Conquest of Picenum (268 BC) 

According to Livy, when the Romans had become concerned about unrest in Etruria and Cisalpine Gaul in 299 BC, they had:

1. “... with the less hesitation on that account, ... concluded an alliance with the people of Picenum”, (‘History of Rome’, 10: 10: 12).
   

While the ‘people of Picenum’ might have been reassured by their alliance of 299 BC, they would surely have been disconcerted by later Roman activity:

1. ✴According to Florus, in 290 BC:
   

2. “... the Romans laid waste with fire and sword all the tract of country which is enclosed by the Nar, the Anio and the sources of the Velinus, and bounded by the Adriatic Sea”, (‘Epitome of Roman History’, 1: 10: 15). This meant that the land beyond their southern border was Roman territory.
   

3. ✴In 283 BC, the Romans defeated the Gallic Senones and and confiscated their lands, at which point the lands beyond their northern border became the Roman ager Gallicus. 
   

Any such fears were vindicated in 268 BC, when, according to Florus:

1. “... all Italy enjoyed peace, except that the Romans thought fit themselves to punish those who had been the allies of their enemies, for who could venture upon resistance after the defeat of Tarentum?  The people of Picenum were therefore subdued and their capital Asculum was taken under the leadership of [P.  Sempronius Sophus, the consul of 268 BC]: when an earthquake occurred in the midst of the battle, appeased the goddess Tellus by the promise of a temple”, (‘Epitome of Roman History’, 1: 14: 19).
   

Eutropius placed the start of this Roman campaign in the previous year, and blamed it on the Picentes:

1. “In the consulate of Q. Ogulnius and C. Fabius Pictor [269 BC], the people of Picenum started a war [with Rome].  They were conquered by the succeeding consuls P. Sempronius [Sophus] and Ap. Claudius [Russus], and a triumph was celebrated over them”, (‘Summary of Roman History’, 3: 7)
   

The fasti Triumphales record triumphs over the people of Picenum for both consuls of 268 BC: [P.] Sempronius [Sophus]; and Ap. Claudius [Russus].

According to Velleius Paterculus:

1. “At the outbreak of the First Punic War [in 264 BC], Firmum [Picenum] and Castrum [Novum, probably in Etruria] were occupied by colonies”, (‘History of Rome’, 1: 14: 8).
   

Firmum was among the 18 Latin colonies that had honoured their obligations to Rome in 209 BC, as recorded by Livy (27: 10: 7). 

Viritane Settlement

Gino Bandelli (referenced below, at column 19) suggested that, with the exception of:

1. ✴the Greek colony of Ancona; and
   

2. ✴the capital Asculum, which was still nominally independent at the start of the Social War;
   

the whole of Picenum became ager Romanus.  Saskia Roselaar (referenced below, at p. 318, note 98) commented observed that:

1. “In 241 BC, the tribus Velina was established in Picenum, which makes it likely that land [there] was distributed to Roman citizens [and possibly also to] Picentes who had received Roman citizenship.”
   

Simona Antolini and Silvia Marengo (referenced below, at p. 213) list no fewer that 15 centres in Picenum that were assigned to the Velina.  The only other tribal assignation listed for centres of this region were at:

1. ✴Asculum, which was assigned to the Fabia on municipalisation after the Social War;
   

2. ✴the Latin colony of Hadria, which was assigned to the Maecia, presumably also on municipalisation after the Social War; and
   

3. ✴Ancona, which, according to Simone Sisani (referenced below, 2006, at p. 317) was assigned to the Lemonia on municipalisation after the Social War.
   

This predominance of the Velina suggests that this was the tribe to which the citizens settled here were mostly assigned in 241 BC.  Of the 15 settlements assigned to this tribe:

1. ✴the Latin colony of Firmum (264 BC) was probably so-assigned on municipalisation after the Social War; and
   

2. ✴three citizen colonies were probably so-assigned at their respective dates of foundation:
   

3. •Potentia (184 BC);
   

4. •Auximum (157 BC); and
   

5. •Urbs Salvia (Giovanna Maria Fabrini  and Roberto Perna, referenced below, at p7 suggested that the foundation was probably a result of the lex Sempronia of 133 BC).
   

According to Simona Antolini and Silvia Marengo, the other 11 (Castrum Truentinum; Cingulum; Cupra Maritima; Cupra Montana; Falerio; Pausulae; Planinia; Ricina; Septempeda; Tolentinum; and Trea) were (or, in some cases,  were probably) municipalised after 49 BC, presumably as a result of legislation enacted by Julius Caesar. Actually, as notd below, Cingulum might have been municipalised slightly earlier than this:

1. ✴Some or all of these 11 centres might have been constituted as conciliabula and assigned to the Velina in or after 241 BC (like the conciliabulum of Interamnia Praetuttorum and possibly the citizen colony of Castrum Novum, both in the erstwhile territory of the Praetutti, to the south).  However, we have no evidence for any centres in Picenum that were so-constituted. 
   

2. ✴Any of the 11 centres that were not so-constituted would have been assigned to the ‘local’ tribe at municipalisation.
   

Caesar gave the impression that many, if not most, of the settlements in Picenum were constituted as prefectures by 49 BC.  Some at least must have been so-designated when the level of citizen settlement led to the requirement of the services of a Roman prefect.  Nevertheless, Cingulum is the only Picene settlement for which we have evidence of its constitution as a prefecture. 

Foundation of the Colony at Ariminum (268 BC)

Sites of the Latin colonies of Sena Gallica (founded in 283 BC) and Ariminum (founded in 268 BC)

Adapted from the Digital Atlas of the Roman Empire

In the surviving summary of Livy’s now-lost Book 15:

1. “When the Picentes had been subdued [in 268 BC], they were given peace.  Colonies were founded at Ariminum in Picenum and at Beneventum in Samnium”, (‘Perioche’, 15: 4-5).
   

Two later sources also place the foundation of the colony in 268 BC;

1. ✴Eutropius:
   

2. “In the consulate of P. Sempronius [Sophus] and Ap. Claudius [Russus], .... [the Romans founed two colonies]: Ariminum in Gaul; and Beneventum in Samnium”, (‘Summary of Roman History’, 3: 7)
   

3. ✴Velleius Paterculus:
   

4. “... in the consulship of [P.] Sempronius Sophus and Appius [Cllaudius Russus], the son of Appius the Blind, colonists were sent to Ariminum and Beneventum, and the right of suffrage was granted to the Sabines”, (‘History of Rome’, 1: 14: 7).
   

The new colony [near modern Rimini]was located on the northern border of the ager Gallicus, which comprised the land that had been taken from the Gallic Senones in 283 BC.  A remark by Strabo indicates the strategic importance of this location:

1. “The Apennines, after joining the regions round about Ariminum and Ancona, that is, after having traversed the breadth of Italy there from [the Tyrhenian Sea to the Adriatic], again take a turn, and cut the whole country lengthwise”, (‘Geograohy’, 5: 1: 3).
   

In other words, the new colony blocked the access of the neighbouring Boii and the other Gallic tribes to the coastal plain that extended along the length of the Adriatic.  It also would have supported the the earlier colony at Sena Gallica in the event of any further trouble from the Picentes.

Stephen Dyson (referenced below, at p. 27) characterised the foundation of this colony as:

1. “... a turning point in Romano-Gallic relations: previously, the Romans and the largest Gallic tribes had had only indirect frontier contacts, but now the Romans had moved several thousand [colonists] into territory that the Gauls had considered as their own for [at least] a century.”
   

Nevertheless, it was to be another 30 years before the Gauls made any attempt to attack the colony.

Final Defeat of the Umbrians (267 BC)

According to the ‘Periochae’, Rome defeated the “Umbrians and Sallentines” in 267 BC.  This account can be augmented by the fasti Triumphales, which record that the consuls Decius Iunius Pera and Numerius Fabius Pictor were awarded triumphs in 266 BC for two different victories:

1. ✴first over the Sassinates (Umbrians from Sarsina, in the Apennines); and then
   

2. ✴over the Sallentini and Messapii (from two towns in Calabria).
   

Simone Sisani (referenced below, 2007, at p. 53) suggests that the revolt of the Sassinates had probably been in reaction to the formation of a Latin colony at nearby Ariminum (Rimini) in 268 BC.

Fall of Volsinii (264 BC)

                      Orvieto, with Campo della Fiera in foreground                                           Bolsena and its lake

The Periochae record that Rome finally defeated the Volsinians in 264 BC.  Fortunately, other writers (Paulus Orosius; and John Zonaras, drawing on Cassius Dio) also record this tragic event, which is described in detail in the page on the ancient history of Volsinii/ Orvieto.  It seems that, in response to an uprising by their slaves, the nobles of Volsinii sought the help of Rome.  The Consuls of 265 BC, Quintus Fabius Maximus Gurges and Lucius Mamilius Vitulus duly marched on Volsinii , but Fabius Maximus was killed as he attempted to take the city.  The Romans then besieged it, and it fell to the Consul Marcus Fulvius Flaccus in 265 BC.  He razed it to the ground and settled its pro-Roman citizens on another site, Volsinii Nova, which was probably near modern Bolsena. 

The fasti Triumphales record that the Marcus Fulvius Flaccus was awarded a triumph in 264 BC for his victory over the “Vulsinienses”.   He also seems to have destroyed the Fanum Voltumnae, the federal sanctuary of the Etruscans, which was almost certainly located just outside the city.  He ‘called’ to Rome the presiding deity, Veltune, whom the Romans called Voltumna or Vertumnus, thus marking the end of Etruscan independence.

Destruction of Volsinii (264 BC)

Etruscan Volsinii was almost certainly located on the site of modern Orvieto, which rises on a cylindrical tufa cliff that would have controlled a vast territory in the plain below.  It seems that the Romans agreed a foedus (treaty) with Volsinii after defeating them in 279 BC: thus, according to Cassius Dio (as summarised by John Zonaras):

1. “In [265 AD], the Romans] made an expedition to Volsinii to secure the freedom of its citizens [i.e. the noble faction that had appealed for their help in suppressing a slave revolt]; for they were under treaty obligations to them”, (‘Roman History’, 10 - search on “Volsinii”).
   

Cassius Dio also described how the Romans besieged Volsinii , which was eventually forced to surrender in 264 BC.  The consul, Marcus Fulvius Flaccus, then:

1. “... razed the city to the ground; the native-born citizens, however, and any servants who had been loyal to their masters, were settled by him on another site””, (‘Roman History’, 10 - search on “Volsinii”).
   

The “fasti Triumphales” record that Flaccus as awarded a triumph in the following year for his victory over the “Vulsinienses”.  The history of Etruscan Volsinii effectively ended at this point: there are no significant Roman remains on the site of modern Orvieto.  The surviving population was moved to the ‘new’ Volsinii, at modern Bolsena, some 20 km to the southwest, on the shores of what became know as the lacus Volsiniensis, (which might originally have been part of the territory of the Etruscan city). 

1. ✴[In 282 BC, war broke out against] the Volsinians, and Lucanians, when the Romans decided to support the inhabitants of Thurii against them” (‘Periochae’, 11:12). 
   

This last incident took place among the growing tension between the Romans and the inhabitants of Tarentum, the important Greek city in southern Italy .  Tarentum regarded  its neighbour, Thurii (also Greek), as within its sphere of influence. Thus, when Thurii turned to Rome, rather than to Tarentum, for protection from the Lucanians, hostilities became inevitable.  According to Cassius Dio:

1. “The Romans had learned that the Tarentines and some others were making ready to war against them ... and, by sending men to the Etruscans, Umbrians and Gauls, [had] caused a number of them also to secede, some immediately and some a little later” (‘Roman History’, 9:39).  
   

In 280 BC, Tarentum secured the services of the Greek commander Pyrrhus, in what proved to be the start of the so-called Pyrrhic War.   In order to secure their position, the Romans seem to have sent an army into Etruria: thus, the ‘Fasti Triumphales’ record that the consul Tiberius Coruncanius was awarded a triumph over the Vulcientes (from the Etruscan city of Vulci) and Vulsinienses in that year.  Although the sources for this period are very sparse, it seems that this last Roman triumph marked the end of Volsinian independence: the city made a treaty with Rome, under which it retained its nominal independence, but under Roman hegemony.   This treaty was documented by Cassius Dio (as summarised by John Zonaras) in his account of the subsequent destruction of the city (as described below):

1. “In the consulship of Quintus Fabius and Aemilius [i.e. 265 AD, the Romans] made an expedition to Volsinii to secure the freedom of its citizens [i.e. the noble faction that had appealed for their help]; for they were under treaty obligations to them” (‘Roman History’, 10 - search on “Volsinii”).
   

Destruction of Velzna/ Volsinii (264 BC)

In contrast with the sparse sources for 280 BC, a number of sources document the events of 265-4 BC, when Volsinii was  rocked by the revolt of a social class that was made up of freed slaves: 

1. ✴Valerius Maximus gave a series of examples of the damage done to various cities by vice, included a cautionary tale about Volsinii at this time:
   

2. “[Vices] also brought the city of Volsinii to calamity.  It had been rich, with well-established customs and laws, and was regarded as the capital of Etruria.  However, after its descent into luxury, it was buried in injustice and baseness, which led to the insolent rule of slaves.  Initially, very few slaves dared to enter the senatorial order, but later they came to control the entire state.  [For example, they routinely]: had wills drawn up at their own discretion; forbad free-born men to assemble at banquets and elsewhere; and married their masters’ daughters.  Finally, they enacted a law that allowed them to rape wives and widows with impunity and that specified that no virgin could marry a free-born man before being deflowered by one of their number” (my translation from “Factorum ac dictorum memorabilium libri IX”, 9:1 ext2, search on “Volsiniensium”).
   

3. ✴Paulus Orosius, writing in the ca. 417 AD, gave a similar account:
   

4. “[In ca. 264 BC], the Volsinians, the most flourishing of the Etruscan peoples, almost perished as a result of their wantonness.  After making license a habit, they indiscriminately freed their slaves, invited them to banquets, and honoured them with marriage.  The liberated slaves, admitted to a share of power, criminally plotted to usurp complete rule of the state and, relieved of the yoke of slavery, were consumed with the desire for revolution.  Once free, they cursed those masters whom they, as slaves, had devotedly loved, because they remembered that these men had once been their masters.  The liberated slaves then conspired to commit a crime and claimed the captured city for their class alone.  So great were their numbers that they accomplished their rash purpose without real resistance.  They criminally appropriated the property and wives of their masters, and forced the latter to go into distant exile.  These wretched and destitute exiles betook themselves to Rome.  Here they displayed their misery and tearfully pleaded their cause.  They were avenged and restored to their former positions through the stern rule of the Romans” (‘Historiae adversum Paganos’, 4:5).
   

5. ✴Cassius Dio (as summarised by John Zonaras) recorded that:
   

6. “These people [of Volsinii] were the most ancient of the Etruscans: they had acquired power and had erected an extremely strong citadel, and they had a well-governed state.  Hence, on a certain occasion, when they had been involved in war with the Romans, they had resisted for a very long time.  Upon being subdued, however, they drifted into indolent ease, left the management of the city to their servants, and used those servants also, as a rule, to carry on their campaigns.  Finally, they encouraged them to such an extent that the servants gained both power and spirit, and felt that they had a right to freedom; and, indeed, in the course of time, they actually obtained this through their own efforts.  After that, they were accustomed to wed their mistresses, to succeed their masters, to be enrolled in the senate, to secure the offices, and to [assume] the entire authority themselves.  Furthermore, they were not at all slow to requite their masters for any insults and the like that were offered them.  Hence the old-time citizens, not being able to endure them and yet possessing no power of their own to punish them, despatched envoys by stealth to Rome.  The envoys urged the senate to convene secretly by night in a private house, so that no report might get abroad, and they obtained their request.  The senators, accordingly, deliberated under the impression that no one was listening; but a certain Samnite, who was being entertained by the master of the house and was sick, kept to his bed unnoticed, and learning what was voted, gave information to those against whom charges were preferred.  These seized and tortured the envoys on their return; and when they found out what was afoot, they put to death the envoys and the other more prominent men as well” (‘Roman History’, 10 - search on “Volsinii”). 
   

Cassius Dio (as summarised by John Zonaras) described how, after the nobles of Volsinii had appealed for help, the Romans sent an army under the terms of the treaty:

1. “[Quintus] Fabius routed those who came to meet him, destroyed many in their flight, shut up the remainder within the wall, and made an assault upon the city.  He was wounded and killed in that action, whereupon the enemy gained confidence and made a sortie.  Upon being again defeated, they retired and underwent a siege; and when they were reduced to famine, they surrendered.  The consul [of 264 BC, Marcus Fulvius Flaccus] scourged to death the men who had seized upon the honours of the ruling class, and he razed the city to the ground; the native-born citizens, however, and any servants who had been loyal to their masters, were settled by him on another site” (‘Roman History’, 10 - search on “Volsinii”). 
   

The “Fasti Triumphales” record that the Marcus Fulvius Flaccus, the consul of 265 BC, was awarded a triumph in the following year for his victory over the “Vulsinienses”.

At this point, the history of Etruscan Orvieto effectively ended.  The surviving population was moved to the ‘new’ Volsinii, at Bolsena (as described on the following page).

Livy had recorded a series of meetings of the ancient Etruscan Federation at the fanum Voltumnae in the period 434-389 BC but he never specified its location.  However, Propertius, in an elegy that took the form of a monologue delivered by a statue of Vertumnus in Rome, had this statue insisting:

1. “[Although] I am a Tuscan born of Tuscans, [I] do not regret abandoning Volsinii’s hearths in battle” (‘Elegies’ 4.2). 
   

Scholars reasonably assume that the fanum Voltumnae had been located in the territory of Volsinii, and that a cult statue of Voltumnus/ Vertumnus that had adorned it had been ritually called to Rome after the sanctuary itself was destroyed in 264 BC.  Thus, the events at Volsinii in 264 BC marked not only the end of an ancient Etruscan city: they made manifest the end of anything resembling a confederation of independent Etruscan city states.