2. Study Questions Copy

Try to write your answers first and then compare with the answers provided below. Click on the questions to view the answers.

1. What were the geographical advantages of Rome as a site on which to found a city?

The hills upon which Rome was built would have made it defensible, and its river would have been useful for trading links.

2. Look at the links for the inhabitants of Latium, the Etruscans and the Greek colonists. Make appropriate notes. What influence may these peoples have had on the way that Rome developed?

The intermixing of cultures and languages would undoubtedly have exercised some influence. Religion and myth are particularly notable.

3. Look at the biographical details for both Livy and Dionysius. Both were writing during the reign of Augustus. How might this have affected the way they wrote?

Augustus had a huge ideological investment in the Aeneas myth, that both recite as historical fact. He linked his family ancestry to Aeneas. Were both historians propagandists for the regime?

4. Read the prefaces to both their works (links provided). What do they say they reasons are for writing their histories?

Both are keen to extol the virtues and historical foundations of what they see as the most successful culture in world history. Could this lead to a lack of critical thinking about Rome’s origins?

2. Study Questions Copy

2. Study Questions Copy

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