Early Rome to 290 BC - (Edinburgh History of Ancient Rome) by Guy Bradley

About the Book

Guy Bradley examines the reasons for Rome's emergence and success within a highly competitive Italian environment, and how much it owed to its neighbours.

Book Synopsis

A new view of early Rome as a highly mobile society within a wider interconnected Mediterranean network

Covers the rise of Rome from small scale community to supremacy in central ItalyUses the latest archaeological evidence to demonstrate the sophisticated and cosmopolitan nature of early RomeAnalyses the origins of Rome's Republican form of government and of its aggressive drive to conquerIn the first few centuries of its existence, Rome developed from a minor settlement on the Tiber into the most powerful city-state in Italy.
Guy Bradley examines the reasons for Rome's emergence and success within a highly competitive Italian environment, and how much it owed to its neighbours. He explains how many of Rome's key characteristics, such as its powerful ruling elite, its stable political institutions, its openness to outsiders, and its intensely militaristic society, were shaped by their origins in the monarchy and early Republic.

From the Back Cover

A new view of early Rome as a mobile society within a Mediterranean environment In the first few centuries of its existence, Rome developed from a minor settlement on the Tiber into the most powerful city-state in Italy. Guy Bradley examines the reasons for Rome's emergence and success within a highly competitive Italian environment, and how much it owed to its neighbours. He explains how many of Rome's key characteristics, such as its powerful ruling elite, its stable political institutions, its openness to outsiders, and its intensely militaristic society, were shaped by their origins in the monarchy and early Republic. Key Features: - Covers the rise of Rome from small scale community to supremacy in central Italy - Uses the latest archaeological evidence to demonstrate the sophisticated and cosmopolitan nature of early Rome - Analyses the origins of Rome's Republican form of government and of its aggressive drive to conquer. Guy Bradley is Senior Lecturer in Ancient History at Cardiff University

Review Quotes

By stepping outside of the binary of optimists and pessimists in his approach to the literary evidence, and by judiciously interpreting the ever-increasing body of archaeological material, Guy Bradley offers an evenhanded and insightful narrative of the development of Rome in his Early Rome to 290 BC: The Beginnings of the City and the Rise of the Republic over the course of eleven chapters (six thematic chapters bringing us to the sixth century BCE followed by five more advancing to 290 BCE).--Parrish Elizabeth Wright "Ancient World Magazine"

Guy Bradley's Early Rome to 290 BC is an engaging analysis of Rome's ascension from a small hillside community to a supreme power in central Italy. I found it both accessible and scholarly, and enjoyed the way it presents the latest archaeological evidence in tables, maps and illustrations.--Juliana Costa-Veysey "The Journal of Classics Teaching (2022), 1-3"

Guy Bradley's monumental study of early Rome represents the most balanced and scholarly account we have. His grasp of the archaeological material, the literary evidence and the theoretical frameworks is second to none, and this is now the standard account against which all rival interpretations will be measured.-- "Christopher Smith, University of St Andrew's"

Overall, there can be no doubt that this book captures the broad outlines very clearly and offers a good representation of the increasingly optimistic tendencies in scholarship, which are based on a growing material basis and on bold models.--Uwe Walter "Histos 16, 2022"

About the Author

Guy Bradley is Professor of Ancient History at Cardiff University.