Forsythe Gary. A Critical History of Early Rome. From Prehistory to the First Punic War

Berkeley ; Los Angeles ; London: University of California Press, 2005. — 421 p. — ISBN 0–520–22651–8.This book narrates the early history of Rome, one of the most successful imperial powers of world history. Although the story told here ends with the subjugation of Italy and thus does not treat the great wars of overseas conquest, during Rome’s advancement from a small town on the Tiber River to the ruling power of the Italian peninsula the Romans in large measure developed the social, political, and military institutions that formed the foundations of their later imperial greatness.Italy in Prehistory
The Land and its Linguistic Diversity
Modern Archaeology and Prehistory
Prehistoric Italy
The Ice Man
The Bronze and Iron Ages
Ancient Languages and Modern ArchaeologyArchaic Italy c. 800–500 B.C.
Phoenicians in the West
Greek Colonization in the West
The Formation of Etruscan Civilization
Phoenicians, Greeks, and Etruscans
Growth and Decline of Etruscan Civilization
The Alphabet
The Archaeology of Early LatiumThe Ancient Sources for Early Roman History
The Annalistic Tradition
The Antiquarian Tradition
Livy and Dionysius of Halicarnassus
Cicero and Diodorus Siculus
Ancient Documentary Sources
Roman Oral Tradition and Greek MythRome During the Regal Period
The Nature of the Evidence
The Site of Rome
The Archaeology of Early Rome
The Ancient Literary Tradition
Archaic Roman Institutions
Rome’s Growth and Expanding HorizonsArchaic Roman Religion
Some Important Roman Divinities
The Official Religious Calendar
The Religious Priesthoods
Roman Religious Practices and IdeologyThe Beginning of the Roman Republic
How Did The Monarchy End?
The Nature and Origin of the Consulship
The Early Consular Fasti
Patricians and Plebeians
Senators, Patricians, and Priests
The Plebeian Tribunate
The Tribal and Other Assemblies
Rome and the Latins
Sp. Cassius, the Fabii, and the Cremera
Clan Warfare and the Lapis SatricanusRome of the Twelve Tables
The Trial of K. Quinctius
Appius Herdonius and Quinctius Cincinnatus
Facts and Fictions of the Plebeian Tribunate
The Decemviral Legislation
Jurisdiction in Early Roman Law
Litigation and Orality in Early Roman Law
Society and Economy
The Second Board of Decemvirs
The Prohibition of Intermarriage
The Second Secession and the Valerian Horatian LawsEvolution and Growth of the Roman State, 444–367 B.C.
The Military Tribunes with Consular Power
The Sedition of Sp. Maelius
The War Against Fidenae
The War Against Veii
The Gallic Catastrophe and Its Aftermath
The Sedition of M. Manlius Capitolinus
The Licinian Sextian LawsRome’s Rise to Dominance, 366–300 B.C.
Emergence of the Roman Nobility
Tibur, Gauls, Greeks, and Carthage
The Samnites and the First Samnite War
The Latin War and its Consequences
The Second Samnite War
The Philinus Treaty
Other Significant Changes in the Roman State
Roman Factional PoliticsRome’s Conquest and Unification of Italy, 299–264 B.C.
The Third Samnite War
Early Roman Coinage
Military Ethos and Aristocratic Family Tradition
Domestic and Foreign Affairs during the 280s B.C.
The Pyrrhic War
The Roman Organization of Italy
Some Final AssessmentsAppendix: early Roman chronology
Works cited