plant cultivation) and easily navigable rivers such as the Tiber
and the Arno. Th e east side had rivers that were narrow or
dry in summer but swelled to fl oods in winter, carving gullies
through the hillsides. Th e soil there was less fertile, and there
was less of it: the mountains were closer to the sea and the fl at
coastal plain was narrow, in some places only about 20 miles
wide. Th roughout ancient times more people settled in the
west than in the east.
Th e Po Valley in northern Italy was the largest patch of
fl at land on the peninsula. Before the Romans settled on the
Po, the region was mostly marshland. Th ese marshes helped
deter the Carthaginian general Hannibal’s invasion in 218
b.c.e., but they also made it diffi cult for Romans to live there
because the ground was too wet to build roads and farms and
the swamps incubated diseases such as malaria. During the
fi rst centuries b.c.e. and c.e. Romans developed techniques
to drain swamps, using canals and dikes to channel and con-
tain water. Rome’s immediate vicinity was drained by the
censor (a top government offi cial) Marcus Aurelius Scaurus
in 109 b.c.e. Th e emperor Augustus (r. 27 b.c.e.–14 c.e.) con-
tinued draining the area, intending to turn it into farmland.
Aft er the land was drained, the Po Valley became the richest
agricultural area in the empire. Th e surrounding region was
heavily forested with oaks and other hardwoods. Th e acorns
from the oaks furnished ample fodder for a thriving pork in-
dustry. Much of the meat eaten in ancient Rome came from
this area.
Th e length of the peninsula isolated north from south,
resulting in the emergence a variety of cultures and languag-
es throughout Italy before the rise of Rome. Southern Italy,
especially the “heel” region called Apulia, was particularly
isolated from events in Rome. Greeks settled in Apulia before
the Romans conquered it in the third century b.c.e. Even dur-
ing Roman times Apulia was never densely populated.
Italy’s mountains included several active volcanoes, some
of which remain active today. Th e most famous is Vesuvius,
near Naples. Vesuvius erupted in 79 c.e., inundating the cities
of Pompeii and Herculaneum with lava and ash. Mount Etna
in Sicily erupted from time to time, including one eruption in
396 b.c.e. that was said to have prevented the Carthaginians
from attacking the city of Syracuse and another in 251 c.e.
that supposedly coincided with the martyrdom of the Chris-
tian saint Agatha. Ancient authors place Etna in many myths;
the Cyclops (a one-eyed monster who appears in Homer’s Od-
yssey) and the god of the forge, Hephaestus (Vulcan in Ro-
man myth), both supposedly kept blacksmith shops beneath
Etna. Th e Aeolian islands north of Sicily had several very ac-
tive volcanoes, including Stromboli and Vulcano; these also
were said to be the physical locations of mythical events. Th e
presence of volcanoes was a sign of geological instability, and
Italy suff ered numerous earthquakes.
To the north of the Italian peninsula lay the Alps, a ma-
jor but not insurmountable barrier to travel and attack. In
summer travelers regularly crossed the mountains on foot
trails, which were in use throughout the ancient period.
Crossing the Alps in the winter was considered an extreme
measure and required extensive preparation; when Julius
Caesar brought his soldiers across the Alps to suppress the
Gauls in the winter of 52 b.c.e., contemporary observers
considered it evidence of brilliant generalship and courage.
Regardless of season, Romans preferred to avoid the Alps
entirely by traveling along the fl atter coastline of Liguria.
Th e Alps never entirely prevented attacks from the north,
but they hampered and weakened invaders. For example,
when Hannibal crossed the Alps to attack Rome in the au-
tumn of 218 b.c.e., his passage through the mountains im-
pressed the Romans but cost him about half his army and
most of his war elephants.
Th e Italian peninsula had more climatic variation than
the city of Rome. Coastal regions shared Rome’s Mediterra-
nean climate, with hot, dry summers and cool, wet winters.
Southern areas were warmer than northern ones. Th e Adri-
atic coast had colder winters and hotter summers than the
Tyrrhenian coast. Rainfall in most of the Italian peninsula
was low and could be erratic; winter could bring severe rain-
storms, but then no rain would fall at all during the summer,
precipitating droughts. Th e Apennines had mild winters and
hot summers. Th e climate in the Po Valley was semiconti-
nental, with long, cold winters and warm, humid summers.
Th e Alps in northern Italy had mountain weather, with warm
summers and cold, snowy winters.MEDITERRANEAN SEA
Italy’s long coastline and many ports gave Rome access to
the entire Mediterranean world. By the time of the empire,
Rome controlled the whole Mediterranean shoreline. In an-
cient times travel was much faster by sea than by land. It was
easier to ship large items by sea than to haul them overland;
marble, for example, cannot easily be dragged over rough
countryside in a wagon, but it moves quite nicely on a boat.
A Roman army in Greece could sail to Egypt much faster
than it could march.
In the immediate neighborhood, Sicily was so close to
Italy as to be almost attached to it. From Sicily it was a short
sail to Carthage and North Africa. Sardinia and Corsica were
not as close but were still readily accessible. Sailing around
the coastline that is now the French Riviera took travelers to
Spain. To the east Greece was a quick voyage across the Io-
nian Sea. From there Roman travelers could make their way
through the Aegean to ports in western Asia Minor or even
voyage through the Sea of Marmara into the Black Sea. Th ey
could also sail along the southern coastline of Anatolia to
ports in Asia Minor or in the Levant. By continuing to hug
the coastline, sailors could go as far as Egypt.
Th e Mediterranean presented many challenges to sea-
farers. It was large enough that they were oft en out of sight of
land and had to navigate by other means than coastal sight-
ings. Th e winds were fi ckle, and it was almost always nec-
essary to supplement wind power with human rowers. Th e
weather was notoriously changeable, especially in winter;262 climate and geography: Rome