James Baquet Today we will look at the beginning of a process which we’ll finish up in our next column. I’m referring to the unification of Italy, which began under the Romans with their expansion beyond the city of Rome into surrounding city states. Before the founding of the republic, traditionally dated to 509 B.C., Rome was a kingdom. Its legendary founding was in 753 B.C., when Romulus (who, with his twin Remus, was allegedly raised by a wolf bitch) founded the city on the Tiber River and lent it his name. He became the city’s first king (again, according to legend), followed by six more. The seven Legendary kings ended with Tarquin the Proud, whose overthrow led to the founding of the Republic. The Romans under Romulus are said to have fought against the neighboring Sabines, including a semi-mythical incident called “The Rape of the Sabine Women,” rape here meaning “abduction” rather than sexual assault, though that may have been part of it. Other conquests followed, but it was with the founding of the Republic that the true expansion began. There was the Battle of Lake Regillus (circa 496 B.C.), in which the Tarquins tried to reclaim their throne, leading the Latin League, a confederation of about 30 villages and tribes around Rome. It is said the Romans fought all the harder because their deposed dictator was on the other side; it was a decisive Roman victory. Two decades later, in 477 B.C., the Roman Republic faced the Etruscan city of Veii in the Battle of the Cremera. The Etruscan civilization, centered in modern-day Tuscany, was distinct from Rome in language and customs (though they had been one of the city’s three founding tribes, and the last three kings — including Tarquin the Proud — had been Etruscans). At Cremera, the Veientes beat the Romans through a ruse, luring them into an ambush by leading a herd of cattle past their camp. When the Romans tried to capture the cattle, the Veientes attacked. But the Romans were victorious the following year. Through these and other incidents, by 264 B.C. the Roman-Etruscan Wars were over and Rome ruled the entire Italian peninsula. Vocabulary: Which word above means: 1. perhaps having some historical truth 2. attracted into a trap 3. trick 4. surprise attack 5. removed from the throne by force 6. started 7. supposedly 8. area of land surrounded by water on three sides 9. kidnapping 10. female dog or related species | 