ABSTRACT
ON the left bank of the Tiber, at that time the only navigable river in the Italian peninsula, rose Ancient Rome, the city with a unique destiny. The coasts of Etruria and Latium, flat and lacking all natural harbours, offered no practical means of access to the interior of the region other than that of the Tiber and its tributaries. And on the Palatine, round the foot of which swirled the river, the primitive city arose, then spread over the seven hills and became the political and commercial focus of central Italy. Under Etruscan and Greek influence it grew in riches, and, having evolved a highly-developed legal structure, dominated first Italy and then the whole Mediterranean basin.
