Foundation of Rome

According to the Roman people's traditions, the foundation of Rome took place in 753 BC on the Tiber river. The founders of this ancient city was Romulus and Remus; two brothers that had been raised by a she-wolf. They were considered the sons of the Mars, the god of war. However, according to archeologists and historians, Rome was settled and built on and around the seven hills on the Tiber by two Indo-european tribes; the Latins and the Sabines, under the hegemony of the Etruscans, which were people from a different ethnic group living further north.

The Latins and the Sabines belonged to a branch of Indo-European speaking tribes, known as Italic tribes. They had entered the Italic peninsula around 1800 BC from the north but they originally migrated from the Eastern Europe. Along with the Samnites and Umbrians, they settled in what is today Italy, in the same way the four Hellenic tribes had settled and conquered the Balkan peninsula (Greece). Meanwhile, the Etruscans were a racially mixed people, with a local (Mediterranean) tribal element and a migrating group that came from somewhere in the Middle East. Therefore, the Latins, Sabines, and Etruscans are the three main ethnic elements that intermingled and influenced one another to become the Roman people and Rome.

Government

At the beginning, after the foundation of Rome, the city was ruled for more than two centuries by Etruscan kings, who were despotic monarchs, until 509 BC. That year, the Latins and Sabines rose up in arms against Tarquinius Superbus (Tarquin, the Proud), who was the last king of early Rome. Then the Latins established a republic as a form of government. A republic is the rule of law, with the division of power in a checks-and-balances political system. The executive power was represented by two consuls, who were elected by the Senate, and their office lasted for two years. Meanwhile, the legislative power was shared also with the people’s Assemblies, which passed important laws that regulated civil, economic, and social affairs.

Below, Etruscan men in a painting on the sides of an ancient Roman vase after the foundation of Rome.