The Romans in Val d’Agri: the city of Grumentum
At the beginning of the 3rd century B.C., the Val d'Agri was densely settled by heterogeneous ethnic groups: we know that the indigenous Oenotrian presence, which by then shared a common cultural koinè with the Italiots of the coast, was soon joined from the end of the 5th-4th centuries B.C. by Lucanian populations who had also managed to take over declining Magna Graecia cities such as Poseidonia. With the arrival of the Romans, the peopling of the area underwent major transformations. With the support of the local oligarchies, with whom the Romans used to form alliances, the city of Grumentum was founded ex novo on a raised river terrace, well defended by escarpments on all four sides, overlooking the Agri river, near an easily fordable bend.
