Expediţii militare romane în regiunea sallentină, 307 şi 302 a. Chr.
Roman Military Expeditions in the Sallentine Area, 307 and 302 B.C.

Summary/Abstract: The Tarentine War from 282-272 B.C. started as a result of an attack of the Tarentine fleet over a Roman squadron which was sailling in the Ionian Sea. The naval incident from 282 B.C. was only the pretext to start the military operations. But the causes of the war are much deeper and do not refer only to the events from the latest years. They are facts gathered over half of a century and deeply rooted in the convulsions which changed the political arhitecture of Italy, begining with the Second Samnite War. Since 327 B.C., after the crisis of Neapolis, contradictory interests and the mutual suspicions had lead Rome and Tarentum to strained relationships, which developed gradually to the final military confrontation. At the same time, the strained relationship with Tarentum moved the military and diplomatic actions of Rome towards the South of Italy. In 307 B.C., Livy mentions Roman troups in the Sallentine area. This action is doubtful for modern historians but there is not any decisive reason to deny it. Probably, the expedition was made by an expeditionary corps detached from the Roman army lead by the consul L. Volumnius Flamma in Apulia. It may be considered as a warning for Tarentum and it is possible that as a result of this action some of the communities from the Sallentine area became Rome’s allies. After the Second Samnite War, in 304 B.C., the Lucanian League started military actions against Tarentum. The Tarentins gave the leadership of the war to the Spartan Cleonymus. He convinced the Lucanian League to make peace but, at the same time, tried to create for himself a personal political identity in the South of Italy. That putd him in conflict with Tarentum and his allies from Italy. In this context, another disputed paragraph from Livy mentions, in 302 B.C., Roman military operations in the Sallentine area against Cleonymus. Neither for this actions we have decisive reasons to combat Livy’s mention. Probably, the Roman troups interceded in the Sallentine allies’ help, which were under Rome’s influence from 307 B.C. and were threatened by the Spartan general. Between Rome and Cleonymus, Tarentum had to look for a diplomatic solution to eliminate at least one of the two adversaries. The year 302 B.C. is the most plausible date for the Lacinian treaty, which justified the Tarentine attack against the Roman fleet in 282 B.C. In our opinion, the treaty guaranted that Rome would not interfere in the matters of Magna Graecia. But to obtain this, Tarentum had to make concessions. The Greek city oficially recognized the existence of the Rome’s allies in Apulia and the Sallentine area and promised to respect their integrity. Investigating in a general frame the political realities from the South of Italy and the terms of the Lacinian treaty, we find that this act was plainly favourable to Rome. It sanctioned the Roman military and diplomatic successes in Apulia and the Sallentine region from the begining of the Second War with the Samnites.

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