1. Little is known about the earliest history of Rome.

a. According to tradition, Rome was founded in 753BC, but the story of Romulus and Remus is largely mythological.

b. Virtually all ancient cities had to have mythological founders.

c. Because of Rome's later greatness, later generations wanted to imagine that Rome was a great city from the very beginning.

d. There is every reason to believe, however, that early Rome was actually a series of villages perched on hills on the east bank of the Tiber River.

e. The remains on the Palatine Hill, later known as the House of Romulus, probably came from one of those early villages.

2. The early Romans were Latins, an Italic people from central Italy.

3. Elements of civilization (including cities) were already present in Italy among the Etruscans and Greeks (in Magna Graecia).

4. Many scholars think that the Etruscans conquered the area around Rome in the 6th century BC and they may have provided the impetus for the development of the early city.

a. The name Rome (Roma) may have been an Etruscan word.

b. The Etruscans seem to have been quite religious and some of their religious ideas were apparently connected with urban space.

c. The pomerium (religious boundary of the city) was an especially important element of the city.

1. Oddly enough, the first public "monument" of Rome was the Cloaca Maxima (the Great Sewer) that drained the swamp that was between the hills and allowed this area to be used as a forum.

2. The forum was the public meeting place, like the Greek agora.

3. Essentially, Rome was like a Greek polis, with the urban area and a surrounding countryside.

4. The Capitoline, a hill north of the forum, was essentially the akropolis of Rome, although other hills, such as the Palatine, lay around the forum.