# Caudini

> Mediated Wiki article. Canonical URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Caudini
> Markdown URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Caudini.md
> Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caudini
> Source revision: 1147216322
> License: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/)

The '''Caudini''' were a [Samnite](/source/Samnium) tribe that lived among the mountains ringing [Campania](/source/Campania) and in the valleys of the [Isclero](/source/Isclero) and [Volturnus](/source/Volturnus) rivers.  Their capital was at [Caudium](/source/Caudium), but it seems certain that the appellation was not confined to the citizens of Caudium and its immediate territory. 

== Description ==
[Livy](/source/Livy) speaks in more than one passage of the Caudini as a tribe or people, in the same terms as of the [Hirpini](/source/Hirpini),<ref>"Marcellus ab Nola crebras excursiones in agrum Hirpinum et Samnites Caudinos fecit", Livy xxiii. 41; "Caudinus Samnis gravius devastatus", ''Id.'' xxiv. 20</ref> and Niebuhr supposed them to have been one of the four tribes comprising the Samnite confederacy.<ref>Nieb. vol. i. p. 107, vol. ii. p. 85.</ref>  As the most western of the Samnite groups, they were the Samnite tribe most affected by the neighbouring Greeks of Campania. Together with the Hirpini, [Pentri](/source/Pentri), and [Caraceni](/source/Caraceni_(tribe)) tribes, the Caudini people were described as rustic, thriving on an agrarian economy mainly as ''massari'' (peasant farmers) and ''pecorari'' (herdsmen and shepherds).<ref>{{Cite book|title=Cooking with Chef Silvio: Stories and Authentic Recipes from Campania|last=Suppa|first=Silvio|date=2010-01-01|publisher=SUNY Press|isbn=978-1-4384-3363-9|location=New York|pages=1}}</ref>

The extent of their territory is unclear.  The ancient poet [Gratius Faliscus](/source/Gratius_Faliscus) (''Cyneget.'' 509) called the great mountain mass of the [Taburnus](/source/Taburnus) the "Caudinus Taburnus", and this must have been at the center of their territory. It probably joined that of the Hirpini on the one side and of the Pentri on the other, while on the west it bordered immediately on Campania. But the name is not recognised by any of the geographers as a general appellation, and appears to have fallen into disuse: the Caudini of [Pliny](/source/Pliny_the_Elder) (iii. 11. s. 16) are only the citizens of Caudium.

The cities of the Caudini included [Caudium](/source/Montesarchio) (modern ''Montesarchio''), [Telesia](/source/Telesia) (modern ''San Salvatore Telesino''), [Saticula](/source/Saticula) (modern ''Sant'Agata de' Goti''), [Caiatia](/source/Caiazzo) (modern ''Caiazzo''), [Trebula](/source/Trebula_Balliensis), and [Cubulteria](/source/Cubulteria).{{Citation needed|date=January 2021}}

== Samnite Wars ==
The Caudini are nowhere mentioned as a separate tribe in our narratives of the Romans' [Samnite Wars](/source/Samnite_Wars), probably because they were assumed included whenever the Samnites were mentioned.  The territory of the Caudini was the scene of much fighting. This could be attributed to the tribe's location, which was the most westerly among the Samnites, hence, the most exposed to attacks by the Romans.<ref>{{Cite book|title=Early Roman Warrior 753–321 BC|last=Fields|first=Nic|date=2011|publisher=Bloomsbury Publishing|isbn=978-1-84908-833-6|location=London}}</ref> [Velleius Paterculus](/source/Velleius_Paterculus) (ii. 1) says that it was with the Caudini that the [Romans](/source/Ancient_Rome) made their treaty following their defeat at the [Battle of the Caudine Forks](/source/Battle_of_the_Caudine_Forks), where Livy uniformly talks of the Samnites.  In 275 BC, the tribe was subjugated by [L. Cornelius Lentulus](/source/L._Cornelius_Lentulus), whose family henceforth took the name ‘Caudinus’. Caudini later revolted in 216. It is suggested that the tribe was encouraged to turn against the Romans after the arrival of [Hannibal](/source/Hannibal)'s army near [Capua](/source/Capua).<ref>{{Cite book|title=Between Rome and Carthage: Southern Italy during the Second Punic War|last=Fronda|first=Michael P.|date=2010|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=978-1-139-48862-4|location=Cambridge|pages=332}}</ref> During the [Second Punic War](/source/Second_Punic_War), the Roman historian [Livy](/source/Livy) reported Caudini's defection after the Roman defeat at [Cannae](/source/Cannae).<ref>{{Cite book|title=Ancient Samnium: Settlement, Culture, and Identity between History and Archaeology|last=Scopacasa|first=Rafael|date=2015|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=978-0-19-871376-0|location=Oxford|pages=21}}</ref> 

==Sources==
*{{SmithDGRG}}
*{{Citation|author=E.T. Salmon|title=Samnium and the Samnites|publisher=Cambridge U.P.|year=1967}}

==References==
{{reflist}}

Category:Samnite tribes
Category:Socii

{{ancientRome-stub}}

---
Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Caudini](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caudini) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caudini?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.