Frentani Cavalry

Description

"The Marrucini, and their rivals the Frentani, gathered too, bringing the men of Corfinium, and great Teate. All these bore a pike to war, a sling that had downed many a bird, and for armour wore bear-skins, spoils of the hunt." – Silius Italicus (Punica 8.518–521)

Recruited from an Oscan-Sabellian tribe along the Adriatic coastline and Apennine foothills, these Frentani warriors serve as shock melee cavalry. Drawn from the landowning elite and their noble retinues, these horsemen possess a warlike disposition equal to their Samnite and Sabellian neighbours. They fight using powerful thrusting spears, as well as short swords for close-quarters combat. To defend themselves, the Frentani Cavalry carry round equestrian shields, bronze Attic-Phrygian or Chalcidian helmets (most of them crested), muscle and triple-disc-cuirasses or linothorakes. These noblemen show their bravery most when charging upon their enemies. Fearing nothing and no one, they strike furiously upon the enemy lines. Perhaps, in doing so they honour their previous commander, Oplax, who broke formations with rarely displayed skill and relentlessly rode down the fleeing foes. Their defensive panoply also makes these men a great asset for holding and protecting the flanks against enemy cavalry.

Historical background

The Frentani were an Oscan-Sabellian coastal and mountain people closely related to the Samnites, who occupied a fertile territory along the Adriatic coast between the Marrucini to the north and Apulia to the south (Roller, 'Strabo and Italian Ethnic Groups', in: Farney and Bradley (eds.), The Peoples of Ancient Italy (2017), p. 31; Dench, 'The Central Italian Peoples', in: idem, p. 113). The role of the Frentani cavalry is well attested by a 3rd-century BC coin issued at Larinum, which depicts the head of Mars wearing a crested Corinthian helmet on the obverse, and a warrior on horseback galloping to the left with the Italic legend LADINOD on the reverse. The cavalryman depicted in the coin holds a thrusting spear in a lowered, charging position, as well as a round shield worn on the left arm, featuring a central boss and starburst geometric embellishments. He wears a peaked helmet with a distinct forward-pointing crest (possibly Attic-Phrygian) and a military cloak fastened at the neck and undulating behind the rider's shoulders to indicate fast movement (Larinum AE Quincunx, c. 210–175 BC: Sear SG 542; SNG Cop 269). Originally allied with the Samnites during the Samnite Wars, the Frentani, Marsi, Marrucini, and Paeligni concluded a formal treaty of peace and alliance with Rome in 304 BC, which was renewed in 302 BC following a brief attempt at rebellion (Liv. 9.45.18, 10.3.5; Letta, 'The Marsi', in: Farney and Bradley (eds.) (2017), p. 512).

Under the formula togatorum, the Frentani were integrated into the Roman military system as autonomous allies (socii) obligated to supply specified troop numbers for Roman armies (Baronowski, 'The "Formula Togatorum"', in: Historia 33-2 (1984); Kent, 'The Italians in Roman Armies', in: Farney and Bradley (eds.) (2017), pp. 254–268). During the Roman emergency levy of 225 BC to face the invading Celts, the Frentani fielded both cavalry and infantry contingents alongside the Marsi and Marrucini, with their levy consisting of 20,000 foot and 4,000 horse (Polyb. 2.24.12; Enn. Ann. 229; Menozzi (2017), p. 521).

The bravery and combat skills of Frentanian horsemen became famed thanks to the feats of Oplax (also recorded as Oblacus Vulsinus), a Frentanian cavalry commander during the Pyrrhic War at the Battle of Heraclea (280 BC). After spotting King Pyrrhus, who was directing the Epirote line, Oplax never took his eyes off him, and pursued the Epirote monarch across the battlefield until he found an opportunity to attack him. Then, leading his men in a ferocious charge, he pierced through Pyrrhus' bodyguard and drove his spear through the breast of the Epirote king’s horse, bringing down Pyrrhus just as the Macedonian officer Leonnatus speared and downed Oplax's own mount. Pyrrhus was then mounted upon another horse with the help of his bodyguards, who quickly removed him from danger. As for the Frentanian commander, he was surrounded by Pyrrhus' companions, and "after fighting for a long time and then being worn down by the multitude of his wounds, was carried off by some of his companions after a great struggle took place over his body" (Plut. Pyrrh. 16.8–10; Dionysius of Halicarnassus, Roman Antiquities 19.12).n

Despite their long military service as allies of Rome, like other Italic allies, the Frentani faced military abuses, unequal distribution of plunder, and political exclusion compared to Roman citizen soldiers (Kent (2017), pp. 264–266). A gradual escalation in tension eventually led to the Frentani revolting alongside the Marsi, Paeligni, Marrucini, Vestini, Samnites, and Lucanians during the Social War in 91 BC (Liv. Per. 72.e; Kent (2017), pp. 265–266). Following the end of the war, the Frentani became increasingly Romanized and their nomenclature was adapted to the Roman system through the introduction of Latin gentilicia and traditional Roman praenomina (Maras, 'Epigraphy and Nomenclature', in: Farney and Bradley (eds.) (2017), p. 83).