The Latin League

[CiceroD]

as hard as ive tried I cant find a list of the members of the old League.

Can anyone help me?

 

Also your take on what if the League had prevailed over Rome.

[Gaius Octavius]

Also your take on what if the League had prevailed over Rome.

 

No M.P. Cato!

 

[CiceroD]

Sadly we might of had an Alba Longan equivilant

 

[Publius Nonius Severus]

Here is my best attempt at identifying members of the Latin League. There are a lot of references to the "30 cities of the Latin League" but in the surviving ancient sources that might cover this period (Livy, Dionysius, Florus) there is no complete list of who was a member or not. I also could not find a modern source that attempts to compile a list.

 

Despite the difficulties involved, I think I have put together a reasonably sound list of cities/towns/colonies that probably belonged of the Latin League. Below if a list of 24 place names (cities, towns, and colonies) that are confirmed/highly likely league members, of the Latini and located in ancient Latium, and possibly additional members respectively.

 

I compiled this list using both Livy and Dionysius, The Classical Gazetteer by William Hazlit, and Wikipedia. When looking for candidates without specific reference to being in the league I tried to ensure the following:

 

1) The place was located in ancient Latium AND of a Latin tribe or race (other italic groups had a presence in Latium that did not appear to be members such as the Volsci, Aequi, etc.)

2) The place was existant during the time of Roman participation in the Latin League (493 - 338 BC). I did not include places that were destroyed and their people brought to Rome (e.g. Ficana destroyed my Ancus Martius)

3) I had at least two different pertinent sources (and often three) with some sort of reference to the place name (I didn't just include someplace because Wikipedia said so ).

 

Enough blabber, here's my list:

 

Confirmed/Highly Likely

Alba Longa

Tusculum

Lavinium

Bovillae

Ariccia

 

Geographically Feasible and Likely

Toleria

Columen

Tibur

Labicum

Gabii

Vitellia

Hortona

Saxula

Aesula

Ad Statuas

Ad Nonum

Nemus

Pedum

Bola

Ad Decimum

Scaptia

 

Additional Possible*

Veii

Collatia

Praeneste

*There are places of the Latini in Latium but there are ambiguous references to alternate treaties and associations so they may have been members part of the time, intermittently, or not at all but I felt strong enough to include them

 

If anyone has additional information I'll happily include it. If you would like to know more about my research methodology I'll happily share that as well. I might try to compile a map of where all of these places are located..depends on how patient my wife is this weekend!

 

-Severus

Edited February 3, 2007 by Publius Nonius Severus

[CiceroD]

So any one of these towns could have come to rule the world. hmm Interesting.

[Publius Nonius Severus]

So any one of these towns could have come to rule the world. hmm Interesting.

 

I'm not sure about that. As you said earlier, I would have put my money on Alba Longa. Many of the towns in my list were colonies founded by Alba Longa and it is asserted that Alba Longa was the major player in the league. There could have beene other possible candidates - Tusculum, Tibur, or Lavinium maybe, but most of these places seem to have been pretty small and I doubt could have dominated by themselves if they broke out and tried to take over.

 

Also, who is to say that Alba Longa or whoever would have had the same expansionist tendencies and military prowess that the Romans had? Maybe it would have been Carthage that ruled the world! One of the reasons why Rome was so successfully after the Latin Wars and the league broke up is because Rome successfully established individual treaties with all the former members of the league thereby keeping some distance between all of the Latin towns from each other.

[Gaius Octavius]

A tangent:

 

http://www.unrv.com/empire/conquest-of-italy.php

 

Was Capua in the League?

[Publius Nonius Severus]

A tangent:

 

http://www.unrv.com/empire/conquest-of-italy.php

 

Was Capua in the League?

 

I would say no. I never saw any direct or indirect reference to it being in the League. Technically Capua is/was located in Campania (but very close to the Latin border) and although was once under Estrsucan control, I believe it was controlled by the Samnites for the majority of the period of Rome's participation in the League. I believe shortly before the league dissolved Capua entered into a bilateral alliance with Rome to expel the Samnites and expand Rome's influence further South.

[CiceroD]

A tangent:

 

http://www.unrv.com/empire/conquest-of-italy.php

 

Was Capua in the League?

 

I would say no. I never saw any direct or indirect reference to it being in the League. Technically Capua is/was located in Campania (but very close to the Latin border) and although was once under Estrsucan control, I believe it was controlled by the Samnites for the majority of the period of Rome's participation in the League. I believe shortly before the league dissolved Capua entered into a bilateral alliance with Rome to expel the Samnites and expand Rome's influence further South.

 

I thought that the Samnites were a tribal people.

[Publius Nonius Severus]

I thought that the Samnites were a tribal people.

 

They were as far as I recall. Is there something I said that would be considered contradictory to them being tribal? Despite being tribal, Samnium was considered a "nation" I believe and controlled a good deal of territory.