Latium Case Study

Contrary to what many cities founding myths may state, few great cultures arise uncontested to a position of instant regional dominance, and in this regard Rome is no different. The transition from being a fairly insignificant settlement to being an empire begins with a struggle to assert authority on your neighbours, and this struggle gives us insight into why Rome treated it’s neighbours in the way it did. To answer the question, then, I want to begin with a look at the geography surrounding Rome, and then look at the city’s position in Latium history. I will then look at how the Latium villages were handled when conquered and this should give me sufficient evidence to provide a conclusion summarising the necessity for good treatment of the other Latium states.

Geography.

(Ancient World Mapping Center, 2011)

The above map gives us a view of a small part of the Italian peninsula, with Rome’s position indicated nestled next to the Tiber within Latium. Around Rome you can see a number of different regional powers, with Umbria and the Sabines to the north, the Samnites to the east and the Volsci and Campanian Greeks to the south-east (the town name of Neapolis is a clear indication of Grecian cultural origin). Occupying the land north-east of Rome, with the Tiber being the border, were the

The city state at this time would have had little to distinguish it from the other Latin towns, and the Encyclopaedia Britannica describes it as a “typical Latin community”(Scullard, 2015). The transition into a powerful city state comes with Rome’s last three kings during the 6th century BCE, and seemingly with Etruscan influence (Scullard, 2015), although the monarchy was not to last and at the end of the 6th century the final king of Rome was overthrown and the republic was formed in it’s