The publisher gratefully acknowledges the generous contribution to this book provided by the Classical Literature Endowment Fund of the University of California Press Associates, which is supported by a major gift from Joan Palevsky. A Critical History of Early Rome A Critical History of Early Rome From Prehistory to the First Punic War Gary Forsythe UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA PRESS Berkeley Los Angeles London University of California Press Berkeley and Los Angeles, California University of California Press, Ltd. London, England ©2005 by the Regents of the University of California Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Forsythe, Gary. A critical history of early Rome: from prehistory to the first Punic War / Gary Forsythe p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 0–520–22651–8 (cloth : alk. paper) 1. Rome—History— To 510 B.C. 2. Rome—History— Republic, 510–265 B.C. I. Title. DG209.F735 2005 937—dc22 2004008505 Manufactured in the United States of America 13 12 11 10 09 08 07 06 05 10987654 321 Printed on Ecobook 50 containing a minimum 50% post-consumer waste, processed chlorine free. The balance contains virgin pulp, including 25% Forest Stewardship Council Certified for no old growth tree cutting, processed either TCF or ECF. The sheet is acid-free and meets the minimum requirements of ANSI/NISO Z39.48–1992 (R 1997) (Permanence of Paper). contents list of tables and illustrations / ix acknowledgments / xi dedication / xiii abbreviations / xv foreword / 1 1. Italy in Prehistory / 7 The Land and its Linguistic Diversity / 7 Modern Archaeology and Prehistory / 12 Prehistoric Italy / 14 The Ice Man / 18 The Bronze and Iron Ages / 20 Ancient Languages and Modern Archaeology / 26 2. Archaic Italy c. 800–500 B.C. / 28 Phoenicians in the West / 29 Greek Colonization in the West / 31 The Formation of Etruscan Civilization / 36 Phoenicians, Greeks, and Etruscans / 41 Growth and Decline of Etruscan Civilization / 46 The Alphabet / 51 The Archaeology of Early Latium / 53 3. The Ancient Sources for Early Roman History / 59 The Annalistic Tradition / 60 The Antiquarian Tradition / 64 Livy and Dionysius of Halicarnassus / 66 Cicero and Diodorus Siculus / 68 Ancient Documentary Sources / 69 Roman Oral Tradition and Greek Myth / 74 vi contents 4. Rome During the Regal Period / 78 The Nature of the Evidence / 78 The Site of Rome / 80 The Archaeology of Early Rome / 82 The Ancient Literary Tradition / 93 Archaic Roman Institutions / 108 Rome’s Growth and Expanding Horizons / 115 5. Archaic Roman Religion / 125 Some Important Roman Divinities / 126 The Official Religious Calendar / 129 The Religious Priesthoods / 135 Roman Religious Practices and Ideology / 143 6. The Beginning of the Roman Republic / 147 How Did The Monarchy End? / 147 The Nature and Origin of the Consulship / 150 The Early Consular Fasti / 155 Patricians and Plebeians / 157 Senators, Patricians, and Priests / 167 The Plebeian Tribunate / 170 The Tribal and Other Assemblies / 177 Rome and the Latins / 183 Sp. Cassius, the Fabii, and the Cremera / 192 Clan Warfare and the Lapis Satricanus / 198 7. Rome of the Twelve Tables / 201 The Trial of K. Quinctius / 204 Appius Herdonius and Quinctius Cincinnatus / 205 Facts and Fictions of the Plebeian Tribunate / 207 The Decemviral Legislation / 209 Jurisdiction in Early Roman Law / 211 Litigation and Orality in Early Roman Law / 213 Society and Economy / 216 The Second Board of Decemvirs / 222 The Prohibition of Intermarriage / 225 The Second Secession and the Valerian Horatian Laws / 230 8. Evolution and Growth of the Roman State, 444–367 B.C. / 234 The Military Tribunes with Consular Power / 234 The Sedition of Sp. Maelius / 239 The War Against Fidenae / 241 The War Against Veii / 246 The Gallic Catastrophe and Its Aftermath / 251 The Sedition of M. Manlius Capitolinus / 259 The Licinian Sextian Laws / 262 9. Rome’s Rise to Dominance, 366–300 B.C. / 268 The Emergence of the Roman Nobility / 268 Tibur, Gauls, Greeks, and Carthage / 277 contents vii The Samnites and the First Samnite War / 281 The Latin War and its Consequences / 289 The Second Samnite War / 292 The Philinus Treaty / 311 Other Significant Changes in the Roman State / 312 Roman Factional Politics / 321 10. Rome’s Conquest and Unification of Italy, 299–264 B.C. / 324 The Third Samnite War / 324 Early Roman Coinage / 336 Military Ethos and Aristocratic Family Tradition / 340 Domestic and Foreign Affairs during the 280s B.C. / 344 The Pyrrhic War / 349 The Roman Organization of Italy / 358 Some Final Assessments / 366 appendix: early roman chronology / 369 works cited / 371 index / 391 tables and illustrations TABLES 1. Outline of the later centuriate organization / 112 2. Total manpower for the regions of Italy 225 B.C. / 365 MAPS 1. Physical map of Italy / 8 2. Linguistic groups of Italy c. 350 B.C. / 11 3. Map of prehistoric sites / 17 4. The ancient Mediterranean / 30 5. Greek colonization in Sicily and Southern Italy / 33 6. Etruria / 40 7. Rome / 81 8. Latium / 185 9. The Samnite tribes and neighboring ethnic groups / 282 10. Roman territory and colonization c. 250 B.C. / 364 FIGURES 1. Biconical Villanovan ash-urn covered with a helmet / 26 2. Hut-shaped cremation urns / 55 ix x tables and illustrations 3. Scene from the Fran˛cois Tomb at Vulci depicting Macstrna and Caile Vipinas / 104 4. Etruscan god of the underworld wearing a wolf’s head / 134 5. Bronze model of a sheep’s liver / 140 6. Chronological distribution of new clans attaining high office / 165 7. Terracotta cult statue of Apollo from Veii / 247 8. Horseshoe-shaped sandstone funerary stela from Felsina / 252 9. Ficoroni Cista from Praeneste / 317 10. The Romano-Campanian didrachms / 337 acknowledgments The many debts of gratitude incurred in the course of researching and writing this book are too numerous to be easily enumerated, but common decency requires that the author at least make an attempt to acknowledge the most obvious and important ones. Thanks are due to Kurt A. Raaflaub, A. John Graham, Martin Ostwald, Michael Alexander, Brent Vine, Mark Toher, Richard Mitchell, and Ernst Badian for their comments, criticisms, and suggestions. Thanks are due also to Kate Toll, the copy editrix, whose intelligent and well-informed editing of the text has made it more readable. A great debt is owed to Scott Pathel for his computer expertise employed in the preparation of the maps and other illustrations used in this book. Thanks are due to the people at the reference desk in the Westchester Public Library in Chesterton, Indiana for their assistance in obtaining many books and articles through inter-library loan. Although the author was occupied with the research and writing of this book from the summer of 1997 to the spring of 1999, in a certain sense this book has been in the making for very many years; and as a direct conse- quence of the author’s blindness, he is greatly indebted to many friends and fellow college students, who over the years have given him many hours of their time in order to read books and articles to him. Out of this very long list of devoted volunteer readers the author wishes to mention by name the following persons whose voices recorded on tape have been the author’s constant companions as he wrote the present volume: Lloyd Daly, Peter Denault, Becky Harrison, Sarah Kimball, Scott Rusch, Nell Wright, Sina Dubovoj, and especially Terry Trotter (who now teaches mathematics in San Salvador), Peg Decker (who died at about the time the work on this book was begun), Kitty Reip and her sister Kandi Kaliher (the latter of whom died of cancer in November of 1994). Special thanks are also due to xi xii acknowledgments the author’s dear college friend of many years ago, Bryan McMurray, and his gracious wife, Joanna, for allowing the author to enjoy the hospitality of their home in Champaign, Illinois, while he made use of the University of Illinois’s vast library resources. Unfortunately, due to her death the author’s wife, Dorothy Alice Forsythe, was not able to assist in the final proofreading of the copyedited text. This task was carried out by a very dear friend, Marnie Veghte. Yet the greatest debt of gratitude by far is owed to the author’s wife, Dorothy, for her countless hours of assistance in every con- ceivable capacity. Attempting to record the innumerable ways in which this book is indebted to this extraordinary woman would involve an entire chapter of its own. Toward the end of the five-year period during which this work has gone from manuscript to published book, my most lovely, loving, and beloved wife Dorothy Alice died of cancer (March 8, 2003). Over the past thirty-one years she has assisted me in countless ways, has been the light of my life, and has been the best love-mate, life-mate, and help-mate a person could ever hope to have. To thee, my dearest love, the most perfect person whom I have known, I dedicate this book. You were my first love, my one and only love, and the great passion of my life. Words cannot express how much I love and miss you, and how grateful I am to you for having blessed and graced my life with your supreme goodness, incomparable sweetness, and infinite love. As your name suggests, you have been and continue to be a truly divine gift to all of us who knew and loved you. Dedicated to Dorothy Alice Forsythe on July 29, 2003, my darling’s seventy-fifth birthday. abbreviations ad Att. Cicero, Letters to Atticus ad Q. Fr. Cicero, Letters to His Brother Quintus Akten 1981. Akten des Kolloquiums zum Thema die Göttin von Pyrgi: Archäologische, Linguistische und Religionsgeschichtliche Aspekte (Tübingen, 16–7 Januar 1979).