Notes on Rome

Groups that settled in Rome

Latins- (they were first)

• descendants of Indo-Europeans
• settled on the banks of the Tiber
• situated so trading ships - but not war fleets - could navigate as far as Rome, but no further
• a commercial port, but not susceptible to attack
• built on seven hills (esp. Palatine)

they drained a swamp:

• many streams flowed into the Tiber
• there was a marshy area called the Forum, between Palatine and Capitoline Hills
• Tarquin the Proud’s grandfather built the Cloaca Maxima (largest ancient drain), which channeled water into the Tiber
• urban legend says Washington DC was built on a swamp - but only about 2% was actually swampland - however, Constitution Avenue is located on what used to be called Tiber Creek

Etruscans 

•  they came from the north-central part of the peninsula
• they were metalworkers, artists, architect

two foundation myths: 

• Virgil’s Aeneid (where Aeneas escapes from Troy)
• the story of Remus and Romulus

Greeks

• had many colonies around the Mediterranean Sea
• Romans borrowed ideas from them, such as:
• religious beliefs
• alphabet
• much of their art -Remus wanted Aventine
• military techniques and weaponry -Romulus chose Palatine

Lucius Tarquinias Superbus

• the seventh and final king of Rome
• known as Tarquin the Proud (sometimes referred to as Tarquin the Arrogant)
• a true tyrant, in the old and modern sense of the word