From zero to hero
Is swept along by an authoritative telling of Rome’s journey from settlement to superpower
The Rise of Rome by Kathryn Lomas Profile, 432 pages, £25
‘Roman history’ takes the story of a small, nondescript Iron Age settlement – datable archaeologically to at least as far back as 1000 BC – that would become known as Rome and, a millennium later, rule most of the known western world. Too often that story excludes Italy. The purpose of Kathryn Lomas’s new study is to fill that gap and locate Rome in its wider Italian context, from its earliest emergence to its conquest of the whole Italian peninsular by 270 BC. She takes the story chapter by chapter, comparing and contrasting developments in Italy with those in Rome.
As Lomas’s extensive notes make clear, she is especially successful at bringing a wide range of new archaeological analyses to bear upon the problem of the absence of written sources about Rome’s rise.
The growth of urbanisation is the main theme. From c800– 600 BC, the Etruscans to the north of Rome were the main cultural and economic force, while Greek colonists flourished in the southern half of Italy. During this period, proto-urban settlements across Italy became city-states, with aristocracies turning into more open societies, though noble families still held sway.
At this early stage, Rome, in the area known as Latium (home of the Latin-speaking Romans), lagged behind. But during the seventh to sixth centuries BC, it began to take the same path as its neighbours. There is evidence of a Greek presence in Rome at this time, and a degree of control over local areas that made it one of the largest settlements in the region. It too took on the characteristics of a city-state – literacy and coinage playing their part – and the development of major public areas, such as the forum, suggests the growth of a sense of community. Settlements on the famous seven hills of Rome showed signs of becoming part of that community, and leagues of Latin city-states – with their shared culture, language and religious rituals – began to emerge.
A key moment in Rome’s history came with the end of Etruscan influence on the city, when the Etruscan kings, who had ruled Rome, were replaced by a republican system. After a degree of internal turmoil, this laid the foundation for Rome’s eventual political stability. After Rome conquered the Etruscans at Lake Regillus in 496 BC, it now began to expand rapidly and aggressively outside Latium. Celtic invasions, and the emergence of the powerful Samnites (tribes who lived in mountainous central Italy) and other ethnic groupings, added to a period of dramatic transition across Italy.
In the fourth century BC, Rome attracted the attention of Carthage, which sealed three treaties with it. It was now an international force to be
Settlements became city-states, with aristocracies turning into more open societies
reckoned with. By 270 BC, it had mastered all Italy.
During this period, Rome’s true genius became apparent, in its capacity to turn enemies into friends through alliances. As Lomas highlights, the result was that Rome never ruled Italy directly as an empire, but controlled it via a network of arm’s-length treaties, simultaneously colonising and offering citizenship, autonomy and settlement. As a result, Rome had an abundant supply of manpower to fight its wars, and the political organisation to hold everything together. Its growing population and increasing wealth from conquest only added to its taste for expansion.
That said, Italy was still a coat of many
Rome never ruled Italy directly as an empire, but controlled it via a network of arm’slength treaties
colours. It was not until after the Carthaginian general Hannibal had been defeated (202 BC) that linguistic and cultural Romanisation spread across Italy, helped in no small measure by the integrated Romano-Italian armies.
Lomas’s fully referenced and detailed, authoritative book admirably fulfils its remit to understand Rome in its wider Italian setting. This clear and judicious account does, however, leave one problem unresolved. Inflicting a heavy defeat on Rome never achieved surrender, just the certainty of a response in kind. Why was this? It is not as if the Etruscans or Samnites were pushovers. Was it Roman weaponry? Training? Tactics? Numbers? Leadership? Or sheer determination? Presumably we shall find out in the next volume in the series, which will hopefully also include an examination of Rome’s wars against Carthage.
Peter Jones is a classicist and the author of Veni, Vidi, Vici: Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About the Romans but Were Afraid to Ask (Atlantic, 2013)