The rise of Rome from the Etruscan cities to the domination of the Mediterranean

The civilization flourished in the part of Italy they called Etruria, and in Campania, around present-day Naples. The Etruscans built cities, developed distinctive artistic expressions—especially mural painting and sculpture—and formed commercial alliances.

Rome arose from a settlement in Latium. Central Italy was home to several peoples—Umbrians, Sabines, and others—who spoke Indo-European languages. Until 509 BC, Rome was ruled by kings of Etruscan origin; it then became a republic, governed by two magistrates elected each year: the consuls. The Roman Republic expanded its territory, first in Latium, then in Etruria and southward, through military victories over the peoples of central Italy—the Sabines and the Aequi—and by defeating Veii (Veio), an Etruscan city to the northwest. It consolidated its position by founding colonies that allowed it to dominate much of Italy.

At the beginning of the 3rd century BC, Rome had about 300,000 citizens spread across peninsular Italy. Roman culture was influenced by contacts with the Etruscans and the Greeks.

In the 3rd century BC, the expansion of the Roman Republic came into conflict with the established Carthaginian civilization. Rome's victory in the three Punic Wars that followed secured its hegemony over the western Mediterranean, and further victories in Greece extended its power eastward.

At the beginning of the 3rd century BC, Roman strength was largely limited to colonies in Italy. It began to expand above all through the wars fought from 264 BC against Carthage, then perhaps the most powerful city in the western Mediterranean. Carthage had been founded by the seafaring civilization of the Phoenicians (in Latin Punici, from which the term Punic Wars derives), which developed in the eastern Mediterranean around 1500 BC. It was not an empire, but the strongest member of a league of cities that defended one another while maintaining their own commercial ties. The city was located on the present-day Tunisian coast and in 256 BC was protected by a fleet of about 350 ships. Consequently, in order to defeat Carthage and its allies, Rome not only had to overcome its skilled generals on land, but also build and equip a war navy.

Roman victories led to the acquisition of many provinces:

1. Sicily, Corsica, and Sardinia after the First Punic War (264-241 BC);
2. two Spanish provinces after the Second (218-201 BC);
3. in the Third (149-146 BC), the province of Africa in northern Tunisia, on the site of Carthage itself.

Greece was torn by political tensions, as major cities such as Corinth and Athens sought independence from the great regional powers, the Macedonians and the Seleucid Empire of Persia. This offered Rome the opportunity to penetrate the area; after a series of military victories, beginning with the Battle of Corinth in 146 BC, it conquered many Greek cities and later founded several provinces, which it called Macedonia, Achaia, and Epirus.

During the Republic, Rome expanded its territories; in 27 BC, at the time of the accession of Augustus, the first emperor, it already controlled the entire Mediterranean. By AD 120, it had instead established the borders of the Empire, ushering in its greatest period of stability.

The Roman Republic grew through military conquests and the establishment of client kingdoms that accepted its domination in exchange for maintaining commercial relations. The first emperor, Augustus, adopted a policy of non-expansion of the borders, followed by many of his successors, with the exception of Trajan, who added important provinces in the east, though only briefly.

Preserving this vast empire required the effort of an army of about 300,000 men, largely based in camps along the frontiers. The Roman navy protected transport routes in the Mediterranean that ensured trade, on which the city depended for everything—from raw materials and slaves to food, such as grain and olive oil.

Relations between the provinces were generally good: the Roman way of life was highly attractive and helped to develop trade, encouraging the people of conquered territories to become "Romanized" and to accept imperial rule. In the first 200 years of the Empire, the balance between military power and economic prosperity made the area relatively stable and peaceful.

In 49 BC, when Julius Caesar took power as dictator, Rome began the transition from Republic to Empire. After Caesar's assassination in 44 BC, Mark Antony, Octavian, and Lepidus formed a triumvirate that governed the Republic, but competition among them led to a series of disputes and civil war. Octavian removed Lepidus through a political maneuver, then defeated Antony in battle, becoming the first emperor under the name Caesar Augustus in 27 BC.