tribal confederation · Italy

Picentes

800 BCE – 268 BCE (approx.) · capital Asculum

Italic people of the central Adriatic coast, said to have followed a woodpecker to their new land, whose warrior culture lasted until Rome conquered them in 268 BCE.

Origins

The Picentes lived in Picenum, the coastal strip and hills of the modern Marche and northern Abruzzo, from the early 1st millennium BCE. Roman tradition said they descended from Sabines who left home in a 'sacred spring' migration, guided by a woodpecker (picus), the bird of Mars. Archaeologists call their culture the Picene culture.

Rule and society

Picene society was dominated by warrior elites buried with helmets, weapons, chariots and amber from the Baltic. Their South Picene inscriptions, in a Sabellic language written in a distinctive alphabet, appear on stone stelae, and the Novilara stele in the north bears a still undeciphered text. Asculum was their main centre, and they traded across the Adriatic and with Etruria.

Decline and legacy

The Picentes allied with Rome in 299 BCE but revolted in 269 BCE and were conquered in 268 BCE; part of the population was moved to the Gulf of Salerno. Asculum became an allied city, and its massacre of Romans in 91 BCE began the Social War. Picenum became part of Augustus's Regio V.

Connections (2)

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

Last reviewed October 2026Random state ↻