The
Hirpini (
Latin: ;
Greek: ;) were an ancient
Samnite people of Southern
Italy. While general regarded as having been Samnites, sometimes they are treated as a distinct and independent nation. They inhabited the southern portion of
Samnium, in the more extensive sense of that name, roughly the area now known as
Irpinia from their name—a mountainous region bordering on
Basilicata towards the south, on
Apulia to the east, and on
Campania towards the west. No marked natural boundary separated them from these neighboring nations, but they occupied the lofty masses and groups of the central
Apennines, while the plains on each side, and the lower ranges that bounded them, belonged to their more fortunate neighbors. The mountain basin formed by the three tributaries of the Vulturnus (modern
Volturno)—the Tamarus (modern Tamaro), Calor (mod.
Calore), and Sabatus (mod.
Sabato), which, with their valleys, unite near
Beneventum, surrounded on all sides by lofty and rugged ranges of mountains—is the center and heart of their territory. Its more southern portion comprised the upper valley of the Aufidus (modern
Ofanto) and the lofty group of mountains where that river takes its rise.