The "Etrusci" faction includes the northern Etruscan states which historically were more reluctant to contrast the Roman expansion; they retained their own autonomy and identity longer than the southern cities The "Tusci" faction instead covers the southern and tiberine Etruscan cities which were the most active to fight the Romans but the first to fell and to loose their identity During the 8th century the population of Etruria was dipersed into a multitude of small villages. In the 7th century a powerfull ruling class emerged and united the groups of villages to form large city states. The Etruscan seafarers soon established a mercantile empire in the western Mediterranean where they came into conflict with other contenders for this trade: the Phoenicians operating from Carthage on the North coast of Africa and from western Sicily, and the Greeks who had colonised the southern coast of Italy and eastern Sicily. One such Greek colony was established at Cumae west of Naples. These Greeks began to interfere with Etruscans ships trading with the east. This trade war soon developed into an open conflict between the two nations. In the closing years of the 7th centuries the Etruscans forced their way across the Tiber, captured the Roman villages and established a land route south through Latium. They pressed on southwards into Campania, bypassing Cumae and cutting it off from the interior. In Campania they captured several of the coastal towns and established a large military colony at Capua just south of the Volturno river. An Etruscan king was established at Rome. He goruped the hilltop villages into a town as had been done in Etruria, and for the next hundred years its three Etruscan rulers Rome flourished and become the chief city in Latium. The Etruscan league, traditionally of 12 cities, was mainly a religious association, with its federal centre at the temple of Voltumna in Volsinii (Orvieto). Politically the various cities mostly pursued their own courses, but occasionally, mainly from the mid of 4th century, managed to unite for war under the auspices of the league. Livy records in 357 "a call to arms to al those who bore the name Etruscan" to regain the Latin-controlled Etruria. By the start of our period Etruscan power had already been decisively weakened by Gauls and Romans. The Gauls overran the Etruscan cities in the Po valley about 400, thought Felsina (Bologna) held out till 350 or so. The southern Etruscan dominion in Campania went lost due the Oscan expansion. Rome had already conquered Veii, while Caerae was her long-standing ally, absorbed into the Roman state in 353 BC. The remaining Etruscan cities fought a series of wars with Rome, sometimes in alliance with Samnites or Gauls, till Rome crushed an alliance of Etruscans and the Gallic Boii in two battles at Lake Vadimon, in 282 and 281. Thereafter Etruria stayed quiet under Roman rule, suppling allied troops against the Gauls in 225 while Etruscan cavalry are mentioned in the war against Hannibal. Livy sayes the Etruscans had more manpower than any other 4th century Italian nation. Class divisions in Etruria were sharp, the bulk of the rural populace being oppressed serf. These would not be able to afford adequate armament, nor would be trusted by the ruling aristocracy. Etruscan cities may thus have been able to mobilise smaller porportions of their manpower than others. The citizenry fough as heavy infantry armed originally as Greek hoplites. By 4th century some used "pila" instead, and since the long spear did not go out of use Etruscan armies probably contained a mixture of "pila" and spears like Roman legions of the period. Light infantry are rarely mentioned and probably retinue personnel of the noble class performed auxiliary duties. Some peasant militia system, which no doubt provided light armed infantry, seems to have existed as "hastly levied cohortes of Etruscan peasants" turned out to fight Roman raiders in 310. The bulk of the Etruscan aristocracy should provide heavy spearmen ("Holpites Primores") fighting in the greek style, deployed in phalanx with long spears. A quote of the noble calss served also in the heavy cavalry ("Equites Primores"), and a portion of them were equipped with war chariots ("Carpentarii Primores"). The middle mercantile class should provide other heavy and medium infantrymen; among them, the richest portion should be equipped like heavy swordmen ("Ensiferi") armed with sword and "pilum" javellins, the rest should fight like loose formation light spearmen (Lancearii). The retinues of the nobles served as light cavalry ("Equites Celeres"), axemen ("Securigeri"), archers ("Sagittarii") and slingers ("Funditores"). The lower plebeian and servish classes occasionally should serve like militia spearmen ("Lancearii Delecti") or levy skirmishers ("Iaculatores Delecti"). The Etruscan art shows mainly armoured men richly equipped and dressed almost exclusively in red, that seems the "official" color of the "warring classes"; some lightly equipped men are shown instead in white; so it is possible to assume that noble and middle class warriors of the Etruscan citizenry should be dressed in red, and the retinues and the servish or plebeyan levies in white. The paintings in "Giglioli" tomb at Tarquinia (Tarquinii), the reliefs of the "Avele Feluske" tomb at Vetulonia and the pottery paintings from Volterra (Volaterrae) furnished the primary sources for the shield blazons. The main sources for the helmets are the suviving examples in the museums; examples of the "Chalcidian" type helmet with the scull overlapping the sides and the Italo Attic type helmet of a simplified design without cheeck guards are in the Etruscan museum of Perugia (Perusia); many helmets of the "Montefortino" type come from tombs at Orvieto (Volsinii) and Perugia (Perusia); the "Neagau" type helmet still survive in many examples, some of them are in Villa Giulia Etruscan museum in Rome. "Italo-Corinthian" type helmets are shown in a urn from Chiusi (Clusium) adn in the "sarcophagus of the amazons" at Tarquinii (Tarquinia), and helmets of a composite design with Attic and Thracian features are in the paintings from Gilgioli tomb and in the same "sarcophagus of the amazons". Bovianum(Ager Pentricus Inferior) The Samnites were the largest and most important Oscan nation, traditionally a league of four tribes: The Pentri, Hiprini, Caudini and Carricini. "Meddix" was an old Italic title used by all the other Oscan and Sabellic peoples and by the related Volsci as well. It is generally agreed that it is cognate with Latin "iudex". According to Festus, "meddix" was a generic term equivalent in meaning to Latin "magistratus". It could, however, be made specific by the addition of a qualifying adjective. The chief "meddix", the head of the state, was called "meddix tuticus" ("meddiss toutiks" in Oscan), the adjective clearly being formed from "touto". Down to the third century, the four tribes of Samnium were joined together in an association called "civitas Samnium" by Livy. In the fourth and early third centuries the Samnite League did have unmistakably a strong sense of union. It was not held together merely by one tribe dominating all the others. The Samnites fought in alliance with various Italian peoples, even with Rome in 340. The Samnites became involved in a series of wars with Rome from 343 to 290, and were by far Rome's most formidable Italian foe: the tribes are represented as united in their determination to oppose Rome to the desperate end. She was able to win Oscan Campani, Frentani, Apuli and even Lucani to her side. Later the Samnites joined Pyrrhos' coalition, but stayed in arms longer than Pyrrhos did (284-272), and many later joined Hannibal. They were finally crushed at the end of the Social War. To try to isolate the organization and tactics of the Samnite army from the jumble of contradictory informations given in Livy and Dionysius is a fruitless task. Livy calls the divisions of the Samnite army "legions" and Dionysius calls their battle line "phalanx", which is equally unenligthnening. In all probably neither of them had the slightest idea of the Samnite formation and they therefore fell back on the traditional terminology. The greatest part of Livy's account of the Samnite army bears no relation to the artistic or archeological evidence and has to be rejected almost entirely. Oscan warriors are profusely illustrated, perticulalry in 4th century tomb paintings from Capua, Nola, Paestum and also in Lucanian and Campanian vases. There's also a statuette from Sicily, which is probably a Samnite work, and some lost paintings from the Samnite town Allifae, surviving descriptions of which suggest that they were similar to the Capua and Paestum art. Roma(Latium Vetus) Less than ten years after the fall fo the great city of Veii (396) the Celts burst into Etruria an descended the Tiber valley towards Rome. At the Allia river these wild men from the north crushed the legions that had been sent to oppose them, and sacked the city of the Seven Hills. It was a terrible set-back for Rome and she lost her dominant position in the Latin League. With the events of the Gallic invasion the League had lost its foothold in southern Etruria and spent three years reconquering it. This re-conquest brought the League into collision with Tarquinii and several others of the Etruscan cities who were becoming fearful of the growing power of the Latins. In 386 Tarquinii took up arms but failed to drive them back. The suceeding years saw Rome engaged in a series of wars to restore her contol over the Latin League which had collapsed after the Gallic invasion of 386. In 360, the Latin cities Tibur and Velitrae even called in Gauls to help against Rome, but all was naught, and Roman autority was restored in 354. In 359 Tarquinii launched an invasion of Latin-controlled Etruria, soon followed by the city of Falerii and then the rest of the Etruscan federation also taking up arms; a pitiless war ensued in which both sides mercilessy massacred prisoners. Finally, in 351, the Latin League launched an all-out offensive and brought Tarquinii and Falerii to their knees. It was difficult for the Etruscans to make a concerted effort, besieged by the Celts in the north, and thus pressured from both sides. In the north Felsina (Bologna) was unable of holding out and by 350 it was in Celtic hands. The Etruscan domination of the Po valley had come to an end. The Roman army was based on legions consisting of property-owning citizens. Essentially it was a part-time farmer's army. These citizens came not only from the immediate area of the city of Rome itself, but from various cities which had received Roman citizenship as a result of conquest or alliance. In some cases this was the "civitas sine suffragio", which involved all the privileges and duties of citizenship, including military service, but not the right to vote in the Roman government . This partial citizenship was first granted to Etruscan Caerae in 353. After the Latin war of 340, some Latin towns and the Campanian nobility received full citizenship, while other Latins and the bulk of the Campanians the "civitas sine suffragio". Regardless all of them were required to serve in the regular legions (Livy mentions the Caeritans making up part of the army in 302). As well as citizens, Rome called on allied troops, at first from her Latin neighbours and then from all of Italy, and, excpt for the Latin War, a Roman legion would be accompanied by an equal-sized or larger force of allies. The result of expanding military needs, however, was a gradual but fundamental change in the nature of the Roman army. Initially it was recruited from the "adsidui", those classes able to afford their own equipment; the "proletarii" below the minimum property qualification playing no part except in dire emergencies (when the lower classes could be called up by a "tumulus" or mass levy). Livy gives an account of the legionary organization in mid-4th century, the so called "Camillian legion", the first to adopt manipular deployment. Whereas in earlier times the troops were divided up according to the equipment they could afford, the organization new became on the basis of age and experience. The legions formed up in three lines, the first of 15 maniples of "hastati", the flower of the young men, with 20 skirmishers called "leves" attached to each maniple. The second line is of 15 maniples of "principes", older men in the prime of life. Probable size of one such "manipulus" was 60 men and two officers. The third line consisted of 15 "ordines", each "ordo" divided into three "vexilla", one each of "triarii", who were the veterans, younger men called "rorarii", and "accensi", the least dependable. Each "vexillum" has 60 rankers, two "centuriones" in command and a standard bearer ("signifer"). The balance of the army was formed by the maniples of "hastati" and "principes", which fought like close combat shock troops. The main weapon for "hastati" and "principes" was a short sword still of Greek type, because the "gladius hispanicus" was adopted later. Archaeological evidence suggests that the throwing weapons of "pilum" type were developed from earlier Italian javellins, probably by the Etruscans. The Romans were using it by the early 4th century, "pila" being prominent in accounts of Camillus' victories over the Gauls after the sack of Rome. A lighter version of the "pilum", in origin called "hasta velitaris" was used by the "hastati". The heavier version of the pilum with the pyramidal reinforcement should be used by the better equipped "principes". Iguvium(Umbria Media) The "Umbri" were one of the chief constituent stocks of the Italian nation. They were the result of two main successive migrations of the same ethnic group which reached Italy at two different times, the so called Paleo-Umbrians and the Umbrians proper. The origin and ethnic affinities of the Paleo-Umbrians are still in some degree a matter of dispute, but from the time and starting-point of their migrations, as well as from their type of culture, it may be provisionally inferred that the Paleo-Umbrians were related with the Achaeans of prehistoric Greece. Archaeological considerations further show with approximate certainty that the Paleo-Umbrians are to be identified with the creators of the "Terramare" culture, and probably also with those of the "Villanovian" culture in northern and central Italy, who at the beginning of the Bronze Age displaced the original Ligurian population by an invasion from the north-east. Pliny's statement that they were the most ancient race of Italy may certainly be rejected. The Umbrians as they appear in historical times were a branch of the same people which, merging with the other populations already in the peninsula, produced different nations like the Umbrians, the Sabines, the Sabellians and the Oscans. Their language proves them to have been an Aryan people related with the Latins. The military institutions of the Umbrians resulted from a contamination among Etruscan influences and ancient Italic traditions. With the Etruscans the Umbrians shared the adoption of many elements of the Greek hoplite panoply, but retained also a large number of items derived from their Italic heritage. Like their Oscan and Sabine kinsmen, the Umbrians relied on a high proportion of lightly armed men arrayed in loose formations, but deployed also corps of close order infantry in the Etruscan style. The Umbrian military organization should reflect the "mixed" political and social constitution of the state typical of the nations of the Italic ethnic branch, where co-existed aristocratic and democratic elements. The commonest head protection was the helmet of Italo-Attic type, usually worn with the cheeck guards hinged in a raised position, as shown in the bronze statues of Mars found at Fossato di Vico and Todi and in dozens of mass-produced bronze votive figures of Mars found almost everywhere in Umbria. The nobles wore richer helmets like the wonderful Calchidian one found at Todi (Tuder) now in Villa Giulia Museum. Helmets of Montefortino type were also very diffused, replacing from the first years of the 4th century the Negau type helmets. The body protections of the wealthier classes consited in different versions of composite "linotorax" cuirasses reinforced with metal pieces, like the examples shown in the two satues of Mars found at Tuder; the most famous of them, the so called "Mars of Todi", depicts a rich "linotorax" completely covered with metal lamellas. Potentia(Ager Potentinus) The Lucanians were a southern branch of the Oscan race. The Lucani gave their name to the district they conquered in the middle of the 5th century BC. Before that period the later Lucanian territories were included under the general name of Oenotria, which was applied by the Greeks to the southernmost portion of Italy. The mountainous interior was occupied by the tribes known as Oenotrians and Choni, while the coasts on both sides were occupied by powerful Greek colonies which doubtless exercised a protectorate over the interior. We know from Strabo that the Lucanians had a democratic constitution save in time of war, when a dictator was chosen among the regular magistrates. The Lucanians gradually conquered the whole country (with the exception of the Greek towns on the eastern coast) from the borders of Samnium and Campania to the southern extremity of Italy and famous Greek cities like Poseidonia/Paestum and Elea became part of the Lucanian dominion. Subsequently the inhabitants of the peninsula, now known as Calabria, broke into insurrection, and under the name of Bruttians ("Brettii" or "Bruttii") established their independence, after which the Lucanians became confined to the northern portion of their old dominion. After this we find them engaged in hostilities with the Tarentines, and with Alexander, king of Epirus, who was called in by that people to their assistance in 333 or 326. In 298 B.C. they made alliance with Rome, and Roman influence was extended by the colonies of Venusia (291 B.C.), Paestum (273), and above all Tarentum (272). Subsequently they were sometimes in alliance, but more frequently engaged in hostilities with the Romans, mainly during the Samnite wars. On the landing of Pyrrhus in Italy (281 B.C.) they were among the first to declare in his favor, and found themselves exposed to the resentment of Rome when the departure of Pyrrhus left his allies at the mercy of the Romans. After several campaigns they were reduced to subjection (272 B.C.). Notwithstanding this they espoused the cause of Hannibal during the Second Punic War (216 B.C.), and their territory during several campaigns was ravaged by both armies. The country never recovered from these disasters, and under the Roman government fell into decay, to which the Social War, in which the Lucanians took part with the Samnites against Rome (90-88 B.C.) gave the finishing stroke. In the time of Strabo the Greek cities on the coast had fallen into insignificance, and owing to the decrease of population and cultivation the malaria began to obtain the upper hand. The few towns left of the interior became of no importance. A large part of the province was given up to pasture, and the mountains were covered with forests, which abounded in wild boars, bears and wolves. Lucani, Samnites and Bruttii failed to form a political union due in large part to differing racial strains. The non-Oscan element in the ethnic make-up of Lucani and Bruttii was larger than in that of any tribe in Samnium. This disunifying factor would reinforce the instinct for particularism that prevailed in early Italy, and despite Lucani were not markedly different from the inhabitants of Samnium in their main racial stock, yet rarely act in unison with them. Lucanians had diverged from their backward highland origin to a more advanced form of culture and this made them reject their rustic kinsmen. The Lucani formed a league which according to Polybios could call on 30.000 foot and 3.000 horse still in 225. The noble class provided heavy cavalrymen ("equites primores") armed with the typical counterweighted thrusting spear depicted in Paestum art and riding barded horses. The youngest members of the aristocracy and the retinues served probably in the light cavalry ("equites ferentarii"), equipped with javellins and curved sword ("machaera"). The bulk of the Lucanian army was formed by loose formation infantrymen, like light spearmen ("lancearii") and javelliners ("ferentarii"); the portion of the warriors who could afford supllementary body armour should serve as heavier swordmen ("ensiferi") armed with curved sabre and throwing spears. The youngest and the poorest members of the populace served probably as skirmishers ("iaculatores") and slingers ("funditores"). The Lucanian warrior in the 4th century was fairly lightly armed, using mainly light bronze body protections mixing typical Oscan and Greek features, having the coastal Oscan peoples adopted more elements of the Greek panoply than their kinsmen of the highlands of Samnium. Their short tunics were brightly decorated, on a base color wich was most often red or white. The commonest head protection were helmets of different variants of Italo-Attic type, usually crested with horsehair and decorated with feathers, sometimes with metal wings. A broad leather belt covered with bronze sheet, fastened with elaborate hooks, was universal; it seems to have been a symbol of manhood among the nations of the Italic ethnic branch. The main weapons used by the Lucanians were light throwing spears with throwing loops retained from their Oscan heritage, curved swords ("machaera"), medium size spears and also counterweighted heavy lances for cavalry and a smaller version of the same weapon for the light infantry. Each decoration pattern for the tunics and each shield blazon is drawn from the tomb paintings at Paestum. Porta Capena Walls of the Aventine Walls of the Caelian Porta Caelimontana Porta Viminalis Between Cispus and Viminalis -- the two hills The Capitoline Arx (citadel, where the "city center" square for capturing will be) Casa Romuli -- the hut of Romulus Porta Fontinalis (the only way from Campus Martius into the city) The Capitoline Hill and the Capitoline Arx from Campus Martius
- Arretium(Ager Arretinus)
- Volaterrae(Ager Volaterranus)
- Rusellae(Ager Rusellanus et Vetuloniensis)
- Populonia(Ager Populoniensis)
- Fesulae(Ager Fesulanus)
- Pisae(Ager Pisanus)
- Tarquinii(Ager Tarquiniensis)
- Volsinii(Ager Volsiniensis)
- Vulci(Ager Vulcitanus)
- Falerii(Ager Faliscus)
- Clusium(Ager Clusinus)
- Perusia(Ager Perusinus)
- Cortona(Ager Cortonensis)
The Etruscans reached the summit of their power when they formed an alliance with the Carthaginians against their mutual enemy the Greeks and, in a sea battle off Corsica in 535 BC, forced the Phocaean Greeks to abandon their colony at Alalia and so gained control of the island.
Although they had isolated Cumae by their thrust southwards into Campania, they had failed to bring the Greeks to their knees. In fact in 524 they suffered a serious defeat on land at the hands of the Cumaeans. Fourteen years later, probably at the instigation of the Cumaeans, the Latins revolted and Rome expelled her Etruscan ruler Tarquin the Proud. This revolt spelt disaster for the Etruscans as the Romans now closed the river crossing to them. Lars Porsenna of Clusium (Chiusi) now entered the fray to restore the Etruscan dominion. The Army of Porsenna marched on into Latium, advancing on Aricia, the center of Latin resistance. The Greeks of Cumae also took the field. Caught between the two forces, the Etruscan army was destroyed. With their land route cut the Etruscans were forced to maintain contact with their southern colonies by sea. In 474 they suffered another crushing defeat at the hands of the Greeks in a sea battle off Cumae, and as a result the towns of Campania were completely isolated.
The Etruscans had been searching for a new outlet for their trade. About 500 BC the Etruscan domination in the Po valley was established with the main center at Bologna (Felsina/Bononia) and a route opened up to Spina, a port at the head of the Adriatic.
For some time the Celts of central Europe had been forcing their way through the Alps and settling in the Po valley. This migration gatered momentum as the century advanced and so that by the end of it the Etruscans were under pressure from both north and south. Rome, now the dominant partner of the Latin League, launched an all-out attack on the Etruscan city of Veii which capitulated after a long siege in 396.
Other equipment pieces are inspired by the surviving Etruscan paintings, like the "linotorax" cuirass used for the noble heavy cavalry drawn from the "sarcophagus of the amazons" from Tarquinia (Tarquinii), or the composite "linotroax" shown in the terracotta sculptures from Civita Castellana (Falerii) or in the bronze sculptures of Mars worked at Orvieto (Volsinii). Disk cuirasses are shown in tomb paintings at Cerveteri (Caerae) and a large number of them are in the Etruscan museum of Perugia (Perusia).
Aufidena(Ager Pentricus Superior)
Maluentum(Ager Hirpinus Superior)
Aquilonia(Ager Hirpinus Inferior)
Caudium(Ager Caudinus)
Cluviae(Ager Carricinus)
Teanum Sidicinum(Ager Sidicinus)
The Samnite tribal states developed out of peasant societies. The city-state as a unit of government did not exist among the Samnites. The political and administrative unit of the Oscans generally and of the Samnites especially was not the "municipium", but the "touto". The Samnites did not think in terms of a city-state with its "territorium" included, so to speak, within the urban centre. Their conception was of a territorial area in which urban agglomerations were more or less incidental, although they might be used as centres from which to conduct the business of the tribe. The Samnites had certainly passed beyond the stage of mere rudimentary village organization; but there is no trace of any true municipal organization of an elaborate communal kind amongst them. The Samnites were in that pre-urban stage in which the tribal community formed the basis of political organization. Right down to the days of the Social War they do not appear to have had any genuine boroughs at all.
Their sub-tribal entity was the immemorial Italic institution, the "pagus". Each "touto" contained a number of "pagi". The pagus was an administrative sub-unit, the smallest such amongst the italic peoples, but it was not a town: it was a district of variable size usually larger than a "fundus", but smaller than a "territorium", and might itself contain one or more settlements, either unwalled but stockaded villages ("vici") where the country was flat, or walled citadels of refuge where the country was mountainous. Neither "vici" nor "oppida" seem to have had any political life of their own: they were not the administrative sub-units. The "pagi" were.
The "pagus" was a semi-independent country district, concerned with social, agricultural and especially religious matters, and it may also have been through it that military levies were raised. When a number of "pagi" agreed to cooperate closely a "touto" was born. And once it came into being it could evidently command the fierce loyalty of those who professed allegiance to it. In their native mountain habitats the Samnites had a strong sense of tribal solidarity, and they gave expression to this in resounding feats of arms.
Livy refers to the "populi Samnitium". Presumably each of these "populi" was a "touto". Their number probably varied at different times. During the recorded history of the Samnites we hear of four tribes: the Carricini, Caudini, Hirpini and Pentri. It seems safe to infer that each of these four tribes made up a "touto". Strabo implies that each of these tribes was a political entity in itself and Livy confirms this for the last three (he never mentions the Carricini separately). Generally speaking it is only after the Pyrrhic War and the dissolution of the Samnite League that the tribes are separately named.
Presumably each had a locality which, while itself a submunicipal unit, served as a 'capital' , the centre of administration for the whole "touto". The association of Samnite tribes at the very least took the form of a permanent military alliance, what the Greeks called a symmachy, although unlike some Greek symmachies it does not seem to have had a "hegemon" to dragoon the other members. Essentially it was an everlasting league for the purpose of making war on outsiders and promoting other common objects, the first of which was the winning of divine favor: Livy is obviously right in suggesting that sacral as well as military ties kept the Samnites together.
The constitution of a Oscan state could be described as 'mixed', the "meddix tuticus" supplying the monarchical element, the council the aristocratic, and the "kombennio" (or "komparakio") the democratic. It is perhaps not being unduly fanciful to suggest that their constitutional arrangements may have helped foster the tale that the Oscans were of Lacedaemonian descent, since the Spartans were the people with a mixed constitution par excellence.
The Samnite armament suggests that they fought in a loose formation. Their ability to outmanoeuvre and outmarch the Romans confirms that they were more ligthly armed and more loosely arrayed than the legions, or for that mater the Greek phalanx.
The Samnite warrior in the 4th century was fairly lightly armed, using mainly light bronze body protections. Livy attributed to the Samnites a shield similar to the "scutum", but smaller with a flattened top and narrowing to the bottom for lightness; also a smaller version of the Argive round shield was also used by light infantry like shown in the paintings from Allifae. Bronze triple disk or single disk cuirasses seem the commonest body armour for those who could afford heavier equipment. All soldiers probably wore helmets, usually crested with horsehair and decorated with feathers, sometimes with metal wings or horns; the commonest helmet type was the "Italo-Attic" one, but also the "Montefortino" type was very diffused. Many warriors used two greaves, on both legs, as it is possible to assume from Campanian and Lucanian art despite the description provided by Livy who told about a single greave worn on the left leg. A broad leather belt covered with bronze sheet, fastened with elaborate hooks, was universal; it seems to have been a symbol of manhood among the nations of the Italic ethnic branch (the one which comprise the Oscans, the Sabines, the Sabellians and the Umbrians). The main weapons used by the Samnites were light throwing spears with throwing loops (called by the Greeks "saunion" and by the Latins "tragula"), curved swords ("machaera") and medium size spears.
The bulk of the samnite army was formed by loose formation infantrymen, like light spearmen ("Lancearii") and javelliners ("Ferentarii"); the portion of the warriors who could afford supllementary body armour should serve like heavier swordmen (Ensiferi) armed with curved sabre and throwing spears. The nobles and their retinues provided the medium cavalry ("Equites") and the light horses ("Equites Ferentarii"). A portion of the aristocracy should be enlisted in the "Legio Linteata", an ιlite formation reported by Livy as formed by warriors with white linen tunics and silvered armour. The youngest and the poorest soldiers would serve as skirmishers and slingers.
Caerae(Ager Caeritanus et Veiens)
Antium(Ager Volscus)
Anagnia(Hernicum)
Carseoli(Ager Aequicus)
Fundi(Ager Auruncus)
Capua(Ager Campanus et Falernus)
In the south of Latium the Volsci were still a threat to the League, which now turned and forced them into submission.
It was the last war with the Volsci that had brought Rome face to face with the Samnites along the Liris river. Rome had signed a treaty with them in 354 to enlist their aid against their mutual enemy the Volsci, but In 343 hostilities broke out between the two nations that were to last of 50 years. The so-called first Samnite war, however, was little more than a series of skirmishes for control of Campania, and the main conflict did not start for another 15 years, althought inevitable. By this time the League controlled all of Western Italy form southern Etruria to Campania, but the question of who governed Latium, the League or Rome, remained unresolved. In 340 the Latins revolted and at the end of the Latin Wars (340-337) with the definitive submission of the Latini, Aurunci, Volsci, Hernici and the Campani of Capua, Rome was ready to emerge as undisputed master of the history of Italy.
The "triarii" instead were armed with long spears, and they fought still in close combat but in a fomation more flexible than the Greek phalanx. Some sources seem to suggest that also the "principes" fought in some occasions like spearmen. Livy reports the "leves" of the 4th century as skirmishers carrying a short spear and javellins. The "rorarii" were light infantrymen and Livy's account of the battle of Vesuvius seems to suggest that they were used like a fast and mobile reserve to reinforce the battle line. About the "accensi" fighting role there's Livy's account of the battle of Suessa, where they succesfully impersonating the "triarii"; it implies that they carried spears and the same "scutum" shield of the "triarii". Some of the men from the same extraction of the "rorarii" should serve also as slingers ("funditores").
The richest citizen of the "equestrian" calss provided the cavalry.
The main defensive item of the heavy infantry was the shield, a large version of the oval "scutum" common in Italy. No shield blazons seem to have been used at this time. The light infantry and the cavalry were equipped instead with the "parma", a flat round shield.
Bronze was the main material for body protection, because the iron mail-armour ("lorica hamata") was ivented by celtic craftsmen only about the end of the 4th century and was adopted later by the Romans. The commonest piece of armour, when used, was a squared breastplate. Muscled cuirasses should be used by the richest portion of the army, formed by the nobles and the members of the "equestrian" class; as the oldest men of the army, also the "triarii" would have an high porportion able to afford expensive items like complete muscle cuirasses. Bronze helmets of Italo-Attic, Montefortino, Italo-Corinthian styles were all used; Polybios says helmets were crested with a crown of feathers and three upright black or crimson feathers. The "leves" should use instead a simple, light leather helmet called "cudo".
Now the scholars accept the assumption that the roman military tunics were white; plain for the soldiers of the popular classes and edged with purple for the members of the senatorial and equestrian classes. We assumed also that ιlite/veteran troops should have crimson edged tunics like distinctive feature.
Tuder(Umbria Tiberina Inferior)
Camerinum(Umbria Orientalis)
Interamna Nahartium(Umbria Nahars)
Tifernum Tiberinum(Umbria Tiberina Superior)
Sarsina(Umbria Sapina et Casuentum)
The process by which the Umbrians were deprived of their predominance in upper and central Italy and were restricted to their confines of historic times cannot be traced in any detail. It may be conjectured that they were partly displaced in the valley of the Po by the Gaulish tribes which began to pour across the Alps from about 500 B.C., but the Umbrians' chief enemies were undoubtedly the Etruscans. These invaders, whose encroachments can be determined by archaeological evidence as proceeding from the western seaboard towards the north and east, and as lasting from about 700 to 500 B.C., eventually drove the Umbrians into that upland tract of the Appenines East of the Tiber to which the name of Umbria belonged in historical times. Nevertheless the Umbrian element of population does not seem to have been eradicated in the conquered districts. Strabo records a tradition that the Umbrians recovered their ground in the plain of the Po at the expense of the Etruscans, and states that the colonies subsequently founded in this region by the Romans contained large Umbrian contingents. In Etruria proper the persistence of the Umbrian stock is indicated by the survival of numerous Umbrian place-names, conformed by Livy who stated that in the fourth century the "Umbri Camertes" still lived in the area around the Etruscan town of Clusium, and by the record of Umbrian soldiers taking part in Etruscan enterprises, like the attack on Cumae in 524 B.C. Indeed it is not unlikely that the bulk of the population in Etruria continued to be of Umbrian origin, and that the rapid Romanization of the southern portion of the Etruscan country was facilitated by the partial absorption of the Etruscan conquerors into the Umbrian multitude.
Against the Romans the Umbrians never fought any wars of importance, chiefly by the common hostility of the two nations to the Etruscans. After the downfall of the Etruscan power they made a belated attempt to aid their Samnite kinsmen in their decisive struggle against Rome and were defeated at Mevania (308 B.C.); but their communications with Samnium were impeded by the foundation of a great Roman fortress at Narnia on the place of the conquered Umbrian town of Nequinum (298 B.C.), and at the great battle of Sentinum (295 B.C.), which was fought in their own territory, the Umbrians are not reported to have lent the Samnites any substantial help. They offered no opposition to the construction of the Via Flaminia through the heart of their country, and in the Second Punic War withheld all assistance from Hannibal. In the Social War (90-89 B.C.), they joined the rebels tardily and were among the first to make their peace with Rome.
The material prosperity of Umbria was relatively great, owing to the fertility of the numerous valleys which intersect the Appenine system in this region and thanks to the control of the passes through the Appenine mountains. The chief products of the soil were olives, vines and spelt; the uplands harboured the choicest boars of Italy. Ancient authors describe the Umbrians closely resembling their Etruscan enemies in their habits, but keeping their distinctive language and identity. It is almost certain that each race influenced the other to a large extent. The abundance of inscriptions and the high proportion of recruits furnished to the Roman imperial army attest its continued populousness. Among its most famous natives were the poets Plautus (b. at Sarsina) and Propertius (b. at Assisium), the historian Tacitus (b. at Interamna), the emperors Nerva (b. at Narnia) and Claudius Tacitus (b. at Interamna).
About the Umbrians' political and municipal organization, in addition to the city ("tota") they seem to have had also a larger sub-ethnic division in tribus ("trifu") like the Umbri Iguvini, Umbrii Camertes, Umbri Veii, Umbri Nahartes, Umbri Sarsinates as we gather from Livy and from the Eugubine Tables.
The bulk of the noble class provided heavy spearmen equipped in the Greek style ("hoplites"), deployed in phalanx. A portion of the aristocracy and their retinues should provide also the medium cavalry ("equites") and light horses ("equites ferentarii"), and the most notable of them served as crews for the war chariots ("carpentarii"). The richest members of the popular classes who could afford heavy equipment served like close order heavy infantry ("ensiferi") armed with sword and "pilum" heavy javellins. The balance of the Umbrian soldiery was probably equipped as light infantry, like loose formation spearmen ("lancearii") or javelliners ("ferentarii"). The youngest and the poorest members of the populace should serve as skirmishers ("Iaculatores") and slingers ("funditores").
Very diffused among common soldiers were squared or disk breastplates derived form the early Villanovian protections. Like the warriors of the other nations of the Italic ethnic branch, the Umbrians wore the typical bronze belt which was a sort of symbol of manhood. The shields used where both the round "hoplon" shield and the oval Italic "scutum". Spears and javellins of different lenghts and makes, straigth iron swords of Greek type, heavy curved sabres ("machaera"), short daggers were all commonly used and many examples still survived like the items present in the archaeolgical museums of Terni (Interamna Nahartium) and Perugia and the Villa Giulia museum in Rome.
Paestum(Ager Paestanus)
Pandosia(Ager Pandosianus)
Elea(Ager Eleaticus)
Grumentum(Ager Grumentanus)
Laos(Ager Laotinus)
Lucanian warriors are profusely illustrated, perticulalry in 4th century tomb paintings from Paestum and also in Lucanian vases. Many different rappresentations of the Lucanians suggest that they fought mainly in a loose formation, in the very tradition of the Oscan nations. The plain around Paestum (formerly Greek Poseidonia) was a good cavalry country, producing higly respected horsemen drafted from the Lucanian nobles and their retinues. But most of Lucania was wooded hills, which explains why Polybios' cavalry proportion isn't so high.
The shields used where mainly the round "hoplon" shield and a light version of the oval Italic "scutum". Bronze triple disk or single disk cuirasses, a shorthened version of the Greek muscolar cuirass, or squared breast and back plates partially reproducing the muscles of the torso, seem the commonest body armour for those who could afford heavier equipment. Many warriors used two greaves, often replaced by cavalrymen with simple hanklets. The paintings show the Lucanian horsemen riding bareback.
The view from the top