Samnium
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Samnium is a Latin exonym for a region of Southern Italy anciently inhabited by the Samnites. Their own endonyms were Safinim for the country and Safineis for the people. The language of these endonyms and of the population was the Oscan language. However, not all the Samnites spoke Oscan, and not all the Oscan-speakers lived in Samnium.
Samnite soldiers, from a tomb frieze in Nola, Campania, 4th century BC.
Samnites
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The Samnites were an ancient Italic people who lived in Samnium, which is located in modern inland Abruzzo, Molise, and Campania in south-central Italy.
Samnite soldiers depicted on a tomb frieze in Nola. From the 4th Century BC
![Oscan inscription. From right to left it reads: "V[ibius] Popidius, son of V[ibius], chief magistrate, was responsible for this work and approved it."](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/4/42/OsqueBritishMuseum.jpg/600px-OsqueBritishMuseum.jpg)
Oscan inscription. From right to left it reads: "V[ibius] Popidius, son of V[ibius], chief magistrate, was responsible for this work and approved it."
Lucanian depiction of the Battle of Caudine Forks
Social War coin depicting the Samnite soldiers taking an oath to fight the Romans