Aequians

The Aequians

James Sterrett

February 8^th, 2026

            The ancient Aequians were hill-peoples that were moderately dangerous enemies of Rome. They were cunning, good soldiers, lived in the hills and finally were able to take Latium at one point. The ancient Aequians were some of Rome’s stronger and more organized enemies in the 5^th century BCE.

The Aequian’s were hill people’s outside of 5^th century Rome’s borders. The Aequians were hill people that frequently went to war against the Romans after the Tarquin’s were expelled from Rome.[1] This occurred in the late 5th century or around the year 495 BCE. [2] The Aequi harassed the Roman frontier’s and also “threated to overrun the coastal plain of Latium.”[3] The Aequi successfully beat the Etruscan’s after several battles as they did lots of damage to the Etruscan’s and were able to force the Etruscan’s to retreat. [4] The Aequin’s, and their other liked minded people: the Sabines and Volscian’s, all attacked Rome around 494 BCE at the same time. This caused Rome to need to lead designated campaigns against the hill-people. The Roman’s needed to assign a “dictator.” The Aequians invaded Latium territory in 494 BCE. [5] The Aequian’s invading Latium territory was very important because it better allowed for the creation of the Roman Empire.

The Aequians were a moderate sized player in the 5^th century. Between 488BCE-486BCE the Aequians and the Volscian’s became allied with each other. Afterward they joint-attacked the Roman’s. [6] This is approximately the same time the Greek’s defeated the Persian’s at Salmis which happened in 480BCE.[7] The Aequian’s were hill-people in the 5^th century BCE that sometimes fought the Etruscan’s and sometimes fought the Romans.

The Aequian’s were key players in Italy in the 5^th century. They were major players on the Italian Peninsula.  The ancient city of Rome was founded in the 12^th or 13^th century BCE while Carthage was founded in the 8^th or 9^th century. Ancient Rome was not predicted to be a major player in the region; they prevailed anyway.

 Aequians were hill-people in Italy who were enemies of the Roman’s and Etruscan’s in the 5^th century BCE. At one point they controlled parts of Latium and forced the Romans to appoint a dictator. Another thing: the Aequian’s were moderate players throughout Italy. The Aequian’s had two or three brother and sister allies/groups in the Italian regio that also fought Rome. The Aequian’s were very similar to these other tribes.

Bibliography

Livy. The Early History of Rome. Translated by Aubrey de Sélincourt. Revised by R. M. Ogilvie. London: Penguin Classics, 2002.

Scarre, Chris. The Penguin Historical Atlas of Ancient Rome. London; New York: Penguin Books, 1995. ISBN 9780140513295.

Beard, Mary. SPQR: A History of Ancient Rome. New York: Liveright Publishing Corporation, 2015.

[1] Livy, The Early History of Rome, trans. Aubrey de Sélincourt, rev. R. M. Ogilvie (London: Penguin Classics, 2002) pg.

20.

[2] Ibid pg. 20

[3] Ibid pg. 21.

[4] Ibid pg. 21.

[5] Ibid pg. 143

[6] Ibid pg. 157

[7] Chris Scarre, The Penguin Historical Atlas of Ancient Rome (London; New York: Penguin Books, 1995),