Robert Seymour Conway and Thomas Ashby

“ A brilliant victory was, however, won in the hilly district outside the town, largely owing to the bravery of Aristodemus, who then led a force to the relief of Aricia, which was being attacked by the Etruscans, and, returning at the head of his victorious army, overturned the aristocracy and made himself tyrant, but was ultimately murdered by the aristocrats. ”

“ The Grotto della Pace leads to the shores of Avernus. On the E. side of Cumae are considerable remains of the Roman period, among them those of the temple of Demeter, as restored by the family of the Lucceii.
The cemeteries of Cumae extended on all sides of the ancient city, except towards the sea, but the most important lay on the north, between this temple and the Lago di Licola. Excavations during the 19th century in Greek, Samnite and Roman graves have produced many important objects, now in the various museums of Europe, but especially at Naples. ”

“ The influence of Hellenism over them is shown by finds in the tombs and the fact that they spoke the Greek language as well as their own (bilingues in Ennius) . The mountainous country, ill-suited for agricultural purposes, was well adapted for these hardy warriors, whose training was Spartan in its simplicity and severity.
The Bruttii first came into collision with the Romans during the war with Pyrrhus, to whom they sent auxiliaries; after his defeat, they submitted, and were deprived of half their territory in the Sila forest, which was declared state property. ”

“ The Bruttii entirely lost their freedom at the end of the Hannibalic war; in 194 colonies of Roman citizens were founded at Tempsa and Croton, and a colony with Latin rights at Hipponium called henceforward Vibo Valentia. In 132 the consul P. Popillius built the great inland road from Capua through Vibo and Consentia to Rhegium, while the date of the construction of the east and west coast roads is uncertain. Neither in the Social War, nor in the rising of Spartacus, who held out a long time in the Sila (71 B.C.) , do the Bruttii play a part as a people. ”

“ In alliance with the Lucanians the Bruttii made war on the Greek colonies of the coast and seized on Vibo in 356 B.C., and, though for a time overcome by the Greeks who were aided by Alexander of Epirus and Agathocles of Syracuse, they reasserted their mastery of the town from about the beginning of the 3rd century B.C., and held it until it became a Latin colony at the end of the same century (see Corp. Inscr. Lat. x. p. 7, and the references there given) . ”

“ From the 6th century, after the fall of the Ostrogothic power, and the establishment of that of Byzantium in its place in south Italy, the name Calabria was applied to the whole of the south Italian possessions of the Eastern empire, and the name of the Brittii entirely disappeared ”

“ W. Z. Ripley, Races of Europe, p. 128) . Many Indo-European elements appear in their place-names (e.g. Sila=Latin silva, Greek ὕλη; Temesa, cf. Gr. τέμενος or Sanskrit tamas, darkness, shadow) , and none that suggest a non-Indo-European origin. A priori considerations suggest that they may have been akin to the Siceli, but of this at present no positive evidence can be given.
As we have seen, the Bruttii were at the height of their power during the 3rd century B.C. Their chief towns were Consentia (Cosenza) , Petelia (near Strongoli) , and Clampetia (Amantea) . ”

“ These were unable to repel a renewed Etruscan attack without the help of Hiero of Syracuse, who in the battle of Cumae of 474 B.C. drove the Etruscan fleet from the sea, and broke their power in Campania.
The Samnites finally destroyed the Etruscan supremacy by the capture of Capua in the latter half of the 5th century (see Capua; Campania) , and the Greeks of Cumae were overwhelmed by the same invasion, either in 420 B.C. (Livy iv. 44) or in 421 (Diodor. Sic. xii. 76) , if his statement is drawn from Greek sources, 428 if it is to be dated by the Roman consuls to whose year he ascribes it. ”

“ It was also on a branch leading from the Via Flaminia at Nuceria Camellaria to Septempeda There were also communications from north to south, a road led from Asculum to Urbs Salvia and Ancona, another from Asculum and Firmum and the coast, another from Urbs Salvia to Potentia, while finally along the whole line of the coast there ran a prolongation of the Via Flaminia, the name of which is not known to us. ”