Editing Campania (section)

=== Pre-Roman period ===
{{See also|Samnite Wars|Etruscan Civilization|Roman Republic||Pre-Indo-European languages|Oscan language|Magna Græcia}}
[[File:Hera temple II - Paestum - Poseidonia - July 13th 2013 - 04.jpg|thumb|Ancient Greek [[Second Temple of Hera (Paestum)|Temple of Hera]], [[Paestum]], built in the [[Doric order]] around 460–450 BC]]
The region known today as ''Campania'' was inhabited from at least the beginning of the 1st millennium BC by several  [[Oscan language|Oscan-speaking]] [[Italic tribes]]: the [[Osci]], the [[Opici]], the [[Aurunci]], the [[Ausones]], the [[Sidicini]], the [[Hirpini]], the [[Caudini]], the [[Oenotrians]], the [[Campanians]] (after whom the region is named) and the [[Lucanians]] (who inhabited the southernmost part of Campania, known in ancient times as [[Lucania]], roughly where modern-day [[province of Salerno|Salerno]] is).<ref>(Giacomo Devoto, Gli antichi italici, Firenze, Vallecchi, 1931, p.118).</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.instoria.it/home/italia_antiqua_XV.htm|publisher=InStoria.it|title=Italia Antiqua – XV, Campania|date=7 October 2007|access-date=22 July 2009|archive-date=27 December 2008|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081227225736/http://www.instoria.it/home/italia_antiqua_XV.htm|url-status=live}}</ref> Many of these [[tribe]]s lived in [[Subsistence agriculture|simple]] [[agro-town]]s. Not much is known about the [[Pre-Indo-European languages|pre-Indo-European tribes]] that had lived in the region earlier; they were probably not as technologically or culturally advanced as the Oscans, and any who still flourished had become fully Oscanised by the middle of the first millennium BC.

Between the 9th and 6th centuries BC, the [[Etruscan civilization|Etruscans]] from [[Central Italy]] established [[colony|colonies]] in the Campanian Plains (the inland territories that today are the [[province of Caserta|provinces of Caserta]] and [[province of Naples|Naples]]), as well as in the regions of [[Agro Nocerino-Sarnese]] and Agro Picentino (which today are in the [[province of Salerno]]). There, they essentially replicated their [[Etruscan cities|''Dodecapolis'' (twelve cities)]] political model, founding the cities of ''Hyria'' (modern-day [[Nola]]), ''Irnthi'' or ''Marcina'' (modern-day [[Salerno]]), ''Amina'' (modern-day [[Pontecagnano Faiano]]), ''Velcha'', ''Velsu'' and ''Uri''. In addition to [[cultural assimilation|assimilating]] into their [[Urban sociology|urban-political]] domains, the Etruscans also incorporated the pre-existing tribal Oscan agro-towns of ''Capua'' (modern-day [[Santa Maria Capua Vetere]]), ''[[Nuceria]]'' (modern-day ''[[comune|comuni]]'' of [[Nocera Superiore]] and [[Nocera Inferiore]]), [[Suessula]], [[Acerra]], [[Ercolano]], [[Pompeii]], [[Stabiae]] and [[Sorrento]].<ref>{{cite web| url = http://spazioinwind.libero.it/popoli_antichi/Etruschi/Etruria%20Campana.html| title = Etruria campana| access-date = 2 September 2019| archive-date = 14 December 2021| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20211214214230/http://spazioinwind.libero.it/popoli_antichi/Etruschi/Etruria%20Campana.html| url-status = live}}</ref><ref>[[Strabo]], ''[[Geographica]]'', V (Italia), 4.3.</ref><ref name = ":0">{{cite book|title=Storia di Nocera. Monumenti, personaggi, leggende|last=Francesco Belsito|publisher=Angri, Gaia|year=2013}}</ref>

Meanwhile, during the 8th century BC, [[Ancient Greek language|Greek-speaking people]] from [[Euboea]] (in [[Central Greece (geographic region)|Central Greece]]), known as [[Cumae]]ans, began to establish colonies themselves roughly around the coastal areas of the modern-day [[province of Naples]] and in the [[Phlegraean Islands|nearby islands]] founding, among others, the cities of [[Cumae]], ''Pithekoūsai'' (modern-day [[Ischia]]), [[Paestum]], [[Herculaneum]] and ''Dicaearchia'', later 'Puteoli', in Latin (modern-day [[Pozzuoli]]). The city of [[Naples]] began as a small commercial port called [[History of Naples#Greek birth, Roman acquisition|Parthenope]] (Παρθενόπη, meaning "Pure Eyes", a Siren in [[Greek mythology]]), which was established by Greek colonial sailors from [[Rhodes]].<ref name="campaniahistoryone">{{cite news|url=http://www.iterteam.it/eng/campania/storia.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050505081832/http://www.iterteam.it/eng/campania/storia.html|archive-date=5 May 2005|publisher=Interteam.it|title=Campania: History|date=7 October 2007}}</ref> The region thus became one of the centers of [[Magna Graecia]].

[[File:Aeclanum (Thermae-01).jpg|thumb|Ruins of [[Aeclanum]], a Roman town in [[Irpinia]] district]]

At one point in history, a distinct group of Oscan-speaking tribes from [[Samnium]] (in south-central Italy), the [[Samnites]], moved down into Campania.
Since the Samnites were more warlike than the other Oscan populations, they easily took over the cities of [[Capua]] and Cumae, in an area which was one of the most prosperous and fertile in the [[Italian Peninsula]] at the time.<ref name = "samnite wars"/> During the 340s BC, the Samnites were engaged in a war with the [[Roman Republic]] in a dispute known as the [[Samnite Wars]], with Rome claiming the rich pastures of northern Campania during the [[Samnite Wars|First Samnite War]].<ref name = "pirat"/> The First Samnite War was initiated when the Etruscan-influenced Oscan city of Capua (in [[Etruscan language|Etruscan]] ''Capeva'') was being attacked by the Samnites, and thus appealed to Rome for defensive help.

As the majority of [[Southern Italy]] was under Roman control at the time, the sole major remaining independent settlement in the region was the [[Greeks|Greek]] colony of [[Naples|Neapolis]], and when the city was eventually [[Capture of Neapolis|captured by the Samnites]], the Neapolitan Greeks were left with no option but to call on the [[Roman Republic|Romans]], with whom they established an alliance, setting off the [[Second Samnite War]].<ref name="samnite wars">{{cite news|url=http://www.unrv.com/empire/samnite-wars.php|publisher=UNRV.com|title=The Samnite Wars|date=7 October 2007|access-date=22 July 2009|archive-date=28 June 2009|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090628093318/http://www.unrv.com/empire/samnite-wars.php|url-status=live}}</ref> The [[Consul|Roman consul]] Quintus Publilius Filo recaptured Neapolis by 326 BC and allowed it to remain a Greek city with some autonomy as a ''[[civitas]] foederata'' while strongly aligned with Rome.<ref name="romannaples">{{cite news|url=http://faculty.ed.umuc.edu/~jmatthew/naples/Roman_Naples.html|publisher=Faculty.ed.umuc.du|title=Roman Naples|date=7 October 2007|access-date=22 July 2009|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090629003110/http://faculty.ed.umuc.edu/~jmatthew/naples/Roman_Naples.html|archive-date=29 June 2009}}</ref> The Second Samnite War ended with the Romans controlling all of southern Campania and additional regions further to the south, such as parts of [[Lucania]].<ref name="pirat">{{cite news|url=http://pirate.shu.edu/~vigorimi/genealogy/first_millenium_BC.html|publisher=Michael Vigorita|title=Ancient Times – 1st millennium B.C.|date=7 October 2007|access-date=22 July 2009|archive-date=7 October 2008|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081007230938/http://pirate.shu.edu/~vigorimi/genealogy/first_millenium_BC.html|url-status=live}}</ref>