The Rise of the Roman Republic61Ancient Italy
The long, boot-shaped Italian peninsula bisects the
Mediterranean (see map 4.1). At first glance it seems
especially favored by nature. Its central location lends it
strategic and commercial importance while its climate
is generally milder and wetter than that of Greece.
Agricultural yields are higher, and some of the upland
regions, which in Greece have become a moonscape of
rocks and dry scrub, can support grazing. These advan-
tages, however, are relative. The development of pre-
historic Italy was at first hindered by natural obstacles
of every kind. For most of its length the Italian penin-
sula is dominated by the Appenines, a mountain range
that in its central portions reaches nearly ten thousand
feet in height. On the east, the mountains drop precipi-
tously to the Adriatic Sea. Few good harbors can be
found on the Italian shore of the Adriatic, and arable
land is scarce except in Apulia, the region immediately
southeast of Mt. Garganus, which protrudes like a spur
into the Adriatic.
The western coast, also lacking in good harbors, is
more hospitable. The valleys of the Arno and the Tiber
are suitable for agriculture and open out onto an exten-
sive coastal plain that, though potentially fertile, was in
early times marshy and subject to floods. Further south,
around the Bay of Naples, is the rich plain of Campania
whose soil is the gift of volcanic deposits from Mt.
Vesuvius. Another active volcano, Mt. Etna, dominates
the eastern part of Sicily, the large, wedge-shaped is-AdriaticSeaTyrrhenianSeaIonian
SeaMediterranean
Sea
CorsicaSardiniaSicilyRomeVeiiTarentumMessinaNaplesCumaeBrindisiThuriiCarthage SyracuseAlpsMts.Ap
en
nin
e
Mt
s.ETRURIAGAULILLYRIALATIUMMAGNAGRAECIA
(GREATER
GREECE)CapuaSA
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ITESSA
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MP
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IATiber
R.Rubicon
R.0 100 200 Miles0 100 200 300 KilometersMAP 4.1
Ancient Italy and the City of Rome