Samnium

Samnium was the name of the region where the tribe known as the Samnites lived. The region was mountainous, in the Abruzzo mountains, east of Latium and north of Campania and Apulia.

The Samnites were the largest group that spoke the Italic dialect - Oscan, and are probably related to the Sabines. The Samnites were warlike people who later encroached into the regions of Campania, Apulia and Calabria. They became involved in three wars against Rome, known as the Samnite Wars. Two were in the second half of the fourth century BC, and the third war was in the early third century BC.

The Samnites were said to be an offshoot of the Sabines, or Sabini or Sabellians, a tribe that became involve with Rome's early history. The Sabines, like the Samnites, spoke Oscan, an Italic language. Sabinus was said to be the founding father of the Sabines. The Roman god Quirinus may have originally been a Sabine war god, but the Romans later identified Quirinus as the deified Romulus.