Where in the World is Carventum?

11/16/23 • 61 min

Carventum enters the annalistic narrative of Rome and raises some questions. But in order to get there, we need to consider what Rome faces in 411 BCE. And it seems that the Roman elite are having a run on consuls recently, which, if we follow Livy, means that the plebeians continue to be locked out of the highest magistracy...

Episode 144 – Where in the World is Carventum?

411 BCE – A Year Better Forgotten?

Sadly there’s not much to report about 411 BCE and what there is to know if the kind of thing the Romans would probably rather forget. Turns out that there’s a pestilence on the loose! To compound problems, sick people can’t farm and this has compromised the harvest. Rome faces challenges to its grain supply and they turn to their neighbours for aid.

Keen to catch up on the action from the years leading up to this situation? Check out Episode 143 – Special Victims Unit.

Where in the world is Carventum?

410 BCE gets off to a bad start when the Volsicans and Aequians decide to try to squeeze Rome’s allies the Hernicians... how will Rome respond? First they’ll have to find the citadel of Carventum (location unknown). And that’s only after they resolve the challenge of pulling together a fighting force.

Whenever there’s a tribune of the plebs, we can assume there’s going to be something going on between the elite families of Rome. The tribunes come into their own when there’s a military affair in the off-ing because they can push for rights and recognition for the plebeians in potential exchange for military service. Will the patricians negotiate land rights in order to field a force against the Volscians and the Aequians?

Map of central Italy including Rome and Praeneste, one of the theorised locations of Carventum to the east of Rome.

An ovatio with the a side of verbal abuse...

The Roman populace may be under the pump of the patricians much of the time, so perhaps a protest action at the scene of an ovatio is a very legitimate form of criticism! While Valerius attempts to process through the city to celebrate a military win, things don’t feel so much like a celebration as the people hurl abuse. Who will the crowd turn their support towards in the aftermath?

Things to Listen Out For:

Disagreements about Livy
What’s happening in the Mediterranean?
Who is Cassiodorus?
Samnites and Sicilians
A tribunician veto? In this economy?
What is the tribune of the plebs and how did this position really work in the early Republic?
Mercenaries????
What are the quaestors up to?

Our Players 411 BCE

Consuls

Marcus Papirius L. f. – n. Mugillanus (or Atratinus?) (Pat.)
Spurius (or Gaius) Nautius Sp. f. Sp. n. Rutilus (Pat.)

Our Players 410 BCE

Consuls

Manius Aemilius Mam. f. M. n. Mamercinus (Pat.)
Gaius Valerius (L. f. Vol. n.) Potitus Volusus (Pat.)

Tribune of the Plebs

Marcus Menenius

Our Sources

Dr Rad reads Livy 4.52.2-4.53
Dr G reads Diodorus 13.68.1, 13.76.1; Cassiodorus Chronica
Broughton, T. R. S., Patterson, M. L. 1951. The Magistrates of the Roman Republic Volume 1: 509 B.C. – 100 B.C. (The American Philological Association)
Cornell, T. J. 1995. The Beginnings of Rome: Italy and Rome from the Bronze Age to the Punic Wars (c. 1000-264 BC) (Taylor & Francis)
Ogilvie, R. M. 1965. A Commentary on Livy: Books 1-5 (Clarendon Press).

Sound Credits

Our music was composed by Bettina Joy de Guzman. Sound effects courtesy of BBC Beta and Freesounds.

Crop from “A new map of Latium, Etruria, and as much of ancient Italy, as lay between Gallia Cisalpina and Græcia Magna, shewing their principal divisions, cities, towns, rivers, mountains &c.”
Sheldonian Theatre (Publisher); Wells, Edward, 1667-1727 (Cartographer).
Source: New York Public Library Digital Collections.