[5] Therefore, the morphological configuration, the abundance of water, the decidedly mild climate, the presence of a widespread forest vegetation on the hills, and the wide network of sheep-tracks, running parallel to the coast, favored the life and economy of the local populations in pre-Roman times, encouraging forms of settlement and organization of the territory.

Barker's analysis of the results of the survey offers a picture of an intense peopling of the Frentanian territory gravitating on the lower Biferno valley, where 60 percent of the identified inhabited settlements turn out to be located.

Inspection of the site, explored in 1978, led to the discovery of several species of mollusks and snails; 146 charred seeds were recovered, mainly cereals (barley and wheat) and legumes, and numerous samples of animal bones (cattle, sheep and pigs), mostly slaughtered.

[13] The site has also yielded traces of human habitation, consisting of a series of circular holes, probably dug to recover flint, filled with ceramic fragments, and structural remains of Neolithic huts (pressed clay with branch imprints).

It has thus been possible to identify a number of Neolithic Age agricultural villages distributed throughout the territory, thanks to the numerous finds of ceramic fragments and remains of lithic industry, settlements mostly located on hilly heights and near water sources.

[15] From the very beginning, in 1977, the first archaeological investigation tests, initially carried out by the Soprintendenza Beni Archeologici del Molise along the southern slopes of Monte Arcano (about 2 km northwest of Piana San Leonardo), on the hills facing north, ascertained the presence of an archaic necropolis, dating back to the 6th century BCE.

[16] Subsequent archaeological investigations, extended to other municipalities close to the Molise coastal area, found similar presence of burial nuclei, of considerable size, dating back to the pre-Roman historical phase, in the centers of Termoli, Guglionesi, Montorio nei Frentani and Campomarino.

[17] In addition to partial ruins of living structures, the site has yielded conspicuous traces of human activities: numerous artifacts of ceramic material, vessels and containers for cooking and storing foodstuffs, utensils and objects of domestic use, hearths and stoves.

The grave goods, laid at the feet of the buried person in a specially made space, usually consisted of small ceramic objects (cups, amphorae, bowls and mugs); metal vessels were rare.

Larinum urbs princeps Frentanorum reads an ancient tombstone, underscoring the important role played in the past by this flourishing city of lower Molise, which was one of the main centers of the Frentanian territory.

According to historian Giovanni Andrea Tria, as the centuries passed, the name underwent numerous changes and was deformed into Alarino, Larina, Laurino, Arino, Lauriano, until it reached the definitive toponym of Larinum in Roman times.

Later, as Strabo (V, 4, 12) narrates, another Indo-European population, the Samnites, akin in language and religion to the Oscans, would immigrate to the central southern area of the peninsula, to the point that the two groups would eventually coincide and overlap, albeit with varied tribal differentiation.

Oscan-speaking (Samnium, Campania, Lucania, and Bruzio), Umbrian-speaking (in the territories of Gubbio, Assisi, and Todi), and Sabellian-speaking (including Vestini, Marrucini, Peligni, Equi, Marsi, Volsci, and Sabini), closely related populations were distinguished.

[34] In fact, although they were the only one settled on the Adriatic coast, the tribe of the Frentani, in Strabo's scholarly interpretation (V, 4, 29), is also linked to the inland mountainous areas, according to a reconstruction made a posteriori on the basis of meager factual data.

[36] It was precisely this phase of change in territorial arrangements and administrative organization that initiated a process of transformation of the Frentanian economy in the direction of greater dynamism in the local economic system and thus an increasing use of currency.

It was not until the years of the Second Punic War that the mint of Larino began to produce abundant and articulate series of coins, following the decimal fractionation system of the Roman as, typical of cities located on the Adriatic belt.

[39] The Frentani, for their own bronze coinage chose, as a legend, the ethnic Frentrei in the Oscan language and spelling, right-handed, to emphasize their own sphere of autonomy, and used types of Greek setting, such as the head of the god Mercury, on the obverse, and a winged Pegasus, on the reverse.

Thus emerges a portrait of a population markedly different from the one described by ancient historians, who were concerned rather with conveying to posterity a narrative according to a version decidedly favorable to Rome, magnifying the exploits of their nation, depicted as a heroic saga.

[48] In direct contact with the inhabited agglomerations, they knew how to create sacred areas of particular monumentality, located in suggestive places and in the wide valleys, built with great technical skill and rich in decorative apparatuses.

[50] Moreover, even on the Tyrrhenian side of central-southern Italy the process of urbanization takes place early, compared to the inland areas, and is closely related to advanced economic and social development, brought about by contact with the innovative trends of the Greek world.

The territory east of the Biferno River, assigned to Regio II, was in fact assimilated into Daunia: it included Cliternia, Teanum Apulum and Larinum, going as far as Fortore, the flumen portuosum Fertor mentioned by Pliny (N. Hist.

Behind, with access to the east, the brick wall sections of another building with a pronaos are preserved, perhaps originally covered on the inside with marble and mosaic flooring, of which a sacred destination is hypothesized, perhaps the temple of Mars to which Cicero alludes when he reports on the presence in Larino of the Martiales, public slaves, consecrated to the worship of the god according to ancient religious traditions.

By the time the events described by Cicero took place, Larino had become an industrious, wealthy and lively city: it had gone through various urban arrangements, festivals and public games were organized there, markets were held, and intense trade was interwoven, thanks to the rapid and easy road connections.

[5] The oration offers Cicero cues to describe, even if only incidentally, the customs and standard of living of the aristocratic families of Larino, many of them in close friendship and business relations with senators and prominent figures in the capital, where they certainly went with considerable frequency.

In addition to the pavement of the atrium, the special feature is also the presence of a large impluvium whose polychrome mosaic floor depicts an octopus in the center and four groupers at the corners, with a wide marginal band with vines and bunches of grapes.

Then, after about a century, its existence was abruptly interrupted due to supervening public needs: the area was destined to house monumental buildings, which bordered the eastern side of the Forum, positioned on a large structure with a quadrangular plan, made of opus reticulatum and bricks.

It is hypothesized that this building, situated in a prominent position on one side of the Forum, had a sacred purpose, and was the probable temple of Mars, alluded to by Cicero, when he speaks of the presence in Larino of the Martiales assigned to the worship of the god.

[64] The first two mosaics, known by the names of the Lion and the Birds, came to light in 1937 in a third-century AD domus on Julius Caesar Avenue (near the present Reclamation Consortium), located not far from the amphitheater, of which part of the walls with a limestone-block lattice facing remains.

The central field is surrounded by a complex ornate frame, with large acanthus heads at the four corners and spirals with six hunters, armed with arrows and javelins, and wild animals in profile (felines, antelopes, deer).

It constitutes the floor of an impluvium for collecting rainwater and depicts a large octopus in the center, with eight tentacles, and four groupers at the corners, rendered with great naturalism, in a frame of vine shoots with bunches of grapes, represented schematically.