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The siege of Bovianum of 314-313 BC was a short-lived Roman attempt to take advantage of their victory at Tarracina in 314. After winning that battle the consuls M. Poetilius and Caius Sulpicius Longus advanced to Bovianum, and besieged the city.
The Samnites were able to hold out until the end of the consul's term of office. In the following year they were replaced by L. Papirius Cursor and C. Junius Bubulcus, but according to Livy command of the army probably went to the dictator C. Poetilius.
The new commander continued the siege for part of the next year, but the Samnites then captured Fregellae. This was a more important position than Maleventum, and so the Romans abandoned the siege and moved off to retake Fregellae.
Roman Conquests: Italy, Ross Cowan. A look at the Roman conquest of the Italian Peninsula, the series of wars that saw Rome transformed from a small city state in central Italy into a power that was on the verge of conquering the ancient Mediterranean world. A lack of contemporary sources makes this a difficult period to write about, but Cowan has produced a convincing narrative without ignoring some of the complexity.
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