Picentia
Picentia was an ancient Etruscan and Roman city located in Campania, Italy, approximately six miles from Salerno and situated near the river Picentino. The site of the original settlement remains unknown, but archaeological findings, particularly in the area's large cemeteries, support the historical claim made by Pliny the Elder that it was once an important Etruscan center. Dating back to the ninth century BC, the earliest graves show similarities to those found in Tarquinia, suggesting that this Etruscan city-state may have founded Picentia, possibly replacing an earlier indigenous community. The region's fertility and strategic location along significant trade routes likely attracted the Etruscans.
Artifacts unearthed from the tombs include a variety of goods reflecting the interconnections of the time, such as a silver-gilt Phoenician bowl and Greek pottery, tracing the cultural influences that shaped Picentia throughout history. The city experienced decline during the rise of the Greek colony Posidonia, but it was revived under Roman rule around 268 BC when it was renamed Picentia, after settlers from Picenum. The town faced challenges during the Second Punic War, particularly when its inhabitants allied with Hannibal, leading to territorial losses to Rome shortly after.
Subject Terms
Picentia
(Pontecagnano)
An Etruscan and Roman city in Campania (southwestern Italy) six miles east-southeast of Salernum (Salerno). The modern town is on the left bank of the river Picentino, two miles from the sea. The site of the ancient settlement is unknown, but discoveries in the large cemeteries of the region confirm the assertion of Pliny the Elder that the territory (the Ager Picentinus) once belonged to the Etruscans; and indeed these finds reveal that it was one of their most important Campanian centers—although its Etruscan name is unknown.
The earliest Iron Age graves, going back to the ninth century BC, bear a strong similarity to burials at Tarquinii (Tarquinia), which may, therefore, have been the Etruscan city-state responsible for the colonization of Picentia—possibly superseding or transforming an earlier, perhaps indigenous, community on the site. The Etruscans must have been attracted by the fertility of the region, and by the strategic location of Picentia on a major highway to the interior and the south; it may be conjectured, too, that there was a harbor in the vicinity, through which maritime links with Etruria were established. Objects found in the tombs offer the entire chronological sequence familiar from the Etruscan homeland itself, right down to the sixth century. Among the finds are princely graves of c 700, resembling tombs at Cumae (a generation earlier) and Praeneste (Palestrina; contemporary), a seventh-century silver-gilt Phoenician bowl, faience scarabs, and pottery from Greece.
It has been suggested that the subsequent decline of this Etruscan center at Pontecagnano was due to the rise of the Greek colony established at Posidonia (Paestum), on whose products the scanty fourth-century material uncovered at the site shows evident dependence. Thereafter the town disappeared, but partially revived c 268 under its new Roman name of Picentia, which was owed to a group of people from Picenum (Marche, Abruzzo) in eastern Italy, transplanted to the area. But during the Second Punic War, after the Roman defeat at Cannae (216), these Picentini rebelled and joined Hannibal, with the result that in 197/94 the Romans took away part of their land for a new colony at nearby Salernum (Salerno), which was equipped with a garrison to keep watch over their future loyalty.