Communities and Leagues in pre-Roman Italy. History and Political Organisation of the Oscans and Umbrians (5th to 1st cnturies B.C.)

The aim of my research-project (postdoctoral thesis of Ancient History at the University of Graz) is to present a comprehensive study of the political organisation of communities and leagues among the Umbrians and the Oscan- speaking peoples (i.e.: Campanians, Samnites, Lucanians, Bruttians, Mamertines, Marsi, Sabines, Paeligni, Marrucini, Vestini, Aequi, etc.) of Central and Southern Italy (from Abruzzo to north-eastern Sicily) in the 5th-1st cent. B.C. Up to now no extensive monograph about this subject has been written. Regarding the political organisation of the population of ancient Italy academic research has focused only on the Etruscan and Latin Leagues. Therefore the first step of the two-year research has to be a collection of all sources concerning the political history and the constitutional systems of the Umbrians and Oscans preserved in the Greek and Latin literary tradition. Of great importance is also the close investigation of the epigraphical evidence. Umbrian and Oscan inscriptions tell of magistracies (meddices, maru, kenzsur, uhtur, etc.) or institutions (e.g. the vereiia), as for example the bronze tablet of Roccagloriosa in Campania, which has been discovered only in August 1999. Finally the numismatical (e.g. municipal and federal coinage) as well as the archaeological (e.g. "cantonal" and federal sanctuaries, public spaces and buildings for assemblies and political activities) evidence has to be considered. Having analysed all the primary and secondary sources and having put them into a historical context the study should be able to provide answers to the following vital questions: when and how did the formation of the Italic Leagues take place, when and how were they dissoluted? What were the federal structures, magistracies, organs and assemblies and can we specify their functions? Of great importance will be the analysis of the form of participation (direct and/or representative) of the member "states" at the federal reunions. It can only be done in close connection with an investigation of the constitution of the single communities. Finally an outlook to the role played by these Leagues in the history of the Italian peninsula, especially regarding questions of their enmities or allyship with Rome shall be provided. Research in this field is of great actuality today: it has only been throughout the last years, that the scientific community as well as the broad public began to take interest in the history and archaeology of the civilization in ancient Italy apart from the Romans and Etruscans. Moreover the monograph will not only provide a thorough study of the political and constitutional history of that area, but also take its place within the ongoing discussion about the phenomena of ancient and modern federalism.