Roman Expansion in Italy

[Crass Crassus]

Hi TWC. I'm back here after at least 10 years away!

I'm currently going through a Roman/ historical resurgence. TW games, historical fiction etc are a source of great joy and I've let it slide as I grew older. I've returned to put that right and brush up on my historical knowledge starting with Rome for now.

A good a place as any is the turbulent period of Roman expansion in the Italian peninsula. Aside from knowing that peoples such as Etruscans, Sabines and Samnites were worthy foes for the Romans, that's really as far as I get.

My question to the forum is where can I go to improve this? I like the websites that I can find which list the events such as Wikipedia but I want to go a bit deeper and get stuck in to some proper literature. Can anyone recommend some books about this time period?

My overall goal is to polish my writing too and put my knowledge to this test by writing an essay/ fact file or similar... just for fun! SO any help with that too would be fantastic. You know, I may even go a bit further and write it like a mini historical fiction if I get the time and knowledge.

[Flinn]

As far as my knowledge goes (and I'm not an Historian, mind you) the Republican period of the conquest of Italy is the most dense of facts (together with the Punic wars and the First Triumvirate), atl for what regards roman Historians, as they had first hand contact on the matters (contrary to what happened during the Imperial age, when most of the facts happened far from Rome.. not a case Cesare put that many effort into writing his own memories). There are literally hundreds of different characters involved, only on the Roman side. IMO a proper study of the matter would require you to come here in Italy and interact with different experts, just to get deeper into it.
But if what you plan is gather enough info to write some historical fiction, you should not really go that deep IMO.. Wikipedia would be enough

[Crass Crassus]

Hi Flinn thanks for taking the time to reply. Yeah, my knowledge doesn't need to be so deep I'd just like to have a confidence in a broad overview of the era. I'm looking for things like involved tribes, major towns and cities, important people and major battles.

If I were to delve into any literature, would something like Mary Beard's SPQR or something by Goldsworthy suffice? If they cover this early period in any detail?

[Flinn]

I don't know either of them

[conon394]

I would recommend the Beginnings of Rome by TJ Cornell from the Routledge History of the Ancient World series.

https://www.amazon.com/Beginnings-Ro.../dp/0415015960

Its a affordable and likely easily available via library. Its a solid work and is particularly good at synthesizing in archeology largely published in Italian into a an English language work.

I not read Beard's book but my impression is it is more a of general population aimed. That said she is a excellent writer and if you afford it all accounts say a good read and certainly a good primer. But I guess she not be addressing to many controversies and opting for either her preferred view or the typical CW without much examination.

Also register for a Free MY JSTOR free personal account

https://support.jstor.org/hc/en-us/a...ess-to-Content

And hit https://www.academia.edu/

Search at both 'Republican Rome' or Battle or Historical figure or people or auch and you can find all kinds of work on the subject. Academia.edu is particularity useful since authors under EU copyright law or the right to put pre production works on line often have whole book chapters available

Also it terms of free

Dr. Bret C. Devereaux webs site is a font of Roman history with deep dives in the Roman state, legions, Roman wars etc all well annotated and with references and further reading suggestions. As well as broader classical history and links to other historians sites...

https://acoup.blog/

[Crass Crassus]

I don't know either of them

I would recommend the Beginnings of Rome by TJ Cornell from the Routledge History of the Ancient World series.

https://www.amazon.com/Beginnings-Ro.../dp/0415015960

Its a affordable and likely easily available via library. Its a solid work and is particularly good at synthesizing in archeology largely published in Italian into a an English language work.

I not read Beard's book but my impression is it is more a of general population aimed. That said she is a excellent writer and if you afford it all accounts say a good read and certainly a good primer. But I guess she not be addressing to many controversies and opting for either her preferred view or the typical CW without much examination.

Also register for a Free MY JSTOR free personal account

https://support.jstor.org/hc/en-us/a...ess-to-Content

And hit https://www.academia.edu/

Search at both 'Republican Rome' or Battle or Historical figure or people or auch and you can find all kinds of work on the subject. Academia.edu is particularity useful since authors under EU copyright law or the right to put pre production works on line often have whole book chapters available

Also it terms of free

Dr. Bret C. Devereaux webs site is a font of Roman history with deep dives in the Roman state, legions, Roman wars etc all well annotated and with references and further reading suggestions. As well as broader classical history and links to other historians sites...

https://acoup.blog/

The beginnings of Rome looks especially amazing, thank you! Some fantastic recommendations for me to get stuck into. Again, thank you!