A systematic archaeological exploration of Samnium is a relatively recent initiative, as it was started in the early 1970s and gradually increased in the following decades. The earliest records of collections of prehistoric material of various Molisian provenance are available through surface surveys carried out beginning in 1876 by anthropologist Giustiniano Nicolucci and palethnologist
Luigi Pigorini. The latter wrote in that very year complaining of a great poverty of information about the Stone Age in the province of Molise. It consists of eight knives from Larino, a scraper and two knives from
Casacalenda and a knife from
Montorio nei Frentani. Currently, the material found is partly preserved at the
Luigi Pigorini National Prehistoric Ethnographic Museum in Rome and partly at the Anthropological Museum of the
University of Naples Federico II. Subsequently, it was to the credit of the British mission of the
University of Sheffield and the team led by archaeologist
Graeme Barker, to have conducted a capillary surface reconnaissance, started in 1974, along the wide strip of territory (
Pentrian and
Frentanian) that constitutes the Biferno Valley (
The Biferno Valley Survey), which from the Matese massif reaches the sea, following the course of the Tifernus. Systematic land sampling has led to the identification of about one hundred and twenty ancient settlements of various sizes, covering a period from the
Neolithic to the first century B.C. Barker's analysis of the results of the survey offers a picture of an intense peopling of the Frentanian territory gravitating on the lower Biferno valley, where 60 percent of the identified inhabited settlements turn out to be located. Settlement choices seem to be dictated not only by the need to exploit the sites most favorable to cultivation, but also by the intention to keep close to natural communication routes. Through Barker's survey, the main information on the nature of early Neolithic settlements located along the Biferno valley is available, particularly of the most substantial one identified on Monte Maulo (about 350 m a.s.l.), a vast plateau below Larino, overlooking the lower Biferno valley, at the edge of a promontory about 20 km. from the sea as the crow flies. Inspection of the site, explored in 1978, led to the discovery of several species of mollusks and snails; 146 charred seeds were recovered, mainly cereals (barley and wheat) and legumes, and numerous samples of animal bones (cattle, sheep and pigs), mostly slaughtered. The excavation conducted at the top of the slope, among the plowed soil, recovered about 1,500 sherds of common pottery, mostly decorated, and about 200 pieces of chipped flint, almost all of a local stone of poor quality. Radiocarbon dates, obtained in an Oxford laboratory, date from the second half of the fifth millennium BCE. Thus, the botanical and faunal records appearing in the area confirm that early agricultural communities were present in the lower Biferno Valley as early as the late fifth millennium B.C. The site has also yielded traces of human habitation, consisting of a series of circular holes, probably dug to recover flint, filled with ceramic fragments, and structural remains of Neolithic huts (pressed clay with branch imprints). The data from Monte Maulo make it possible to reconstruct the paleoenvironment of this small part of Molise; they confirm that as early as the Early Neolithic period a mixed economy of gathering and farming was in force, with prevalence of the latter, given the variety of botanical remains found, both cereals (spelt, barley, common oats, millet, soft wheat) and legumes (broad beans, peas, lentils), as well as the numerous faunal remains, relating to animals raised, slaughtered and consumed on site. Between 1969 and 1989, an accurate study conducted by Eugenio De Felice on the settlement of Larinum and the territory surrounding the ancient Frentanian center further enriched what is known about the early phases of occupation of this area. It has thus been possible to identify a number of Neolithic Age agricultural villages distributed throughout the territory, thanks to the numerous finds of ceramic fragments and remains of lithic industry, settlements mostly located on hilly heights and near water sources. Ceramic and bronze material, referable to the late
Bronze Age - early
Iron Age, has been found in various places at Montarone and Guardiola, two heights bordering to the south and north the ancient settlement of Larino, suitable for the settlement of humans and animals, well connected to both the Biferno valley floor and the coastal plain. Although of very ancient origin, as evidenced by sporadic finds dating from the Final Bronze Age and the early Iron Age, the first significant evidence of living contexts of the city of Larino starts from the fifth century B.C.; these are mostly burial cores, often not even perfectly intact, since, due to building expansion and massive earthworks carried out for the construction of the railroad, much has been destroyed and very little remains to be explored. Even the evidence of the Roman phase, the one best known, is currently in an extremely fragmentary state. Also of particular interest for the reconstruction of Larinum's history are the coins and epigraphic texts that have been found, references that are also useful for an understanding of the scant archaeological evidence recovered in the different areas of its urban fabric. However, these data significantly reveal continuity of life in the area as far back as protohistoric times. From the very beginning, in 1977, the first archaeological investigation tests, initially carried out by the
Soprintendenza Beni Archeologici del Molise along the southern slopes of Monte Arcano (about 2 km northwest of Piana San Leonardo), on the hills facing north, ascertained the presence of an archaic necropolis, dating back to the 6th century BCE. B.C. with rectangular burial graves, with mound covers of limestone chippings; the vessel trove almost constantly includes the large olla,
bucchero, and clay pottery vessels coarsely imitating Daunian forms. Explorations conducted in other areas as well have revealed, albeit fragmentarily, the presence of a settlement stratification of ancient origin throughout the Larinum countryside, covering a rather wide time span. However, over the years it has only been possible to carry out explorations limited to the areas that remained free of construction, the entire area having by then been abundantly urbanized since the post-war period. Subsequent archaeological investigations, extended to other municipalities close to the
Molise coastal area, found similar presence of burial nuclei, of considerable size, dating back to the pre-Roman historical phase, in the centers of
Termoli,
Guglionesi,
Montorio nei Frentani and
Campomarino. In the latter center, in the locality of Arcora, excavations carried out since 1983 have unearthed substantial traces of a protohistoric village, dating between the Final Bronze Age and the Early Iron Age (9th-7th centuries B.C. ), which extended, over an area of about four hectares, along the ridge facing the Adriatic coast, naturally defended on two sides by steep walls; the flat area inland showed clear traces of defense and enclosure structures (wall, palisade and moat). Surface reconnaissance attests to a continuous occupation of the site up to the entire fifth century B.C. In addition to partial ruins of living structures, the site has yielded conspicuous traces of human activities: numerous artifacts of ceramic material, vessels and containers for cooking and storing foodstuffs, utensils and objects of domestic use, hearths and stoves. Numerous bone remains of animals, both domestic (cattle and pigs) and wild (deer and fox), with obvious traces of slaughtering. The amount of seeds recovered during the excavation, both legumes and grains, was remarkable. A community, then, with a simple social organization, living on agriculture, animal husbandry, hunting and gathering wild fruits, as part of a household-based subsistence economy. Traces of other settlements have been found to the north and south of the Arcora area: it seems clear, therefore, that the Adriatic coast, from the Biferno to the Fortore, was occupied by settlements that exploited the natural platforms separated from the coast by steep and craggy ridges. This evidence from lower Molise documents the existence of numerous scattered settlements, not large, distributed over a fairly wide area and consisting of communities mainly with an agricultural and pastoral vocation. Still in this area the centuries between the 6th and 4th B.C. are known mainly thanks to the conspicuous archaeological documentation from the numerous necropolises, which show a dense occupation of the territory. The
grave goods and personal ornaments of the deceased testify to cultural differentiations between the different centers: for example, the coastal settlements show aspects predominantly akin to the Daunian culture; on the contrary, Larino, a frontier town, also has a part in Western culture, coming from the Pentrian and Campanian areas, as shown by the presence in some burials of
bucchero pottery, which is completely absent in the contemporary necropolis of Termoli. In funerary ritual, on the other hand, the entire Frentanian area shows substantial cultural unity, which differentiates it from
Daunia, where, for example, the deceased is habitually laid in a crouched position, on his side, and not supine. But beyond this single difference, there is cultural uniformity and substantial continuity between the two areas: between Daunia and Frentania, therefore, the
Gargano promontory does not constitute a dividing line; between the Tavoliere and the Molise coast there is an undeniable continuity. Monetary finds, moreover, also confirm the picture of Larino as a city open to Apulian influences and at the same time important for its connections with inland
Samnium: for this reason, even from ancient sources, there was already a certain difficulty in framing Larino in one precise cultural sphere rather than another. Among the various bronze issues, for example, some follow the Greek weight system, in use in the Campanian and Samnite mints, while others, more recent, follow the Italic system, with decimal fractionation, typical of the Adriatic areas. In the necropolises of lower Molise, in the Archaic period, burials habitually involved the inhumation of the deceased, in a supine position, in pits dug in the clay layer and filled with limestone chippings. It is likely that these stone mounds outcropped from the ancient ground level, marking the location of the grave. The grave goods, laid at the feet of the buried person in a specially made space, usually consisted of small ceramic objects (cups, amphorae, bowls and mugs); metal vessels were rare. In female burials there are objects of personal adornment (fibulae, necklaces, beads, pendants, rings), in male burials weapons and utensils (iron knives, razors and spear or javelin cusps). Bronze helmets have also been found sporadically, some of the Picenian type, others of the Appulo-Corinthian type, which evidently served to highlight the social rank of the deceased. The grave goods of Frentanian burials from the 6th-5th centuries B.C.E. are usually richer in material than those of the contemporary ones from the inland areas of Samnium. They prove to be mostly uniform in the type of materials deposited.
Italic period Larinum urbs princeps Frentanorum reads an ancient tombstone, underscoring the important role played in the past by this flourishing city of lower Molise, which was one of the main centers of the
Frentanian territory. According to historian
Giovanni Andrea Tria, as the centuries passed, the name underwent numerous changes and was deformed into Alarino, Larina, Laurino, Arino, Lauriano, until it reached the definitive
toponym of
Larinum in Roman times. According to an ancient tradition, taken up by historian Alberto Magliano, its foundation would most likely date back to around the 12th century B.C. at the hands of the
Etruscans, in the course of their immigrations to the fertile plains of
Apulia; the city's first name would have been Frenter, as inferred from some coins found in the Larinese countryside. The hypothesis has even been advanced that the people who inhabited ancient Larinum were descendants of the ancient
Liburnians, who came from the coast of present-day
Dalmatia, either via the Adriatic Sea or by land migrations at the end of the Bronze Age. One of the most reliable theses is that the
Samnites descended from the
Sabines, also in view of the etymological connection between
Safinim,
Sabinus,
Sabellus,
Samnis,
Samnitis, which can be traced back to a common Indo-European root. In fact, one of the most debated points in the history of Samnium in recent years is the one concerning the
ethnogenesis of the Samnites, already the subject of various conjectures by the ancients in the past. According to the most recent research in
historical linguistics, Osco-Umbrian populations, having left the steppes of central and eastern Europe and crossed the Alps, penetrated the Italic peninsula in the second half of the second millennium B.C., settled along the central Apennine ridge, pushing even southward along the
Adriatic and
Tyrrhenian coasts and overlapping with the indigenous peoples. Later, as
Strabo (V, 4, 12) narrates, another Indo-European population, the Samnites, akin in language and religion to the
Oscans, would immigrate to the central southern area of the peninsula, to the point that the two groups would eventually coincide and overlap, albeit with varied tribal differentiation. Both Greek and Roman sources identify the tribes of the Carecini,
Caudini, Irpini, Pentri and Frentani in Samnium, emphasizing that all were fierce adversaries of Rome, although they provide little information on the differences between them. It is impossible to know with certainty where these peoples came from, how numerous and different from each other they were, and in how many waves they arrived. It is known with certainty, however, on the basis of abundant archaeological evidence, that as early as the second half of the eighth century B.C. these peoples were permanently settled in what would historically be
Samnite territory. Inscriptions and epigraphic records testify that as early as the 6th century B.C. central-southern Italy, south of the
Liri and Sangro rivers, was inhabited by populations traditionally defined as Italic-speaking, with the exclusion of Latium, Latin-speaking, and Apulia,
Messapic-speaking.
Oscan-speaking (Samnium, Campania, Lucania, and Bruzio),
Umbrian-speaking (in the territories of Gubbio, Assisi, and Todi), and
Sabellian-speaking (including
Vestini,
Marrucini, Peligni, Equi, Marsi,
Volsci, and Sabini), closely related populations were distinguished. This situation reflected the progressive chronological stratification of different, but in many ways also related, cultural and linguistic entities. As early as the 4th century B.C. dialectal variations had become entirely negligible. Most likely the name "Oscan" was given to the language of the Samnites precisely because the language of the invaders was very similar to that of the
Oscans whose lands were invaded. Although it was spoken over such a vast area, no written use of it was made until relatively late, about 350 B.C. when the Samnites came into contact with the more developed culture of the Greeks and
Etruscans, and began to regulate their exchanges with the Romans in writing. Ancient sources (literary, epigraphic and numismatic) have handed down both the Oscan form of the name by which the Samnites called themselves and the Greek and Latin form of the name by which other peoples called them. It seems that the Samnites called their own region Safinim and designated themselves by the name Safineis. In Latin the region became Samnium and the inhabitants were called Samnites. In Greek the Samnites were called Σαυνίται and their land was called Σαυνίτις as attested by
Polybius (III, 91, 9) and
Strabo (V, 4, 3 and 13). Probably descended from the same ancient lineage, they show in the cultural sphere many similarities (language, religion, customs), but also differences resulting from the geographical location and morphology of their respective territories. While the Frentanian Samnium faces the Adriatic coast, in contact with populations with a maritime orientation, the Pentrian Samnium is oriented toward the
Mainarde and the
Matese and is connected with the Campanian side. The former benefits from material conditions that allow it a higher economic development and rapid urbanization, while the latter remains anchored to more archaic forms of production and only after the Social War reached a widespread level of urbanization. While the Pentri, spread over mountainous territory, remain tied to a scattered form of settlement, with a dense network of fortifications on the heights, the Frentani, spread over a flat territory, already in the fourth century B.C. aggregate into urban centers, mostly located on the ancient routes. They would all be equally subdued and eventually their territory would be greatly reduced in size and surrounded on all sides by cities and peoples allied with Rome. The Samnites can be said to make their entry into history only from 354 B.C. when, having come into contact with the Romans for the first time, they entered into a pact of non-belligerence with them (Livy, 7.19.4; Diodorus 16.45.8). This was an agreement probably motivated by the need to define the limits of their respective zones of expansion. Soon thereafter would begin a fierce and very long confrontation, protracted, albeit with interruptions, for more than fifty years (from 343 B.C. to 290 B.C.), which would end with the final subjugation of the
gentes fortissimae Italiae, as
Pliny the Elder defined the Samnites (Naturalis Historia III.11.106) and the beginning of a process of Romanization of central and southern Italy. Pliny's words corroborated the image of a fierce and warlike people whose valiance as warriors was recognized even by the Romans, their bitter enemies, in the struggle for supremacy over the Italic peninsula. This aggressive and rough character of the Samnites, already present in ancient tradition, their primitive and wild lifestyle, according to how
Livy describes them (IX.13 .7.
montani atque agresti), their recognition of warrior valor and military qualities, would eventually influence even the representation that ancient historical tradition handed down of the Frentani. In fact, although they were the only one settled on the Adriatic coast, the tribe of the Frentani, in Strabo's scholarly interpretation (V, 4, 29), is also linked to the inland mountainous areas, according to a reconstruction made a posteriori on the basis of meager factual data. After the humiliating defeat at the
Battle of the Caudine Forks suffered in 321 B.C., the Romans attempted a series of alliances with various Samnite peoples (Livy,X,3,1), following a precise strategy, that of disarticulating the solid national consciousness of that people, securing the loyalty of certain tribes. It was precisely this phase of change in territorial arrangements and administrative organization that initiated a process of transformation of the Frentanian economy in the direction of greater dynamism in the local economic system and thus an increasing use of currency. Although with a certain chronological approximation, it can be assumed that in the period 270-250 B.C. there were already circulating monetary issues both by the city of Larinum and by the
Frentani. For the preceding decades, although numerous finds are attested, it cannot be assumed, however, that these areas were in intense monetary circulation. On the basis of excavation find data, there seems to have been a fair amount of penetration of "foreign" coinage both in the Larinum region and in inland Samnium from Campanian and Apulian environments. It was not until the years of the
Second Punic War that the mint of Larino began to produce abundant and articulate series of coins, following the decimal fractionation system of the Roman as, typical of cities located on the Adriatic belt. A rare issue of silver
obols from the 4th century B.C. with the Greek legend ΣΑΥΝΙΤΑΝ would suggest a phase of political unity of the people of Samnium. For the first time, the tip of a javelin (the
saunion) appears on the reverse, within a
laurel wreath, and a veiled female head, on the obverse. The presence of the ethnic in Greek characters, and not in the Oscan alphabet, suggested a provenance from the mint of
Taranto, the result of a probable alliance. The archaeological data seem to confirm that the Frentanian territory was rather reluctant to the use of minted coinage, both with respect to inland Samnium and to the northern Adriatic, beginning to produce coins only after the middle of the third century BC. Larinum, on the other hand, by then already included in a circuit of cultural contacts and trade relations with the Campanian and Apulian worlds, used a variety of types and legends, beginning with a bronze series, with a Greek legend and Campanian type, ΛΑΡΙΝΩΝ, with the head of
Apollo and Bull with a human face, dating from 270-250 BCE. C. and moving on to two types with Apulian and Campanian iconographic motifs, with Oscan legend but Latin (left-handed) spelling,
Larinei (coin issued in Larino), with a head of helmeted
Athena and a galloping horse, and then
Larinod (coin issued from Larino), with a head of helmeted Athena and a lightning bolt. The few known specimens pertaining to these issues and the lack of precise contexts mean that the dating of this issue cannot be known with certainty. These early monetary experiments in Larino are considered to be of no long duration; they remained in use for several decades, complementing the Roman coinage, which was by then spreading throughout the region; its area of circulation, however, remained confined to Samnium and the central-southern Adriatic coastal strip, as a means of small exchange. Regarding the Frentani, for a long time it was considered uncertain whether they belonged to the Samnite ethnic group, which was cast into doubt on the basis of the archaeological documentation relating to the Archaic phase: the more cultural features and ritual customs that distinguished this population from the Samnites settled in the inland Apennine areas emerged as a result of research, the more discussion of the broad questions of Italic ethnohistory was revived. It is no coincidence that the ancient sources themselves (Strabo, Ptolemy, Mela, Pliny) mostly disagree on the territorial extent of Frentania and its geographical delimitation, and the geographical location of the various inhabited settlements also appears in them to be approximate and imprecise: even in the eyes of the ancient authors the history of
Samnium appeared extremely changeable, like a magma in continuous modification, which in certain areas presented itself with connotations and differences that were sometimes accentuated. In the mid-eighteenth century, historian Giovanni Andrea Tria also noted, "As for the origin of the Frentani, not even historians agree: some estimate that the Frentani came from the Samnites, others that they came from the
Liburnians, others from the
Sabines, and others from the Etruscans." Precisely on the basis of this complex affinity-diversity perspective, the geographer
Strabo (V,4,2) considers the Frentani an ethnically Samnite population (Σαυνιτικόν έθνος), but at the same time their region distinct from Samnium in cultural terms. After all, the Frentani in almost all ancient sources are described in a condition of peripherality to the Samnite region, in a marginal position in relation to the central Apennine area. There are not many references by ancient historians to the life of the Samnites, but archaeological excavations are yielding a rich documentation of their daily habits and activities, giving an effective insight into their daily life. Thus emerges a portrait of a population markedly different from the one described by ancient historians, who were concerned rather with conveying to posterity a narrative according to a version decidedly favorable to Rome, magnifying the exploits of their nation, depicted as a heroic saga. Described by ancient sources as crude and primitive peoples, perched in the mountains, recent research has instead brought to light evidence of an extremely mobile people, capable of relating to and interacting with various Mediterranean peoples. Archaeological data attest to the existence of stable settlements, with a socio-economic organization of a simple type, based on a reduced specialization of labor, in which productive activities were mainly seasonal in nature. This was a territorial organization characterized by accentuated fractionalization,
vicatim, as stated by
Livy (IX,13,7; X,17,2); in flat and hilly areas, usually near watercourses and communication routes, there were scattered villages, small in size, defended by ditches or palisades (the
vicus, connected to pastures, woods and cultivated land) or, in mountainous areas, fortified citadels of varying size (the
oppidum defended by short walls), positioned in strategic conditions for the control of the territory. In a predominantly mountainous territory, agricultural production and livestock breeding were the basis of the Samnite economy, aimed at satisfying the primary needs of the communities; in pre-Roman Samnium, livestock breeding took place in both sedentary and transhumant forms, albeit on a smaller scale than later in Romanized Samnium. Among the craft activities, wool and leather working was certainly practiced, as well as the production of pottery and bricks.
Bojano, for example, represented an important tile manufacturing district, complete with its own trademark. Of no little importance was warrior activity, especially for the populations of the inland areas, which was carried out in forms of robbery, forced levy, and tolls resulting from military control of communication routes, practiced through ambushes, sudden assaults, raids and ambushes. Numerous excavation campaigns carried out at Monte Vairano (in the countryside of
Busso and
Baranello, near
Campobasso, 998 m above sea level) have unearthed a Samnite fortified settlement, dating back to the 4th century B.C. distributed over an area of about 49 hectares, articulated in houses, stores, places of worship, artisans' workshops, well distributed on a complex road fabric, protected by a long wall (of about 3 km.), which in some cases exceeds two meters in height, with related access gates and watchtowers. This is a settlement of considerable size, which presupposes the presence of a community with its own social organization, which drew up, according to a constructive logic, an organic plan for the arrangement of the area, bounded by the walls. Mortars, amphorae, jugs, loom weights were found in the various buildings, effective evidence of a cross-section of the daily life of that population. The area, inhabited even before the
Samnite wars, ceased to be frequented in the mid-first century B.C. when the buildings collapsed. With the rest of the Italic world, for example, contacts are evident from the presence of Etruscan bronze objects, mainly related to cultic practices. Close relations also existed with the city of Taranto, but valuable ceramics also arrived in Samnium from Apulia and Campania. Economic and commercial contacts between the Samnites and much of central southern Italy are confirmed by coins from Apulian, Campanian and
Bruttian mints found in Samnium territory. Skilled exporters of lumber and the products of animal husbandry, the Samnites reached as far west as
Marseille and the
Balearic Islands, and as far east as the
Bosporus and the
Aegean Islands, from which they imported fine wine, as evidenced by wine
amphorae bearing the mark of Rhodes, Chios and
Knidos, found in the various necropolises of Molise. In addition, Samnite weapons and belts, evidence of their mercenary activity, have been found not only in Magna Graecia, but also in some Greek cities. These places of worship testify to how much in ancient Samnium life, in its daily ordinariness, was constantly imbued with the sacred, in marital life, in the work of the fields, in religious recurrences, and in mournful events. In the end, the history of Samnium, seen over a long period, between the Iron Age and the end of the ancient era, is the story of a progressive evolution, with highly diversified situations depending on the geographical areas: while the center of the Samnite area remains longer bound to archaic forms (in which the dominant groups try to preserve the class structure, dating back to the 7th century), at its margins the southern periphery is about to make a qualitative leap, moving rapidly toward urbanization. While in the central-Italic Samnite areas urbanization penetrates only in the 1st century B.C., in the southern periphery between Frentania and Daunia, economic development as early as the 3rd century B.C. marches decisively toward an urban civilization. Moreover, even on the Tyrrhenian side of central-southern Italy the process of urbanization takes place early, compared to the inland areas, and is closely related to advanced economic and social development, brought about by contact with the innovative trends of the Greek world. In the realities that have not yet experienced urbanization, on the other hand, production levels remain low and the development of specializations scarce.
Roman Period Already at the beginning of the Hellenistic period, Larinum seemed by then to have attained a definitive physiognomy and to have acquired a preeminent role in relation to the other centers in the area. To the fertility of the soil, the strategic geographical position, the flourishing commercial activity and the numerous contacts already established with a variety of cultural circles, Larinum added, on a par with other state entities, the recognition by Rome of the status of
res publica Larinatium (Livy XXVII,43,10), granted on the basis of the criteria of geographical and "political" expediency habitually used by the Romans in their activity of urbanization and administrative control of the territory. Excavation investigations conducted over the years in the settlement of Piana San Leonardo, although limited to areas that are not very large, have revealed a rather complex and chronologically articulated settlement reality, starting from the Archaic period and reaching the late Hellenistic period, with traces of cobblestones, paved streets, public paving, craft and dwelling quarters, and a sacred area (Via Jovine), which point to increasingly advanced building techniques. It is known that, with the final Augustan order, the Biferno River became the natural boundary between
Regio IV and
Regio II, between which the Frentani were divided. The territory west of the river, assigned to
Regio IV, retained the name
Regio Frentana and included the cities of
Anxanum (
Lanciano),
Histonium (
Vasto),
Hortona (
Ortona), and
Buca (possibly
Termoli) (Pliny, Naturalis Historia, III, 106). The territory east of the Biferno River, assigned to Regio II, was in fact assimilated into Daunia: it included
Cliternia,
Teanum Apulum and
Larinum, going as far as
Fortore, the
flumen portuosum Fertor mentioned by Pliny (N. Hist. III, 103). However, this particular physiognomy of Larino allowed it to preserve, in its official name, memory of its ethnic pertinence to the Frentani area:
Larinates cognomine Frentani, Pliny in fact writes (N. Hist. III, 105). The divergences existing among ancient texts, therefore, regarding the exact attribution of Larinum to a precise territorial area should not be surprising. The city is mentioned by the geographer
Stephanus of Byzantium as πόλις Δαυνίων, in
Pomponius Mela it is only an
oppidum of Daunia, for
Ptolemy it is one of the main centers of the Frentani, according to
Pliny the Elder it is a Frentanian city, but it is included in
Regio II, which includes Apulia. Systematic excavations, carried out since 1977 at Piana San Leonardo, have yielded a very interesting stratigraphic sequence, albeit only in limited areas, and have made it possible to identify, albeit discontinuously, the area of extension of the Roman city, although at present it is not possible to specify exactly the perimeter of the walls. In fact, the building expansion of Larino, which occurred in the post-war period precisely in the area of Piana San Leonardo to meet the housing needs of the community, overlapped almost faithfully with the ancient site, realizing a rapid and almost complete urbanization of the entire area. This condition resulted, in the following years, in an extremely problematic situation from the point of view of archaeological research, whereby it was possible to explore only those few remaining vacant areas, located between the modern built-up areas, the only ones susceptible to conservation and enhancement initiatives of those archaeological evidences not yet compromised by the building development. Archaeological explorations at Piana San Leonardo have ascertained the presence of settlements dating from the late 5th century B.C. - first half of the 4th century B.C. consisting of cobblestones and remains of perimeter walls of buildings. Later, other buildings were set on top of the older ones, dating from the late 4th century - early 3rd century B.C. that adopted more advanced building techniques, with dry-stone walls, with irregular stones and with rows of tiles, or bonded with cement mortar. Later on, the area corresponding to the present Jovine Street came to assume a sacred destination: in fact, the Hellenistic phase (late 3rd century B.C. - early 2nd century B.C.) is characterized by the presence of a large amount of votive material, which can be attributed to the activity of a sanctuary, most likely to be identified with a building of considerable size, of which some large, well-squared blocks of tuff stone remain. Judging from the votive material, the area was dedicated to a female deity, most probably
Aphrodite: in fact numerous are the terracotta figurines depicting the goddess. The temple of the goddess has been partially recognized in a structure of limestone blocks, which is complemented around the 2nd century B.C. by a rectangular hall paved with mosaic, forming a lattice pattern. At this stage, albeit limited to certain sectors of the city, well-squared
tuff blocks, which would be used for a long time, were adopted only for larger buildings. The area adjacent to the temple was used, throughout the period of the sanctuary's operation, as an unloading area for votive material, which is scattered throughout the area. In addition, limited to certain zones, the area was also used for special sacrifices, as evidenced by the presence of piles of pebbles arranged in a pyramid shape, mixed with coals, clay figurines and votive figurines. The votive objects include ceramic material, clay and bronze figurines, and many coins, including a hoard of twenty-two, hidden in an earthenware jar, forming a veritable treasure trove, dating to the mid-2nd century B.C. But the most distinctive element of the votive deposit can undoubtedly be considered the small-scale
coroplastic art: these are figurines made in molds, which are therefore hollow internally and mostly of homogeneous clay. The front part is more accurate in detail, the back part is only barely sketched and of coarse workmanship; the heads, executed in all round, making use of two matrices, were usually created separately and then applied to the base of the neck. Of the different types attested at Larino, the draped female figures predominate, following the Attic style that spread rapidly throughout the Hellenistic world until the first century BCE. In 91 BC, the Social War broke out: it was the last challenge against Rome by the Italic peoples. The Samnites also rose up to obtain full Roman citizenship, and formed, along with the other peoples, the Italic League; they represented, in the line-up of insurgents, the strongest and most determined element. In the face of the rebels' initial successes, Rome reacted by enacting a number of laws (the
lex Julia and the
lex Plautia Papiria) granting Roman citizenship to all Italic peoples who were not at that time in arms or who were willing to lay them down. The initiative turned the tide in Rome's favor since a large proportion of the rebels accepted the proposal. The long wars had now sapped Italic resistance and Rome's upper hand had become inevitable. The granting of citizenship enabled the Romans to organize land use through the founding of
municipia, not only seats of administrative power but also organizational centers of productive, agricultural, building and commercial activities. Municipalization did not immediately come easy, because it came to clash with the Italic system, traditionally linked to an agricultural-pastoral economy expressed in a form of scattered settlement. In time Samnium also adapted to the Roman municipal system, a prelude to a complete Romanization of the territory: in the Molise area, municipalities were established in
Isernia,
Venafro,
Trivento,
Bojano,
Sepino and
Larino, according to the organizational needs of central power. During the same period, evidence of life in almost all Samnite sanctuaries disappeared. The Samnites, rebels in the social war, had not, however, forgotten the opposition shown by
Lucius Cornelius Sulla to their admission to Roman citizenship: when civil war broke out, therefore, they did not hesitate to side with
Gaius Marius. When Sulla returned from the East in the year 83 BC, he decided that he would fight the last of the Samnite wars. The bloody
battle of the Colline Gate (82 B.C.) was for the Samnites their last great battle: guilty of having supported Marius' populares, they had to reckon with the merciless vengeance of the victor, who was particularly against them, convinced, as Strabo (V ,4, 11) narrates, that no Roman would be safe as long as an organized Samnite community existed. Although the earliest phases of Larino's history are entrusted to the results of archaeological research, only one, but very authoritative ancient source, Cicero, is now available to us for a record of what life in a provincial town like Larino might have been in the first century B.C. in the years immediately following the
Social War, a portrait of local society projected into the context of the much broader events of Italy at the time. In 66 BC.
Cicero, in his 40s, delivered in Rome before the criminal court an oration in defense of the native of Larinum
Aulus Cluentius Habitus (the famous
Pro Cluentio), an aristocrat of equestrian rank, a man of "ancient nobility", accused by his mother Sassia of attempted murder of his stepfather Statius Oppianicus and of attempting to bribe the trial judges. Very little is known about the affairs of Larino in the late imperial age: certainly the area was still inhabited in the fourth century CE, a time to which date the approximately six thousand bronze coins found by chance in the locality of Lagoluppoli, perhaps near an ancient road, now disappeared, that continued from Larino to Rotello, and the mosaics found in old excavations, which attest to the vitality of the town. Certainly Larino, too, was affected by the terrible earthquake of 346 A.D. that devastated the entire
Samnium, as evidenced by inscriptions on public buildings restored by the state. It is precisely from Larino that comes an inscription relating to Autonius Iustinianus, the first governor of the newly established Samnii Province, who was particularly concerned with the disastrous situation in Isernia. Samnium, in fact, after being united with
Campania, towards the end of the 3rd century AD, with the profound administrative reorganization of the Empire promoted by Diocletian, again became an autonomous province towards the middle of the 4th century AD, preserving its territorial unity unaltered until the end of the 6th century AD when, with the advent of the Lombards, it definitively lost its administrative autonomy. == Urbanism ==