522 John W. Wonder
Rutter (2001: 129) notes that a few terms on the coins using Greek forms are unusual
in that the spelling is not the normal Greek spelling for Lucanians but one that seems to
be a wordplay on “the Greek word for wolf” (lykos). He notes a series of coins with the
figure of a wolf’s head. If Rutter’s hypothesis is correct, perhaps this was an early ethnic
symbol, one that could have been recognized by outsiders. The adoption of a motif based
on a wordplay in Greek, however, also points to certain flexibility in the assertion of the
Lucanians’ ethnic identity.
Livy, writing in the Augustan period, certainly envisioned the Lucanians as a large eth-
nic group. In a section describing events during the Second Punic War (25.16.14), he
mentions a Lucanian who refers to his own people as an ethnic group. A certain Luca-
nian, Flavus, who led the Lucanians fighting for the Romans, decided to change sides
and planned an ambush. He convinced the Roman commander to meet Lucanian lead-
ers in order that “omne nomen Lucanum” (the whole Lucanian people/nation) would
be under Roman protection and a Roman ally. As noted in the preceding text, Polybius
uses the term “Lucanians” while describing people that he distinguished from Samnites,
Iapygians, and Messapians. He wrote a few decades after the end of the war, and his
probable source, Fabius Pictor, lived during the war. Livy’s and Polybius’ narratives are,
of course, views from the outside. Nevertheless, it seems that, by the Second Punic
War, the term had been broadly adopted by some indigenous inhabitants; “omne nomen
Lucanum” may reflect such an identification used by some of the Italic inhabitants of
Lucania. As further confirmation of Lucanian self-awareness, one might cite an inter-
esting second-century inscription found in Rhodes. The inscription is on a statue base
and bears a number of names. One name notes a bronze worker, Botrus Leukanos (the
“Lucanian”) (IGXII.1.106. See Isayev 2007: 25).
Luraghi (2008: 9), in his study of the Messenians, notes “that ethnicity is often an
instrument employed by leaders or elites to mobilize larger groups of people toward
specific goals.” Lucanians fought for both the Romans and Hannibal during the Second
Punic War, and it is likely that Roman and Carthaginian leaders found the concept of
a Lucanian ethnic association useful for raising allies to their cause. This would have
promoted a wider sense of self-identity among the people of ancient Lucania.
If there was a growing sense of a collective among certain groups in Lucania, did
particular institutions exist that brought the inhabitants of Lucania together and
fostered this connectivity? Dench (1995: 136) notes that, in the central Apennines,
rural sanctuaries played an important role in bringing communities together, and Isayev
(2007: 188, 31–41; 2010: 212–22) believes sanctuaries in Lucania played a similar
part. Sanctuaries, such as Rossano di Vaglio, were large open-air complexes that could
accommodate many people. Fracchia and Gualtieri (1989: 221) note that this sanctuary
“served a number of communities in the region” and that the Oscan inscriptions testify
to its “political and administrative functions.” Horsnaes (2002: 101) proposes that
Lucanian sanctuaries also accommodated trade (coins were found at some) and exchange
of news. This would certainly have had the effect of bringing individuals together and
uniting populations.
Isayev suggests (2007: 188) that the characteristic layouts and buildings of Lucanian
sanctuaries “give a coherence to Lucania as a region.” Three types of sanctuaries are found
in Lucania: large rural sanctuary complexes, smaller rural sanctuaries not connected to
an urban center, and religious areas in large urban centers (Fracchia and Gualtieri 1989;