Montesarchio (Latin: Caudium; Greek: Καύδιον) is a commune in the Province of Benevento, Campania, Italy. Latin is an ancient Indo-European language originally spoken in Latium, the region immediately surrounding Rome. ... Benevento (It. ... Campania is a region of Southern Italy, bordering on Lazio to the north-west, Molise to the north, Puglia to the north-east, Basilicata to the east, and the Tyrrhenian Sea to the west. ...

History

Montesarchio is the site of ancient Caudium, an ancient city of Samnium, situated on the road from Beneventum (modern Benevento) to Capua. It seems probable that it was in early times a place of importance, and the capital or chief city of the tribe called the Caudini; but it bears only a secondary place in history. It is first mentioned during the Second Samnite War, 321 BCE, when the Samnite army under C. Pontius encamped there, previous to the great disaster of the Romans in the neighbouring pass known as the Caudine Forks (Livy ix. 2); and again, a few years later, as the head-quarters occupied by the Samnites, with a view of being at hand to watch the movements of the Campanians. (Id. ix. 27.) The town of Caudium is not mentioned during the Second Punic War, though the tribe of the Caudini is repeatedly alluded to. Niebuhr supposes the city to have been destroyed by the Romans, in revenge for their great defeat in its neighbourhood; but there is no evidence for this. It reappears at a later period as a small town situated on the Appian Way, and apparently deriving its chief importance from the transit of travellers (Hor. Sat. i. 5. 51; Strabo v. p. 249): the same causes preserved it in existence down to the close of the Roman Empire. (Ptol. iii. 1. § 67; Itin. Ant. p. 111; Itin. Hier. p. 610; Tab. Peut.) We learn that it received a colony of veterans; and it appears from Pliny, as well as from inscriptions, that it retained its municipal character, though deprived of a large portion of its territory in favor of the neighboring city of Beneventum. (Plin. iii. 11. s. 16; Lib. Colon. p. 232; Orelli, Inscr. 128, 131.) The period of its destruction is unknown: the name is still found in the ninth century, but it is uncertain whether the town still existed at that time. Samnite warriors Samnium (Oscan Safinim) was a region of the southern Apennines in Italy that was home to the Samnites, a group of Sabellic tribes that controlled the area from about 600 BC to about 290 BC. Samnium was delimited by Latium in the north, by Lucania in the south... Benevento is a town and archiepiscopal see of Campania, Italy, capital of the province of Benevento, 32 miles northeast of Naples. ... Capua is a city in the province of Caserta, (Campania, Italy) situated 25 km (16 mi) north of Napoli, on the northeastern edge of the Campanian plain. ... The Samnite Wars were three wars between the early Roman Republic and the tribes of Samnium. ... Centuries: 5th century BC - 4th century BC - 3rd century BC Decades: 370s BC 360s BC 350s BC 340s BC 330s BC - 320s BC - 310s BC 300s BC 290s BC 280s BC 270s BC 326 BC 325 BC 324 BC 323 BC 322 BC - 321 BC - 320 BC 319 BC 318... Samnite warriors Samnium (Oscan Safinim) was a region of the southern Apennines in Italy that was home to the Samnites, a group of Sabellic tribes that controlled the area from about 600 BC to about 290 BC. Samnium was delimited by Latium in the north, by Lucania in the south... This article or section may contain original research or unverified claims. ... The Battle of Caudine Forks, 321 BCE, was a decisive battle of the Samnite Wars. ... A portrait of Titus Livius made long after his death. ... Combatants Roman Republic Carthage Commanders Publius Cornelius Scipio†, Tiberius Sempronius Longus Publius Cornelius Scipio Africanus, Gaius Flaminius†, Fabius Maximus, Claudius Marcellus†, Lucius Aemilius Paullus†, Gaius Terentius Varro, Marcus Livius Salinator, Gaius Claudius Nero, Gnaeus Cornelius Scipio Calvus†, Masinissa, Minucius+, Geminus+, Regulus+ Hannibal Barca, Hasdrubal Barca†, Mago Barca†, Hasdrubal Gisco†, Maharbal... Remains of the Appian Way in Rome, Italy More Remains of the Appian Way in Rome, Italy The Appian Way (Latin: Via Appia) was the most important ancient Roman road. ... The Greek geographer Strabo in a 16th century engraving. ... The Roman Empire is the name given to both the imperial domain developed by the city-state of Rome and also the corresponding phase of that civilization, characterized by an autocratic form of government. ... A medieval artists rendition of Claudius Ptolemaeus Claudius Ptolemaeus (Greek: ; c. ... The Antonine Itinerary is a Latin document that can be described as the Road Map of Roman Britain. ... The Tabula Peutingeriana (Peutinger table) is an itinerarium showing the cursus publicus, the road network in the Roman Empire. ... Pliny the Elder: an imaginative 19c portrait. ...

The position of Caudium is fixed by the Itineraries, which all concur in placing it on the Appian Way, 21 Roman miles from Capua, and 11 from Beneventum; and as the total distance thus given from Capua to Beneventum is perfectly correct, there can be no doubt that the division of it is so too.

References

• This article incorporates text from the public domain Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography by William Smith (1857).