v38_0003 - APULIA - ARPE Unité de bronze

APULIA - ARPI

(4th - 3rd century BC)

Arpi, ancient city of Apulia, located northeast of Foggia, was south of Aquilo about twenty kilometers from Sipontum. Tradition attributed the foundation of Arpi to Diomedes (Pliny HN, III, 104) (Strabo, VI, 3.9). Arpi was first Rome's ally in the wars against the Samnites. In 216, after the disaster of Cannae where Rome was crushed, Dazos, the ruler of Arpi abandoned the Roman alliance to rally Hannibal and the Carthaginians (Appian, Hannibal VII, 31). Quintus Fabius Maximus retook the city in 213 BC, Dazos driven out and the city treated harshly. Following this event, Arpi collapsed.