Tombs from the 8th century BC to the 7th century BC that confirm a likely presence of a Sabine settlement area have been discovered; on the hill, there was the tomb of Quirinus, which Lucius Papirius Cursor transformed into a temple for his triumph after the third Samnite war.
An inhabitant of Samnium, a region of southern Italy conquered by Rome in the 4th century BC
Samnite is an adjective meaning "having to do with ancient Samnium."
It rises in the Abruzzese central Apennines of Samnium near Castel San Vincenzo (province of Isernia, Molise) and flows southeast as far as its junction with the Calore River near Caiazzo and runs south as far as Venafro, and then turns southwest, past Capua, to enter the Tyrrhenian Sea in Castel Volturno, northwest of Naples.
Samnium |
The name of Alife has Samnite origin, although a settlement in the hills around the city existed probably since the Iron Age.
It has been supposed to occupy the site of Aequum Tuticum, an ancient Samnite town which became a post-station on the Via Traiana in Roman times; but this should probably be sought at S. Eleuterio 51 miles (82 km) north.
The Battle of Sentinum (295 BC) was the decisive battle of the Third Samnite War, fought in 295 BC near Sentinum (now next to the town of Sassoferrato, Italy), in which the Romans were able to overcome a formidable coalition of Samnites, Etruscans, Umbrians, and their Gallic allies.
Sometimes the Sabine migrations known as the ver sacrum started from this place: a famous instance is that of the seven thousand sacrales led by Comus (or Cominus) Castronius who founded Bovianum following the steps of an ox, thus giving rise to the Samnite nation.
It is first mentioned during the Second Samnite War, 321 BCE, when the Samnite army under Gaius Pontius encamped there, previous to the great disaster of the Romans in the neighbouring pass known as the Caudine Forks (Livy ix. 2); and again, a few years later, as the head-quarters occupied by the Samnites, with a view of being at hand to watch the movements of the Campanians.
Meanwhile Decius camped at Maleventum where he defeated an Apulian army before he too led his army into Samnium.