Gellius Egnatius

Gellius Egnatius (died 295 BC) was the leader of the Varriani, a leading clan of the

Samnites The Samnites () were an ancient Italic people who lived in Samnium, which is located in modern inland Abruzzo, Molise, and Campania in south-central Italy. An Oscan-speaking people, who may have originated as an offshoot of the Sabines, they for ...

during the Third Samnite War, which broke out in 298 BC. By the end of the second campaign the Samnites appeared completely defeated, however in the following year Gellius Egnatius marched into

Etruria Etruria () was a region of Central Italy, located in an area that covered part of what are now most of Tuscany, northern Lazio, and northern and western Umbria. Etruscan Etruria The ancient people of Etruria are identified as Etruscan civiliza ...

, and roused the

Etruscans The Etruscan civilization () was developed by a people of Etruria in ancient Italy with a common language and culture who formed a federation of city-states. After conquering adjacent lands, its territory covered, at its greatest extent, rou ...

to a close co-operation against Rome. This had the effect of withdrawing Roman troops from

Samnium Samnium ( it, Sannio) is a Latin exonym for a region of Southern Italy anciently inhabited by the Samnites. Their own endonyms were ''Safinim'' for the country (attested in one inscription and one coin legend) and ''Safineis'' for the The lan ...

for a period of time; but the forces of the confederates were defeated by the combined armies of consuls

Lucius Volumnius Flamma Violens Lucius Volumnius Flamma Violens was a consul of the Roman Republic, a ''novus homo'' ("new man") who was the first consul to come from his plebeian ''gens''. Volumnius served as consul twice, in 307 BC and 296 BC, both times in partnership with t ...

and

Appius Claudius Caecus Appius Claudius Caecus ( 312–279 BC) was a statesman and writer from the Roman Republic. The first Roman public figure whose life can be traced with some historical certainty, Caecus was responsible for the building of Rome's first road (t ...

. In the fourth campaign in 295 BC Egnatius induced the

Gauls The Gauls ( la, Galli; grc, Γαλάται, ''Galátai'') were a group of Celtic peoples of mainland Europe in the Iron Age and the Roman period (roughly 5th century BC to 5th century AD). Their homeland was known as Gaul (''Gallia''). They s ...

and the

Umbrians The Umbri were an Italic people of ancient Italy. A region called Umbria still exists and is now occupied by Italian speakers. It is somewhat smaller than the ancient Umbria. Most ancient Umbrian cities were settled in the 9th-4th centuries BC on ...

to join the confederacy; but due to the withdrawal of the Etruscans and the Umbrians, the Gauls and the Samnites fell back beyond the

Apennines The Apennines or Apennine Mountains (; grc-gre, links=no, Ἀπέννινα ὄρη or Ἀπέννινον ὄρος; la, Appenninus or – a singular with plural meaning;''Apenninus'' (Greek or ) has the form of an adjective, which wou ...

, and were met by the Romans near the town of Sentinum. A decisive battle, marked by the heroic devotion of P. Decius Mus, ensured that the Samnites were defeated and their leader Egnatius was slain. 295 BC deaths 3rd-century BC people Samnite people Military personnel killed in action Gellii Year of birth unknown {{Europe-mil-bio-stub