Rome 06: The Conquest of Italy

In the past few lectures, we have contextualized Rome and its place within the Mediterranean Sea generally and the Italian Peninsula specifically. Today we are going to be looking at how Rome grew to conquer the Italian Peninsula. More importantly, we are going to look at how they handled those they conquered and some of the remedies Rome came up with to handle their rapidly expanding empire. I want to again emphasize this term empire. You are going to hear me use it regularly. If you are reading this lecture, then you will notice I am using a lowercase "e". This is intentional.  When we speak of the Roman Empire with a capital "E", we are speaking about the period of Roman history known as the Empire which begins after Augustus. For right now, we are using a lowercase "e" because Rome had an empire long before Augustus' reforms. Think about that word "empire". Any idea where it comes from?  It comes from a Roman term imperium , which means "command". As Rome grew to dominate other people, they began to have an empire throughout which they commanded over various peoples. And their empire begins in this lecture as they conquer the Italian Peninsula.