Saepinum
- a town of the Samnites, Liv. 10, 44; 10, 45.
- —Hence, Sae-pīnātes, m., the inhabitants of Saepinum, Plin. 3, 12, 17, § 107.
SAEPI´NUM or SEPI´NUM (the name is variously written both in MSS. and even inscriptions, but Saepinum is probably the most correct form: Σαίπινον, Ptol.: Eth. Saepinas: Altilia near Sepino), a city of Samnium, in the country of the Pentri, on the E. slope of the great group of the Monte Matese, and near the sources of the Tamaro (Tamarus). It seems to have been in early times one of the chief towns of the Samnites, or rather one of the few which they possessed worthy of the name. From its position in the heart of their country it was not till the Third Samnite War that it was attacked by the Roman arms; but in B.C. 293 it was besieged by the consul L. Papirius Cursor, and though vigorously defended by a garrison amounting almost to an army, was at length carried by assault. (Liv. 10.44, 45.) From this time the name of Saepinum disappears from history, but it is found again at a later period among the municipal towns of Samnium under the Roman Empire. Its name is not indeed mentioned by Strabo, among the few surviving cities of Samnium in his day: but it received a colony under Nero (Lib. Colon. p. 237), and appears for a time to have recovered some degree of importance. Its name is found both in Ptolemy and Pliny among the municipal towns of Samnium; and it is certain from inscriptions that it did not bear the title of a Colonia. (Plin. Nat. 3.12. s. 17; Ptol. 3.1.67; Orell. Inscr. 140; Mommsen, Inscr. R. N. 4918, 4929, 4934, &c.) Its name is mentioned also in the Tabula, which places it 30 M. P. from Beneventum, the intermediate station being a place called Sirpium, the site of which is unknown. (Tab. Peut. )
Saepinum became an episcopal see before the fall of the Roman Empire; it had, however, fallen into great decay in the time of the Lombards, but was repeopled by Romoaldus, duke of Beneventum (P. Diac. 5.30), and survived till the 9th century, when it was taken and plundered by the Saracens; after which it seems to have been abandoned by the inhabitants, who withdrew to the site occupied by the modern town of Sepino, about 2 miles from the site of the ancient one. The ruins of the latter, which are now called Altilia, are evidently of Roman date, and, from their regularity and style of construction, render it probable that the town was entirely rebuilt at the time of the establishment of the Roman colony, very probably not on the same site with the ancient Samnite city. The existing walls, which remain in almost complete preservation throughout their whole circuit, and which, as we learn from an inscription over one of the gates, were certainly erected by Nero (Mommsen, I. R. N. 4922), enclose a perfect square, with the angles slightly rounded off, and four gates, placed at the four cardinal points, flanked by massive square towers. The masonry is of reticulated work, the arches only of the gates being of massive stone. Within the enclosure are the remains of a theatre, besides the substructions and vestiges of several other buildings, and numerous fragments of an architectural character, as well as inscriptions. Of these last the most interesting is one which is still extant at the gate leading to Bovianum, and has reference to the flocks which then, as now, passed annually backwards and forwards from the thirsty plains of Apulia to the upland pastures of Samnium, especially of the Matese; and which appear to have even then followed the same line of route: the tratturo or sheep-track still in use passing directly through the ruins of Altilia. (Craven's Abruzzi, vol. ii. pp. 130--135; Romanelli, vol. ii. pp. 444--448; Mommsen, I. R. N. 4916.)
[E.H.B]or Sepīnum. Now Sepino; a municipium in Samnium, on the road from Allifae to Beneventum.
The city was part of the territory of the Pentri Samnites, who withstood a memorable siege, in 293 B.C., mounted by Roman troops under the command of C. Papirius Cursor. The Samnite city, situated on the NW slopes of Mt. Mutria in the area of Torrevecchia, was destroyed. Its inhabitants went down into the low lying plain of the Tammaro river (fl. Timmarus) and there established their settlement anew. At the outset, it had the aspect typical of a Roman town dependent upon the cattle track that crossed the plain and became the decumanus within the city.
Roman Saepinum had a municipal constitution and was enrolled in the Voltinia tribe. Essentially a farming and cattle raising center, it does not seem to have had great influence upon the region; however, from one of its families, the Neratii, Rome gained one of its greatest legal experts, Neratius Priscus.
During the early Middle Ages, the Roman settlement was abandoned, perhaps because of the flooding of the Tammaro, and the place came to be called Altilia. Conversely, the old name was inherited by the district formed at the base of Mt. Mutria, but in a place other than Samnite Saepinum. It has been possible to trace large stretches of the polygonal circuit wall of Samnite Saepinum. Two gates have been recognized in the wall; within, a late mediaeval settlement has been ascertained.
The Roman city, still to be explored for the most part, preserves a series of monuments constructed almost without exception of local stone. Only the principal monuments are here described. The walls have a perimeter of about 1250 m and are quadrilateral in plan. Covered in opus reticulatum, they are interrupted by round towers—two octagonal ones have been noticed—and in these towers four gates mark the terminations of the cardo and the decumanus. A smaller gate opens directly into the theater. The gates—Terravecchia, Boiano, Tammaro, and Benevento—are named for the places toward which they open and are similar in their architectural organization.
The Porta di Boiano, the only one so far restored, has a single archway with a vault on the inside; it is flanked by a pair of round towers. There are statues of barbarians on high pedestals on the sides of the arch, which displays the head of a divinity at the center of the vault. On the arch, an inscription—identical on all the gates—commemorates Tiberius and Drusus through whose efforts the circuit wall was completed. The inscription dates to A.D. 4.
A trapezoidal forum at the crossing of the cardo and the decumanus—it has been entirely uncovered—is completely paved in huge rectangular blocks on which a fragmentary inscription commemorates C. Papius Faber, the magistrate who had the forum paved. Numerous public buildings have been brought to light on the S side, the only area of the forum so far excavated.
The basilica which flanks the NW side and along which the cardo runs resembles a peristyle constructed of 20 Ionic columns. The building is perhaps to be assigned to the 4th c. A.D.; however, materials used in its construction come from an older building. Between the basilica and the Porta di Boiano, along the decumanus, are the remains of public buildings and private dwellings.
The theater is in the N sector of the urban area. Only its circular corridor beneath the upper cavea has been completely excavated. This corridor leads to the outer city and ends in two grand tetrapyla.
Outside the city, along the cattle track, are the remains of numerous mausolea. Outside the Porta di Benevento the mausoleum of C. Herennius Marsus has been partially reconstructed. It is of the so-called tumulus type, on a square base. Outside the Porta di Boiano, it has been possible to reconstruct in toto the grandiose mausoleum of P. Numisius Ligus, of the so-called ad ara type.
BIBLIOGRAPHYV. Cianfarani, Guida della antichità di Sepino (1958); id., “Vecchie e nuove iscrizioni sepinati,” Atti III Congr. Inter. Epigrafia Greca e Latina (1959) 371-80; id., EAA 7 (1966) 201-2; G. Ambrosetti, “Testimonianze preaugustee da Sepino-Altilia,” ArchCl X (1958) 14-20; A. Maiuri, “Ritorno a Saepinum,” Dall' Egeo al Tirreno (1962) 271-75; G. Colonna, “Saepinum—Ricerche di topografia Sannitica e medioevale,” ArchCl 14 (1962) 80ff.
V. CIANFARANI