Italian Hegemony

Italian Hegemony

Ivory plaque from Palestrina probably dates to the first half of the third century BCE Evidence for appearance of Roman soldiers in this period from T. Cornell and J. Matthews, Atlas of the Roman World, pg. 37

Romans, Latins, and Common Enemies • Aftermath of Expulsion of Etruscan Monarchy • Battle at Lake Regillus: 496 BCE • Cassian Treaty (foedus Cassianum): mutual defensive alliance between Rome and all Latins based on equality: 493 BCE • Etruscans to the North • Siege of Veii: 406-396 BCE (10 years; Trojan War as model?) • “Hill Peoples”: Aequi (northeast); Volsci (southeast); Sabines (northeast): 500-350 BCE

Livy on the Ransom of Rome “Thereupon the Senate met, and instructed the tribunes of the soldiers to arrange the terms. Then, at a conference between Lucius Sulpicius the tribune and the Gallic chieftain Brennus, the affair was settled, and a thousand pounds of gold was agreed on as the price of a people that was destined presently to rule the nations. The transaction was a foul disgrace in itself, but an insult was added: the weights brought by the Gauls were dishonest, and on the tribune’s objecting, the insolent Gaul added his sword to the weight, and a saying intolerable to Roman ears was heard--Woe to the conquered!” Livy, 5.48.8-9

Gallic Catastrophe: 390-386 BCE • Battle at the Allia: • 10,000-15,000 Roman casualties • Vae victis! Rome ransomed • Recovery: The “Servian” wall encloses some 1,000 acres

Local and Distant Troubles • Latin towns assert independence (Tusculum, Praeneste, Tibur) • Rome reasserts authority • Compels Latin towns to rejoin Confederacy by 358 BCE • The Samnite Wars: Apennine “Hill People” move into Campania (Capua, Cumae)

Latin Wars of the Fourth CenturyBCE • Latin Rebellion in 343 BCE (note that this rebellion occurred at a time when Rome was preoccupied with events in the south = Samnite raids of the lowlands in Campania) • Rebellion crushed and Latin League dissolved in 338 BCE (with the aid of the Samnites, temporarily at peace with Rome) • Policy of Incorporation: municipium and civitas sine suffragio

Samnium “In the years immediately preceding 354 [the year of a Romano-Samnite non-aggression pact] both Romans and Samnites had been extending the radius of their influence. In the fifth century the Romans, with the cooperation of their allies, the Latins and Hernici, had repelled the various assailants of Latium: Etruscans, Sabines, Aequi, Volsci [cf. Polybius, 1.6]. In the fourth century they were busy rolling back the last-named, the most persistent and stubborn of all the non-Latin speaking intruders. The Samnites, for their part, had been using the device of the Sacred Spring from time immemorial to relieve the pressure of population on their own poor land by pouring into the lands of their neighbours. Thus, they had spilled out into Picenum, the Fretani country, Northern Apulia, Lucania, and Campania. In the fourth century their target was the area to the west of Samnium, where the valley of the River Liris beckoned.”“By the mid-fourth century…the valley of the Middle Liris was rapidly becoming the mecca towards which two powerful peoples were inflexibly headed.”E.T. Salmon, Samnium and the Samnites (Cambridge, 1967) pp. 189 and 191

Southwestern Gate at Saepinum from Salmon, Samnium and the Samnites

Roman Roads: link Roman and Latin sites. Movement into Liris valley a provocation to the Samnites?

Samnite Wars • Capua appeals to Rome for assistance in 343 BCE. DIVIDE AND CONQUER • First Samnite War: 343-341 BCE • Second Samnite War: 327-304 BCE • Provoked by Latin colonies in central Italy? • Rome builds the via Valeria across the peninsula and the via Appia to Capua (132 miles) • Third Samnite War: 298-290 BCE--Last gasp Samnite effort

“Conflict arose between them over an area on which they had not reached prior agreement. Northern Campania became the bone of contention: it was a fertile and populous region, and neither side could afford to let the other get control of it.”E.T. Salmon, Samnium and the Samnites (Cambridge, 1967) pg. 194

Blue = Latini; Red = Samnite; Caudine Forks marked (ca. 350 BCE)

Disaster at the Caudine Forks: 321 BCE “First the consuls, little better than half-naked, were sent under the yoke, then their subordinates were humbled, each in the order of his rank; and then, one after another, the several legions. The enemy under arms stood on either side, reviling them and mocking them; many they actually threatened with the sword, and some, whose resentment of the outrage showing too plainly in their faces gave their conquerors offence, they wounded or slew outright” Livy, 9.6.1-2

Battle at Sentinum in 295 BCE “This ‘battle of the nations’, as it has been called, settled the destiny of peninsular Italy. Years of hard fighting still lay ahead for Rome, but henceforth she could deal with her enemies one by one and she was more than a match for them singly.” Samnium and the Samnites, pg. 268

Bronze statuette of a Samnite warrior from Salmon, Samnium and the Samnites

A Patchwork ConfederationPolitical Statuses of Italian States • Latin Peoples all provide troops • civitas optimo iure: full Roman citizenship (Tusculum) • Independent allies with equal treaties (foedera aequa); mutual defense pacts (Tibur, Praeneste) • Half-way status (civitas sine suffragio) = Roman rights of legal contract (commercium) and intermarriage (conubium), but no vote. • Non-Latins = allies (socii); also provide troops (but some non-Latin peoples given municipal status) • All treaties bilateral--no state allowed to make an alliance with any state but Rome • Roman policy: support local aristocracies

Black = Roman/Latin territory Horizontals = Roman gains, 298-263 BCE Verticals = Roman allies in 298 BCE Dots = Roman allies, 298-263 BCE Cross-hatch = Annexation, 241-218 BCE from M. Grant, History of Rome, pg. 64

Extension of Roman Power • Roman Colonies: Strategic places along the Italian western coast • Strategic Latin Colonies in Central Italy (e.g. Fregellae, Interamna, Sora, Cales, Suesse Aurunca) • Some 50,000 square miles after 300 BCE • Key to following map: dark red = civitas optimo iure; red = civitas sine suffragio; lavender = Latin colonies; bright purple = old Latins and Hernici assimilated to Latins; yellow = socii

Italian Hegemony