Following the lead of Marlene Suano, Brazilian scholarship on ancient Samnium—the upland region of central Italy—now includes that of Rafael Scopacasa. His previous book Essere Sannita (2007), based on his Master's dissertation, does not seem to have generated wide interest, even among the scholars of ancient Samnium. The present volume, however, will certainly attract more attention, written in English and published by Oxford University Press.

Scopacasa's previous volume was on the representation of the Samnites by the ancient Greek and Latin authors (i.e. hetero-representation). In the present volume, the discussion gains complexity. Here, Scopacasa aims to provide a full and fresh overview of ancient Samnium and its inhabitants, emphasising—probably excessively—the self-representation of the Samnites, particularly with reference to ethnicity. To achieve this, Scopacasa makes use of textual, archaeological, epigraphic and numismatic evidence. The volume is divided into five chapters that, with the exception of Chapter 1, follow a broadly chronological sequence from the Iron Age to the Social War of the early first century BC.

The Introduction provides an outline of the history of research on ancient Samnium, declares the book's objectives and illustrates the author's theoretical and methodological approach. Chapter 1, ‘Locating the Samnites’, is largely derived from Scopacasa's Reference Scopacasa2007 book and deals with the ancient traditions on the Samnites, highlighting the various levels of identity and community affiliation. In particular, it stresses the cultural stereotypes—above all, a warlike character—imposed upon this people by outsiders. Scopacasa declares that ethnic identity is a situational construct and Samnite identity was consequently multiple and “malleable” (p. 27).

The picture reconstructed from the written sources is consistent with the archaeological evidence of funerary and cult practices in Iron Age Samnium (1000–400 BC), as Scopacasa states in Chapter 2 (‘Society and culture in Iron Age Samnium’). In particular, the author emphasises the cultural and social dynamism of local communities, and the role played by the Samnite élites. The evidence clearly indicates that ancient Samnium was not, as it is often portrayed, a marginal region of the Mediterranean world.

Chapter 3, ‘The Roman intervention’, investigates the process of Roman involvement in Samnium between the fourth and second centuries BC. This section is largely based on the ancient literary accounts of the Roman conquest of the region, above all by Livy. Scopacasa debates the accuracy and the historical reliability of these sources, using them to reconstruct political organisation across Samnium at the time of the so-called Samnite Wars (343–290 BC), and underlining that the subsequent Hannibalic War (218–201 BC) was a particular turning point in relations between the Samnites and Romans. Focusing on the same period, Chapter 4, ‘Settlement and society between the fourth century BC and the Social War’, turns to the archaeological and epigraphic evidence. To my mind, this is the most interesting and fresh section of the book. The author discusses Samnite history, culture and self-definition between the fourth and second centuries BC, stressing topics that have become the core of Samnite research in recent years. These include a critique of the so-called ‘paganico-vicano’ settlement model and the ‘polis vs ethnos’ dichotomy; attention to the role of sanctuaries in the construction and articulation of collective identity, emphasising the concept of ‘nested identities’; and considerations about the political organisation of Samnite communities, especially at the local level, rather than at ‘tribal’ or wider ethnic levels.

In Chapter 5, the spotlight turns to the impact of Roman political and military expansion on local society and culture. Here, Scopacasa examines the archaeological evidence for the form and organisation of the Roman presence in Samnium, connecting with the much wider current debate on ‘Romanisation’; for Scopacasa, it is preferable to speak of the Hellenisation, rather than the Romanisation, of Italy. A brief conclusion, an appendix of sites, a bibliography and an index complete this well-produced volume.

Scopacasa's book testifies to a fresh and welcome interest in the history and archaeology of ancient Samnium, and to the author's good knowledge of the documentary evidence. The bibliography is wide ranging, although some of the recent scholarship (in particular, Italian research) is overlooked.

One point of criticism concerns the exaggerated attention and the space reserved for the recurring theme of collective identity, especially if we consider that Scopacasa's conclusion is not novel. He argues that, in ancient Samnium, there were groups of varied membership—community, tribe and ethnic group—to which individuals might be simultaneously attached. I briefly expressed the same concept 20 years ago (Tagliamonte Reference Tagliamonte1997: 132–35), as well as in some more recent contributions (uncited by Scopacasa). Regardless, this topic is now better argued. Another issue is concerned with the discussion of the Samnite communities within the territory of modern-day Campania. Despite his aim to provide a complete overview of all the Samnite peoples, the author fixes on the Pentrian and Frentanian Samnites, and overlooks the evidence from Campania. For instance, there is no mention of sites such as Presenzano (Rufrae) or Treglia (Trebula Balliensis), archaeological knowledge of which has recently improved. Surprisingly, the research carried out for the Carta archeologica della Campania (Quilici & Quilici Gigli Reference Quilici and Quilici Gigli2000–) is ignored, even though this provides evidence for relevant Samnite communities such as Allifae, Caiatia, Caudium, Cubulteria and Telesia.

To my mind, however, the main criticism of this book concerns its stated objectives and claim to innovation: a new way of looking at ancient Samnium and its inhabitants. Such an emphasis on novelty is hard to justify. When Scopacasa writes that “this book aims to approach Samnium as a means to address historical questions about ancient Italy and the Mediterranean” (p. 7; cf. p. 296), one might ask whether his text fully considers the results of the Samnite research of the last 50 years. Did the important studies of A. La Regina, for example, not represent a relevant contribution from this perspective? And have these and other studies not already highlighted the role of Samnium and its élites in the wider historical and cultural context of the Mediterranean? In some respects, Scopacasa seems to have defined his objectives by working in reaction to Salmon's Samnium and the Samnites of 1967. The point is that while it is possible to agree with the author on several of his arguments, they are rarely novel if we consider them alongside the recent work of L. Capogrossi Colognesi, C. Letta, T. Stek and S. Bourdin. In reality, the two original arguments of the book are the critique of the martial image of the Samnites and the use of the concept of ‘nested identities’ in studying Samnite collective identity. Not coincidentally, these two topics have been stressed by Scopacasa in recent articles (2014a & b). It is, however, precisely these topics that are open to criticism (Stek Reference Stek2015; Tagliamonte in press).

Even if not as innovative as it claims, linking as it does with recent deconstructivist studies, Scopacasa's book will become part of the current scholarly debate on ancient Samnium.