The Capture of Neapolis took place during the Second Samnite War in 327 BC, when the Romans seized the city of Neapolis from the Samnites, an ancient Italic people who lived in Samnium. The city's fall is attributed to treachery committed by some of its citizens.
A treaty between the Romans and the Samnites in 354 BC set a southern border with Samnium, which ran from the middle of the Liris River valley to southern Campania.
In 334 BC, the Romans advanced into the Liris valley which the Samnites found that to be an unacceptable intrusion by Rome, but were too preoccupied to respond at the time [1] as they were involved in a conflict with the Greek colony of Tarentum and its ally, Alexander of Epirus. [2]
In 328 BC the Romans established a colony at Fregellae on the Liris River and another at Cales. The Romans then confronted the Samnites in the Liris River valley, sparking the Second Samnite War, or Great Samnite War (326–304 BC), which would last for over twenty years. [3]
The Romans had adopted a policy of supporting the more civilized and peaceful low-landers against their enemies. This led to the incorporation of the cities of northern Campania into the Roman state. The Samnites did not originally see this Roman annexation as a hostile act. [4] However, this contributed to Roman forays into Liris River valley and eventually led to a protracted struggle between Rome and Samnium. This situation was despite the Romans using Samnite forces to help in subduing the Latins in a previous war. Rome's incursion into Samnite territory in 328 BC aggravated the situation. [5]
In trying to capture Neapolis, the Romans tried both a blockade and assault but without success. So they resorted to treachery. The city was already shifting; citizens no longer sided with the Samnites. Citizens hatched a plot to allow the Roman forces entry into the city under the cover of night. [6] They let a Roman contingent in through a postern gate. [7] The Samnite forces were at the port awaiting reinforcements and were ambushed by the Roman force. Caught by surprise, the Samnites were defeated and Neapolis fell to Rome. The city was treated favourably by the Romans for switching sides during the conflict.
The capture of Neapolis was just one of the numerous conflicts during a war that was to last for over 20 years and exact tremendous sacrifices from both sides. [8]
The Appian Way is one of the earliest and strategically most important Roman roads of the ancient republic. It connected Rome to Brindisi, in southeast Italy. Its importance is indicated by its common name, recorded by Statius:
Appia longarum... regina viarum
"the Appian Way the queen of the long roads"
The Osci, were an Italic people of Campania and Latium adiectum during Roman times. They spoke the Oscan language, also spoken by the Samnites of Southern Italy. Although the language of the Samnites was called Oscan, the Samnites were never referred to as Osci, nor were the Osci called Samnites.
The First, Second, and Third Samnite Wars were fought between the Roman Republic and the Samnites, who lived on a stretch of the Apennine Mountains south of Rome and north of the Lucanians.
Samnium is a Latin exonym for a region of Southern Italy anciently inhabited by the Samnites. Their own endonyms were Safinim for the country and Safineis for the people. The language of these endonyms and of the population was the Oscan language. However, not all the Samnites spoke Oscan, and not all the Oscan-speakers lived in Samnium.
Lucius Cornelius Scipio Barbatus was one of the two elected Roman consuls in 298 BC. He led the Roman army to victory against the Etruscans near Volterra. A member of the noble Roman family of Scipiones, he was the father of Lucius Cornelius Scipio and Gnaeus Cornelius Scipio Asina and great-grandfather of Scipio Africanus.
The Samnites were an ancient Italic people who lived in Samnium in south-central Italy. They became involved in several wars with the Roman Republic until the 1st century BC.
The Battle of Sentinum was the decisive battle of the Third Samnite War, fought in 295 BC near Sentinum, in which the Romans were able to overcome a formidable coalition of Samnites, Etruscans, and Umbrians and Senone Gauls. The Romans won a decisive victory which broke up the tribal coalition and paved the way for the Romans' complete victory over the Samnites. The Romans involved in the battle of Sentinum were commanded by consuls Publius Decius Mus and Quintus Fabius Maximus Rullianus.
The Battle of Mount Gaurus, 343 BC, was the first battle of the First Samnite War and also the first battle fought between the Roman Republic and the Samnites. The battle is described by the Roman historian Livy as part of Book Seven of his history of Rome, Ab Urbe Condita where he narrates how the Roman consul Marcus Valerius Corvus won a hard-fought battle against the Samnites at Mount Gaurus, near Cumae, in Campania. Modern historians however believe that most, if not all, of the detail in Livy's description has been invented by him or his sources.
Lucius Papirius Mugillanus Cursor was a celebrated politician and general of the early Roman Republic, who was five times consul, three times magister equitum, and twice dictator. He was the most important Roman commander during the Second Samnite War, during which he received three triumphs.
The Battle of Lautulae was a battle fought in 315 BC during the Second Samnite War, opposing the Roman Republic and the Samnites, who defeated the Romans.
The Hirpini were an ancient Samnite tribe of Southern Italy. While generally regarded as having been Samnites, sometimes they are treated as a distinct and independent nation. They inhabited the southern portion of Samnium, in the more extensive sense of that name, roughly the area now known as Irpinia from their name—a mountainous region bordering on Basilicata towards the south, on Apulia to the east, and on Campania towards the west. No marked natural boundary separated them from these neighboring nations, but they occupied the lofty masses and groups of the central Apennines, while the plains on each side, and the lower ranges that bounded them, belonged to their more fortunate neighbors. The mountain basin formed by the three tributaries of the Vulturnus —the Tamarus, Calor, and Sabatus, which, with their valleys, unite near Beneventum, surrounded on all sides by lofty and rugged ranges of mountains—is the center and heart of their territory. They occupied the Daunian Mountains to the north, while its more southern portion comprised the upper valley of the Aufidus and the lofty group of mountains where that river takes its rise.
The (Second) Latin War was a conflict between the Roman Republic and its neighbors, the Latin peoples of ancient Italy. It ended in the dissolution of the Latin League and incorporation of its territory into the Roman sphere of influence, with the Latins gaining partial rights and varying levels of citizenship.
The Caudini were a Samnite tribe that lived among the mountains ringing Campania and in the valleys of the Isclero and Volturnus rivers. Their capital was at Caudium, but it seems certain that the appellation was not confined to the citizens of Caudium and its immediate territory.
Casalattico is a comune (municipality) in the Province of Frosinone in the Italian region of Lazio. The village is located about 110 kilometres (68 mi) southeast of Rome and about 30 kilometres (19 mi) east of Frosinone.
The Battle of Suessula was the third and last battle between the Samnites and the Roman Republic in 343 BC, the first year of the First Samnite War. According to the Augustan historian Livy, the Samnites gathered their army at Suessula, at the eastern edge of Campania. The Roman consul Marcus Valerius Corvus took his army by forced marches to Suessula. When the Samnites had to scatter their army to forage for food, Valerius seized the opportunity to capture the Samnite camp and then rout the Samnite foragers. Modern historians believe that details of the battle were entirely invented by Livy and his annalistic sources, and the battle's historicity has also been questioned.
The military campaigns of the Samnite Wars were an important stage in Roman expansion in the Italian Peninsula.
The Roman expansion in Italy covers a series of conflicts in which Rome grew from being a small Italian city-state to be the ruler of the Italian peninsula. Roman tradition attributes to the Roman kings the first war against the Sabines and the first conquests around the Alban Hills and down to the coast of Latium. The birth of the Roman Republic after the overthrow of the Etruscan monarch of Rome in 509 BC began a series of major wars between the Romans and the Etruscans. In 390 BC, Gauls from the north of Italy sacked Rome. In the second half of the 4th century BC Rome clashed repeatedly with the Samnites, a powerful tribal coalition of the Apennine region. By the end of these wars, Rome had become the most powerful state in central Italy and began to expand to the north and to the south. The last threat to Roman hegemony came during the Pyrrhic war when Tarentum enlisted the aid of the Greek king Pyrrhus of Epirus to campaign in the South of Italy. Resistance in Etruria was finally crushed in 265-264 BC, the same year the First Punic War began and brought Roman forces outside of the peninsula for the first time.
The Battle of Saticula, 343 BC, was the second of three battles described by the Roman historian Livy, in Book Seven of his history of Rome, Ab Urbe Condita, as taking place in the first year of the First Samnite War. According to Livy's extensive description, the Roman commander, the consul Aulus Cornelius Cossus was marching from Saticula when he was almost trapped by a Samnite army in a mountain pass. His army was only saved because one of his military tribunes, Publius Decius Mus, led a small group of men to seize a hilltop, distracting the Samnites and allowing the consul to escape. During the night Decius and his men were themselves able to escape. The next day the reunited Romans attacked the Samnites and completely routed them. Several other ancient authors also mention Decius' heroic acts. Modern historians are however sceptical of the historical accuracy of Livy's account, and have in particular noted the similarities with how a military tribune is said to have saved Roman army in 258 BC during the First Punic War.
The Sidicini were one of the Italic peoples of ancient Italy. Their territory extended northward from their capital, Teanum Sidicinum, along the valley of the Liri river up to Fregellae, covering around 3,000 km2 in total. They were neighbors of the Samnites and Campanians, and allies of the Ausones and Aurunci. Their language was a part of the Osco-Umbrian linguistic family.
Quintus Publilius Philo was a Roman politician who lived during the 4th century BC. His birth date is not provided by extant sources, however, a reasonable estimate is about 365 BC, since he first became consul in 339 BC at a time when consuls could be elected in their twenties. His Greek cognomen ‘Philo’ was unique to his family.