The Caudini were a
Samnite tribe that lived among the mountains ringing
Campania
Campania (, also , , , ) is an administrative Regions of Italy, region of Italy; most of it is in the south-western portion of the Italian peninsula (with the Tyrrhenian Sea to its west), but it also includes the small Phlegraean Islands and the i ...
and in the valleys of the
Isclero
The Isclero is a stream in Campania, southern Italy. Its sources is formed by confluence of the Varco, Cola and Querci torrents; it then flows in the Valle Caudina, where it receives the waters of the Tesa and Faenza, and then continues running in ...
and
Volturnus
The VolturnUS is a floating concrete structure that supports a wind turbine, designed by University of Maine Advanced Structures and Composites Center and deployed by DeepCwind Consortium in 2013. The VolturnUS can support wind turbines in water ...
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.
Description
Livy
Titus Livius (; 59 BC – AD 17), known in English as Livy ( ), was a Ancient Rome, Roman historian. He wrote a monumental history of Rome and the Roman people, titled , covering the period from the earliest legends of Rome before the traditiona ...
speaks in more than one passage of the Caudini as a tribe or people, in the same terms as of the
Hirpini
The Hirpini (Latin: ') 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 ...
, and Niebuhr supposed them to have been one of the four tribes comprising the Samnite confederacy. As the most western of the Samnite groups, they were the Samnite tribe most affected by the neighbouring Greeks of Campania. Together with the Hirpini,
Pentri
The Pentri (Greek: ) were a tribe of the Samnites, and apparently one of the most important of the subdivisions of that nation. According to Salmon, their name comes from the Celtic pen- .E.T.Salmon, ''Il Sannio ed i Sanniti'', Einaudi, Torino 1995 ...
, and Carceni tribes, the Caudini people were described as rustic, thriving on an agrarian economy mainly as ''massari'' (peasant farmers) and ''pecorari'' (herdsmen and shepherds).
The extent of their territory is unclear. The ancient poet
Gratius Faliscus (''Cyneget.'' 509) called the great mountain mass of the
Taburnus
Taburno Camposauro is a massif located in the Apennines, to the west of Benevento, in the Campania region of Southern Italy. Its highest peak is the Taburno, at 1,393 m. It is composed of two groups of calcareous mountains separated by a p ...
the "Caudinus Taburnus", and this must have been at the center of their territory. It probably joined that of the Hirpini on the one side and of the Pentri on the other, while on the west it bordered immediately on Campania. But the name is not recognised by any of the geographers as a general appellation, and appears to have fallen into disuse: the Caudini of
Pliny
Pliny may refer to:
People
* Pliny the Elder (23–79 CE), ancient Roman nobleman, scientist, historian, and author of ''Naturalis Historia'' (''Pliny's Natural History'')
* Pliny the Younger (died 113), ancient Roman statesman, orator, w ...
(iii. 11. s. 16) are only the citizens of Caudium.
The cities of the Caudini included
Caudium (modern ''Montesarchio''),
Telesia Telese Terme, called simply Telese until 1991, is a city, ''comune'' (municipality) and former episcopal seat in the Province of Benevento, in the Campania region of southern Italy. It is located in the valley of the Calore, well known for its sulfu ...
(modern ''San Salvatore Telesino''),
Saticula
Saticula was a Caudini city near the frontier of Campania in southern Italy. In 343 BC, during the First Samnite War, the Roman consul Cornelius attacked it during the campaign against the Samnites in the Battle of Saticula.
Its archaeological ...
(modern ''Sant'Agata de' Goti''),
Caiatia
Caiazzo (also Cajazzo) (Campanian: ) is a city and ''comune'' in the province of Caserta (Campania) in Italy. It is located on the right bank of the Volturnus, some northeast of Capua.
History
The ancient Caiatia was already in the hands of the ...
(modern ''Caiazzo''),
Trebula, and
Cubulteria.
Samnite Wars
The Caudini are nowhere mentioned as a separate tribe in our narratives of the Romans'
Samnite Wars
The First, Second, and Third Samnite Wars (343–341 BC, 326–304 BC, and 298–290 BC) 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 Lucanian tribe. ...
, probably because they were assumed included whenever the Samnites were mentioned. The territory of the Caudini was the scene of much fighting. This could be attributed to the tribe's location, which was the most westerly among the Samnites, hence, the most exposed to attacks by the Romans.
Velleius Paterculus
Marcus Velleius Paterculus (; c. 19 BC – c. AD 31) was a Roman historian, soldier and senator. His Roman history, written in a highly rhetorical style, covered the period from the end of the Trojan War to AD 30, but is most useful for the per ...
(ii. 1) says that it was with the Caudini that the
Romans
Roman or Romans most often refers to:
*Rome, the capital city of Italy
* Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD
*Roman people, the people of ancient Rome
*''Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a lette ...
made their treaty following their defeat at the
Battle of the Caudine Forks
The Battle of Caudine Forks, 321 BC, was a decisive event of the Second Samnite War. Its designation as a battle is a mere historical formality: there was no fighting and there were no casualties. The Romans were trapped in an enclosed valley b ...
, where Livy uniformly talks of the Samnites. In 275 BC, the tribe was subjugated by
L. Cornelius Lentulus, whose family henceforth took the name ‘Caudinus’. Caudini later revolted in 216. It is suggested that the tribe was encouraged to turn against the Romans after the arrival of
Hannibal
Hannibal (; xpu, 𐤇𐤍𐤁𐤏𐤋, ''Ḥannibaʿl''; 247 – between 183 and 181 BC) was a Carthaginian general and statesman who commanded the forces of Carthage in their battle against the Roman Republic during the Second Puni ...
's army near
Capua
Capua ( , ) is a city and ''comune'' in the province of Caserta, in the region of Campania, southern Italy, situated north of Naples, on the northeastern edge of the Campanian plain.
History
Ancient era
The name of Capua comes from the Etrus ...
. During the
Second Punic War
The Second Punic War (218 to 201 BC) was the second of three wars fought between Carthage and Rome, the two main powers of the western Mediterranean in the 3rd century BC. For 17 years the two states struggled for supremacy, primarily in Ital ...
, the Roman historian
Livy
Titus Livius (; 59 BC – AD 17), known in English as Livy ( ), was a Ancient Rome, Roman historian. He wrote a monumental history of Rome and the Roman people, titled , covering the period from the earliest legends of Rome before the traditiona ...
reported Caudini's defection after the Roman defeat at
Cannae.
Sources
*
*
References
Samnite tribes
Socii
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