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From the 5th century, following the passage from monarchy to Republic, the Sabines must already have been structured into ethnic states, corresponding to the various peoples mentioned by Latin and Greek sources: Peligni, Marrucini, Vestini, Marsi, Pretuzi, Equi and Samnites. The communities were governed internally by the meddix tuticus, a magistrate who stayed in office for one year and boasted the highest political, civil, military and jurisdictional powers. Rome reached an agreement with the Samnite League in 354 B.C., with a treaty establishing the boundaries of their respective zones of influence in central Italy, concerned in the expansion policy of both parties. With the exception of the three wars fought against the Romans between 343 and 290 B.C., the Samnites remained faithful to this alliance, especially during Hannibal’s expedition, until the Social War, at the end of which they obtained full Roman citizenship.
The Pentri Samnites from Schiavi were then ascribed to the Voltinia tribe and their lands were assigned to the municipium of Terventum (present day Trivento, in Molise), not far away. The administrative boundaries of the Roman municipia were then adopted in order to mark out the borders of the mediaeval dioceses in the area, which lay within the duchy of Benevento. |
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