Becoming Rome
The Rise of Rome: From the Iron Age to the Punic Wars,
by Kathryn Lomas,
Belknap Press,
Cambridge, Mass.,
2018, $35
Durham University researcher Kathryn Lomas insists a broader Italian context is mandatory for an understanding of how Rome, one among many competing city-states, rose to dominate the Italian peninsula. Combining archaeological evidence with historical accounts, the author alternates chapters about Italy and chapters on Rome to explore the relationship between the leading city-state and its neighbors. While politics, diplomacy and warfare play a leading role in her well-researched narrative, she also dabbles in geography, topography, ethnicity, language, culture, social organization, religion, economics, interstate commerce, urbanization and colonization. Lomas acknowledges the paucity of reliable sources about Rome’s early history, though she stresses that such accounts do reveal how Romans perceived and presented themselves.
Lomas examines how Rome’s internal political organization shaped the community and influenced its external relations. Under the rule of the traditional seven kings the city-state developed its foundational elements, some of which
