Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography Volume I Part 1.djvu/408

 390 BENEVENTUM. telnanf between Matlac and Lagor, in the depart- ment of Basses Pyrenies. Beneharnnm was nn- donbtedlj tiie origin of the name of BSam, one of the old divisions of France. Beneharnnm, under the name of Benamttm, existed in the sixth century of our aeni, and had a bishop. There are no ancient remains which can be identified as the nte of Bene- hamum. ( D'Anville, JVbttbe, ^. ; Walckenaer, Gtog. Td. iL p. 401, &c) [G. L.] BENEVENTUM <Bfi^c««rro'f, Steph. B. App.; BfKcovcKT^, Strab. Ptol.: Eth. Beneventanns: Be- nevento), one of the chief dtiee of Samnium, and at a later period one of the most important eities of Southern Italy, was situated on the Via Appia at a distance of 32 miles E. from Gapna; and on the banks of the river Galor. There is some discrepancy as to the people to which it belonged: Pliny ex- pressly assigns it to the Hirpini; but Lity certainly aeems to consider it as belonging to Samninm Proper, as distinguished from the Hirpini; and Ptolemy adopts the same view. (Plin. iii. 11. s. 16; Liv. xxlL 13; PtoL iii. 1. § 67.) All writers concur in representing it as a very ancient city; SoUnus and Stephanns of Byzantium ascribe its foundation to DTomedes; a legend which appears to have been adopted by the inhabitants, who, in the time of Pro- oopius, pretended to exhibit the tusks of the Caly- donian boar in proof of their descent (Solin. S. § 10; Steph. B. s. v. ; Prooop. B. G. i. 15.) Festus, on the oontrary (s. v, Ansomam)^ related that it was founded by Anson, a son of Ulysses and Circe; a tradition which indicates that it was an ancient Au- aonian city, previous to its conquest by the Samnites. But it first appears in history as a Samnite dty (Liv. ix. 27); and must have already been a place of strengUi, so that the Romans did not venture to attack it during their firet two wan with that peo- ple. It appean, however, to have fallen into their hands during the Third Samnite War, though the exact occasion is unknown. It was certainly in the power of the Romans in b. o. 274, when Pyrrhns was defeated in a great battle, fought in its imme- diate neighbourhood, by the consul M*. Carina. (Pint Fyrrh, 25; Frontin. StraL iv. 1. § 14.) Six years later (a. c. 268) they sought fisither to secure its possession by establishing there a Roman colony with Latin rights. (Liv. EpU, xv.; VelL Pat L 14.) It was at this time that it first assumed the name of Beneventnm, having previously been called Ma^ leventum (MoAt^cyroy, or MaXtStvrSs), a name which the Bomans regarded as of evil augury, and changed into one of a more fortunate signification. (Plin. iii. 1 1. 8. 16; Liv. ix. 27 ; Fest s. v. Beaeven- tom, p. 34; Steph. B. s. 9. ; Procop. B, G. L 15.) It is probable that the Oscan or Samnite name was Maloeis, or Malieis, fi:x>m whence the form Male- ventum would be derived, like Agrigentum from Acnigas, Selinuntium from Selinus, &c. (Millingen, NmUsm. de Vltalie, p. 223.) As a Ronun colony Beneventnm eeems to have quickly become a flourislung place; and in the Second Punic War was repeatedly occupied by Ro- man generals as a post of importance, on account of its proximity to Campania, and its strength as a fortress. In its immediate neighbourhood were fought two of the most decisive actions of the war: the one in b.c. 214, in which the Carthaginian general Hanno was defeated by Ti. Gracehos ; the other in B.c. 212, when the camp of Uanno, in which he had accumulated a vast quantity of com and other stores, was stormod and taken by the BENEVENTUM. Roman consul Q. Fulvius. (Liv. xxii. 13, xxiv. 14« 16, XXV. 13, 14, 15, 17; Appian, Annib. 36, 37.) And though its territory was more than once laid waste by the Carthaginians, it was still one of the eighteen Latin colonies whiich in b. c 209 woe at once able and iriUmg to furnish the required quota of men and money for continuing the war. (Liv. xxviL 10.) It is singular that no mention of it occun during the Social War ; but k seems to have escaped fnta the calamitieB which at that time befel so many cities of Samnium, and towards the close of the Republic is spoken of as one of the most opulent and flourishing eities of Italy. (Appian, B. C. iv. 8; Stmbb v. p. 250; Cic tn Verr, L 15.) Under the Second Triumvirate its tenritory was porticned out by the Triumvirs to their veterans, and subsequently a fresh cdony was estab- lished there by Augustus, who greatly enlarged its donuun by the addition of the territ<»7 of Caudinm. A third colony was settled there by Nero, at which time it assumed the title of Concordia; hence we find it bearing, in inscriptions of the reign of Sep- timius Severus, the titles ** Colooia Julia Augusta Concordia Felix Beneventnm.'* (Appian. /. a; Lib. Colon, pp. 231, 232; Inscr, ap. Bomanelli, vol. ii. pp. 382, 884; OrelL Inscr. 128, 590.) Its im« portanoe and flourishing condition under the Roman £m|Hre is snfiBciently attested by existing remains and inscriptions; it was at that period unquestionably the chief dty of the Hirpini, and probaUy, next to Capua, the most populous and considerable of Southern Italy. For this prosperity it was doubtless indebted in part to its position on the Via Appia, just at the junction of the two principal arms or branches of that groat read, the one called afterw«rd8 the Via Trajana, leading from thence by Eqnus Tu- ticus into Apulia; the other by Aeoulanum to Ve- nusia and Tarentum. (Strab. vi. p. 283.) [Via Appia.] The notice of it by Hontoe on his journey from Rome to Brundusium (SaU L 5, 71) is fomiliar to all readers. It was indebted to the same circum- stance for the honour of repeated visits frvm the emperors of Rome, among which those of Nero, Tra- jan, and S^yt Severns, are particulariy recorded. {Tac Aim, xv. 34.) It was probably for the same reason that the noUe triumphal arch, which still fonns one of its chief ornaments, was erected there in honour of Tn^an by the senate and people of Rome. Successive emperore seem to have bestowed on the dty accessions of territory, and erected, or at least given name to, various public buildings. For ad- ministrative purposes it was firet indudod, together with the rest of the Hirpini, in the 2nd region of Augustus, but was afterwards annexed to Campania and placed under the control of the consular of that province. Its inhabitants were included in the SteUatlne tribeu (Plin. iiL II. a. 16; Mommsen, Topogr. degU Irpini, p. 167, in BuLL delT InsL Arch. 1847.) Beneventnm retained its importance down to the dose oi tiie Empire, and though during the Gothic ware it was taken by Totila, and its walls rased to the ground, they were restored, as well as its public buildings, shortly after ; and P. Diaconus speaks of it as a very wealthy dty, and the ca|»tal of all the surrounding provinces. (Pro- cop. B, G. iii 6; P. Diac u. 20; De Vita, AtUiq. Benev. pp. 271, 286.) Under the Lombards it be- came the capital of a duchy which included all their conquests in Southern Italy, and continued to main- tain itsdf as an independent state long afler the fall of the Lombard kingdom in the north.