Samnium

Coordinates: 41°10′10″N 14°14′10″E / 41.16944°N 14.23611°E / 41.16944; 14.23611
Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
For other uses, see Samnite (disambiguation).
Map of ancient Samnium

Samnium (

endonyms were Safinim for the country (attested in one inscription and one coin legend) and Safineis for the people.[1] 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.

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 the floruit of the Oscan speakers, from about 600 BC to about 290 BC, when it was finally absorbed by the Roman Republic.

The original territory of Samnium should not be confused with the later territory of the same name. Rome's first

Emperor, Augustus, divided Italy into 11 regions.[3] Although these entities only served administrative purposes, and were identified with the sole numeral, by scholarly convention the Regio IV has been dubbed "Samnium". Ancient Samnium had actually been divided into three of the Augustan regions.[4]

Etymology

Etymologically the name Samnium is generally recognized to be a form of the name of the

Osco-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 and Umbria. 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,

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

Samnite soldiers, from a tomb frieze in Nola, Campania, 4th century BC.

Samnium mostly lay on the

Italian peninsula
.

The Samnites were composed of at least four tribes: the

Abellinum, Aquilonia). They may have later been joined by the Frentani (capital Larinum, the modern Larino
).

History

The earliest written record of the people is a treaty with the Romans from 354 BC, which set their border at the

Lucius 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]

Italy in 400 BC. The Samnitic League (dark green) at its peak, including also the Frentani tribe on the Adriatic Sea as a full member and controlling parts of both coasts of the Italian peninsula.

Prominent Samnites

Rulers of the Samnites

Uprising against Sulla

Roman citizens

  • Judaea
    from AD 26–36.

Catholic Popes

See also

Notes

  1. ^ Salmon 1967, p. 28.
  2. ^ 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."
  3. ^ Listed in the Descriptio Italiae, lost to moderns, but serving as the basis of Pliny the Elder's description of Italy.
  4. ^ IV, II ("Apulia et Calabria"), and I ("Latium et Campania").
  5. ^ Salmon 1967, p. 29.
  6. ^ Pokorny 1959, pp. 882–884 under se.
  7. ^ Strabo, Geography, Book V, Section 4.11.
  8. ISBN 978-0-521-06185-8
    .
  9. ^ http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/06031a.htm Pope St. Felix IV

Bibliography

Wikisource has the text of the 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica article "Samnites".
  • Pokorny, Julius (2005) [1959]. Indogermanisches etymologisches Woerterbuch. Leiden: Leiden University Indo-European Etymological Dictiopnary (IEED) Project. Archived from the original on 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

41°10′10″N 14°14′10″E / 41.16944°N 14.23611°E / 41.16944; 14.23611

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