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Samnites

Italic people living in Samnium in south-central Italy

39 dated entries naming Samnites, drawn from 36 separate years between 438 BCE and 82 BCE. Nothing here is written by us: each line is the sentence a Wikipedia year article used, and the link beside it opens the exact revision.

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5th century BC

  • 438 BCEThe city of Capua falls to the Samnites.source
  • 428 BCEThe Greek colony of Cumae in Italy falls to the Samnites, who begin to take control of the Campanian plain.source
  • 421 BCEThe city of Cumae, the most northerly of the Greek colonies in Italy, falls to the Samnites.source

4th century BC

  • 354 BCERome allies itself with the Samnites and they agree on a mutual defence pact.source
  • 343 BCEFirst Samnite War began when Rome fought the confederated Samnites over disputed territory in the Middle Liris Valley.source
  • 342 BCEThe 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.source
  • 341 BCEThe First Samnite War ends with Rome triumphant and the Samnites willing to make peace.source
  • 340 BCEAn 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.source
  • 332 BCEAfter a victory over the Samnites and Lucanians near Paestum, Alexander of Epirus makes a treaty with the Romans.source
  • 327 BCEThe 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.source
  • 326 BCEFollowing 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.source
  • 321 BCEContinuing 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.source
  • 316 BCEThe 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.source
  • 315 BCEThe Samnites defeat a Roman army led by dictator Quintus Fabius Maximus Rullianus at the Battle of Lautulae.source
  • 314 BCEThe 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.source
  • 314 BCESuccess 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.source
  • 313 BCEThe 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.source
  • 311 BCEBrutus campaigns against the Samnites.source
  • 310 BCERome 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.source
  • 309 BCEThe 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.source
  • 306 BCEThe Samnites take Sora and Calatia, cities allied to the Romans, and enslave their inhabitants.source
  • 305 BCEThe 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.source
  • 304 BCEThe 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.source

3rd century BC

  • 299 BCEThe Samnites invade Lucania after the latter refuses to join them in alliance. The Lucanians suffer several defeats and lose multiple towns.source
  • 298 BCEThe 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.source
  • 297 BCEThe 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.source
  • 296 BCEThe 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.source
  • 295 BCEThe Samnites defeat the propraetor Lucius Cornelius Scipio Barbatus in Umbria in the Battle of Camerinum.source
  • 295 BCEThe proconsul Lucius Volumnius Flamma Violens defeats a Samnite army at Mt Tifernus and invades Samnium.source
  • 295 BCEGellius Egnatius, Roman military leader of the Samnitessource
  • 292 BCEThe 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.source
  • 291 BCEThe 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.source
  • 290 BCEThe 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.source
  • 282 BCERome 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.source
  • 279 BCEPyrrhus 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.source
  • 277 BCEBattle of the Cranita Hills: Roman forces are defeated by the Samnites at the Cranita Hills during the Pyrrhic War.source
  • 272 BCEPyrrhus' 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.source
  • 270 BCERome'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.source

1st century BC

  • 82 BCENovember 1: Sulla defeats an army of Samnites and Lucanians alliance in the Battle of the Colline Gate.source

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