Hirpini
Encyclopedia
The Hirpini were an ancient Samnite
people of central Italy
. While general regarded as having been Samnites, sometimes they are treated as a distinct and independent nation. They inhabited the southern portion of Samnium
, in the more extensive sense of that name, roughly the area now known as Irpinia
from their name—a mountainous region bordering on Basilicata
towards the south, on Apulia
to the east, and on Campania
towards the west. No marked natural boundary separated them from these neighboring nations, but they occupied the lofty masses and groups of the central Apennines
, while the plains on each side, and the lower ranges that bounded them, belonged to their more fortunate neighbors. The mountain basin formed by the three tributaries of the Vulturnus (modern Volturno
)—the Tamarus (modern Tamaro), Calor (mod. Calore
), and Sabatus (mod. Sabato), which, with their vallys, unite near Beneventum, surrounded on all sides by lofty and rugged ranges of mountains—is the center and heart of their territory. Its more southern portion comprised the upper valley of the Aufidus (modern Ofanto
) and the lofty group of mountains where that river takes its rise.
name of a wolf; and, in accordance with this derivation, their first ancestors were supposedly guided to their new settlements by a wolf. This tradition implies the Hirpini were regarded as having migrated, like the other Sabellian
races in the south of Italy, from the north, but when this migration is unknown. From their position in the vastnesses of the central Apennines, they were probably there long before they first appear in history.
and the Samnite confederacy (the Samnite Wars
), though their territory was often the theatre of the war, and several of their cities, especially Maloenton (Roman Maleventum, modern Benevento
), are repeatedly mentioned as bearing an important part in the military operations of both powers. Hence, the Hirpini at this time must have formed an integral part of the Samnite league, and were included by the Roman annalists (whose language on such points Livy
follows with scrupulous fidelity) under the general name of Samnites, without distinguishing between the several tribes of that people. For the same reason we can't fix the exact period when the Roman's subjugated them, but it must have been before 268 BCE, when the Roman's established their colony at Beneventum, a position that likely was the military key to the possession of their country.
In the Second Punic War
, the Hirpini appear as an independent people, acting apart from the rest of the Samnites. Livy expressly uses the name of Samnium in contradistinction to the land of the Hirpini. The latter people was one of those that declared in favour of Hannibal immediately after the battle of Cannae
, 216 BCE; but the Roman colony of Beneventum never fell into the hands of the Carthaginian
general. As early as the following year, three of the smaller towns of the Hirpini were recovered by the Roman praetor M. Valerius. In 214 BCE their territory was the scene of the operations of Hanno
against Tiberius Gracchus
, and again in 212 BCE of those of the same Carthaginian general with a view to the relief of Capua
. It was not till 209 BCE, when Hannibal lost all footing in the center of Italy, that the Hirpini submitted to Rome, and gained favourable terms by betraying the Carthaginian garrisons in their towns.
The Hirpini next figure in history in the Social War (90 BC
), when they were among the first to take up arms against Rome. In the campaign of the following year, (89 BCE), Sulla took Aeclanum
, one of their strongest cities. The blow struck such terror into the rest that they offered submission, and were admitted to favourable terms. Even before this there appears to have been a party in the nation favorable to Rome, as Minatius Magius (the ancestor of the historian Velleius), a native of Aeclanum, was not only himself faithful to the Roman cause, but raised an auxiliary legion among his countrymen to support the Roman generals in Campania. The Hirpini were undoubtedly admitted to the Roman franchise after the war, and their national existence ended. They appear to have suffered less than their neighbours, the Samnites, from the ravages of the war, but considerable portions of their territory were confiscated, and it would seem, from a passage in Cicero
, that a large part of it passed into the hands of wealthy Roman nobles.
By the division of Italy under Augustus
, the Hirpini were separated from the other Samnites, and placed in the second Region together with Apulia and Calabria, while Samnium itself was included in the fourth Region. The same separation was retained also in the later divisions of Italy under the Roman Empire
, according to which Samnium, in the more confined sense, formed a small separate province, while Beneventum and the greater part, if not all other towns of the Hirpini, were included in the province of Campania. The Liber Coloniarum includes all the towns of Samnium, as well as those of the Hirpini, among the "Civitates Campaniae", but this is probably a mistake.
, Aquilonia
, Romulea
, Trivicum, Equus Tuticus, and Murgantia.
Beneventum is the most important city in this part of Italy, and is often referred to Samnium. Pliny called it the only Roman colony in Hirpini territory. Aeclanum is a flourishing and important town nearly in the heart of Hirpini territory. Abellinum is on the confines of Campania, and near the sources of the Sabatus. Compsa
(modern Conza) is near the head waters of the Aufidus and borders on Lucania. Aquilonia
and Romulea
are near the frontiers of Apulia, in the southeastern portion of the Hirpinian territory. Trivicum and Equus Tuticus (modern Sant'Eleuterio) also adjoin the Apulian frontiers. Murgantia, near the sources of the Frento, seems to have been the furthest northeast of the Hirpinian towns, if correctly placed at modern Baselice
.
In the valley of the Tamarus, north of the territory of Beneventum, were the Ligures Barbiani et Corneliani, a colony of Ligurians transplanted to the heart of these mountain regions in 180 BCE, who continued to exist as a separate community in the days of Pliny. Of the minor towns of the Hirpini, three are mentioned by Livy as retaken by the praetor M. Valerius in 215 BCE; but the names given in the manuscripts, Vescellium, Vercellium, and Sicilinum, are probably corrupt: they are all otherwise unknown, except that the Vescellani are also found in Pliny's list of towns. Ferentinum, mentioned also by Livy (x. 17), in connection with Romulea, is also wholly unknown. Fratulum of which the name is found only in Ptolemy, is equally uncertain. Taurasia
mentioned as a town only in the celebrated epitaph of Scipio Barbatus, left its name to the Taurasini Campi not far from Beneventum, and must therefore have been itself situated in that neighborhood. Aletrium, of which the name is found in Pliny has been conjectured to be the modern Calitri
, a village in the upper valley of the Aufidus, not far from Compsa (Conza). Of the other obscure names given by the same author, it is impossible (as already observed) to determine which belong to the Hirpini.
in a manner that shows its fame to have been widely spread through Italy. It is remarkable as the only trace of volcanic action remaining in the central chain of the Apennines.
), and then to Tarentum
(modern Taranto
). This was the proper Via Appia. The other branch, known from the time of Trajan
(who first made it safe for carriages) as the Via Trajana went from Beneventum through Forum Novum (modern Buonalbergo
), Equus Tuticus (San Eleuterio), Aecae in Apulia, and then through Herdonea and Canusium (modern Canosa
) to Brundusium (modern Brindisi
). The course of these roads through Hirpini land has been traced with care by Mommsen.
Samnium
Samnium is a Latin exonym for a region of south or south and central Italy in Roman times. The name survives in Italian today, but today's territory comprising it is only a small portion of what it once was. The populations of Samnium were called Samnites by the Romans...
people of central Italy
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
. While general regarded as having been Samnites, sometimes they are treated as a distinct and independent nation. They inhabited the southern portion of Samnium
Samnium
Samnium is a Latin exonym for a region of south or south and central Italy in Roman times. The name survives in Italian today, but today's territory comprising it is only a small portion of what it once was. The populations of Samnium were called Samnites by the Romans...
, in the more extensive sense of that name, roughly the area now known as Irpinia
Irpinia
Irpinia is a region of the Apennine Mountains around Avellino, a town in Campania, South Italy about 40 km east of Naples...
from their name—a mountainous region bordering on Basilicata
Basilicata
Basilicata , also known as Lucania, is a region in the south of Italy, bordering on Campania to the west, Apulia to the north and east, and Calabria to the south, having one short southwestern coastline on the Tyrrhenian Sea between Campania in the northwest and Calabria in the southwest, and a...
towards the south, on Apulia
Apulia
Apulia is a region in Southern Italy bordering the Adriatic Sea in the east, the Ionian Sea to the southeast, and the Strait of Òtranto and Gulf of Taranto in the south. Its most southern portion, known as Salento peninsula, forms a high heel on the "boot" of Italy. The region comprises , and...
to the east, and on Campania
Campania
Campania is a region in southern Italy. The region has a population of around 5.8 million people, making it the second-most-populous region of Italy; its total area of 13,590 km² makes it the most densely populated region in the country...
towards the west. No marked natural boundary separated them from these neighboring nations, but they occupied the lofty masses and groups of the central Apennines
Apennine mountains
The Apennines or Apennine Mountains or Greek oros but just as often used alone as a noun. The ancient Greeks and Romans typically but not always used "mountain" in the singular to mean one or a range; thus, "the Apennine mountain" refers to the entire chain and is translated "the Apennine...
, while the plains on each side, and the lower ranges that bounded them, belonged to their more fortunate neighbors. The mountain basin formed by the three tributaries of the Vulturnus (modern Volturno
Volturno
The Volturno is a river in south-central Italy.-Geography:It rises in the Abruzzese central Apennines of Samnium near Rocchetta a Volturno 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...
)—the Tamarus (modern Tamaro), Calor (mod. Calore
Calore River
The Calore Irpino or Calore Beneventano or Calore River is a river in southwestern Italy. It rises from the Monte Cervialto in the Monti Picentini sub-range of the Apennine Mountains. The river flows first in the province of Avellino, and then in that of Benevento, before flowing into the Volturno...
), and Sabatus (mod. Sabato), which, with their vallys, unite near Beneventum, surrounded on all sides by lofty and rugged ranges of mountains—is the center and heart of their territory. Its more southern portion comprised the upper valley of the Aufidus (modern Ofanto
Ofanto
The Ofanto, known in ancient times as Aufidus, from the Greek Ophidus, Ωφιδους, meaning snake, is a 170 km river in southern Italy...
) and the lofty group of mountains where that river takes its rise.
Name
Their name derives, according to ancient writers, from hirpus, the OscanOscan language
Oscan is a term used to describe both an extinct language of southern Italy and the language group to which it belonged.The Oscan language was spoken by a number of tribes, including the Samnites, the Aurunci, the Sidicini, and the Ausones. The latter three tribes were often grouped under the name...
name of a wolf; and, in accordance with this derivation, their first ancestors were supposedly guided to their new settlements by a wolf. This tradition implies the Hirpini were regarded as having migrated, like the other Sabellian
Sabellian
Sabellian can refer to*Sabellian, a believer in Sabellianism, the nontrinitarian belief that the Father, Son and Holy Spirit are different modes or aspects of one God, rather than three distinct persons in God Himself...
races in the south of Italy, from the north, but when this migration is unknown. From their position in the vastnesses of the central Apennines, they were probably there long before they first appear in history.
Affiliations and history
The early history of the Hirpini cannot be separated from that of the Samnites in general. Their name does not once occur in history during the long protracted struggle between the RomansAncient Rome
Ancient Rome was a thriving civilization that grew on the Italian Peninsula as early as the 8th century BC. Located along the Mediterranean Sea and centered on the city of Rome, it expanded to one of the largest empires in the ancient world....
and the Samnite confederacy (the Samnite Wars
Samnite Wars
The First, Second, and Third Samnite Wars, between the early Roman Republic and the tribes of Samnium, extended over half a century, involving almost all the states of Italy, and ended in Roman domination of the Samnites...
), though their territory was often the theatre of the war, and several of their cities, especially Maloenton (Roman Maleventum, modern Benevento
Benevento
Benevento is a town and comune of Campania, Italy, capital of the province of Benevento, 50 km northeast of Naples. It is situated on a hill 130 m above sea-level at the confluence of the Calore Irpino and Sabato...
), are repeatedly mentioned as bearing an important part in the military operations of both powers. Hence, the Hirpini at this time must have formed an integral part of the Samnite league, and were included by the Roman annalists (whose language on such points Livy
Livy
Titus Livius — known as Livy in English — was a Roman historian who wrote a monumental history of Rome and the Roman people. Ab Urbe Condita Libri, "Chapters from the Foundation of the City," covering the period from the earliest legends of Rome well before the traditional foundation in 753 BC...
follows with scrupulous fidelity) under the general name of Samnites, without distinguishing between the several tribes of that people. For the same reason we can't fix the exact period when the Roman's subjugated them, but it must have been before 268 BCE, when the Roman's established their colony at Beneventum, a position that likely was the military key to the possession of their country.
In the Second Punic War
Second Punic War
The Second Punic War, also referred to as The Hannibalic War and The War Against Hannibal, lasted from 218 to 201 BC and involved combatants in the western and eastern Mediterranean. This was the second major war between Carthage and the Roman Republic, with the participation of the Berbers on...
, the Hirpini appear as an independent people, acting apart from the rest of the Samnites. Livy expressly uses the name of Samnium in contradistinction to the land of the Hirpini. The latter people was one of those that declared in favour of Hannibal immediately after the battle of Cannae
Battle of Cannae
The Battle of Cannae was a major battle of the Second Punic War, which took place on August 2, 216 BC near the town of Cannae in Apulia in southeast Italy. The army of Carthage under Hannibal decisively defeated a numerically superior army of the Roman Republic under command of the consuls Lucius...
, 216 BCE; but the Roman colony of Beneventum never fell into the hands of the Carthaginian
Carthage
Carthage , implying it was a 'new Tyre') is a major urban centre that has existed for nearly 3,000 years on the Gulf of Tunis, developing from a Phoenician colony of the 1st millennium BC...
general. As early as the following year, three of the smaller towns of the Hirpini were recovered by the Roman praetor M. Valerius. In 214 BCE their territory was the scene of the operations of Hanno
Hanno
Hanno may refer to:* Hanno, Saitama, Honshū, Japan* Hanno , a lunar crater* Hanno , the pet white elephant of Pope Leo XPeople named Hanno:*Several ancient Carthaginians, including:...
against Tiberius Gracchus
Tiberius Gracchus
Tiberius Sempronius Gracchus was a Roman Populares politician of the 2nd century BC and brother of Gaius Gracchus. As a plebeian tribune, his reforms of agrarian legislation caused political turmoil in the Republic. These reforms threatened the holdings of rich landowners in Italy...
, and again in 212 BCE of those of the same Carthaginian general with a view to the relief of Capua
Capua
Capua is a city and comune in the province of Caserta, Campania, southern Italy, situated 25 km north of Naples, on the northeastern edge of the Campanian plain. Ancient Capua was situated where Santa Maria Capua Vetere is now...
. It was not till 209 BCE, when Hannibal lost all footing in the center of Italy, that the Hirpini submitted to Rome, and gained favourable terms by betraying the Carthaginian garrisons in their towns.
The Hirpini next figure in history in the Social War (90 BC
90 BC
Year 90 BC was a year of the pre-Julian Roman calendar. At the time it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Caesar and Lupus...
), when they were among the first to take up arms against Rome. In the campaign of the following year, (89 BCE), Sulla took Aeclanum
Aeclanum
Aeclanum was an ancient town of Samnium, southern Italy, c. 25 km east-southeast of Beneventum, on the Via Appia ....
, one of their strongest cities. The blow struck such terror into the rest that they offered submission, and were admitted to favourable terms. Even before this there appears to have been a party in the nation favorable to Rome, as Minatius Magius (the ancestor of the historian Velleius), a native of Aeclanum, was not only himself faithful to the Roman cause, but raised an auxiliary legion among his countrymen to support the Roman generals in Campania. The Hirpini were undoubtedly admitted to the Roman franchise after the war, and their national existence ended. They appear to have suffered less than their neighbours, the Samnites, from the ravages of the war, but considerable portions of their territory were confiscated, and it would seem, from a passage in Cicero
Cicero
Marcus Tullius Cicero , was a Roman philosopher, statesman, lawyer, political theorist, and Roman constitutionalist. He came from a wealthy municipal family of the equestrian order, and is widely considered one of Rome's greatest orators and prose stylists.He introduced the Romans to the chief...
, that a large part of it passed into the hands of wealthy Roman nobles.
By the division of Italy under Augustus
Augustus
Augustus ;23 September 63 BC – 19 August AD 14) is considered the first emperor of the Roman Empire, which he ruled alone from 27 BC until his death in 14 AD.The dates of his rule are contemporary dates; Augustus lived under two calendars, the Roman Republican until 45 BC, and the Julian...
, the Hirpini were separated from the other Samnites, and placed in the second Region together with Apulia and Calabria, while Samnium itself was included in the fourth Region. The same separation was retained also in the later divisions of Italy under the Roman Empire
Roman Empire
The Roman Empire was the post-Republican period of the ancient Roman civilization, characterised by an autocratic form of government and large territorial holdings in Europe and around the Mediterranean....
, according to which Samnium, in the more confined sense, formed a small separate province, while Beneventum and the greater part, if not all other towns of the Hirpini, were included in the province of Campania. The Liber Coloniarum includes all the towns of Samnium, as well as those of the Hirpini, among the "Civitates Campaniae", but this is probably a mistake.
Towns and cities
National characteristics of the Hirpini cannot be separated from those of other Samnites, nor is it always easy to separate the limits of the Hirpini from those of neighbouring Samnite tribes. More especially, almost exclusively to the Imperial times, when the original distinctions of the tribes were mostly obliterated. Pliny's list of towns in the second region is more than usually obscure, and those of the Hirpini and of Apulia are mixed up together in a most perplexing manner. Towns assigned with certainty to the Hirpini include: Beneventum, Aeclanum, Abellinum, CompsaCompsa
Compsa was an ancient city of the Hirpini, near the sources of the Aufidus, on the boundary of Lucania and not far from that of Apulia, on a ridge 609 m above sea level....
, Aquilonia
Aquilonia
Aquilonia is a town and comune in the province of Avellino, part of the Campania region of southern Italy. It is situated in mountainous terrain in the eastern part of Avellino, at an elevation of 750 m...
, Romulea
Romulea
Romulea is a genus of about 80 species of flowering plants in the iris family distributed in Europe, the Mediterranean, and South Africa. The genus name refers to the legendary Rome founder Romulus, and alludes to the abundance of one of the species in the Roman countryside.Some of the species:*...
, Trivicum, Equus Tuticus, and Murgantia.
Beneventum is the most important city in this part of Italy, and is often referred to Samnium. Pliny called it the only Roman colony in Hirpini territory. Aeclanum is a flourishing and important town nearly in the heart of Hirpini territory. Abellinum is on the confines of Campania, and near the sources of the Sabatus. Compsa
Compsa
Compsa was an ancient city of the Hirpini, near the sources of the Aufidus, on the boundary of Lucania and not far from that of Apulia, on a ridge 609 m above sea level....
(modern Conza) is near the head waters of the Aufidus and borders on Lucania. Aquilonia
Aquilonia
Aquilonia is a town and comune in the province of Avellino, part of the Campania region of southern Italy. It is situated in mountainous terrain in the eastern part of Avellino, at an elevation of 750 m...
and Romulea
Romulea
Romulea is a genus of about 80 species of flowering plants in the iris family distributed in Europe, the Mediterranean, and South Africa. The genus name refers to the legendary Rome founder Romulus, and alludes to the abundance of one of the species in the Roman countryside.Some of the species:*...
are near the frontiers of Apulia, in the southeastern portion of the Hirpinian territory. Trivicum and Equus Tuticus (modern Sant'Eleuterio) also adjoin the Apulian frontiers. Murgantia, near the sources of the Frento, seems to have been the furthest northeast of the Hirpinian towns, if correctly placed at modern Baselice
Baselice
Baselice is a comune in the Province of Benevento in the Italian region Campania, located about 90 km northeast of Naples and about 35 km northeast of Benevento...
.
In the valley of the Tamarus, north of the territory of Beneventum, were the Ligures Barbiani et Corneliani, a colony of Ligurians transplanted to the heart of these mountain regions in 180 BCE, who continued to exist as a separate community in the days of Pliny. Of the minor towns of the Hirpini, three are mentioned by Livy as retaken by the praetor M. Valerius in 215 BCE; but the names given in the manuscripts, Vescellium, Vercellium, and Sicilinum, are probably corrupt: they are all otherwise unknown, except that the Vescellani are also found in Pliny's list of towns. Ferentinum, mentioned also by Livy (x. 17), in connection with Romulea, is also wholly unknown. Fratulum of which the name is found only in Ptolemy, is equally uncertain. Taurasia
Taurasia
Taurasia is a genus of sea snails, marine gastropod mollusks in the family Muricidae, the murex snails or rock snails.-Species:Species within the genus Taurasia include:* Taurasia striata...
mentioned as a town only in the celebrated epitaph of Scipio Barbatus, left its name to the Taurasini Campi not far from Beneventum, and must therefore have been itself situated in that neighborhood. Aletrium, of which the name is found in Pliny has been conjectured to be the modern Calitri
Calitri
Calitri is a town and comune of 5,292 inhabitants situated in the province of Avellino, Campania, Italy.- Overview :It is situated in Campania but on the borders of the regions of Apulia and Basilicata. It is approximately 530 metres above sea level so even on the hottest day there is generally a...
, a village in the upper valley of the Aufidus, not far from Compsa (Conza). Of the other obscure names given by the same author, it is impossible (as already observed) to determine which belong to the Hirpini.
Volcanic structures
The most remarkable natural curiosity in the land of the Hirpini was the valley and lake, or rather pool, of Amsanctus, celebrated by VirgilVirgil
Publius Vergilius Maro, usually called Virgil or Vergil in English , was an ancient Roman poet of the Augustan period. He is known for three major works of Latin literature, the Eclogues , the Georgics, and the epic Aeneid...
in a manner that shows its fame to have been widely spread through Italy. It is remarkable as the only trace of volcanic action remaining in the central chain of the Apennines.
Roads
The country of the Hirpini, despite its rugged, mountainous character, was traversed by several Roman roads, all of which connected to the Via Appia. The main line of that road went from Capua to Beneventum. There, it branched into two, one to Aeclanum, Romulea, and Aquilonia, Venusia (modern VenosaVenosa
Venosa is a town and comune in the province of Potenza, in the Southern Italian region of Basilicata, in the Vulture area. It is bounded by the comuni of Barile, Ginestra, Lavello, Maschito, Montemilone, Palazzo San Gervasio, Rapolla and Spinazzola....
), and then to Tarentum
Taranto
Taranto is a coastal city in Apulia, Southern Italy. It is the capital of the Province of Taranto and is an important commercial port as well as the main Italian naval base....
(modern Taranto
Taranto
Taranto is a coastal city in Apulia, Southern Italy. It is the capital of the Province of Taranto and is an important commercial port as well as the main Italian naval base....
). This was the proper Via Appia. The other branch, known from the time of Trajan
Trajan
Trajan , was Roman Emperor from 98 to 117 AD. Born into a non-patrician family in the province of Hispania Baetica, in Spain Trajan rose to prominence during the reign of emperor Domitian. Serving as a legatus legionis in Hispania Tarraconensis, in Spain, in 89 Trajan supported the emperor against...
(who first made it safe for carriages) as the Via Trajana went from Beneventum through Forum Novum (modern Buonalbergo
Buonalbergo
Buonalbergo is a comune in the Province of Benevento in the Italian region Campania, located about 70 km northeast of Naples and about twenty kilometers northeast of Benevento...
), Equus Tuticus (San Eleuterio), Aecae in Apulia, and then through Herdonea and Canusium (modern Canosa
Canosa
Canosa di Puglia is a town and comune in Apulia in southern Italy, between Bari and Foggia, located in the province of Barletta-Andria-Trani, not far from the position on the Ofanto River where the Romans found refuge after the defeat of the Battle of Cannae...
) to Brundusium (modern Brindisi
Brindisi
Brindisi is a city in the Apulia region of Italy, the capital of the province of Brindisi, off the coast of the Adriatic Sea.Historically, the city has played an important role in commerce and culture, due to its position on the Italian Peninsula and its natural port on the Adriatic Sea. The city...
). The course of these roads through Hirpini land has been traced with care by Mommsen.