Sentinum
Sentinum is an ancient town located in the region of Umbria, now part of modern Marche in central Italy. Nestled on the eastern slopes of the Apennines, it is situated at the confluence of the Sentinus and Marena rivers, near an important pre-Roman road. The site is historically significant as the location of the pivotal Battle of Sentinum in 295 BC during the Third Samnite War, where Roman forces, commanded by Consuls Quintus Fabius Rullianus and Publius Decius Mus, achieved a decisive victory over a coalition of Samnites and their allies. This victory was crucial in establishing Roman dominance over Italy.
Archaeological findings in Sentinum reveal remnants of various structures, including public buildings, an industrial quarter, and an imperial-era bathhouse adorned with intricate polychrome mosaics. Some of these mosaics, along with evidence of a Mithras cult, offer insight into the cultural practices of the time. After suffering destruction during the Perusine War in 41 BC, Sentinum was later restored, but it eventually became uninhabited during the early 5th century AD due to invasions. Nearby, the site of Civitalba has yielded significant terracotta sculptures from the late 2nd century BC, emphasizing the area's rich historical and artistic legacy.
Subject Terms
Sentinum
(Sentino, a mile from Sassoferrato)
A town in Umbria, now Marche (central Italy), on the eastern slopes of the Apennines, at the confluence of the rivers Sentinus (Sentino) and Marena, beside a pre-Roman road to the north. It was here, in 295 BC, that the decisive engagement of the Third Samnite War took place. The Romans had failed to prevent the Samnites from joining forces with their allies the Gauls, and were obliged to face their united army, which may also have included Umbrian and Etruscan contingents. In the battle that followed the steadiness of the Roman legions shattered the ranks of the opposing coalition. The Roman commanders were the consuls Quintus Fabius Rullianus, who showed great skill, and the veteran Publius Decius Mus, who according to Livy performed the act of self-sacrifice known as devotio, solemnly dedicating himself and his foes to the gods of the underworld and then charging into the enemy ranks to meet his death. The same act was later attributed to his father and son of the same name, but it is most plausibly ascribed to the commander at Sentinum. Although the war dragged on for another five years, this was the decisive victory that made Rome dominant over peninsular Italy.
In 41, during the Perusine War, in which Antony's brother Lucius Antonius rose against Octavian (the future Augustus), the city was captured and destroyed by Octavian's general Quintus Salvidienus Rufus. Its subsequent restoration, however, is demonstrated by walls constructed during the Augustan period, and by surviving remains of an industrial quarter and public buildings, unearthed by excavations. A bath house and other structures of imperial date have yielded important polychrome floor mosaics. Most of these pavements are in the Sassoferrato museum, but another, now at Munich, testifies to a cult of Mithras, to which animal reliefs and inscriptions also bear witness. It would appear from Zosimus that Sentinum ceased to exist at the time of the invasions of Alaric the Visigoth in the early fifth century AD.
Nearby is Civitalba (Civita Alba), where important terracotta sculptural compositions of the late second century BC have been found; they are preserved in the Museo Civico at Bologna. A complicated group illustrating the myth of Ariadne on Naxos, discovered by the companions of Dionysus, adorned the pediment of a temple, while the rout of the Galatians (Gauls), driven back from the sanctuary at Delphi (in 279 BC), was depicted on the long sides; the latter theme was no doubt suggested by the historic defeat of the Gauls at Sentinum more than a century and a half earlier.