Archaic Italy Summary

Interpreting and creating an objective historical construct of archaic Italy is an extremely arduous and complex task due to the lack of a written record. Moreover, this issue is exacerbated because the Romans integrated their early history with mythology. Additionally, many of the Roman historians are writing their accounts several centuries later, and several of these histories, of the Roman republic and monarchy, are interlaced with fiction, and the biases of the authors. There were no historical guidelines to follow, and as a result of this. According to Boatwright, “A common consequence of such additions was to project back into the past the attitudes and practices of the author’s own day. Roman historians tended to think that their city,
in its essentials, was unchanging from an early date.” (Boatwright, 35)
Saylor faced, not only these issues, but a myriad of other concerns in trying to create a plausible account of Roman history.
Furthermore, to navigate through this nebulous and sparse historical account of Roman tradition, Saylor utilized archaeological evidence, Italy’s geography, the religiosity and culture of the Romans, family traditions, the written record, and early inscriptions to formulate his conclusions. Moreover, Saylor created a fictional account that was used in conjunction with the historical record. As a result of this combination of the historical record and his fictional narrative, Saylor was able to create a social history that focused on the common citizenry in addition to Roman mythology and traditional historical accounts, This confluence of fact and fiction was essential to not only create a plausible social history, but to refute the idea that Rome was in stasis, and the center of the world, according to many Roman historians. In addition, Roma was to serve as a candle in the dark to illuminate the lives of the Roman citizenry even though these individuals may not have existed. According to Saylor, Rome was constantly evolving politically, culturally, and religiously due to the multifarious cultures and milieu that surrounded Rome from its very conception as a city
state.
Chapters one and two in Roma exemplify this combination of history and fiction that created a plausible narrative of the lives of the people of archaic Italy.
In chapter one in Roma, Saylor described Rome as a central hub between the salt beds near the sea, and the various trading partners of the earliest nomadic inhabitants of Rome. “Her people had not yet created the path it had always been there, like the river, but their deerskin-shod feet and the wooden wheels of their handcarts kept the path well worn. Lara’s people were salt traders, and their livelihood took them on a continual journey.”(Saylor, 1) In Saylor’s account Italy in one-thousand B.C. was sparsely inhabited with no cities, and only a handful of
villages