City
Esernie
Isernia
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Esernie, today Isernia in Italy, was a chief town of the Samnite Pentri, set on a ridge near the source of the river Volturnus. Rome conquered it in 295 BC and planted a Latin colony there in the 260s BC; stretches of its polygonal walls survive, and the cathedral stands on the base of a temple from the third century BC. In the Social War the town became a stronghold of Rome's rebel allies until Sulla took it, and the Greek geographer Strabo later called it ruined. Even so, the map marks it with a pair of towers, though the drawing seems to be a modern addition.