CAMPANIA, an ancient province of Italy, separated from Latium on the N. by the Massican Hills, and from Samnium on the E. by the Apennines, and bounded on the W. by the Tyrrhenian Sea, and on the S. by Lucania. It was distinguished by its fertility, beauty, and genial climate, and by the excellence of its harbours. It consists of a plain, broken only by a low volcanic range of hills, of which the chief is Mons Gaurus, and by Mount Vesuvius. The original inhabitants of Campania were Oscans or Ausonians. The first settlers were the Greeks who founded Cumae, and afterwards Dicaearchia, Palaepolis, and Neapolis. It seems pretty certain that the next invaders were the Etruscans, and that they founded Capua and Nola. The Etruscans in turn had to give place to the Samnites. But both these invaders were few in number; and the Campanian people continued to be of essentially Oscan race. The remains of their language are, indeed, our best specimen of Oscan. In the 4th century b.c. war broke out with the Romans, and in 340 b.c., by the battle of Vesuvius, Campania fell into their hands. For subsequent history see Roman History. The Bay of Naples was one of the favourite situations for the villas of the ancient Romans; and, notwithstanding the eruption of Vesuvius in 79 A.D., which buried the cities of Herculaneum and Pompeii, Campania continued to flourish. The chief towns were Capua, Cumae, Neapolis, Nola, Pompeii, Herculaneum, Vulturnum, Puteoli, Liternum, Teanum, Salernum, Suessa, Misenum, Surrentum, Picentia. The province was traversed by several roads—the Via Appia, the Via Latina, part of the high road from Rome to Rhegium, and a road constructed by Domitian along the coast from Sinuessa to Neapolis. Under Augustus, Campania was joined to Latium to form the First Region of ...