“Parcere subiectis, debellare superbos”: The romanization of inner Abruzzo (Central Italy)

Globalization is a modern word for an old concept, but which forms did it take in ancient times, when communications and territorial control were challenging issues? Starting from this brief reflection, this paper focuses on the transformations occurred in Central Italy after the romanization of the area. As a case study, it will operate within the territory that the Latin literature attributed to the Vestini Cismontani people and that in modern era correspond to the nearby of L’Aquila, Abruzzo (Italy). The romanization of the area can be divided in two phases, as they correspond to two different kind of relationship between Rome and Vestini: the first one short after the second Samnite War, the second one after the direct control of Rome over the area. The first period started by the end of the 4th century BC (after the foedus dated to 302 BC and following the conquest by Curius Dentatus), when, as a consequence of the Samnite wars, the area in exam lost part of its independence. To this phase, it is possible to date some modifications within the settlement pattern, operated by Rome with the purpose of a political control over the area. A second phase of the romanization of the Vestini territory, occurred two centuries later, around 90 BC after the Social war that led the populations of the Central Italy to obtain the roman citizenship. After those events, Roman interference within the territorial management of the area was much more invasive and make the territory completely “Romanized”, within the wider “globalized” system of Roman hegemony. This paper aims to define which transformations occurred during these two phases and which factors were beyond them. It has already been noted as the Vestini pre-Roman settlement pattern (organized in central places, minor settlement and fortified outposts) changed after the romanization, but it still has to be defined how and why this occurred. In this paper, we will consider political, economical and geographical factors in order to understand how Rome interfered within the area and why some settlements survived and prospered while others were abandoned. Once examined the factors that laid beyond these transformations, this paper will investigate the existence of a programmatic pattern in Roman agency, and whether this can be included in a wider political program of control over Central Italy. In order to do so, a comparation with other areas of Samnium and Sabina will be made.