A new view of early Rome as a highly mobile society within a wider interconnected Mediterranean network

Covers the rise of Rome from small scale community to supremacy in central ItalyUses the latest archaeological evidence to demonstrate the sophisticated and cosmopolitan nature of early RomeAnalyses the origins of Rome's Republican form of government and of its aggressive drive to conquerIn the first few centuries of its existence, Rome developed from a minor settlement on the Tiber into the most powerful city-state in Italy.

Guy Bradley examines the reasons for Rome's emergence and success within a highly competitive Italian environment, and how much it owed to its neighbours. He explains how many of Rome's key characteristics, such as its powerful ruling elite, its stable political institutions, its openness to outsiders, and its intensely militaristic society, were shaped by their origins in the monarchy and early Republic.