The earliest evidence for the occupation of the site of Rome dates to the 13th century BC; the earliest evidence for written literature at Rome dates to the third century BC. How can we ever be in a position to understand the intervening thousand years of Rome's prehistory± Since our earliest historical sources date from the first century BC, it is obvious that neither they nor their earliest sources could have had authentic knowledge of early Rome. The essays in this book address the problem both directly and indirectly, firstly by scrutinising the material our sources present, in the hope of ... More

The earliest evidence for the occupation of the site of Rome dates to the 13th century BC; the earliest evidence for written literature at Rome dates to the third century BC. How can we ever be in a position to understand the intervening thousand years of Rome's prehistory± Since our earliest historical sources date from the first century BC, it is obvious that neither they nor their earliest sources could have had authentic knowledge of early Rome. The essays in this book address the problem both directly and indirectly, firstly by scrutinising the material our sources present, in the hope of identifying genuinely early elements; secondly by analysing the evidence for institutions that may presuppose early conditions, in particular religious rituals and the stories told to account for them; thirdly by focussing on the origins and development of the annual ‘stage games’ (ludi scaenici), which not only entertained the Roman People but also taught them what they needed to know about their gods and the deeds of their ancestors; and finally by exploring how Roman history-writing first developed, to try to understand some of the ways in which the various quasi-historical narratives of early Rome may have been constructed.