The Roman Expansion in Italy

While the Roman state was undergoing the internal changes described above, Rome was gradually establishing herself as the dominant power in Italy.

Shortly after the expulsion of the kings an alliance was formed between Rome and a league of city-states in Latium for the purpose of suppressing the threat posed by the Etruscans and the neighbouring mountain tribes of the Aequi and Volsci (493 BC). Although Rome had been recognised as the dominant city in the alliance and had the leadership in war, the Latin cities retained their independence. By the end of the fifth century BC the Aequi and Volsci had been driven back and Rome had conquered a large part of the Etruria. But about 390 BC Rome suffered a serious setback, when invading Celtic tribes from Gaul defeated the Romans and their Latin allies and captured the city. The invaders were finally bought off with gold and withdrew, but the Gallic occupation survived in the memory of the Romans as one of the most tragic events of their early history. In the years that followed Rome retained and consolidated her earlier conquests and continued her territorial expansion. In 338 BC the Romans, aided by Samnite forces, defeated the Latins, who attempted to break free from Roman domination, and dissolved their alliance. Rome's position as the dominant power in Latium was secured not only through the annexation of territory and the forging of alliances, on her own terms, with individual cities, but also through the implementation of effective new policies, such as the granting of Roman citizenship to members of Latin communities and the planting of Roman colonies among them. In 327 BC Rome embarked upon a long struggle with the powerful Samnite tribes for the control of cental Italy. The Samnites were finally subdued in 295 BC and, like the Latins and the Etruscans, were gradually incorporated in the Roman state through their admission to the Roman citizen body.

Not long after the end of the Samnite wars, Rome's rapidly growing power and influence brought her into conflict with Tarentum, the most powerful of the Greek cities of Southern Italy.

In 280 BC the Tarentines and their allies, aware of Rome's military strength, summoned to their aid king Pyrrhus of Epirus, an ambitious ruler and capable general, who wished to unite the Greeks and form a Greek empire. Although Pyrrhus won several victories over the Romans, he was finally driven from Italy in 275 BC and Tarentum was forced to surrender in 272 BC. Along with the other Greek cities of Southern Italy it then became a Roman ally, agreeing to supply Rome with naval forces in return for Rome's military protection. With the submission of the Greek cities the unification of the entire Italian peninsula under Roman control was only a matter of time - it was

Monarchy and Early Republic 67 completed a few years later, in 264 BC.^{^[194]} But the unification of Italy did not result in the formation of a single state. Rather, Italy was a conglomeration of many communities and individual city-states under Roman domination.

In the third century BC the Italian communities fell into two broad groups: those whose territories had been annexed by Rome and those which retained their independence but were bound to Rome by various kinds of treaties. Some of the conquered communities were granted full Roman citizenship (civitas optima iure) while others were given partial citizenship only. The members of the latter communities had the private rights of citizenship, including the right to trade and hold property in Rome (ius commercii) and the right to intermarry with Romans (ius conubif), but not the political rights of voting (ius sufjragii) and holding public office (ius honoruni) in Rome. To this category belonged the inhabitants of towns in Latium, Etruria and Campania. These communities, which were called municipia, retained local self-government but their external relations were controlled by Rome.

At the same time their members shared the obligations of Roman citizenship, paid taxes to Rome and served in the Roman armies. In general, the granting of partial citizenship was regarded as the first step towards the acquisition of full citizenship and the municipal system served as a means of incorporating foreign communities into Rome without the dissolution of their political and social institutions and customs. On the other hand, those cities in Italy which retained their independence paid no taxes to Rome but were individually bound to her by treaties of alliance under which they were obliged to provide military aid and to surrender control over their foreign affairs. Under these treaties their members enjoyed some of the private rights of Roman citizenship (without being regarded as Roman citizens) and might individually gain citizenship by becoming permanent residents of Rome.

Besides the two types of communities described above, a large number of colonies (coloniae) had been established throughout Italy on conquered territories by Roman citizens and members of Latin communities to whom plots of land had been allotted for cultivation. A distinction was drawn between Roman colonies (coloniae civium Romanorum) and Latin colonies (coloniae Latinae). The former were formed by Roman citizens and were linked directly to Rome, while the latter were usually made up of both Romans and Latins. The Latin colonies had their own systems of government, modelled on that of Rome, but were subject to Roman control and had to pay taxes to Rome and assist her militarily. Their members enjoyed some of the rights of the Roman

citizenship, such as the right to own property according to Roman law (ius commercii).^{^[195]} The colonies safeguarded Rome's conquests and at the same time facilitated the diffusion of the Roman culture in Italy.^{^[196]}

<< | >>

↑

Source: Mousourakis George. The Historical and Institutional Context of Roman Law. Routledge,2003. — 480 p.. 2003

The Roman Expansion in Italy

More on the topic The Roman Expansion in Italy: