Roman Italy

• 1. Mythical Origins And Early Settlements

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  Roman mythology places the ancestral home of Aeneas in Italy, a land where his descendants Romulus and Remus would eventually found Rome. Historical evidence shows Rome began as an Italic city-state before evolving from a kingdom into a republic between 753 BC and 509 BC. The Italian peninsula was dominated by diverse tribes including Gauls, Ligures, Veneti, Camunni, and Histri in the north. Etruscans, Latins, Falisci, Picentes, Umbri, and Sabines held power across the central regions. Southern areas hosted Iapygian tribes like the Messapians, Oscan groups such as the Samnites, and Greek colonies including Sybaris. These distinct communities existed long before Roman expansion unified them under a single political entity.

• 2. Republican Expansion And Social Wars

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  The consolidation of Italy occurred during Roman expansion when Rome formed permanent associations with most local tribes and cities. Inhabitants included Roman citizens, communities holding Latin Rights, and socii allies who provided crucial military strength. The Punic and Macedonian wars between the 3rd and 2nd century BC marked the start of this rise. Turbulence erupted between the end of the 2nd century BC and the 1st century BC through Servile Wars and aristocratic opposition to populist reformers. A Social War broke out in the middle of Italy before Roman citizenship extended to all fellow Italic peoples by its conclusion in 87 BC. Julius Caesar later granted citizenship to people of Cisalpine Gaul via the Lex Roscia in 49 BC, abolishing that province in 42 BC to extend Italy northward to the Alps.

• 3. Augustan Reorganization Of Regions

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  Around 7 BC Augustus divided Italy into eleven regiones as reported by Pliny the Elder in his Naturalis Historia. Regio I Latium et Campania covered central territories while Regio II Apulia et Calabria spanned the heel of the peninsula. Regio III Lucania et Bruttium occupied southern lands and Regio IV Samnium held central mountainous areas. Regio V Picenum stretched along the Adriatic coast and Regio VI Umbria et Ager Gallicus covered central highlands. Regio VII Etruria dominated western Tuscany while Regio VIII Aemilia ran along the northern plains. Regio IX Liguria hugged the northwest coast and Regio X Venetia et Histria controlled northeastern territories. Regio XI Transpadana completed the division across the Po Valley. This organization brought over two centuries of stability and allowed agriculture, handicraft, and industry to flourish. Three censuses ordered by Augustus recorded populations reaching 4,063,000 in 28 BC and rising to 4,937,000 by AD 14. Estimates for mainland Italy population at the beginning of the 1st century range from 6,000,000 to 14,000,000 depending on the scholar.

• 4. Diocletianic Administrative Divisions

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  Emperor Diocletian moved the imperial residence associated with western territories from Rome to Mediolanum in 286 AD. In 293 AD he subdivided Italy into provinces and ended its special juridical privileges which led to loss of precedence over other regions. Islands including Corsica, Sardinia, Sicily, and Malta were added to Italy under his reforms. The city of Rome declined as new capitals emerged outside Italy such as Nicomedia, Sirmium, and later Constantinople. During the Crisis of the Third Century the Roman Empire faced invasions, military anarchy, civil wars, and hyperinflation before Diocletian restored political stability in 284. He created a Tetrarchy where two senior emperors called Augusti ruled alongside two junior vice-emperors known as Caesars. Provinces doubled in number to reduce governor power while grouping them into dioceses supervised by Imperial vicarius deputies. Italy became the Dioecesis Italiciana containing Raetia and subdivided into provinces like Liguria, Transpadana, Rhaetia, Venetia et Histria, Aemilia, Tuscia et Umbria, Flaminia, Latium et Campania, Samnium, Apulia et Calabria, Lucania et Bruttium, Sicilia, and Corsica et Sardinia.

• 5. Late Antiquity And Imperial Decline

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  Constantine completed rebuilding Byzantium as Constantinople in 330 establishing an imperial court, Senate, financial administrations, and military structures there. The new city did not receive an urban prefect until 359 when it gained eastern capital status. After Theodosius died in 395 the division of the Empire made Italy home base for the Western Roman Empire. Alaric king of Visigoths sacked Rome itself in 410 something that had not happened for eight centuries. Northern Italy faced attacks from Attila's Huns in 452 before Rome was sacked again in 455 by Vandals under Genseric. In 476 Romulus Augustulus abdicated causing formal fall of the Western Roman Empire unless one considers Julius Nepos recognized by Constantinople as last emperor. He was assassinated in 480 and may have been recognized by Odoacer who ruled Italy with his Kingdom of Italy. Theodoric the Great later established Ostrogothic control while Roman Emperor Justinian invaded Italy in 535 suffering twenty years of disastrous war. A Pragmatic sanction issued in August 554 maintained most Diocletian organization but Lombard invasion in 568 caused Byzantines to lose most territory except Exarchate of Ravenna and footholds in south Naples and toe and heel of peninsula.