User:Heathcliff/Rome

=Early History=

Rome grew from pastoral settlements on the Palatine Hill and surrounding hills approximately eighteen miles from the Tyrrhenian Sea on the south side of the Tiber. Another of these hills, the Quirinal Hill, was probably an outpost for another Italic speaking people the Sabines. At this location the Tiber forms an S shaped curve which contains an island where the river can be forded. Because of the river and the ford, Rome was at a cross roads of traffic following the river valley and of traders traveling north and south on the west side of the peninsula.

The settlements at Palatine and Quirinal were two of numerous Italic speaking communities which existed in Latium, a plain on the Italian peninsula, by the 1st millenium BC. Pieces of pottery have been discovered that indicate the area of Rome may have been inhabited as early as 1400 BC. The origins of the Italic peoples is not known, but they may have descended from Indo-Europeans who migrated from north of the Alps in the second half of the 2nd millenium BC or from a blending of these peoples with Mediterranean people, perhaps from North Africa. In the 8th century BC these Italic speaker — Latins (in the west), Sabines (in the upper valley of the Tiber), Umbrians (in the north-east), Samnites (in the South), Oscans and others — shared the penisula with two other major ethnic groups: the Etruscans and the Greeks.

The Etruscans (Etrusci or Tusci in Latin) were settled north of Rome in Etruria (modern Tuscany). There territory stretched north of the Tiber to the Arno and beyond the Arno as far north as the fertile Po river valley where there also lived a Celtic group of peoples knowns as Gauls. The Greeks new them as the Tyrrhenoi (from which we get the name Tyrrhenian Sea); they called themselves Rasenna (or Rasna). It is not known if they originated in Italy or if they migrated from the east. Some ancient sources including Dionysius believed that the Etruscans were indeginous to Italy while the Greek historian Herodotus said they came from Asia Minor. Support for Herodotus may come from the fact that they knew how to use the arch in building practices, their use of Near Eastern religious rites and practices such as divination (they passed onto the Romans the custom of examing the flights of birds or animal inards to foretell the future), and the fact that they spoke a non-Indo-European language; however, many now believe that the Etruscans evolved from an Italian non-Indo-European speaking people called the Villanovans who lived in northern Italy circa 1100 to 700 BC.

Greek settlers colonized about 50 poleis in Southern Italy such as Cumae (the oldest Greek colony in Italy), Naples (Neapolis), and Trentum and the eastern two-thirds of Sicily in large numbers between 750 and 550 BC. (The western third of Sicily was settle by Carthaginians.) The Romans called this area Magna Graecia (Great Greece) which led to the people who call themselvse Hellenes being known as Greeks in modern English.

After 650 BC, the Etruscans became dominant in Italy and expanded into north-central Italy. They came to control Rome and perhaps all of Latium. Roman tradition claimed that Rome had been under the control of seven kings from 753 to 509 BC begining with the mythic Romulus who along with his brother Remus were said to have founded the city of Rome. Two of the last three kings were said to be Etruscan. While the king list is of dubious historical value, it is known that Rome was under the influence of the Etruscans for about a century during this period. During this period a bridge called the Pons Sublicius was built to replace the Tiber ford.

Expanding further south, the Etruscans came into direct contact the Greeks. After intial success in conflicts with the Greek colonists, Etruria went into a decline. Around 500 BC Rome gained independence from the Etruscans.

However, the Etruscans left a lasting influence on Rome. The Romans learned to build temples from them, and they introduced the worship of a triad of gods — Juno, Minerva, and Jupiter — from the Etruscan gods: Uni, Menrva, and Tinia. They transformed Rome from a pastoral communinity into a city. They also passed on elements of Greek culture they had adopted such as the Westerm version of the Greek alphabet.

After 500 BC, Rome joined with the Latin cities in defense against incursions by the Sabines. By 400 BC Etruscan power was limited to Etruria itself. Rome began to emerge as the dominate city in Latium, but in 387 BC was sacked by invaders from Gaul who had successfuly invaded Etruria. After that Rome went on the offensive conquering the Etruscans and ceizing terroritory from the Gauls in the north and pushing south against other Latins and the Samites in the South. By 290 BC over half of the Italian penisula was controlled by Rome. In the 3rd century BC the Greek poleis in the south were brought under Roman control as well.