Western Civilization

wooden bridge over the Tiber River. Horatius was on

guard at the bridge when the Etruscans made a

sudden assault, causing many Roman troops to

throw down their weapons and flee. Horatius urged

them to make a stand at the bridge to protect Rome;

when they hesitated, as a last resort he told them to

destroy the bridge behind him while he held the

Etruscans back. Astonished at the sight of a single

defender, the confused Etruscans threw their spears

at Horatius, who caught them on his shield and

barred the way. By the time the Etruscans had

regrouped and were about to overwhelm the lone

defender, the Roman soldiers brought down the

bridge. When Horatius heard the bridge crash into

the river behind him, he dived fully armed into the

water and swam safely to the other side through a

hail of arrows. Rome had been saved by the

courageous act of a Roman who knew his duty and

was determined to carry it out. Courage, duty,

determination—these qualities would also serve the

many Romans who believed that it was their mission

to rule nations and peoples.

In the first millenniumB.C.E., a group of Latin-

speaking people established a small community on

the plain of Latium on the Italian peninsula. This

community, called Rome, was one of the numerous

settlements founded by Latin-speaking peoples

throughout Latium and the rest of Italy. Roman

history is basically the story of the Romans’ conquest

of the plain of Latium, then Italy, and finally the

entire Mediterranean region. Why were the Romans

able to do this? The Romans made the right

decisions at the right time; in other words, the

Romans had political wisdom.

The Romans were also practical. Unlike the

Greeks, who reserved their citizenship for small,

select groups, the Romans often offered citizenship

to the peoples they conquered, thus laying the

groundwork for a strong, integrated empire. The

Romans also did not hesitate to borrow ideas and

culture from the Greeks. Roman strength lay in

government, law, and engineering. The Romans

knew how to govern people, establish legal

structures, and construct the roads that took them

to the ends of the known world. Throughout their

empire, they carried their law, their political

institutions, their engineering skills, and their Latin

language. And even after the Romans were gone,

those same gifts continued to play an important role

in the continuing saga of Western civilization.

The Emergence of Rome

Q FOCUSQUESTION: What impact did geography have

on the history of Rome, and what influence did the

Greeks and Etruscans have on early Roman history?

Italy is a peninsula extending about 750 miles from

north to south (see Map 5.1). It is not very wide, how-

ever, averaging about 120 miles across. The Apennine

Mountains traverse the peninsula from north to south,

forming a ridge down the middle that divides west

from east. Nevertheless, Italy has some fairly large fer-

tile plains ideal for farming. Most important in Roman

times were the Po River Valley in the north, probably

the most fertile agricultural area; the plain of Latium

(LAY-shee-um), on which Rome was located; and Cam-

pania (kam-PAY-nee-uh or kahm-PAHN-yuh), to the

south of Latium. To the east of the Italian peninsula is

the Adriatic Sea, and to the west, the Tyrrhenian Sea

with the nearby large islands of Corsica and Sardinia.

Sicily lies just west of the toe of the boot-shaped Italian

peninsula.

Geography had an impact on Roman history.

Although the Apennines bisect Italy, they are less

rugged than the mountain ranges of Greece and so did

not divide the peninsula into many small isolated com-

munities. Italy also possessed considerably more pro-

ductive farmland than Greece and thus could support a

large population. Rome’s location was favorable from a

geographic point of view. Located eighteen miles inland

on the Tiber River, Rome had access to the sea and yet

was far enough inland to be safe from pirates. Built on

seven hills, it was easily defended, and because it was

situated where the Tiber could be readily forded, Rome

became a natural crossing point for north-south traffic

in western Italy. All in all, Rome had a good central

location in Italy from which to expand.

Moreover, because the Italian peninsula juts into

the Mediterranean, it was an important crossroads

between the western and eastern parts of that sea.

Once Rome had unified Italy, involvement in affairs

throughout the region was natural. And after the

Romans had conquered their Mediterranean empire,

Italy’s central location made their task of governing

that empire considerably easier.

The Greeks in Italy

We know little about the Indo-European peoples who

moved into Italy during the second half of the second

millenniumB.C.E. By the first millenniumB.C.E., other

The Emergence of Rome 95

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