During the period from Rome's Stone Age beginnings on the Tiber River to its conquest of the Italian peninsula in 264 B.C., the Romans in large measure developed the social, political, and military structure that would be the foundation of their spectacular imperial success. This account draws from historical, archaeological, linguistic, epigraphic, religious, and legal evidence to trace Rome's early development within a multicultural environment of Latins, Sabines, Etruscans, Greeks, and Phoenicians. The book charts the development of the classical republican institutions that would eventuall ... More

During the period from Rome's Stone Age beginnings on the Tiber River to its conquest of the Italian peninsula in 264 B.C., the Romans in large measure developed the social, political, and military structure that would be the foundation of their spectacular imperial success. This account draws from historical, archaeological, linguistic, epigraphic, religious, and legal evidence to trace Rome's early development within a multicultural environment of Latins, Sabines, Etruscans, Greeks, and Phoenicians. The book charts the development of the classical republican institutions that would eventually enable Rome to create its vast empire, and provides discussions of topics including Roman prehistory, religion, and language. The book offers a revisionist interpretation of Rome's early history through its innovative use of ancient sources. The history of this period is notoriously difficult to uncover because there are no extant written records, and because the later historiography that affords the only narrative accounts of Rome's early days is shaped by the issues, conflicts, and ways of thinking of its own time. This book provides an examination of those surviving ancient sources in light of their underlying biases, thereby reconstructing early Roman history upon a more solid evidentiary foundation.