The Samnites were a tribe related to the Sabelians of the southern Apennine , established in the north of their country.
They formed a confederation of towns:
- The Caraceni, with the cities of Aufidena and Bouianum Vetus .
- The Pentri, with another city called Bovianum .
- The Caudini, on the border of Campania, famous for the episode of the Caudine Gallows.
- The Hirpini, near the Benevento pass.
The First Samnite War (343-341 BC)
The Samnites they persecuted the Sidicines, who called the Latins to their aid, and the Samnites complained to Rome, which did not intervene.
Later, the Sidicines allied themselves with the Capuans, and when Capua was defeated by the Samnites, it was handed over to Rome so that it could defend its independence.
A Roman army entered Campania; and Romans and Latins fought against the Samnites. But the war ended with a dishonorable peace, by which the Romans recognized the Samnites the supremacy of the Sidic country. With this, Rome managed to get the same Samnites to close the route to Campania to the Latins.
The uprising of Lazio and the Latin League
After the uprising in Lazio (341-337 BC) and defeating the Latin League, Rome became its capital, the nucleus of the Latin Empire of the Mediterranean.
- Some Latin cities lost their political autonomy, being converted into municipalities of the Roman territory:Lanuvium and Tusculum.
- The former Latin colonies retained the title of Latin cities:Satrium, Nepete, Signia, Cercei and Norba.
- Land was confiscated in the Alban mountains, forming two new tribes:Scaptia and Maecia.
- Capua received equal civil rights with Rome, maintaining its administrative autonomy, the right to mint money, and the organization of its troops.
The bows of the ships captured in the naval battle came to adorn the tribune of the speakers in the Forum, which was called Rostra (from rostrum, naval trophies, plural).
The Second Samnite War (326-304 B.C.)
The Second Samnite War was a consequence of the help given by Rome to Naples, threatened by the Samnites and the occupation of Fregellae by the Romans in 328 BC.
Among the most famous episodes is that of the Horcas Caudinas, the gorge between Arpaya and Montesarchio, where the Romans were trapped and were only allowed to get out by passing under the yoke formed by their own spears.
According to tradition, the chief of the Samnites, Pontius, rejected his father's advice to exterminate the Romans and spared their lives on condition that they withdraw all Roman garrisons from Samnium.
In the year 310 BC, the Etruscans, allies of the Samnites, were defeated at Lake Vatimón and in a Roman advance, Bobianum, the Samnite capital, was taken. The peace treaty (304 BC) that followed the victory left Campania under the hegemony of Rome, renouncing the Samnite League to any territorial expansion.
The Third Rome-Carthage Treaty (306 B.C.)
That Third Treaty between Rome and Carthage took place before the end of the Second Samnite War and was a waiting period that would allow Rome to put an end to the problems of southern Italy and the northern Gauls before definitively confronting Carthage.
In the next century, until reaching the last and definitive destruction of its rival, in the second century (146 BC).