Oscan-speaking confederation of four tribes in the central-southern Apennines who fought Rome in three Samnite Wars (343-290 BCE) and won the famous Caudine Forks victory (321 BCE) before eventual subjugation.
Crushed after siding against Sulla; final defeat at the Battle of the Colline Gate (82 BCE) led to brutal reprisals and rapid Latinization/assimilation into the Roman world.
The standard scholarly monograph on Samnite history, society, and the wars with Rome.