9. The Roman conquest

Abstract

‘The Roman conquest’ describes the impact of the Roman imperialist expansion into Etruria on the people of the region. The conquest was part of a much broader drive towards domination by the Romans. Different regions in Italy experienced this cultural revolution in different ways. Understanding Roman imperial expansion in the fourth century is not straightforward. Roman writers were guilty of exaggeration and error. Rome’s progress, however, was steady and methodical. The habit of conflict to them was deep-seated. The debate about how aggressive the Romans really were goes back centuries. The Romans’ major intervention was through confiscation of territory from the Etruscans.