Latins (Italic tribe): Difference between revisions

{{Short description|noneItalic tribe in ancient antiquity}}

{{Confusion|Latino (disambiguation)}}{{redirect|Latini|people with the last name Latini|Latini (surname)|other uses|Latin (disambiguation)}}

The '''Latins''' ([[Latin language|Latin]]: '''Latinus''' (m.), '''Latina''' (f.), '''Latini''' (m. pl.)), sometimes known as the '''Latials'''<ref>{{Cite book |last=Bauer |first=Susan Wise |title=The History of the Ancient World: From the Earliest Accounts to the Fall of Rome |publisher=[[W. W. Norton]] |year=2007 |isbn=978-0-393-05974-8 |edition=1st |location=New York |pages=355 |author-link=Susan Wise Bauer}}</ref> or '''Latians''', were an [[Italic peoples|Italic tribe]] whichthat included the early inhabitants of the city of [[Rome]] (see [[Roman people]]). From about 1000&nbsp;BC, the Latins inhabited the small region known to the Romans as [[Old Latium]] (in Latin ''Latium vetus''), thatthe is,area in the area[[Italian Peninsula]] between the river [[Tiber]] and the promontory of [[Mount Circeo]] {{convert|100|km|mi|abbr=on}} southeast of Rome. Following the Roman expansion, the Latins spread into the [[Latium adiectum]], inhabited by [[Osco-Umbrian languages|Osco-Umbrian]] peoples.

The Latins belonged to a group of [[Indo-European languages|Indo-European]]-speaking (IE) tribes, conventionally known as the [[Italic tribes]], that populated central and southern Italy during the Italian [[Iron Age]], which began around 900 BC. The most widely accepted theory suggests that Latins and other proto-Italic tribes first entered Italy in the late Bronze Age proto-Villanovan culture, then part of the central European [[Urnfield culture]] system.{{sfn|Cornell|1995|p=44}}<ref>Encyclopædia Britannica ''Latium''</ref> In particular various authors, such as [[Marija Gimbutas]], had noted important similarities between the [[proto-Villanovan culture]], the [[South-German Urnfield culture]] of [[Bavaria]]-[[Upper Austria]]<ref name=Gimbutas>M.Gimbutas - Bronze Age Cultures in Central and Eastern Europe p.339-345</ref> and [[Middle-Danube Urnfield culture]].<ref name="Gimbutas"/><ref>John M. Coles - The Bronze Age in Europe: An Introduction to the Prehistory of Europe C. 2000–700 BC, p.422</ref><ref>Massimo Pallottino-Etruscologia p. 40.</ref> According to David W. Anthony proto-Latins originated in today's eastern [[Hungary]], kurganized around 3100 BC by the [[Yamna culture]],<ref name=Anthony>David W. Anthony - The Horse, The Wheel and Language pg.344</ref><ref>David W. Anthony - The Horse, The Wheel and Language pg.367</ref> while [[Kristian Kristiansen (archaeologist)|Kristian Kristiansen]] associated the proto-Villanovans with the Velatice-Baierdorf culture of [[Moravia]] and Austria.<ref>K. Kristiansen - Europe Before History p. 388.</ref> This is further confirmed by the fact that the subsequent [[Latial culture]], [[Este culture]] and [[Villanovan culture]], which introduced iron-working to the [[Italian peninsula]], were so closely related to the Central European [[Urnfield|Urnfield culture]] (c. 1300–750{{circa|1300}}–750 BC), and [[Hallstatt culture]] (which succeeded the Urnfield culture), that it is not possible to tell them apart in their earlier stages.<ref>[[Pontecagnano]] finds are conserved in the Museum of Agro Picentino.</ref><ref>{{cite encyclopedia|url=http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/629128/Villanovan-culture|title=Villanovan culture|encyclopedia=Encyclopædia Britannica}}</ref> Furthermore, the contemporary [[Canegrate culture]] of Northern Italy represented a typical western example of the western Hallstatt culture, whose diffusion most probably took place in a [[Celtic languages|Celtic]]-speaking context.<ref>{{cite book|last=Chadwick|first=Nora|title=The Celts|year=1970|page=30}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last=Kruta|first=Venceslas|title=The Celts|year=1991|publisher=Thames and Hudson|pages=89–102}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last=Stifter|first=David|title=Old Celtic Languages - Addenda|year=2008|page=25}}</ref><ref>Alfons Semler, ''Überlingen: Bilder aus der Geschichte einer kleinen Reichsstadt,''Oberbadische Verlag, Singen, 1949, pp. 11–17, specifically 15.</ref>

Leaving archaeology aside, the geographical distribution of the ancient languages of the peninsula may plausibly be explained by the immigration of successive waves of peoples with different languages, according to Cornell. On this model, it appears likely that the "West Italic" group (including the Latins) were the first wave, followed, and largely displaced by, the East Italic (Osco-Umbrian) group. This is deduced from the marginal locations of the surviving West Italic niches. Besides Latin, putative members of the West Italic group are [[Faliscan language|Faliscan]] (now regarded as merely a Latin dialect),{{sfn|Cornell|1995|p=43}} and perhaps [[Siculian]], spoken in eastern [[Sicily]]. The West Italic languages were thus spoken in limited and isolated areas, whereas the "East Italic" group comprised the [[Oscan]] and [[Umbrian]] dialects spoken over much of central and southern Italy.{{sfn|Cornell|1995|p=42|loc=Map 2}} The chronology of Indo-European immigration remains elusive, as does the relative chronology between the Italic IE languages and the non-IE languages of the peninsula, notably the [[Etruscan language|Etruscan]], which is considered related to the [[Raetic language|Raetic]] spoken in the [[Alps]]. Other examples of non-IE languages in Iron Age Italy are the [[Camunic language]], spoken in the Alps, and the unattested [[Ligurian (ancient language)|ancient Ligurian]] and [[Paleo-Sardinian language]]s. Most scholars consider that Etruscan is a pre-IE survival, a [[Paleo-European languages|Paleo-European language]]<ref name=Haarmann2014>{{cite book |last1=Haarmann |first1=Harald |author-link1=Harald Haarmann |year=2014 |chapter=Ethnicity and Language in the Ancient Mediterranean |editor1-last= McInerney|editor1-first= Jeremy |title=A Companion to Ethnicity in the Ancient Mediterranean |language=en |location=Chichester, UK |publisher=John Wiley & Sons, Inc |publication-date=2014 |pages=17–33 |doi=10.1002/9781118834312.ch2 |isbn= 9781444337341}}</ref> part of an older European linguistic substratum,{{sfn|Cornell|1995|p=44}} spoken long before the arrival of proto Indo-European speakers. Some scholars have earlier speculated that Etruscan language could have been introduced by later migrants. The ancient Greek historian [[Herodotus]] preserves the tradition that the ''Tyrrhenoi'' (Etruscans) originated in [[Lydia]] in [[Anatolia]],<ref>Herodotus ''Histories'' I.94</ref> but Lydians spoke an [[Indo-European languages|Indo-European]] language, completely different from the Etruscan language. Despite, a possible support for an eastern origin for Etruscan may be provided by two inscriptions in a language closely related to Etruscan found on the island of [[Lemnos]] in the northern [[Aegean seaSea]] (see [[Lemnian language]]), even though some scholars believe that the Lemnian language might have arrived in the [[Aegean Sea]] during the Late Bronze Age, when Mycenaean rulers recruited groups of mercenaries from Sicily, Sardinia and various parts of the Italian peninsula.<ref>{{cite web|last1=De Ligt|first1=Luuk|title=An 'Eteocretan' inscription from Praisos and the homeland of the Sea Peoples|url=http://www.talanta.nl/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/TAL-40-412008-2009-pag-151-172-DeLigt.pdf|publisher=ALANTA XL-XLI (2008-2009), 151-172}}</ref> Other scholars, however, argue that the presence of a language similar to Etruscan in Lemnos was due to Etruscan commercial adventurers arrived from the west shortly before 700 BC.<ref name=Wallace2010>{{cite book |last1=Wallace |first1= Rex E.|author-link1=Rex E. Wallace |display-authors= |author-mask1= |author-mask2= |author-mask3= |author-mask4= |author-mask5= |name-list-style= |translator-last1= |translator-first1= |translator-link1= |translator-last2= |translator-first2= |translator-link2= |display-translators= |translator-mask1= |translator-mask2= |year=2010 |orig-year= |chapter=Italy, Languages of |script-chapter= |trans-chapter= |chapter-url= |chapter-format= |editor1-last=Gagarin |editor1-first=Michael |display-editors= |title=The Oxford Encyclopedia of Ancient Greece and Rome |script-title= |trans-title= |url= |url-access= |format= |type= |series= |language=English |volume= |edition= |location=Oxford, UK |publisher=Oxford University Press |publication-date= |pages=97–102 |no-pp= |arxiv= |bibcode= |doi=10.1093/acref/9780195170726.001.0001 |isbn=9780195170726|quote=Etruscan origins lie in the distant past. Despite the claim by Herodotus, who wrote that Etruscans migrated to Italy from Lydia in the eastern Mediterranean, there is no material or linguistic evidence to support this. Etruscan material culture developed in an unbroken chain from Bronze Age antecedents. As for linguistic relationships, Lydian is an Indo-European language. Lemnian, which is attested by a few inscriptions discovered near Kamania on the island of Lemnos, was a dialect of Etruscan introduced to the island by commercial adventurers. Linguistic similarities connecting Etruscan with Raetic, a language spoken in the sub-Alpine regions of northeastern Italy, further militate against the idea of eastern origins. |mode= }}</ref> The archaeological evidence available from Iron Age Etruria shows no sign of any invasion, migration, or arrival of small immigrant-elites from the Eastern Mediterranean who may have imposed their language.<ref name=Wallace2010/>{{sfn|Cornell|1995|p=47}} Between the end of the Bronze Age and the beginning of the Iron Age, Etruria shows above all contacts with Central Europe and the [[Urnfield culture]], as there is great consensus that the subsequent [[orientalizing period]] was an artistic-cultural phenomenon not exclusively Etruscan, also spread to other areas of Italy and the Greek world, and that can be better explained by trade and exchange rather than by migrations.{{sfn|Cornell|1995|p=47}} Genetic studies on samples of Etruscan individuals, both on mitochondrial and autosomal DNA, are also against an eastern origin of the Etruscans and have supported a deep, local origin.<ref name=Ghirotto2013>{{cite journal | pmc= 3566088|doi=10.1371/journal.pone.0055519| journal=PLOS ONE | title=Origins and Evolution of the Etruscans' mtDNA | date=2013 | pmid=23405165 | volume= 8| issue= 2| pages= e55519|vauthors=Ghirotto S, Tassi F, Fumagalli E, Colonna V, Sandionigi A, Lari M, et al|display-authors=etal|bibcode=2013PLoSO...855519G|doi-access=free}}</ref><ref name=Tassi2013>{{cite journal |doi=10.1002/ajpa.22319| journal=American Journal of Physical Anthropology | title=Genetic evidence does not support an Etruscan origin in Anatolia.| date=2013 | pmid=23900768 | volume=152 | issue= 1| pages= 11–18|vauthors=Tassi F, Ghirotto S, Caramelli D, Barbujani G|display-authors=etal}}</ref><ref name=Leonardi2018>{{cite journal |last1=Leonardi |first1=Michela |last2=Sandionigi |first2= Anna|last3= Conzato|first3=Annalisa |last4=Lari |first4=Martina |last5= Tassi |first5=Francesca |year=2018 |title=The female ancestor's tale: Long‐term matrilineal continuity in a nonisolated region of Tuscany |journal= American Journal of Physical Anthropology|volume=167 |issue=3 |pages=497–506 |doi=10.1002/ajpa.23679 |pmid=30187463 |s2cid=52161000 }}</ref> A 2019 Stanford genetic study, which has analyzed the autosomal DNA of Iron Age samples from the areas around Rome, has concluded that Etruscans were similar to the Latins from [[Latium vetus]].<ref name=Antonio>{{cite journal |last1= Antonio |first1=Margaret L.|last2=Gao |first2=Ziyue |last3=M. Moots |first3= Hannah |year=2019 |title=Ancient Rome: A genetic crossroads of Europe and the Mediterranean |journal=Science |language=en |location= Washington D.C.|publisher=American Association for the Advancement of Science |publication-date= November 8, 2019|volume= 366 |issue= 6466|pages=708–714 |bibcode= 2019Sci...366..708A|doi=10.1126/science.aay6826 |pmc= 7093155|pmid= 31699931|quote=Interestingly, although Iron Age individuals were sampled from both Etruscan (n=3) and Latin (n=6) contexts, we did not detect any significant differences between the two groups with f4 statistics in the form of f4(RMPR_Etruscan, RMPR_Latin; test population, Onge), suggesting shared origins or extensive genetic exchange between them. |hdl= 2318/1715466|hdl-access= free}}</ref> According to British archeologist Phil Perkins, "there are indications that the evidence of DNA can support the theory that Etruscan people are autochthonous in central Italy".<ref name=Perkins>{{cite book |last=Perkins |first=Phil |editor-last=Naso |editor-first=Alessandro |title=Etruscology |location=Berlin |publisher=De Gruyter |date=2017 |pages=109–18 |chapter=Chapter 8: DNA and Etruscan identity |isbn=978-1934078495}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last= Perkins |first=Phil |editor-last1=Perkins |editor-first1=Phil|editor-last2=Swaddling |editor-first2=Judith |title=Etruscan by Definition: Papers in Honour of Sybille Haynes|publisher=The British Museum Research Publications |id=173 |location=London |date=2009 |pages=95–111 |chapter=DNA and Etruscan identity |isbn=978-0861591732}}</ref>

[[Image:Lapis-niger.jpg|thumb|right|The [[Lapis Niger]], probably the oldest extant Latin inscription (c. {{circa|600 BC}})]]

The Latins appear to have become culturally differentiated from the surrounding Osco-Umbrian Italic tribes from c. {{circa|1000 BC}} onwards.<ref name="Britannica Latium"/> From this time, the Latins exhibit the features of the [[Iron Age]] [[Latial culture]] found in Etruria and the [[Po (river)|Po]] valley. In contrast, the Osco-Umbrian tribes do not exhibit the same features of the Latins, who thus shared the broadly same material culture as the Etruscans. The variant of Villanovan found in Latium is dubbed the [[Latial culture]]. The most distinctive feature of Latial culture were cinerary urns in the shape of miniature ''tuguria'' ("huts"). In Phase I of the Latium culture (c. 1000–900{{circa|1000}}–900 BC) these hut-urns only appear in some burials, but they become standard in Phase II cremation burials (900–770 BC).{{sfn|Cornell|1995|p=51}} They represent the typical single-roomed hovels of contemporary peasants, which were made from simple, readily available materials: [[wattle-and-daub]] walls and straw roofs supported by wooden posts. The huts remained the main form of Latin housing until about 650 BC.{{sfn|Cornell|1995|p=57}} The most famous exemplar was the ''[[Casa Romuli]]'' ("Hut of [[Romulus]]") on the southern slope of the Palatine Hill, supposedly built by the legendary founder of Rome with his own hands and which reportedly survived until the time of emperor [[Augustus]] (ruled 30 BC - AD 14).<ref>Dionysius I.79</ref><ref>Dio XLVIII.43</ref>

According to the mainstream Kurgan hypothesis, the earliest Indo-EuropeansEuropean speakers were a nomadic [[steppe]] people, originating in the [[Eurasian steppes]] (southern Russia, northern Caucasus and central Asia). Their livelihood was based on horses and herding. In the historical era, the same socio-cultural lifestyle was maintained, in the same regions, by peoples descended from the [[Proto-Indo-Europeans]] (PIEs) known to the Greco-Romans as [[Scythians]], [[Sarmatians]] and [[Alans]], whose languages belonged to the [[Iranian languages|Iranian]] branch of IE. On the basis of common steppe-nomadic features in the cultures of the various Indo-European peoples in the historical era, scholars have reconstructed elements of proto-Indo-European culture. Relics of such elements have been discerned in Roman and Latin customs. Examples include:

# [[Swastika]] symbol: This symbol, the hooked cross (''crux uncinata'' in Latin), was widely used by IE-speaking peoples in both Europe and Asia (especially in India: the term ''swastika'' is [[Sanskrit language|Sanskrit]]). According to one theory^which?, it was invented, and used as an ethnic emblem, by the Proto-Indo-Europeans, although it is also a documented symbol of the [[Stone Age]] [[Vinča culture]] of SE Europe (c. {{circa|5500}} -– 4500 BC), which was probably pre-Indo-European (although it may have been used as a [[hieroglyph]], rather than a cultural symbol, by the Vinca people). Whatever its origin, it was widely adopted by the Indo-Europeans, among whom it probably symbolised the Sun (which was seen as a wheel rolling across the sky) and/or the Sky and was thus closely associated with their male supreme Sky-god. Among the Romans, it was not traditionally associated with the sky god Jupiter. It became associated with the sky god in Celtic southwest Gaul, where numerous dedications to Jupiter have been discovered adorned with swastikas.<ref>{{cite book |last=Green |first=Miranda |author-link=Miranda Green (academic) |year=1989 |title=Symbol and Image in Celtic Religious Art |page=166}}</ref> In the later empire (4th century onwards), when pagan symbolism lost favour due to the advance of Christianity, it came to represent the Universe, or eternal life.

Despite their frequent internecine wars, the Latin city-states maintained close culturo-religious relations throughout their history. Their most important common tribal event was the four-day ''Latiar'' or ''[[Feriae Latinae]]'' ("Latin Festival"), held each winter on the sacred ''mons Albanus'' ([[Monte Cavo]], Alban Hills, SE of Rome), an extinct volcano. The climax of the festival was a number of sacrifices to Jupiter Latiaris ("Jupiter of Latium"); the sacrificed meat was shared by the representatives of the Latin communities. These elaborate rituals, as did all Roman religious ceremonies, had to be performed with absolute precision and, if any procedural mistakes were made, had to be repeated from the start. The Latin Festival continued to be held long after all ''Latium Vetus'' was integrated into the Roman Republic after 338 BC (from then on, the [[Roman consul]]s presided over them) and into the [[Principate|Roman imperial era]]. The historian [[Livy]], writing around AD 20, ascribed Rome's disastrous defeat by the Carthaginian general [[Hannibal]] at the [[Battle of Lake Trasimene]] in 217 BC to the impiety of the consul [[Gaius Flaminius (consul 223 BC)|Gaius Flaminius]], who, in his eagerness to join his army at its assembly-point of [[Arretium]], omittedfailed to attend the Latin Festival.<ref>Livy ''Ab Urbe Condita'' XXI.63</ref>

Latin cultural-religious events were also held at other common cult-centres e.g. the major common shrine to [[Diana (mythology)|Diana]] at [[Ariccia|Aricia]]. This may be the sacred grove to Diana which a fragment of Cato's ''Origines'' recorded dedicated, probably c. {{circa|500 BC}}, by various Latin communities under the leadership of the dictator of [[Tusculum]], Egerius Baebius.{{sfn|Cornell|1995|p=297}} Cornell argues that the temple of Diana reportedly founded by the Roman king [[Servius Tullius]] on the [[Aventine hill]] at Rome was also a common Latin shrine, as it was built outside the ''pomerium'' or City boundary.{{sfn|Cornell|1995|p=295}} There was also an important Latin cult-centre at [[Lavinium]]. Lavinium hosted the cult of the [[Penates]], or Latin ancestor-gods. Cornell suggests that the "Sanctuary of the 13 altars" discovered in the 1960s at Lavinium was the site of the Penates cult. Since each of the altars differ in style and date, it has been suggested that each was erected by a separate Latin city-state.{{sfn|Cornell|1995|p=109}}

[[File:Aeneas Latium BM GR1927.12-12.1.jpg|thumb|right|400px|The Trojan hero [[Aeneas]]' legendary landing on the shores of Latium (note prow of his beached ship, right). Aeneas is holding his son, Ascanius, by the hand. A sow (left) shows him where to found his city ([[Lavinium]]). Roman marble bas-relief, c. {{circa|AD 140–50140}}–50. [[British Museum]], London]]

Under the ever-growing influence of the [[Italiotes|Italiote Greeks]], the Romans acquired their own national origin myth sometime during the early Republican era (500–300 BC). It was centred on the figure of [[Aeneas]], a supposed Trojan survivor of the destruction of [[Troy]] by the [[Achaeans (Homer)|Achaean Greeks]], as related in the poet [[Homer]]'s epic the ''[[Iliad]]'' (composed c. {{circa|800 BC}}). The legend provided the Romans with a heroic "Homeric" pedigree, as well as a (spurious) ethnic distinctiveness from the other Latins. It also provided a rationale (as poetic revenge for the destruction of Troy) for Rome's hostilities against, and eventual subjugation of, the Greek cities of southern Italy, especially [[Taranto|Taras]] (mod. [[Taranto]]) in the period ending 275 BC.{{sfn|Cornell|1995|p=64-65}}

There is controversy about how and when Aeneas and his Trojans were adopted as ethnic ancestors by the Romans. One theory is that the Romans appropriated the legend from the Etruscans, who in turn acquired themselves the legend from the Greeks. There is evidence that the Aeneas legend was well known among the Etruscans by 500 BC: excavations at the ancient Etruscan city of [[Veii]] discovered a series of statuettes portraying Aeneas fleeing Troy carrying his father on his back, as in the legend.{{sfn|Georgiev|1979|p=90}} Indeed, the Bulgarian linguist [[Vladimir I. Georgiev|Vladimir Georgiev]] argued that the original Etruscans were in fact descendants of those Trojan refugees and that the Aeneas legend has a historical basis.{{sfn|Georgiev|1979|p=86-98}} Georgiev disputes the mainstream view that Etruscan was not Indo-European: he argues that Etruscan was closely related to the Indo-European [[Hittite language|Hittite]] and [[Lydian language|Lydian]] languages.{{sfn|Georgiev|1979|p=20-25}} Georgiev's thesis hasn't received support from other scholars. Excavations at Troy have yielded a single written document, a letter in [[Luwian language|Luwian]]. But as Luwian (which certainly is closely related to Hittite) was used as a kind of diplomatic ''lingua franca'' in Anatolia, it cannot be argued conclusively that Luwian was the everyday language of Troy. Cornell points out that the Romans may have acquired the legend directly from the Italiote Greeks. The earliest Greek literary reference to Rome as a foundation of Aeneas dates to c. {{circa|400 BC}}.{{sfn|Cornell|1995|p=65}} There is also much archaeological evidence of contacts between the cities of archaic Latium and the Greek world e.g. the archaic sanctuary of the Penates at Lavinium, which shows "heavy Greek influence in architectural design and religious ideology", according to Cornell.{{sfn|Cornell|1995|p=66}}

But whatever the origin of the legend, it is clear that the Latins had no historical connection with Aeneas and none of their cities were founded by Trojan refugees. Furthermore, Cornell regards the city of Alba Longa itself as probably mythical. Early Latial-culture remains have been discovered on the shore of the Alban lake, but they indicate a series of small villages, not an urbanised city-state. In any case, traces of the earliest phase of Latial culture also occur at Rome at the same time (c. {{circa|1000 BC}}), so archaeology cannot be used to support the tradition that Rome was founded by people from Alba Longa.{{sfn|Cornell|1995|p=57}} If Alba Longa did not exist, then nor did the "Alban kings", whose genealogy was almost certainly fabricated to "prove" Romulus' descent from Aeneas. The genealogy's dubious nature is shown by the fact that it ascribes the 14 Alban kings an average reign of 30 years' duration, an implausibly high figure. The false nature of the Aeneas-Romulus link is also demonstrated by the fact that, in some early versions of the tradition, Romulus is denoted as Aeneas' grandson, despite being chronologically separated from Aeneas by some 450 years.{{sfn|Cornell|1995|p=71}}

Mainstream scholarly opinion regards Romulus as an entirely mythical character, and the legend fictitious. On this view, Romulus was a name fabricated to provide Rome with an eponymous founding hero, a common feature of classical foundation-myths; it is possible that Romulus was named after Rome instead of ''vice versa''. The name contains the Latin diminutive ''-ulus'', so it means simply "Roman" or "little Roman".{{sfn|Cornell|1995|p=119}} It has been suggested that the name "Roma" was of [[Etruscan language|Etruscan origin]], or that it was derived from the Latin word ''ruma'' ("teat"), presumably because the shape of the Palatine Hill and/or Capitoline Hill resembled a woman's breasts. If Romulusthe city was named ''after'' the cityRomulus, it is more likelyplausible that he was historical. Nevertheless, Cornell argues that "Romulus probably never existed... His biography is a complex mixture of legend and folk-tale, interspersed with antiquarian speculation and political propaganda".{{sfn|Cornell|1995|p=119}}

In contrast, [[Andrea Carandini]], an archaeologist who has spent most of his career excavating central Rome, advanced the theory that Romulus was a historical figure who indeed founded the city in c. {{circa|753 BC}}, as related by the ancient chroniclers, by ploughing a symbolic sacred furrow to define the city's boundary.<ref>{{cite book |last=Carandini |first=Andrea |author-link=Andrea Carandini |year=2011 |title=Rome: Day One}}</ref> But Carandini's views have received scant support among fellow scholars.

The traditional number of Latin communities for the purposes of the joint religious festivals is given as 30 in the sources. The same number is reported, probably erroneously, as the membership of the Romano-Latin military alliance, labelled the "[[Latin League]]" by modern scholars. But it appears that c. {{circa|500 BC}} there were just 15 independent Latin city-states in Latium Vetus, including Rome itself (the other 15 were annexed by the former as they expanded, especially Rome). The size of the city-state territories in c. {{circa|500 BC}} were estimated by Beloch (1926):

|+ Latin city-states in existence c. {{circa|500 BC}}{{sfn|Cornell|1995|p=246}}

From an early stage, the external relations of the Latin city-states were dominated by their largest and most powerful member, Rome. The vast amount of archaeological evidence uncovered since the 1970s has conclusively discredited A. Alföldi's once-fashionable theory that Rome was an insignificant settlement until about 500 BC, and thus that the Republic was not established before about 450, and possibly as late as 400 BC. There is now no doubt that Rome was a unified city (as opposed to a group of separate hilltop settlements) by c. {{circa|625 BC}} and had become the second-largest city in Italy (after [[History of Taranto|Tarentum]], 510 hectares) by around 550 BC, when it had an area of about 285 hectares (1.1 sq mile) and an estimated population of 35,000. Rome was thus about half the size of contemporary [[Classical Athens|Athens]] (585 hectares, including [[Piraeus]]) and far larger than any other Latin city.{{sfn|Cornell|1995|p=204-205}}

The fall of the Roman monarchy was probably a more lengthy, violent and international process than the swift, bloodless and internal coup related by tradition. The role inof the revolutionEtruscan played by the Etruscanking [[Lars Porsenna]], king of [[Clusium]], who led an invasion of Roman territory at the time of the revolution, was probably distorted for propaganda reasons by later Roman chroniclers. Livy claims that Porsenna aimed to restore Tarquin to his throne, but failed to take Rome after a siege. [[Tacitus]] suggests that Porsenna's army succeeded in occupying the city.<ref>Tacitus ''Hist.'' III.72</ref> The fact that there is no evidence of Tarquin's restoration during this occupation has led some scholars to suggest that it was Porsenna who was the real agent inof the expulsionTarquin's of Tarquindownfall, and that he aimed to replace him as king of Rome.{{sfn|Cornell|1995|p=293}} Any danger of an Etruscan takeover of Rome was removed by Porsenna's defeat at [[Ariccia|Aricia]] in 504 BC.

There followed a war between Rome and the other Latin city-states, which probably took advantage of the political turmoil in Rome to attempt to regain/preserve their independence.{{sfn|Cornell|1995|p=293}} It appears that Tusculum and Aricia took the lead in organising an anti-Roman alliance. One ancient source names Egerius Baebius, the leader of Tusculum, as the "Latin dictator" (i.e. commander-in-chief of the Latin forces). It appears that Baebius dedicated a sacred grove to Diana at ''lucus Ferentinae'' (a wood near Aricia) in c. {{circa|500 BC}} in the presence of representatives of Latin states, including Tusculum, Aricia, Lanuvium, Lavinium, Cora, Tibur, Pometia and Ardea.<ref>Cato ''Origines'' II.28</ref> This event was probably contemporaneous with, and connected with, the launch of the Latin alliance.<ref>Alfoldi (1965) 49-52</ref> The Latins could apparently count on the support of the [[Volsci]] Italic tribe. In addition, they were joined by the deposed Roman king Tarquin the Proud and his remaining followers.

Instead of restoring their previous hegemony, the Romans apparently settled for a military alliance on equal terms with the Latins. According to the sources, the ''[[foedus Cassianum]]'' (Cassian treaty) was a bilateral treaty between the Romans on one side and the other Latin city-states combined.{{sfn|Cornell|1995|p=299}} It provided for a perpetual peace between the two parties; a defensive alliance by which the parties pledged mutual assistance in case of attack; a promise not to aid or allow passage to each other's enemies; the equal division of spoils of war (half to Rome, half to the other Latins) and provisions to regulate trade between the parties. In addition the treaty probably provided for overall command of the allies' joint forces to alternate between a Roman and a commander from one of the other Latin city-states each year. As the nature of the Tarquinian hegemony over the Latins is unknown, it is impossible to tell how the terms of the Cassian treaty differed from those imposed by the Tarquins. But it is likely that Tarquin rule was more onerous, involving the payment of tribute, while the Republican terms simply involved a military alliance. The impetus to form such an alliance was probably provided by the acute insecurity caused by a phase of migration and invasion of the lowland areas by Italic mountain tribes in the period after 500 BC. The Latins faced repeated incursions by the [[Hernici]], [[Aequi]] and [[Volsci]], whose territories surrounded Latium Vetus on its eastern and southern sides.{{sfn|Cornell|1995|p=305}}

Examined individuals from the city of Rome during the time of the [[Roman Empire]] (27 BCE – 300 CE) bore almostfar noless genetic resemblance to Rome's founding populations, and were instead shifted towards the [[Eastern Mediterranean]] and [[Middle East]]. The Imperial population of Rome was found to have been extremely diverse, with barely any of the examined individuals being of primarily Europeanlocal, central Italian ancestry. It was suggested that the observed genetic replacementshift ofin the city's founding populations was a result of heavy migration of merchants and slaves from the populous urban centres of the Middle East and Greece.<ref>{{harvnb|Antonio et al.|2019|p=4}}. "[C]ompared to Iron Age individuals, the Imperial population shares more alleles with early Bronze Age Jordanians... Notably, only 2 out of 48 Imperial-era individuals fall in the European cluster (C7) to which 8 out of 11 Iron Age individuals belong... [F]ew Imperial individuals (n = 2) have strong genetic affinities to western Mediterranean populations."</ref> During late antiquity, after the Imperial era, Rome's population was drastically reduced as a result of political instability, epidemics and economic changes. In this period, more Europeanlocal or central Italian ancestry is evident in Rome; its inhabitants started to again approximate present-day Italians, and can be modeled as a genetic mixture of Imperial-era inhabitants of the city of Rome and populations from central or northern Italy.<ref>[https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.aay6826 Supplementary Materials for "Ancient Rome: A genetic crossroads of Europe and the Mediterranean" (page 27)]</ref> <!-- Under supplemental information from Antonio et al. 2019 study: ""In this time period, the average ancestry of our Italian samples shifts substantially toward mainland Europe and starts to approximate that of present-day Italians, as illustrated in PCA (Fig. 3D) and formally tested by f4 statistics (Table S23). ... our Italian samples in Late Antiquity can be approximated by two-way mixtures of preceding Imperial samples and one of several modern populations from central and northern Italy (p>0.04). These results can be loosely interpreted as the genetic makeup of Late Antique individuals being intermediate between those of Imperial and modern individuals. In other words, there are both continuity and consistent shifts in the ancestry of central Italians since the Imperial period." --&gt; --> In the following Early Medieval period, invasions of barbarians may have brought furthercentral and/or northern European ancestry into Rome, resulting in the further loss of genetic link to the Eastern Mediterranean and Middle East. By the [[Middle Ages]], the people of Rome again genetically resembled central and southern European populations.<ref>{{harvnb|Wade|2019|p=673}}. "People from the city's earliest eras and from after the Western empire's decline in the fourth century C.E. genetically resembled other Western Europeans. But during the imperial period most sampled residents had Eastern Mediterranean or Middle Eastern ancestry... The study suggests the vast majority of immigrants to the city came from the East. Of 48 individuals sampled from this period, only two showed strong genetic ties to Europe... Invading barbarians brought in more European ancestry. Rome gradually lost its strong genetic link to the Eastern Mediterranean and Middle East. By medieval times, city residents again genetically resembled European populations."</ref><ref name="books.google.com">{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=FrwNcwKaUKoC&q=history+of+human+genes|title=The History and Geography of Human Genes|page=295|isbn=978-0691087504|last1=Cavalli-Sforza|first1=Luigi Luca|last2=Menozzi|first2=Paolo|last3=Cavalli-Sforza|first3=Luca|last4=Piazza|first4=Alberto|last5=Cavalli-Sforza|first5=Luigi|year=1994|publisher=Princeton University Press }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |date= 2019 |title=Ancient Rome: A genetic crossroads of Europe and the Mediterranean |journal = Science| volume= 366 |issue = 6466| pages=708–714| doi = 10.1126/science.aay6826 |pmid = 31699931 |pmc=7093155 |last1 = Antonio |first1 = M|last2 = Gao |first2 = Z |last3 = Lucci |first3 = M |bibcode=2019Sci...366..708A |display-authors = etal}}</ref><ref name="Sarno2017">{{cite journal|date = 2017|title=Ancient and recent admixture layers in Sicily and Southern Italy trace multiple migration routes along the Mediterranean |volume=7|issue=1|journal=Scientific Reports|pages=1984|doi= 10.1038/s41598-017-01802-4|pmid=28512355 |pmc=5434004| last1 = Sarno | first1 = S | last2 = Boattini | first2 = A | last3 = Pagani| first3 = L |display-authors = etal|bibcode=2017NatSR...7.1984S }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|title= The geography of recent genetic ancestry across Europe|doi=10.1371/journal.pbio.1001555|volume=11|issue=5|pages=e1001555|journal=PLOS Biology|pmid=23667324|pmc=3646727|year=2013 | last1 = Ralph | first1 = P | last2 = Coop | first2 = G |doi-access=free }}</ref><ref name=DiGaetanoo2009>"The genetic contribution of Greek chromosomes to the Sicilian gene pool is estimated to be about 37% whereas the contribution of North African populations is estimated to be around 6%.", {{cite journal |date = 2009 |title = Differential Greek and northern African migrations to Sicily are supported by genetic evidence from the Y chromosome |journal = European Journal of Human Genetics |volume = 17 |issue = 1 |pages = 91–99 |doi = 10.1038/ejhg.2008.120 |pmid = 18685561 |pmc=2985948 |last1 = Di Gaetano |first1 = C |last2 = Cerutti |first2 = N |last3 = Crobu |first3 = F |display-authors = etal }}</ref><ref name=Raveane2019>{{cite journal |last1=Raveane |first1=A. |last2=Aneli |first2=S. |last3=Montinaro |first3=F. |last4=Athanasiadis |first4=G. |last5=Barlera |first5=S. |last6=Birolo |first6=G. |last7=Boncoraglio |first7=G. |title=Population structure of modern-day Italians reveals patterns of ancient and archaic ancestries in Southern Europe |journal=Science Advances |date=4 September 2019 |volume=5 |issue=9 |pages=eaaw3492|doi=10.1126/sciadv.aaw3492 |pmid=31517044 |pmc=6726452|bibcode=2019SciA....5.3492R }}</ref>

* [[Dio Cassius]] ''Roman History'' (c. {{circa|AD 250}})

* [[Dionysius of Halicarnassus]] ''Roman Antiquities'' (c. {{circa|10 BC}})

* [[Homer]] ''[[Iliad]]'' (c. {{circa|800 BC}})

* [[Livy]] ''[[Ab Urbe Condita Libri (Livy)|Ab urbe condita]]'' (c. {{circa|AD 20}})

*Bradley, Guy Jolyon, [[Elena Isayev]], and Corinna Riva. ''Ancient Italy: Regions without Boundaries''. Exeter, UK: University of Exeter Press, 2007.