{"slug": "samnites", "label": "Samnites", "wikipedia": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samnites", "wikidata": "https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q500272", "qid": "Q500272", "description": "Italic people living in Samnium in south-central Italy", "entries": 39, "years": 36, "span": [-437, -81], "span_label": ["438 BCE", "82 BCE"], "topics": [{"title": "Conflict & Security", "count": 32}, {"title": "Geopolitics & Diplomacy", "count": 5}, {"title": "Exploration & Expansion", "count": 1}, {"title": "Deaths", "count": 1}], "also_known_as": [], "related": [{"slug": "roman-republic", "label": "Roman Republic", "shared": 19}, {"slug": "italy", "label": "Italy", "shared": 7}, {"slug": "quintus-fabius-maximus-rullianus", "label": "Quintus Fabius Maximus Rullianus", "shared": 6}, {"slug": "campania", "label": "Campania", "shared": 5}, {"slug": "samnite-wars", "label": "Samnite Wars", "shared": 5}, {"slug": "samnium", "label": "Samnium", "shared": 4}, {"slug": "lucanians", "label": "Lucanians", "shared": 4}, {"slug": "cumae", "label": "Cumae", "shared": 3}, {"slug": "apulia", "label": "Apulia", "shared": 3}, {"slug": "roman-dictator", "label": "Roman dictator", "shared": 3}, {"slug": "etruscan-civilization", "label": "Etruscan civilization", "shared": 3}, {"slug": "ancient-greece", "label": "Ancient Greece", "shared": 2}], "items": [{"year": -437, "year_label": "438 BCE", "section": "Conflict & Security", "date": null, "text": "The city of Capua falls to the Samnites.", "cite": {"url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=1326570904#Italy", "title": "438 BC", "revid": 1326570904, "section": "Events › By place › Italy"}}, {"year": -427, "year_label": "428 BCE", "section": "Geopolitics & Diplomacy", "date": null, "text": "The Greek colony of Cumae in Italy falls to the Samnites, who begin to take control of the Campanian plain.", "cite": {"url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=1151725633#Italy", "title": "428 BC", "revid": 1151725633, "section": "Events › By place › Italy"}}, {"year": -420, "year_label": "421 BCE", "section": "Exploration & Expansion", "date": null, "text": "The city of Cumae, the most northerly of the Greek colonies in Italy, falls to the Samnites.", "cite": {"url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=1354172919#Italy", "title": "421 BC", "revid": 1354172919, "section": "Events › By place › Italy"}}, {"year": -353, "year_label": "354 BCE", "section": "Conflict & Security", "date": null, "text": "Rome allies itself with the Samnites and they agree on a mutual defence pact.", "cite": {"url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=1291610084#Roman_Republic", "title": "354 BC", "revid": 1291610084, "section": "Events › By place › Roman Republic"}}, {"year": -342, "year_label": "343 BCE", "section": "Conflict & Security", "date": null, "text": "First Samnite War began when Rome fought the confederated Samnites over disputed territory in the Middle Liris Valley.", "cite": {"url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=1354172730#Roman_Republic", "title": "343 BC", "revid": 1354172730, "section": "Events › By place › Roman Republic"}}, {"year": -341, "year_label": "342 BCE", "section": "Conflict & Security", "date": null, "text": "The Battle of Mount Gaurus is fought between the Romans and the Samnites. The battle is a success for the Romans, who, it is said, are led by Marcus Valerius Corvus. Fought at the foot of Mount Gaurus, near Cumae, it is the most notable engagement of the First Samnite War.", "cite": {"url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=1209992354#Roman_Republic", "title": "342 BC", "revid": 1209992354, "section": "Events › By place › Roman Republic"}}, {"year": -340, "year_label": "341 BCE", "section": "Conflict & Security", "date": null, "text": "The First Samnite War ends with Rome triumphant and the Samnites willing to make peace.", "cite": {"url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=1210197654#Roman_Republic", "title": "341 BC", "revid": 1210197654, "section": "Events › By place › Roman Republic"}}, {"year": -339, "year_label": "340 BCE", "section": "Geopolitics & Diplomacy", "date": null, "text": "An embassy is sent by the Latin peoples to the Roman Senate asking for the formation of a single republic between Rome and Latium, in which both parties would be considered to be equal. As Rome considers that it is the leader of the Latin League, it refuses to treat the Latin people as being equal politically, or to have Latin people in the Roman Senate. With Rome's refusal of the proposal, the Latin War begins. The Latins fight with the Campanians, while Rome joins the Samnites to attack the Latins. Only the Laurentes in Latium and the equites of Campania remain with the Romans, who, for their part, find support among the Paeligni.", "cite": {"url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=1239354213#Roman_Republic", "title": "340 BC", "revid": 1239354213, "section": "Events › By place › Roman Republic"}}, {"year": -331, "year_label": "332 BCE", "section": "Geopolitics & Diplomacy", "date": null, "text": "After a victory over the Samnites and Lucanians near Paestum, Alexander of Epirus makes a treaty with the Romans.", "cite": {"url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=1322067290#Italy", "title": "332 BC", "revid": 1322067290, "section": "Events › By place › Italy"}}, {"year": -326, "year_label": "327 BCE", "section": "Conflict & Security", "date": null, "text": "The Samnite army captures Neapolis (present-day Naples). The Romans, who are meanwhile moving south while the Samnites are occupied with Tarentum, take the opportunity to recover Neapolis and, after a long siege, evict the Samnite garrison from the city and make it an ally of Rome.", "cite": {"url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=1259124608#Roman_Republic", "title": "327 BC", "revid": 1259124608, "section": "Events › By place › Roman Republic"}}, {"year": -325, "year_label": "326 BCE", "section": "Conflict & Security", "date": null, "text": "Following their defeat by the Roman forces in Naples, the Samnites declare war on Rome starting the Second Samnite War. To help defeat the Samnites, the Romans make alliances with the peoples of Central Italy to the north of Samnium and with the Apulians to the southeast.", "cite": {"url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=1279205798#Roman_Republic", "title": "326 BC", "revid": 1279205798, "section": "Events › By place › Roman Republic"}}, {"year": -320, "year_label": "321 BCE", "section": "Conflict & Security", "date": null, "text": "Continuing successes by Rome's armies against the Samnites forces the Samnites to sue for peace. However, the terms offered by Rome are so stringent that they are rejected by the Samnites and the war goes on.", "cite": {"url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=1359962346#Roman_Republic", "title": "321 BC", "revid": 1359962346, "section": "Events › By place › Roman Republic"}}, {"year": -315, "year_label": "316 BCE", "section": "Conflict & Security", "date": null, "text": "The Romans, with an eye to capturing Apulia, send an army (led by dictator Quintus Fabius Maximus Rullianus) to seize the town of Lucera from the Samnites. They are badly beaten in the Battle of Lautulae and the Samnites go on to reach within 32 kilometres of Rome.", "cite": {"url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=1007737454#Roman_Republic", "title": "316 BC", "revid": 1007737454, "section": "Events › By place › Roman Republic"}}, {"year": -314, "year_label": "315 BCE", "section": "Conflict & Security", "date": null, "text": "The Samnites defeat a Roman army led by dictator Quintus Fabius Maximus Rullianus at the Battle of Lautulae.", "cite": {"url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=1367539376#Roman_Republic", "title": "315 BC", "revid": 1367539376, "section": "Events › By place › Roman Republic"}}, {"year": -313, "year_label": "314 BCE", "section": "Conflict & Security", "date": null, "text": "The Roman consuls march their combined army to Tarracina and defeat a Samnite army there; killing 10,000 Samnites in the battle and the subsequent pursuit.", "cite": {"url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=1242240408#Roman_Republic", "title": "314 BC", "revid": 1242240408, "section": "Events › By place › Roman Republic"}}, {"year": -313, "year_label": "314 BCE", "section": "Conflict & Security", "date": null, "text": "Success seems to be going the Samnites' way in their ongoing battles against the Romans. Campania is on the verge of deserting Rome. Peace is established between Rome and some Samnite towns.", "cite": {"url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=1242240408#Roman_Republic", "title": "314 BC", "revid": 1242240408, "section": "Events › By place › Roman Republic"}}, {"year": -312, "year_label": "313 BCE", "section": "Conflict & Security", "date": null, "text": "The Samnites take Fregellae in Latium, the Roman dictator Gaius Poetelius Libo Visolus marches his army from Rome and moves to retake it, but the Samnites leave at night; Visolus places a garrison in the city.", "cite": {"url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=1300255025#Italy", "title": "313 BC", "revid": 1300255025, "section": "Events › By place › Italy"}}, {"year": -310, "year_label": "311 BCE", "section": "Conflict & Security", "date": null, "text": "Brutus campaigns against the Samnites.", "cite": {"url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=1230109286#Italy", "title": "311 BC", "revid": 1230109286, "section": "Events › By place › Italy"}}, {"year": -309, "year_label": "310 BCE", "section": "Conflict & Security", "date": null, "text": "Rome deals with renewed trouble from the Etruscans, who are persuaded by the Samnites to cease their alliance with the Romans. In the Battle of Lake Vadimo, the Romans under Fabius Maximus Rullianus defeat the Etruscans.", "cite": {"url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=1351686531#Roman_Republic", "title": "310 BC", "revid": 1351686531, "section": "Events › By place › Roman Republic"}}, {"year": -308, "year_label": "309 BCE", "section": "Geopolitics & Diplomacy", "date": null, "text": "The Samnites again rise against Rome. Lucius Papirius Cursor is appointed dictator for the second time and wins a great victory at Longula over the Samnites.", "cite": {"url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=1247027805#Roman_Republic", "title": "309 BC", "revid": 1247027805, "section": "Events › By place › Roman Republic"}}, {"year": -305, "year_label": "306 BCE", "section": "Conflict & Security", "date": null, "text": "The Samnites take Sora and Calatia, cities allied to the Romans, and enslave their inhabitants.", "cite": {"url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=1326553952#Italy", "title": "306 BC", "revid": 1326553952, "section": "Events › By place › Italy"}}, {"year": -304, "year_label": "305 BCE", "section": "Conflict & Security", "date": null, "text": "The Roman consuls, Marcus Fulvius Curvus Paetinus and Lucius Postumius Megellus, decisively defeat the Samnites in the Battle of Bovianum to end the Second Samnite War.", "cite": {"url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=1225162735#Italy", "title": "305 BC", "revid": 1225162735, "section": "Events › By place › Italy"}}, {"year": -303, "year_label": "304 BCE", "section": "Conflict & Security", "date": null, "text": "The second Samnite war formally ends with a peace agreement in which the Samnites obtain peace on terms that are severe but not as crushing as those agreed by the Romans with the Etruscans four years earlier. Under the peace, Rome gains no territory, but the Samnites renounce their hegemony over Campania. Rome is also successful in ending the revolts amongst the tribes surrounding Roman territory.", "cite": {"url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=1355692793#Roman_Republic", "title": "304 BC", "revid": 1355692793, "section": "Events › By place › Roman Republic"}}, {"year": -298, "year_label": "299 BCE", "section": "Conflict & Security", "date": null, "text": "The Samnites invade Lucania after the latter refuses to join them in alliance. The Lucanians suffer several defeats and lose multiple towns.", "cite": {"url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=1158554016#Roman_Republic", "title": "299 BC", "revid": 1158554016, "section": "Events › By place › Roman Republic"}}, {"year": -297, "year_label": "298 BCE", "section": "Conflict & Security", "date": null, "text": "The Lucanians seek Roman aid against the invasion of the Samnites. In agreeing to take the Lucanians under their protection, the Romans commit to war against the Samnites.", "cite": {"url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=1350129361#Roman_Republic", "title": "298 BC", "revid": 1350129361, "section": "Events › By place › Roman Republic"}}, {"year": -296, "year_label": "297 BCE", "section": "Conflict & Security", "date": null, "text": "The consul Quintus Fabius Maximus Rullianus defeats an attempted ambush by the Samnite army in the Battle of Tifernum, killing 3400, capturing 830, and causing the army to flee. He then invades Samnium and storms the town of Cimetra.", "cite": {"url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=1350129350#Roman_Republic", "title": "297 BC", "revid": 1350129350, "section": "Events › By place › Roman Republic"}}, {"year": -295, "year_label": "296 BCE", "section": "Conflict & Security", "date": null, "text": "The Samnite noble Gellius Egnatius leads an army into Umbria and makes an alliance with the majority of the Etruscan city-states and some of the Umbrian cities.", "cite": {"url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=1359921190#Roman_Republic", "title": "296 BC", "revid": 1359921190, "section": "Events › By place › Roman Republic"}}, {"year": -294, "year_label": "295 BCE", "section": "Conflict & Security", "date": null, "text": "The Samnites defeat the propraetor Lucius Cornelius Scipio Barbatus in Umbria in the Battle of Camerinum.", "cite": {"url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=1350129451#Roman_Republic", "title": "295 BC", "revid": 1350129451, "section": "Events › By place › Roman Republic"}}, {"year": -294, "year_label": "295 BCE", "section": "Conflict & Security", "date": null, "text": "The proconsul Lucius Volumnius Flamma Violens defeats a Samnite army at Mt Tifernus and invades Samnium.", "cite": {"url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=1350129451#Roman_Republic", "title": "295 BC", "revid": 1350129451, "section": "Events › By place › Roman Republic"}}, {"year": -294, "year_label": "295 BCE", "section": "Deaths", "date": null, "text": "Gellius Egnatius, Roman military leader of the Samnites", "cite": {"url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=1350129451#Deaths", "title": "295 BC", "revid": 1350129451, "section": "Deaths"}}, {"year": -291, "year_label": "292 BCE", "section": "Conflict & Security", "date": null, "text": "The Samnites reappoint Gavius Pontius, the victor of the Battle of Caudine Forks, as general, and in Campania he defeats the consul Quintus Fabius Maximus Gurges. However, Fabius is joined by his father, Q. Fabius Maximus Rullianus, as legate and de facto general, and they defeat Pontius in battle and capture the general and his camp. They then capture several towns of the Pentri, a prominent tribe of the Samnites.", "cite": {"url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=1367905067#Roman_Republic", "title": "292 BC", "revid": 1367905067, "section": "Events › By place › Roman Republic"}}, {"year": -290, "year_label": "291 BCE", "section": "Geopolitics & Diplomacy", "date": null, "text": "The proconsul Q. Fabius Maximus Gurges and legate Q. Fabius Maximus Rullianus besiege the Samnite town of Cominium Ocritum, but the consul Lucius Postumius Megellus orders Fabius Gurges to relinquish his command and evacuate Samnium, despite the fact that the Senate had appointed Fabius proconsul to campaign against the Samnites.", "cite": {"url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=1115795236#Roman_Republic", "title": "291 BC", "revid": 1115795236, "section": "Events › By place › Roman Republic"}}, {"year": -289, "year_label": "290 BCE", "section": "Conflict & Security", "date": null, "text": "The consuls Manius Curius Dentatus and Publius Cornelius Rufinus invade Samnium and defeat the Samnites in several engagements. The Samnites sue for peace, thus ending the Third Samnite War. The Samnites are recognised by the Romans as autonomous allies but are subordinate to Rome and must give up land as compensation.", "cite": {"url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=1267837905#Roman_Republic", "title": "290 BC", "revid": 1267837905, "section": "Events › By place › Roman Republic"}}, {"year": -281, "year_label": "282 BCE", "section": "Conflict & Security", "date": null, "text": "Rome declares war on Tarentum. King Pyrrhus of Epirus declares his willingness to come to the aid of Tarentum. Tarentum also looks for support from the Samnites and other Italian tribes in southern Italy.", "cite": {"url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=1313148199#Roman_Republic", "title": "282 BC", "revid": 1313148199, "section": "Events › By place › Roman Republic"}}, {"year": -278, "year_label": "279 BCE", "section": "Conflict & Security", "date": null, "text": "Pyrrhus realizes that he cannot capture Rome and suggests peace terms to the Romans. Pyrrhus sends his chief advisor, Cineas, to Rome to negotiate a peace. Cineas demands that the Romans halt their aggression against the Greeks of southern Italy and restore the lands the Romans have taken from the Bruttii, the Apulians, and the Samnites. The Romans reject his demands, largely at the instigation of the former Roman censor, Appius Claudius Caecus.", "cite": {"url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=1226777989#Roman_Republic", "title": "279 BC", "revid": 1226777989, "section": "Events › By place › Roman Republic"}}, {"year": -276, "year_label": "277 BCE", "section": "Conflict & Security", "date": null, "text": "Battle of the Cranita Hills: Roman forces are defeated by the Samnites at the Cranita Hills during the Pyrrhic War.", "cite": {"url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=1256058749#Italy", "title": "277 BC", "revid": 1256058749, "section": "Events › By place › Italy"}}, {"year": -271, "year_label": "272 BCE", "section": "Conflict & Security", "date": null, "text": "Pyrrhus' departure from southern Italy three years earlier leads to the Samnites finally being conquered by the Romans. With the surrender of Tarentum, the cities of Magna Graecia in southern Italy come under Roman influence and become Roman allies. Rome now effectively dominates all of the Italian peninsula.", "cite": {"url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=1354172942#Roman_Republic", "title": "272 BC", "revid": 1354172942, "section": "Events › By place › Roman Republic"}}, {"year": -269, "year_label": "270 BCE", "section": "Conflict & Security", "date": null, "text": "Rome's subjugation of Italy is completed by the recapture of Rhegium (southern Italy) from the Mamertines and the defeat of the Brutians, the Lucanians, the Calabrians and the Samnites. The town of Rhegium is then restored by the Romans to its Greek inhabitants.", "cite": {"url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=1317756359#Roman_Republic", "title": "270 BC", "revid": 1317756359, "section": "Events › By place › Roman Republic"}}, {"year": -81, "year_label": "82 BCE", "section": "Conflict & Security", "date": "November 1", "text": "November 1: Sulla defeats an army of Samnites and Lucanians alliance in the Battle of the Colline Gate.", "cite": {"url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=1262234047#Roman_Republic", "title": "82 BC", "revid": 1262234047, "section": "Events › By place › Roman Republic"}}]}