view of the ethnology of proto-historic Italy is an incomplete and ongoing task.
The linguist,Julius Pokorny,carries the etymology somewhat further back. Conjecturing that the -a- was altered from an -o- during some prehistoric residence inIllyriahe derives the names from an o-grade extension *swo-bho- of an extended e-grade *swe-bho- of the possessive adjective, *s(e)we-, of the reflexive pronoun, *se-, "oneself" (the source of English self). The result is a set of Indo-European tribal names (if not the endonym of the Indo-Europeans): GermanicSuebiandSemnones,Suiones; CelticSenones;SlavicSerbsandSorbs;ItalicSabelli,Sabini,etc., as well as a large number of kinship terms. The general concept is "our own kith and kin," Pokorny's "von eigener Art," "Gesamtheit der eigenen Leute," "Liebe," "Sippegenossen," "Sippenangehörigen," and the like.[6]
Historical geography[edit]
Samnium mostly lay on theApenninearea; it was delimited byLatiumto the north, byLucaniato the south, byCampaniato the west, and byApuliato the east. The principal cities of the region wereBovaiamom,renamedBovianumbyLatins(today:Bojanoor Boiano) andMaleventum(MaloentoninOscan),[citation needed]which was later renamedBeneventumby theRomans(today:Benevento). For most of their history the Samnites were landlocked, but during a brief period they controlled parts of both coasts of theItalian peninsula.
The Samnites were composed of at least four tribes: thePentri(capital:Bovianum), theCaraceni(principal cities:Cluviae,the modernCasoli,andJuvanum,the ruins of which are spread betweenTorricella PelignaandMontenerodomo), theCaudini(capital:Caudium,todayMontesarchio) and theHirpini(main cities:Beneventum,Abellinum,Aquilonia). They may have later been joined by theFrentani(capitalLarinum,the modernLarino).
History[edit]
The earliest written record of the people is a treaty with the Romans from 354 BC, which set their border at theLiris River.Shortly thereafter theSamnite Warsbroke out; they won an important battle against the Roman army in 321 BC, and theirimperiumreached its peak in 316 BC after further gains from the Romans. By 290 BC, the Romans were able to break the Samnites' power after some hard-fought battles. The Samnites were one of the Italian peoples that allied with KingPyrrhus of Epirusduring thePyrrhic War.After Pyrrhus left forSicily,the Romans invaded Samnium and were crushed at theBattle of the Cranita hills,but after the defeat of Pyrrhus, the Samnites could not resist on their own and surrendered to Rome. Some of the Samnites joined and aidedHannibalduring theSecond Punic War,but most stayed loyal. The Samnites and several other Italic people rebelled against Rome and started theSocial War (91–87 BC),after Romans refused to grant them Roman Citizenship. The war lasted almost three years, and resulted in a Roman victory. However, Samnites and other Italic tribes were granted Roman citizenship, to avoid another war. The Samnites supported thePopularesin thecivil waragainstLucius Cornelius Sulla,but unfortunately for them, Sulla ended up winning the war and was declared the dictator of Rome. Sulla ordered all those who went against him to be punished. Thousands of people in Rome and all over Italy were brutally hunted down and killed. Samnites, who were one of the most prominent supporters of the Populares, were punished so severely that it was recorded "some of their cities have now dwindled into villages, some indeed being entirely deserted." Samnites did not play any prominent role in history after this, and they eventually became Latinized and assimilated into the Roman World[7][8]
Prominent Samnites[edit]
Rulers of the Samnites[edit]
- Gaius Pontiusca. 320s BC
- Gellius Egnatiusca. 296 BC
Uprising against Sulla[edit]
- Gaius Papius Mutilus90–89 with:
- Pontius Telesinus– Samnite commander to Papius
Roman citizens[edit]
- Pontius Pilate– the 5thPrefectof theRomanprovince ofJudaeafrom AD 26–36.
Catholic Popes[edit]
See also[edit]
- Samnites
- Samnite Wars
- Hirpinia,a sub-region of Samnium
Notes[edit]
- ^Salmon 1967,p. 28.
- ^Salmon 1967,p. 23. "The boundaries of Samnium, as of any other country, varied at different times in its history. No ancient writer has left a precise and accurate description of them."
- ^Listed in theDescriptio Italiae,lost to moderns, but serving as the basis ofPliny the Elder's description of Italy.
- ^IV, II ( "Apulia et Calabria"), and I ("Latium et Campania").
- ^Salmon 1967,p. 29.
- ^Pokorny 1959,pp. 882–884 under se.
- ^ Strabo,Geography,Book V, Section 4.11.
- ^Edward Togo Salmon (1967).Samnium and the Samnites.Cambridge University Press. p. 30.ISBN978-0-521-06185-8.
- ^http:// newadvent.org/cathen/06031a.htmPope St. Felix IV
Bibliography[edit]
- Pokorny, Julius(2005) [1959].Indogermanisches etymologisches Woerterbuch.Leiden: Leiden University Indo-European Etymological Dictiopnary (IEED) Project. Archived fromthe originalon 2006-09-27.
- Salmon, ET (1967).Samnium and the Samnites.London: Cambridge University Press.
- Grossmann, Lukas,Roms Samnitenkriege: historische und historiographische Untersuchungen zu den Jahren 327–290 v. Chr.(Düsseldorf, Wellem Verlag, 2009) (Reihe Geschichte, 1).
- Ross Cowan,Roman Conquests: Italy(Barnsley, 2009).
External links[edit]
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