The rise of Rome : from the Iron Age to the Punic Wars / Kathryn Lomas.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Lomas, Kathryn, 1960- author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Italic peoples--History.

Italic peoples.

Italic peoples--Cultural assimilation.

History.

Rome--History--To 510 B.C.

Rome.

Rome (Empire).

Rome--History--Republic, 510-30 B.C.

Genre:

History.

Physical Description:

xxii, 405 pages ; 25 cm

Edition:

First Harvard University Press edition.

Place of Publication:

Cambridge, Massachusetts : The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 2018.

Summary:

By the third century BC, the once-modest settlement of Rome had conquered most of Italy and was poised to build an empire throughout the Mediterranean basin. What transformed a humble city into the preeminent power of the region? In The Rise of Rome, the historian and archaeologist Kathryn Lomas reconstructs the diplomatic ploys, political stratagems, and cultural exchanges whereby Rome established itself as a dominant player in a region already brimming with competitors. The Latin world, she argues, was not so much subjugated by Rome as unified by it. This new type of society that emerged from Rome's conquest and unification of Italy would serve as a political model for centuries to come. Archaic Italy was home to a vast range of ethnic communities, each with its own language and customs. Some such as the Etruscans, and later the Samnites, were major rivals of Rome. From the late Iron Age onward, these groups interacted in increasingly dynamic ways within Italy and beyond, expanding trade and influencing religion, dress, architecture, weaponry, and government throughout the region. Rome manipulated preexisting social and political structures in the conquered territories with great care, extending strategic invitations to citizenship and thereby allowing a degree of local independence while also fostering a sense of imperial belonging. In the story of Rome's rise, Lomas identifies nascent political structures that unified the empire's diverse populations, and finds the beginnings of Italian peoplehood.-- Provided by publisher.

Contents:

Part I. Early Italy and the foundation of Rome: Introducing early Rome

Setting the scene: Iron-Age Italy

Trojans, Latins, Sabines and rogues: Romulus, Aeneas and the 'Foundation' of Rome

The rise of the international aristocracy: Italy and the orientalising revolution

Orientalising Rome and the early kings

Part II. War, politics and society: Rome and Italy, 600-400: The urban revolution: city and state in sixth-century Italy

Tyrants and wicked women: Rome, the Tarquin Dynasty and the fall of the monarchy

The 'fifth-century crisis' and the changing face of Italy

A difficult transition: the early Roman republic

Rome on the march: war in Latium and beyond, 500-350

Part III. The Roman conquest of Italy: The road to power: Italy and Rome, 390-342

'Whether Samnite or Roman shall rule Italy': the Samnite wars and the conquest of Italy

Co-operation or conquest?: alliances, citizenship and colonisation

Part IV. From city-state to Italian dominance

The impact of conquest: Rome, 340-264

Epilogue: Rome, Italy and the beginnings of empire in 264.

Notes:

"First published in the United Kingdom as The Rise of Rome: from the Iron Age to the Punic Wars (1000 BC-264 BC) in 2017 by PROFILE BOOKS LTD"--title page verso.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Other Edition:

Preceded by: 9781846684111 Lomas, Kathryn, 1960- London : Profile Books Ltd, 2017

ISBN:

9780674659650

0674659651

OCLC:

1015274849