518 John W. Wonder
Complicating this notion of ascribed ethnic identity is the fact that, whatever Greek
and Roman writers said about the Lucanians, there were two other fundamental aspects
of their formation as an ethnic group: the notion of a shared territory and a belief in com-
mon origins. As Malkin (2001: 16) notes, “a place of origin and a migratory destination”
are usually important components of ethnicity. J. M. Hall (1997: 32), in fact, states while
summarizing his basic points on the nature of ethnicity, “The ethnic group is identified
from other social and associative groups by virtue of association with a specific territory
and a shared myth of descent.” Indeed, J. M. Hall (2002: 9–29) states that belief in a
common descent (fictive or not), along with a “sense of shared history” and “an asso-
ciation with a specific territory,” form the major elements for “membership in an ethnic
group.” Not all scholars agree with such a restrictive approach for determining ethnic-
ity. As Antonaccio (2001: 115) remarks, “...Hall goes too far in narrowing ethnicity to
the criteria of descent and homeland....” Nevertheless, shared territory and common
origins were certainly two features Greek and Roman writers cited when describing the
group they called “Lucanians.”
Territory was clearly a diacritical trait (from the Greek and Roman points of view).
Both Strabo and Pseudo-Scylax note the Lucanians as a people inhabiting “Lucania,”
although, by Strabo’s time, Lucania encompassed more territory than Pseudo-Scylax’s
Lucania. In fact, territory was one factor that seems to have separated the Lucanians
from other Oscan speakers such as the Campani or the Samnites. In historical narratives
and poems of the late republic and early empire periods, Lucania could be described as
comprising modern Basilicata, southern Campania, and northern Calabria.
Greek and Roman writers also discussed the origins of the Lucanians and, as such, an
alleged past homeland. These origins, however, have been a matter of debate among
modern scholars. Both Strabo (6.1.2–3) and Pliny (HN3.71) state that the Lucani-
ans derived from Samnites (a people from the Apennine region of central Italy), who
migrated into southern Italy replacing earlier people, such as the Chones and the Oeno-
trians. Strabo notes the Lucanians displaced these groups and then came into conflict
with the Greeks. Many modern scholars (such as De Juliis 1996: 237–9) suggest that
the Lucanians began to dominate central Basilicata in the second half of the fifth century
and note that the conquest of the Greek city of Poseidonia occurred at the end of the
fifth. Some (such as Pallottino 1991: 105) connect these events to the occupation of
Campania by Samnites at the end of the fifth century.
A few modern critics, however, have questioned the premise of Lucanian origins based
on a Samnite migration. Horsnaes (2002: 126–8) proposes it could be a matter of
nomenclature in the ancient sources. Ancient historians before the fourth century uti-
lized many names for indigenous people of southern Italy, such as Oenotrians or Chones.
Later, however, the authors began to call indigenous peoples of this area “Lucanians.”
Isayev (2007: 14) notes that the answer is difficult to come by since the names had
become systematized, reinterpreted, and possibly confused by the time Strabo received
information of indigenous people in southern Italy.
While some modern scholars may question whether the people called Lucanians orig-
inated from a Samnite migration, what is important, from the points of view of ancient
Greeks and Romans, is that Strabo and Pliny believed the migration actually occurred
and formed a distinguishing ethnic feature of the inhabitants of Lucania in their day. As
J. Hall notes (2002: 9–29), alleged origins could be fictive but need only be believed