tribal confederation · Italy

Paeligni

600 BCE – 304 BCE (approx.) · capital Corfinium

Sabellic people of the Abruzzo mountains whose town Corfinium became the rebel capital of the Social War and whose Sulmo was Ovid's birthplace.

Origins

The Paeligni lived in the upland basin of the Aterno and Gizio rivers in central Abruzzo, surrounded by the Marsi, Vestini and Samnites, from the early 1st millennium BCE. Ancient writers counted them among the Sabellian peoples descended from the Sabines, and they spoke a dialect close to Oscan.

Rule and society

Their main towns were Corfinium, Sulmo and Superaequum, small hill communities that formed a league. Inscriptions in the Paelignian dialect, many in Latin letters, record local gods and priestesses. They kept sheep and controlled routes through the Apennines between Rome and the Adriatic.

Decline and legacy

The Paeligni made peace and an alliance with Rome in 304 BCE, together with the Marsi and Marrucini. In 91 BCE they joined the Italian revolt, and Corfinium was renamed Italia as the capital of the rebel confederation. After the Social War they received citizenship; the poet Ovid was born at Sulmo in 43 BCE.

Few sources survive for this state; details are uncertain.

Connections (1)

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Cite this page
APA
The Epoch Institute. (2026). Paeligni. In The Epoch Institute States Register. https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/paeligni
MLA
“Paeligni.” The Epoch Institute States Register, The Epoch Institute, 2026, https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/paeligni. Accessed .
Chicago
The Epoch Institute. “Paeligni.” The Epoch Institute States Register. 2026. https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/paeligni.
Harvard
The Epoch Institute (2026) ‘Paeligni’, The Epoch Institute States Register. Available at: https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/paeligni (Accessed: ).

Last reviewed October 2026Random state ↻