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140-762: The word "social" derives from the Latin word socii ("allies"). It is particularly derived from the Italian Socii states, historical allies of the Roman Republic (although they rebelled against Rome in the Social War of 91–87 BC ). In the view of Karl Marx , human beings are intrinsically, necessarily and by definition social beings who, beyond being "gregarious creatures", cannot survive and meet their needs other than through social co-operation and association. Their social characteristics are therefore to

280-578: A "Section of Animal Behavior and Sociobiology" of the Ecological Society of America was created in 1956, which became a Division of Animal Behavior of the American Society of Zoology in 1958. In 1956, E. O. Wilson came in contact with this emerging sociobiology through his PhD student Stuart A. Altmann, who had been in close relation with the participants to the 1948 conference. Altmann developed his own brand of sociobiology to study

420-470: A sheep population might encourage the expansion of a wolf population, an expansion of altruistic traits within a gene pool may also encourage increasing numbers of individuals with dependent traits. Studies of human behavior genetics have generally found behavioral traits such as creativity, extroversion, aggressiveness, and IQ have high heritability . The researchers who carry out those studies are careful to point out that heritability does not constrain

560-477: A territorium of an average size of 370 km . The territorium would frequently consist of some of the defeated people's best agricultural land, since the social function of colonies was to satisfy the Romans' land-hungry peasantry. But the choice of site for a colonia was primarily dictated by strategic considerations. Coloniae were situated at key geographical points: the coasts (e.g. Antium , Ariminum ),

700-568: A Latin city-state. The most important use of this device was the incorporation of the Campanian city-states into the ager Romanus , bringing the most fertile agricultural land in the peninsula and a large population under Roman control. Also incorporated sine suffragio were several tribes on the fringes of Latium Vetus that had until that time been long-time enemies of Rome: the Aurunci, Volsci, Sabini and Aequi. (b) Alongside direct annexation,

840-568: A Roman king were thus similar to those of Julius Caesar when he was appointed dictator in perpetuity in 44 BC, and indeed of the Roman emperors . According to Roman tradition, in 616 BC, an Etruscan named Lucumo from the town of Tarquinii , was elected king of Rome as Lucius Tarquinius Priscus . He was succeeded by his son-in-law, Servius Tullius , and then by his son, Lucius Tarquinius Superbus . The establishment of this Etruscan "dynasty" has led some dated historians to claim that late regal Rome

980-479: A colony, and accept the status of socii . This was in order that Latin colonies could act as "watchdogs" on the other socii in the allied military formations, the alae . The defeated state would be allowed to keep the rest of its territory in return for binding itself to Rome with an unequal foedus , one that would forge a state of perpetual military alliance with the Roman Republic. This would require

1120-492: A correlation between the gene frequencies predicted by the strategy, and those expressed in a population. Altruism between social insects and littermates has been explained in such a way. Altruistic behavior, behavior that increases the reproductive fitness of others at the apparent expense of the altruist, in some animals has been correlated to the degree of genome shared between altruistic individuals. A quantitative description of infanticide by male harem-mating animals when

1260-570: A fear of biological determinism , accusing among others Stephen Jay Gould and Richard Lewontin of being "radical scientists", whose stance on human nature is influenced by politics rather than science, while Lewontin, Steven Rose and Leon Kamin , who drew a distinction between the politics and history of an idea and its scientific validity, argue that sociobiology fails on scientific grounds. Gould grouped sociobiology with eugenics , criticizing both in his book The Mismeasure of Man . When Napoleon Chagnon scheduled sessions on sociobiology at

1400-465: A fellow soldier. This example raises the question of how altruistic genes can be passed on if this soldier dies without having any children. Within sociobiology, a social behavior is first explained as a sociobiological hypothesis by finding an evolutionarily stable strategy that matches the observed behavior. Stability of a strategy can be difficult to prove, but usually, it will predict gene frequencies. The hypothesis can be supported by establishing

1540-427: A greater chance of surviving and/or reproducing in the past are more likely to survive in present organisms. That inherited adaptive behaviors are present in nonhuman animal species has been multiply demonstrated by biologists, and it has become a foundation of evolutionary biology . However, there is continued resistance by some researchers over the application of evolutionary models to humans, particularly from within

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1680-433: A history of intergroup conflict for resources between men have led to differences in violence and aggression between men and women. The novelist Elias Canetti also has noted applications of sociobiological theory to cultural practices such as slavery and autocracy. Genetic mouse mutants illustrate the power that genes exert on behavior. For example, the transcription factor FEV (aka Pet1), through its role in maintaining

1820-452: A huge ransom in gold to leave. The effects of this disaster on Roman power are a matter of controversy between scholars. The ancient authors emphasize the catastrophic nature of the damage, claiming that it took a long time for Rome to recover. Cornell, however, argues that the ancients greatly exaggerated the effects and cites the lack of archaeological evidence for major destruction, the early resumption of an aggressive expansionist policy and

1960-426: A large extent an objectively given fact, stamped on them from birth and affirmed by socialization processes; and, according to Marx, in producing and reproducing their material life, people must necessarily enter into relations of production which are "independent of their will". By contrast, the sociologist Max Weber for example defines human action as "social" if, by virtue of the subjective meanings attached to

2100-431: A result of selective pressures in the history of a species. Thus, they are often interested in instinctive , or intuitive behavior, and in explaining the similarities, rather than the differences, between cultures. For example, mothers within many species of mammals – including humans – are very protective of their offspring . Sociobiologists reason that this protective behavior likely evolved over time because it helped

2240-521: A role in human behavior, but that traits such as aggressiveness could be explained by social environment rather than by biology. Sociobiologists responded by pointing to the complex relationship between nature and nurture . Among sociobiologists, the controversy between laying weight to different levels of selection was settled between D.S. Wilson and E.O. Wilson in 2007. E. O. Wilson defined sociobiology as "the extension of population biology and evolutionary theory to social organization". Sociobiology

2380-431: A victim of its own success in forging a united nation out of the patchwork of ethnicities and states . The socii rebelled en masse , including many that had remained steadfast in the past, launching the Social War . But, unlike on previous occasions, their aim was to join the Roman state as equal citizens, not to secede from it. Although the socii were defeated on the battlefield, they gained their main demand. By

2520-466: A virtual replay of the previous century. There were wars against the same enemies except Veii (i.e. the Volsci, Aequi and Etruscans) in the same geographical area, and indeed against other Latin city-states, such as Praeneste and Tibur , just 30 miles away. In addition, a treaty concluded with Carthage c. 348 seems to describe Rome's sphere of control as much the same area as in a previous treaty signed in

2660-505: Is based on legend rather than written documentation, as the few written documents that did exist in the earlier period were mostly lost in the Gallic sack. There is a tendency among ancient authors to create anachronisms. For example, Rome's so-called " Servian Wall " was attributed to the legendary king Servius Tullius in c. 550 BC, but archaeology and a note in Livy himself show that the wall

2800-416: Is based on the premise that some behaviors (social and individual) are at least partly inherited and can be affected by natural selection . It begins with the idea that behaviors have evolved over time, similar to the way that physical traits are thought to have evolved. It predicts that animals will act in ways that have proven to be evolutionarily successful over time. This can, among other things, result in

2940-670: Is commonly substituted for the term sociobiology in order to avoid the public controversy. Sociobiologists maintain that human behavior , as well as nonhuman animal behavior, can be partly explained as the outcome of natural selection. They contend that in order to fully understand behavior, it must be analyzed in terms of evolutionary considerations. Natural selection is fundamental to evolutionary theory. Variants of hereditary traits which increase an organism's ability to survive and reproduce will be more greatly represented in subsequent generations, i.e., they will be "selected for". Thus, inherited behavioral mechanisms that allowed an organism

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3080-414: Is defined as "a concern for the welfare of others". If altruism is genetically determined, then altruistic individuals must reproduce their own altruistic genetic traits for altruism to survive, but when altruists lavish their resources on non-altruists at the expense of their own kind, the altruists tend to die out and the others tend to increase. An extreme example is a soldier losing his life trying to help

3220-404: Is generally regarded as mythical). It is also likely that there were several more kings than those preserved by tradition, given the long duration of the regal era (even if it did start in 625 rather than 753). The Roman monarchy, although an autocracy , did not resemble a medieval monarchy. It was not hereditary and based on "divine right", but elective and subject to the ultimate sovereignty of

3360-576: Is probably for reasons of military security. Classified as non-citizens, the Latins served in the allied alae , not the legions. There they could act as loyal "watchdogs" on potentially treacherous Italian socii , while the Romans/original Latins performed the same function in the legions on their sine suffragio colleagues. The post-338 Latin colonies comprised 2,500–6,000 adult male settlers (average 3,700) based on an urban centre with

3500-468: Is to be preferred, as 1,100 drachmae seems too high a figure for destitute individuals and it is likely that the Roman military would have made use of the manpower of this group. The table shows that the richest two property classes combined, the equites (knights, including the six centuriae probably reserved for patricians), together with the first property class, were allocated an absolute majority of

3640-424: The foedus Cassianum ("Treaty of Cassius", 493 BC) signed by the fledgling Roman republic with its neighbouring Latin city-states shortly after the overthrow of the Roman monarchy in 510 BC. This provided for mutual defence by the two parties on the basis of an equal contribution to the annual military levy, which was probably under Roman overall command. The terms of the treaty were probably more acceptable to

3780-619: The Latin War did not end until 338 BC. This demonstrates that the other Latin cities were as martial as Rome itself. Before pax Romana , the Etruscan city-states to the north existed, like the Latin states, in a state of "militarised anarchy", with chronic and fierce competition for territory and hegemony. The evidence is that every Etruscan city until 500 BC was sited on virtually impregnable hilltops and cliff edges. Despite these natural defences, they all acquired walls by 400. Etruscan culture

3920-434: The Roman Republic had attained its evolved structure, which remained essentially unchanged for three centuries. In theory, Rome's republican constitution was democratic, based on the principle of the sovereignty of the Roman people. It had also developed an elaborate set of checks and balances to prevent the excessive concentration of power. The two Consuls, together with other republican Magistrates, were elected annually by

4060-682: The Volturno river, annexing the territories of the Aurunci , Volsci , Sidicini and the Campanians themselves; and eastwards across the centre of the peninsula towards the Adriatic coast, incorporating the Hernici , Sabini , Aequi and Picentes . The years after the departure of Pyrrhus in 275 saw a further round of annexation, of substantial territories in southern Italy at the expense of

4200-413: The alpha male is displaced as well as rodent female infanticide and fetal resorption are active areas of study. In general, females with more bearing opportunities may value offspring less, and may also arrange bearing opportunities to maximize the food and protection from mates. An important concept in sociobiology is that temperament traits exist in an ecological balance. Just as an expansion of

4340-513: The comitia e.g. in 326 BC. By the end of the Samnite Wars in 290, the Senate enjoyed complete control over virtually all aspects of political life: finance, war, diplomacy, public order and the state religion. The rise of the Senate's role was the inevitable consequence of the increasing complexity of the Roman state due to its expansion, which made government by short-term officers such as

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4480-474: The iura Latina ("Latin rights") held by original Latins before their incorporation into the citizen body. In essence, these rights were similar to the civitates sine suffragio , except that the Latin colonists were technically not citizens, but peregrini ("foreigners"), although they could recover their citizenship by returning to Roman territory. The question arises as to why the Latin colonists were not simply accorded citizenship sine suffragio . The answer

4620-455: The natural environment , so also it led to the genetic evolution of advantageous social behavior. While the term "sociobiology" originated at least as early as the 1940s; the concept did not gain major recognition until the publication of E. O. Wilson 's book Sociobiology: The New Synthesis in 1975. The new field quickly became the subject of controversy . Critics, led by Richard Lewontin and Stephen Jay Gould , argued that genes played

4760-534: The pax Romana . Each socius' remaining territory was secure from aggression by neighbours. As warfare between socii was now prohibited, inter-social disputes were settled by negotiation or, ever more frequently, by Roman arbitration. The confederation also acted as the peninsula's defender against external invasion and domination. Gallic invasions from the North were, from 390 BC when the Senones destroyed Rome, seen as

4900-421: The private enterprise and corporate organizational structures inherent to capitalism . The modern concept of socialism evolved in response to the development of industrial capitalism. The "social" in modern "socialism" came to refer to the specific perspective and understanding socialists had of the development of material, economic forces and determinants of human behavior in society. Specifically, it denoted

5040-429: The serotonergic system in the brain, is required for normal aggressive and anxiety -like behavior. Thus, when FEV is genetically deleted from the mouse genome, male mice will instantly attack other males, whereas their wild-type counterparts take significantly longer to initiate violent behavior. In addition, FEV has been shown to be required for correct maternal behavior in mice, such that offspring of mothers without

5180-484: The socii population outnumbered the Romans by roughly two to one, but normally provided roughly the same number of troops to the confederate levy. During the Samnite Wars, the burden on Romans was extremely onerous. The standard levy was raised from two to four legions and military operations took place every single year. This implies that c. 16% of all Roman adult males spent every campaigning season under arms in this period, rising to 25% during emergencies. Nevertheless,

5320-438: The socii were allowed to share the spoils of war, the main remuneration of Republican levy soldiers (since pay was minimal), on an equal basis with Roman citizens. This allowed socii soldiers to return home at the end of each campaigning season with substantial capital and was important in reconciling the socii to service outside Italy, especially in the second century BC. The Italian allies enjoyed complete autonomy outside

5460-479: The 1970s suggests that Rome did not assume the characteristics of a united city-state (as opposed to a group of separate hilltop settlements) before around 625. The same evidence, however, has also conclusively discredited A. Alfoldi 's once-fashionable theory that Rome was an insignificant settlement until c. 500 (and that, consequently, the Republic was not established before c. 450). There is now no doubt that Rome

5600-527: The 1976 American Anthropological Association convention, other scholars attempted to cancel them with what Chagnon later described as "Impassioned accusations of racism, fascism and Nazism"; Margaret Mead 's support caused the sessions to occur as scheduled. Noam Chomsky has expressed views on sociobiology on several occasions. During a 1976 meeting of the Sociobiology Study Group , as reported by Ullica Segerstråle , Chomsky argued for

5740-579: The Balkans. Despite the fact that the alliance was no longer acting defensively, there was virtually no protest from the socii , most likely because the latter benefited equally in the enormous amounts of war booty yielded by these campaigns. But, beneath the surface, resentment was building among the socii about their second-class status as peregrini i.e. non-citizens (except for the Latin colonists, who could regain their citizenship by moving to Roman territory). The Roman military confederation now became

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5880-630: The Censors), and were thus freed from control by the Consuls. In the period following the Lex Ovinia , the Consuls were gradually reduced to executive servants of the Senate. The concentration of power in the hands of the Senate is exemplified by its assumption of the power of prorogatio , the extension of the imperium (mandate) of Consuls and other Magistrates beyond its single year. It appears that prorogatio could previously be granted only by

6020-429: The Consuls and by plebiscite impractical. The Senate's monopoly of power in turn entrenched the political supremacy of the wealthiest echelon. The 300 members of the Senate were mostly a narrow, self-perpetuating clique of ex-Consuls ( consulares ) and other ex-Magistrates, virtually all members of the wealthy classes. Within this elite, charismatic personalities, who might challenge senatorial supremacy by allying with

6160-493: The FEV factor do not survive unless cross-fostered to other wild-type female mice. A genetic basis for instinctive behavioral traits among non-human species, such as in the above example, is commonly accepted among many biologists; however, attempting to use a genetic basis to explain complex behaviors in human societies has remained extremely controversial. Steven Pinker argues that critics have been overly swayed by politics and

6300-592: The First Property Class. In the rare event of a majority not being attained, the Second Class was called, but it was hardly ever necessary to consult the lowest classes." Also in its legislative capacity, the popular assembly offered little scope for democratic action. For this purpose, the comitia could only meet when summoned by a Magistrate. Participants could only vote (by centuria ) for or against propositions ( rogationes ) put before them by

6440-622: The Latins than the previous type of Roman hegemony, that of the Tarquin kings , as the latter had probably required the payment of tribute and not a simple military obligation. In the fourth century BC, the original Latins were mostly granted Roman citizenship. But the terms of the foedus was extended to about 150 other tribes and city-states. When a state was defeated, a part of its territory would be annexed by Rome to provide land for Roman/Latin colonists. The latter, although Roman citizens, were required to give up their citizen rights on joining

6580-579: The League's territory was split into three independent cantons: Samnium, Hirpinum and Caudium. A broad belt of Samnite territory was annexed, separating the Samnites from their neighbours to the north - the Marsi and Paeligni . Two Latin colonies were founded in the heart of Samnite territory to act as "watchdogs". The final feature of Roman hegemony was the construction of a number of paved highways all over

6720-541: The Lucani and Bruttii. The Bruttii lost large forest lands, whose timber was needed to build ships and the Lucani lost their most fertile land, the coastal plain on which the Latin colony of Paestum was established in 273. In the North, the Romans annexed the ager Gallicus , a large stretch of plain on the Adriatic coast from the Senones Gallic tribe, with a Latin colony at Ariminum in 268. By 264, Rome controlled

6860-479: The Orders , against the patrician monopoly of power. The plebeian leadership had the advantage that they represented the vast majority of the population, therefore also the majority of the Roman levy and of their own growing wealth. Milestones in their ultimately successful struggle are the establishment of a plebeian assembly (the concilium plebis ) with some legislative power and to elect officers called tribunes of

7000-539: The Roman citizenry (male citizens over 14 years old only) voting by centuria (voting constituency) at the comitia centuriata (electoral assembly), held each year on the Field of Mars in Rome. The popular assemblies also had the right to promulgate laws ( leges ). The Consuls, who combined both civil and military functions, had equal authority and the right to veto each other's decisions. The main policy-making institution,

7140-463: The Roman military alliance is misleading, as it implies some form of common political structure. Instead, there were no federal political institutions, and indeed not even formal procedures for effective consultation. Any socius that wished to make representations about policy could do so only by dispatching an ad hoc delegation to the Roman Senate . Military and foreign policy lay entirely in

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7280-534: The Romans were relatively generous to their defeated foes, a further reason for their success. A good case-study of how the Romans employed sophisticated divide-and-rule strategies in order to control potentially dangerous enemies is the political settlement imposed on the Samnites after three gruelling wars. The central aim was to prevent a restoration of the Samnite League, a confederation of these warlike tribes which had proved hugely dangerous. After 275 BC,

7420-547: The Samnites remained implacable enemies of Rome, seizing every opportunity to throw off the Roman yoke. They rebelled and joined both Pyrrhus and Hannibal when these invaded Italy (275 and 218 BC respectively). In the Social War (91–88 BC) , the Samnites were the core of the rebel coalition, and Samnite generals led the Italian forces. The southern Greek city of Taras ( Tarentum ) had been founded by colonists from Sparta . They retained some of their founders' martial culture. With

7560-510: The Second Punic War). The Roman polity exhibited, in the words of T. J. Cornell, an historian of early Rome, "the classic symptoms of oligarchy , a system of government that depends on rotation of office within a competitive elite, and the suppression of charismatic individuals by peer-group pressure, usually exercised by a council of elders." Because of the poverty of the sources, only the bare outline of Rome's external relations in

7700-478: The Senate from the Consuls to the Censors , two new Magistrates elected at 5-yearly intervals, whose specific job was to hold a census of Roman citizens and their property. The Lex Ovinia set specific criteria for such appointments or removals (although these are not precisely known). The result was that the Senate now became a formal constitutional entity. Its members now held office for life (or until expelled by

7840-481: The Senate, was an unelected body composed mostly of Roman aristocrats but its decrees could not contravene leges , and motions in the Senate could be vetoed by any one of 10 tribunes of the plebs , elected by the concilium plebis , an assembly restricted to plebeian members only. The tribunes could also veto decisions made by the Consuls. But these constitutional arrangements were far less democratic than they might appear, as elections were rigged heavily in favour of

7980-685: The Social War, legions were always accompanied by allied alae on campaign. Usually, a consular army would contain an equal number of legions and alae , although, because of variations in the size of the respective units, the ratio of socii to Romans in a consular army could vary from 2:1 to 1:1, though it was normally closer to the latter. Sociobiology Sociobiology is a field of biology that aims to explain social behavior in terms of evolution . It draws from disciplines including psychology , ethology , anthropology , evolution , zoology , archaeology , and population genetics . Within

8120-551: The action by individuals, it "takes account of the behavior of others, and is thereby oriented in its course". The term " socialism ", used from the 1830s onwards in France and the United Kingdom , was directly related to what was called the social question. In essence, early socialists contended that the emergence of competitive market societies did not create "liberty, equality and fraternity" for all citizens, requiring

8260-458: The ally to "have the same friends and enemies as Rome", effectively prohibiting war against other socii and surrendering foreign policy to Rome. Beyond this, the central, and in most cases sole, obligation on the ally was to contribute to the confederate army, on demand, a number of fully equipped troops up to a specified maximum each year, to serve under Roman command. The Roman confederation had fully evolved by 264 BC and remained for 200 years

8400-449: The attempt to explain the evolutionary mechanics behind social behaviors such as altruism , aggression , and nurturance, primarily in ants (Wilson's own research specialty) and other Hymenoptera , but also in other animals. However, the influence of evolution on behavior has been of interest to biologists and philosophers since soon after the discovery of evolution itself. Peter Kropotkin 's Mutual Aid: A Factor of Evolution , written in

8540-402: The basis of the Roman military structure . From 338 to 88 BC, Roman legions were invariably accompanied on campaign by roughly the same numbers of confederated troops organised into two units called alae (literally "wings", as confederated troops would always be posted on the flanks of the Roman battle-line, with the Roman legions holding the centre). 75% of a normal consular army's cavalry

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8680-562: The best natural harbour in Italy and a fertile hinterland, it was faced from the start with fierce competition from the other Greek colonies and resistance from the indigenous Messapii , an Illyrian -speaking people that occupied what the Romans called Calabria (the heel of Italy). By around 350 BC, the Tarentine statesman Archytas had established the city's hegemony over both sets of rivals. The city's army of 30,000 foot and 4,000 cavalry

8820-483: The building of the "Servian" Wall as evidence that Rome recovered swiftly. The Wall, whose 11 km-circuit enclosed 427 hectares (an increase of 50% over the Tarquinian city) was a massive project which would have required an estimated five million man-hours to complete, implying plentiful financial and labour resources. Against this, Eckstein argues that the history of Rome in the 50 years subsequent to 390 appears

8960-539: The centre of the Italian peninsula was driven by the strategic aim of separating the Etruscans from the Samnites and interdicting a potential coalition of these powerful nations. (c) However, the Romans generally did not annex the whole of the conquered enemy territory, but only selected portions. The defeated peoples generally retained the major part of their territory and their political autonomy. Their sovereignty

9100-420: The centuriate property thresholds, did not exist until then. But this argument is regarded as weak by some historians, as Livy may simply have converted older values). Despite this, the broad trends of early Roman history as related by the ancient authors are reasonably accurate. According to Roman legend, Rome was founded by Romulus in 753 BC. However, the vast amount of archaeological evidence uncovered since

9240-471: The city in 396. Although the annexation of Veii's territory probably increased the ager Romanus by c. 65%, this seems a modest gain for a century of warfare. At this juncture, Rome was crushed by an invasion of central Italy by the Senones Gallic tribe. Routed at the river Allia in 390 BC, the Roman army fled to Veii, leaving their city at the mercy of the Gauls, who proceeded to ransack it and then demand

9380-423: The commoners, were neutralised by various devices, such as the virtual abolition of "iteration", the re-election of consuls for several successive terms, a practice common before 300 BC. (In the period from 366 to 291, eight individuals held the consulship four or more times, while from 289 to 255, none did, and few were even elected twice. Iteration was temporarily resorted to again during the emergency conditions of

9520-559: The constant threat of aggression from their neighbours that had existed in the anarchic centuries prior to the imposition of the pax Romana . In addition, the Roman alliance protected the Italian peninsula from external invasion, such as the periodic and devastating incursions of Gauls from the Po Valley . Although no longer in control of war and foreign policy, each socius remained otherwise fully autonomous, with its own laws , system of government , coinage and language . Moreover,

9660-517: The convening Magistrate. No amendments or motions from the floor were admissible. In modern terms, the legislative activity of the comitia amounted to no more than a series of referendums , and in no sense resembled the role of a parliament . Further, the period of the Samnite wars saw the emergence of the Senate as the predominant political organ at Rome. In the early Republic, the Senate had been an ad hoc advisory council whose members served at

9800-569: The core of the research on animal social behavior and by drawing alliances with emerging research methodologies, at a time when "biology in the field" was threatened to be made old-fashioned by "modern" practices of science (laboratory studies, mathematical biology, molecular biology). Once a specialist term, "sociobiology" became widely known in 1975 when Wilson published his book Sociobiology: The New Synthesis , which sparked an intense controversy. Since then "sociobiology" has largely been equated with Wilson's vision. The book pioneered and popularized

9940-411: The deaths of 80 senators in the battle, a proposal was put forward that the vacancies should be filled by leaders of the Latin colonies. It was indignantly rejected quasi-unanimously. Livy adds that a similar proposal had been made previously by the Latin colonists themselves, with the same result. The Roman consular army brought together both Roman and socii units. For the 250 years between 338 BC and

10080-509: The defeat of Pyrrhus in 275 BC, the Greek city-states of the South were accepted as Roman allies without any loss of territory regardless of whether they had backed Pyrrhus. This was due to the Romans' admiration of Greek culture and the fact that most of the cities contained pro-Roman aristocracies whose interests coincided with the Romans'. By the brutal standards of pre-hegemonic Italy, therefore,

10220-481: The early 1890s, is a popular example. The final chapter of the book is devoted to sociobiological explanations of human behavior, and Wilson later wrote a Pulitzer Prize winning book, On Human Nature , that addressed human behavior specifically. Edward H. Hagen writes in The Handbook of Evolutionary Psychology that sociobiology is, despite the public controversy regarding the applications to humans, "one of

10360-402: The early period can be reliably discerned. It appears likely that Rome in the period 550–500, conventionally known as the period it was ruled by the Tarquin dynasty, established its hegemony over its Latin neighbours. The fall of the Roman monarchy was followed by a war with the Latins, who probably took advantage of the political turmoil in Rome to attempt to regain their independence. This war

10500-568: The end of the war in 87 BC, all inhabitants of peninsular Italy had been granted the right to apply for Roman citizenship. The Romans themselves used the term "Latin" loosely, and this can be confusing. The term was used to describe what were actually three distinct groups: In this article, to avoid confusion, only group (1) will be referred to as "Latins". Group (2) will be called "Latin colonies or colonists" and group (3) will be referred to as "Italian confederates". Socii will refer to groups (2) and (3) combined. The Italian peninsula at this time

10640-521: The entire Italian peninsula, either directly as Roman territory or indirectly through the socii . The prevailing explanation for this explosive expansion, as proposed in W. V. Harris' War and Imperialism in Republican Rome (1979), is that the Roman state was an exceptionally martial society, whose every class from the aristocracy downwards was militarised and whose economy was based on the spoils of annual warfare. Rome's neighbouring peoples, on

10780-416: The equal division of spoils of war (half to Rome, half to the other Latins) and provisions to regulate trade between the parties. In addition, the treaty may have provided for the Latin armed forces levied under the treaty to be led by a Roman commander. These terms served as the basic template for Rome's treaties with all the other Italian socii acquired over the succeeding two centuries. As we do not know

10920-524: The establishment of a democracy, but of a patrician-dominated oligarchy . The proverbial "arrogance" and "tyranny" of the Tarquins, epitomised by the Lucretia incident, is probably a reflection of the patricians' fear of the Tarquins' growing power and their erosion of patrician privilege, most likely by drawing support from the plebeians (commoners). To ensure patrician supremacy, the autocratic power of

11060-413: The existing inhabitants; (b) the foundation of Latin colonies on territory confiscated from defeated peoples; and (c) the binding of defeated peoples to Rome by treaties of perpetual alliance. (a) Since the inhabitants of Latium Vetus were the Romans' fellow-tribesmen, there was no reluctance to grant them full citizenship. But annexations outside Latium Vetus soon gathered pace. The Romans then encountered

11200-425: The exits to mountain passes ( Alba Fucens ), major road intersections ( Venusia ) and river fords ( Interamna ). Also colonies would be sited to provide a defensive barrier between Rome and her allies and potential enemies, as well as to separate those enemies from each other and keep watch on their activity: a divide-and-rule strategy. Thus Rome's string of colonies and eventual annexation of a belt of territory across

11340-469: The fields of military and foreign policy. They maintained their traditional forms of government, language, laws, taxation and coinage. None were even required to accept a Roman garrison on their territory (except for the special cases of the Greek cities of Tarentum , Metapontum and Rhegium ) at the start of the Second Punic War). Thus the costs and benefits of membership of the confederation were finely balanced. For some socii , at some periods, primarily

11480-666: The first years of the Republic 150 years earlier: just the Latium Vetus, and not even all of that. The 75-year period between 338 BC and the outbreak of the First Punic War in 264 saw an explosion of Roman expansion and the subjugation of the entire peninsula to Roman political hegemony, achieved by virtually incessant warfare. Roman territory ( ager Romanus ) grew enormously in size, from c. 5,500 to 27,000 km , c. 20% of peninsular Italy. The Roman citizen population nearly tripled, from c. 350,000 to c. 900,000, c. 30% of

11620-482: The formation of complex social processes conducive to evolutionary fitness. The discipline seeks to explain behavior as a product of natural selection. Behavior is therefore seen as an effort to preserve one's genes in the population. Inherent in sociobiological reasoning is the idea that certain genes or gene combinations that influence particular behavioral traits can be inherited from generation to generation. For example, newly dominant male lions often kill cubs in

11760-414: The foundation for Karl Marx's materialist conception of history . In contemporary society, "social" often refers to the redistributive policies of the government which aim to apply resources in the public interest , for example, social security . Policy concerns then include the problems of social exclusion and social cohesion . Here, "social" contrasts with " private " and to the distinction between

11900-591: The hands of the Roman executive authorities, the Consuls and the policy-making body, the Senate. There existed Italian precedents for a federal political structure e.g. the Latin League and the Samnite League . But the idea of sharing power with the Latin colonists, let alone the other socii , was anathema to the Roman senatorial elite. Livy relates how after Cannae, as the Senate ranks were depleted by

12040-403: The importance of a sociobiologically informed notion of human nature. Chomsky argued that human beings are biological organisms and ought to be studied as such, with his criticism of the " blank slate " doctrine in the social sciences (which would inspire a great deal of Steven Pinker's and others' work in evolutionary psychology), in his 1975 Reflections on Language . Chomsky further hinted at

12180-657: The incursions of the Italic mountain tribes, but it was a very tough struggle. Intermittent wars, with mixed fortunes, continued until c. 395 BC. The Sabines disappear from the record in 449 (presumably subjugated by the Romans), while campaigns against the Aequi and Volsci seem to have reached a turning point with the major Roman victory on Mount Algidus in 431. In the same period, the Romans fought three wars against their nearest neighbouring Etruscan city-state, Veii , finally reducing

12320-441: The influence that environmental or cultural factors may have on those traits. Various theorists have argued that in some environments criminal behavior might be adaptive. The evolutionary neuroandrogenic (ENA) theory , by sociologist/criminologist Lee Ellis , posits that female sexual selection has led to increased competitive behavior among men, sometimes resulting in criminality. In another theory, Mark van Vugt argues that

12460-446: The intervention of politics and social reform to tackle social problems, injustices and grievances (a topic on which Jean-Jacques Rousseau discourses at length in his classic work The Social Contract ). Originally the term "socialist" was often used interchangeably with " co-operative ", " mutualist ", " associationist " and " collectivist " in reference to the organization of economic enterprise socialists advocated, in contrast to

12600-488: The kings had to be fragmented and permanently curtailed. Thus, the replacement of a single ruler by a collegiate administration, which soon evolved into two Praetors , later called Consuls , with equal powers and limited terms of office (one year, instead of the life tenancy of the kings). In addition, power was further fragmented by the establishment of further collegiate offices, known to history as Roman magistrates : (three Aediles and four Quaestors ). Patrician supremacy

12740-402: The kings were overthrown c. 500 BC, probably as a result of a much more complex and bloody revolution than the simple drama of the rape of Lucretia related by Livy, and that they were replaced by some form of collegiate rule. It is likely that the revolution that overthrew the Roman monarchy was engineered by the patrician caste and that its aim was not, as rationalised later by ancient authors,

12880-446: The latter's adherence to the Roman military alliance. The 19 Latin colonies founded in the period 338–263 outnumbered the Roman ones by four to one. This is because they involved a mixed Roman/original Latin/Italian allied population, and so could more easily attract the necessary number of settlers. But because of the mix, the settlers did not hold citizenship (the Romans among them lost their full citizenship). Instead, they were granted

13020-412: The loss of freedom of action in foreign relations, heavy military obligations and a complete lack of say in how those military contributions were used. Against these, however, must be set the very important advantages of the system for the socii . By far the most important was the liberation of the socii from the perpetual intertribal warfare of the pre-hegemonic peninsula. Endemic chaos was replaced by

13160-407: The lowest social echelon (the proletarii , under 400 drachmae ), was allocated just 1 of the 193 centuriae , despite being probably the largest. As Livy himself puts it: "Thus every citizen was given the illusion of wielding power through the right to vote, but in reality the aristocracy remained in full control. For the centuriae of knights were summoned first to vote, and then the centuriae of

13300-675: The lowland areas by Italic mountain tribes in the period after 500 BC. The Sabines , Aequi and Volsci neighbours of Latium assailed the Latins, the Samnites invaded and subjugated the Greco-Etruscan cities of Campania, while the Messapii, Lucani and Bruttii in the South attacked the Greek coastal cities, crippling Tarentum and reducing the independent Greek cities on the Tyrrhenian coast to just Neapolis and Velia. The new Romano-Latin military alliance proved strong enough to repel

13440-403: The military burden was only half that shouldered by Roman citizens, as the latter numbered only about half the population of the socii , but provided around half the total levies. Despite this, allied troops were allowed to share war booty on a 50–50 basis with Romans. The relationship between Rome and the Latin cities remained ambivalent, and many socii rebelled against the alliance whenever

13580-405: The more powerful or aggressive nations that could aspire to Italian hegemony themselves (Samnites, Capua, Tarentum), the costs appeared too high, and these repeatedly took the opportunity to rebel. Others, for whom the benefits of security from aggressive neighbours and external invaders outweighed the burdens, remained loyal. The modern term "Roman confederation" used by some historians to describe

13720-420: The most serious danger and continued into the first century BC. Many were so large that they could only realistically be turned back by a common effort of all Italians, organised by the confederation. The Romans even coined a specific term for such a mobilisation: the tumultus Gallicus , an emergency levy of all able-bodied men, even men over 46 years of age (who were normally exempt from military service). During

13860-545: The nature of the Tarquinian hegemony over the Latins, we cannot tell how the terms of the Cassian treaty differed from those imposed by the Tarquins. But it is likely that Tarquin rule was more onerous, involving the payment of tribute, while the Republican terms simply involved a military alliance. The impetus to form such an alliance was probably provided by the acute insecurity caused by a phase of migration and invasion of

14000-627: The offspring of the individuals which had the characteristic to survive. This parental protection would increase in frequency in the population. The social behavior is believed to have evolved in a fashion similar to other types of nonbehavioral adaptations , such as a coat of fur, or the sense of smell. Individual genetic advantage fails to explain certain social behaviors as a result of gene-centred selection. E.O. Wilson argued that evolution may also act upon groups . The mechanisms responsible for group selection employ paradigms and population statistics borrowed from evolutionary game theory . Altruism

14140-454: The opportunity arose. The best opportunities were provided by the invasion of Italy by the Greek king Pyrrhus from 281 to 275 BC, and by the invasion of Italy by Carthaginian general Hannibal from 218 to 203 BC. During these invasions, many socii joined the invaders, mostly Oscan -speakers of southern Italy, most prominently the Samnite tribes, who were Rome's most implacable enemy. At

14280-529: The other hand, were seen as essentially passive victims who strove, ultimately unsuccessfully, to defend themselves against Roman aggression. More recently, however, Harris' theory of Roman "exceptionalism" has been challenged by A. M. Eckstein, who points out that Rome's neighbours were equally militaristic and aggressive and that Rome was just one competitor for territory and hegemony in a peninsula whose interstate relations were largely anarchic and lacking effective mechanisms for resolution of interstate disputes. It

14420-443: The patricians. It was probably at this time (around 300 BC) that the population was divided, for the purposes of taxation and military service, into seven classes based on an assessment of their property. The two top classes, numerically the smallest, accorded themselves an absolute majority of the votes in the main electoral and legislative assembly. Oligarchy based on birth had been replaced by oligarchy based on wealth. By c. 300 BC,

14560-665: The peninsula, revolutionising communication and trade. The most famous and important was the Via Appia , from Rome to Brundisium via Campania (opened 312 BC). Others were the Via Salaria to Picenum , the Via Flaminia from Rome to Arretium (Arezzo), and the Via Cassia into Etruria. Incorporation into the Roman military confederation thus entailed significant burdens for the socius : the loss of substantial territory,

14700-403: The peninsula. Tough mountain-dwelling pastoralists, they are believed to have invented the manipular fighting unit adopted by the Romans. Like the Romans, their national symbol was a wolf, but a male wolf on the prowl, not a she-wolf suckling babies. All graves of male Samnites contain weapons. Livy several times describes the barbarity of their raids into Campania. Their military effectiveness

14840-465: The peninsula. This tripartite organisation lasted from the Roman expansion in Italy (509-264 BC) to the Social War (91–87 BC) , when all peninsular inhabitants south of the Po river were awarded Roman citizenship . Treaties known as foedus served as the basic template for Rome's settlement with the large array of tribes and city-states of the whole Italian peninsula . The confederacy had its origin in

14980-441: The peninsular population. Latin colonies probably comprised a further 10% of the peninsula (about 12,500 km ). The remaining 60% of the peninsula remained in the hands of other Italian socii who were, however, forced to accept Roman supremacy. The expansion phase started with the defeat of the Latin League (338 BC) and the annexation of most of Latium Vetus. Subsequently, the main thrusts of expansion were southwards towards

15120-543: The people. The king ( rex , from root-verb regere , literally means simply "ruler") was elected for life by the people's assembly (the comitia curiata originally), although there is strong evidence that the process was in practice controlled by the patricians, a hereditary aristocratic caste . Most kings were non-Romans brought in from abroad, doubtless as a neutral figure who could be seen as above patrician factions. Although blood relations could succeed, they were still required to submit to election. The position and powers of

15260-428: The perspective that human behavior is largely determined by a person's immediate social environment , that modes of social organization were not supernatural or metaphysical constructs but products of the social system and social environment, which were in turn products of the level of technology/mode of production (the material world), and were therefore constantly changing. Social and economic systems were thus not

15400-549: The pleasure of the Consuls. While no doubt influential as a group of friends and confidants of the Consuls, as well as experienced ex-Magistrates, the Senate had no formal or independent existence. Power rested with the Consuls, acting with the ratification of the comitia , a system described as "plebiscitary" by Cornell. This situation changed with the Lex Ovinia (promulgated sometime in the period from 339 to 318 BC), which transferred authority to appoint (and remove) members of

15540-544: The plebs , who had the power to veto Senatorial decrees (494); and the opening of the Consulship to plebeians (367). By 338, the privileges of the patricians had become largely ceremonial (such as the exclusive right to hold certain state priesthoods). But this does not imply a more democratic form of government. The wealthy plebeians who had led the "plebeian revolution" had no more intention of sharing real power with their poorer and far more numerous fellow-plebeians than did

15680-514: The political philosopher Thomas Hobbes was the first proto-sociobiologist, arguing that in his 1651 book Leviathan Hobbes had explained the origins of morals in human society from an amoral sociobiological perspective. The geneticist of animal behavior John Paul Scott coined the word sociobiology at a 1948 conference on genetics and social behavior, which called for a conjoint development of field and laboratory studies in animal behavior research. With John Paul Scott's organizational efforts,

15820-442: The possible reconciliation of his anarchist political views and sociobiology in a discussion of Peter Kropotkin 's Mutual Aid: A Factor of Evolution , which focused more on altruism than aggression, suggesting that anarchist societies were feasible because of an innate human tendency to cooperate. Wilson has claimed that he had never meant to imply what ought to be, only what is the case. However, some critics have argued that

15960-557: The pride that they did not sire. This behavior is adaptive because killing the cubs eliminates competition for their own offspring and causes the nursing females to come into heat faster, thus allowing more of his genes to enter into the population. Sociobiologists would view this instinctual cub-killing behavior as being inherited through the genes of successfully reproducing male lions, whereas non-killing behavior may have died out as those lions were less successful in reproducing. The philosopher of biology Daniel Dennett suggested that

16100-472: The problem that their new subjects could, if granted full Roman citizenship, outnumber original Latins in the citizen body, threatening Rome's ethnic and cultural integrity. The problem as solved by introducing civitas sine suffragio ("non-voting citizenship"), a second-class status which carried all the rights and obligations of full citizenship except the right to vote. By this device, the Roman republic could enlarge its territory without losing its character as

16240-399: The product of innate human nature, but of the underlying form of economic organization and level of technology in a given society, implying that human social relations and incentive-structures would also change as social relations and social organization changes in response to improvements in technology and evolving material forces ( relations of production ). This perspective formed the bulk of

16380-592: The public and the private (or privatised) spheres, where ownership relations define access to resources and attention. The social domain is often also contrasted with that of physical nature, but in sociobiology analogies are drawn between humans and other living species in order to explain social behavior in terms of biological factors. Socii The socii ( English: / ˈ s oʊ ʃ i aɪ / SOH -shee-eye ) or foederati ( English: / ˌ f ɛ d ə ˈ r eɪ t aɪ / FED -ə- RAY -ty ) were confederates of Rome and formed one of

16520-697: The same time, however, many socii remained loyal, motivated primarily by antagonisms with neighbouring rebels. Even after Rome's disaster at the Battle of Cannae (216 BC), over half the socii (by population) did not defect and Rome's military alliance was ultimately victorious. In the century following the Second Punic War , Italy was rarely threatened by external invasion (save by the occasional Gallic or Germanic horde) and Rome and her allies embarked on aggressive expansion overseas, in Spain, Africa and

16660-427: The scientific triumphs of the twentieth century." "Sociobiology is now part of the core research and curriculum of virtually all biology departments, and it is a foundation of the work of almost all field biologists. " Sociobiological research on nonhuman organisms has increased dramatically and continuously in the world's top scientific journals such as Nature and Science . The more general term behavioral ecology

16800-425: The second vehicle of Roman expansion was the colonia (colony), both Roman and Latin. Under Roman law, the lands of a surrendering enemy ( dediticii ) became the property of the Roman state. Some would be allocated to the members of a new Roman or Latin colony. Some would be held as ager publicus (state-owned land) and rented out to Roman tenant-farmers. The rest would be returned to the defeated enemy in return for

16940-617: The social behavior of rhesus macaques, using statistics, and was hired as a "sociobiologist" at the Yerkes Regional Primate Research Center in 1965. Wilson's sociobiology is different from John Paul Scott 's or Altmann's, insofar as he drew on mathematical models of social behavior centered on the maximization of the genetic fitness by W. D. Hamilton , Robert Trivers , John Maynard Smith , and George R. Price . The three sociobiologies by Scott, Altmann and Wilson have in common to place naturalist studies at

17080-564: The social sciences, where culture has long been assumed to be the predominant driver of behavior. Sociobiology is based upon two fundamental premises: Sociobiology uses Nikolaas Tinbergen 's four categories of questions and explanations of animal behavior. Two categories are at the species level; two, at the individual level. The species-level categories (often called "ultimate explanations") are The individual-level categories (often called "proximate explanations") are Sociobiologists are interested in how behavior can be explained logically as

17220-419: The study of human societies , sociobiology is closely allied to evolutionary anthropology , human behavioral ecology , evolutionary psychology , and sociology . Sociobiology investigates social behaviors such as mating patterns , territorial fights , pack hunting , and the hive society of social insects . It argues that just as selection pressure led to animals evolving useful ways of interacting with

17360-422: The third century BC, the confederation successfully repulsed the invasion of Pyrrhus and of Hannibal, which threatened to subject the whole peninsula to Greek and Punic domination respectively. The last such levy was as late as 60 BC, on the eve of Julius Caesar's conquest of Gaul itself. At the same time, the military burden on the socii , though heavy, amounted to only around half that on Roman citizens, since

17500-607: The three legal denominations in Roman Italy ( Italia ) along with the core Roman citizens ( Cives Romani ) and the extended Latini . The Latini , who were simultaneously special confederates ( Socii Latini ) and semi-citizens ( Cives Latini ), derived their name from the Italic people of which Rome was part (the Latins ) but did not coincide with the region of Latium in central Italy as they were located in colonies throughout

17640-418: The two top property classes, which were also the smallest numerically, a result that is clearly nonsensical. Instead, the reform must date from much later, certainly after 400 BC and probably after 300. (Indeed, it has even been suggested that the centuriate organisation was not introduced before the Second Punic War and the currency reform of 211 BC. The sextantal as , the denomination used by Livy to define

17780-459: The votes (98 of 193 centuriae ), despite being a small minority of the population. Their precise proportion is unknown, but was most likely under 5% of the citizen-body. These classes supplied a legion's cavalry, just 6.6% of the unit's total effectives (300 of 4,500), which is probably greater than their proportionate share, as the lowest class was excluded from legionary service. Overall, votes were allocated in inverse proportion to population. Thus

17920-533: The wealthiest echelon of society. The centuriate organisation of the Roman citizen-body may be summarised as follows: N.B. An extra four centuriae were allocated to engineers, trumpeters et al., to make a total of 193 centuriae . There is a discrepancy in the minimum rating for legionary service between Polybius (400 drachmae ) and Livy (1,100). In addition, Polybius states that the proletarii were assigned to naval service while Livy simply states that they were exempt from military service. In both cases, Polybius

18060-475: Was a major city in the period from 625 to 500 BC, when it had an area of c. 285 hectares and an estimated population of 35,000. This made it the second-largest in Italy (after Tarentum) and about half the size of contemporary Athens (585 hectares, inc. Piraeus ). Also, few scholars today dispute that Rome was ruled by kings in its archaic period, although whether any of the seven names of kings preserved by tradition are historical remains uncertain (Romulus himself

18200-420: Was a patchwork of different ethnic groups, languages and cultures. These may be divided into the following broad nations: Ancient historians' accounts of the history of Rome before it was destroyed by the Gauls in 390 BC are regarded as highly unreliable by modern historians. Livy, the main surviving ancient source on the early period, himself admits that the earlier period is very obscure and that his own account

18340-446: Was a world of continuous struggle for survival, of terrores multi for the Romans, a phrase from Livy that Eckstein uses to describe the politico-military situation in the peninsula before the imposition of the pax Romana . The reasons for the Romans' ultimate triumph was their superior manpower and political and military organisation. Eckstein points out that it took 200 years of warfare for Rome to subdue just its Latin neighbours, as

18480-455: Was assured by limiting eligibility to hold the republican offices to patricians only. The establishment of a hereditary oligarchy obviously excluded wealthy non-patricians from political power and it is this class that led plebeian opposition to the early Republican settlement. The early Republic (510–338 BC) saw a long and often bitter struggle for political equality, known as the Conflict of

18620-447: Was brought to an end in 493 BC by the conclusion of a treaty called Foedus Cassianum , which lay the foundations for the Roman military alliance. According to the sources, this was a bilateral treaty between the Romans and the Latins. It provided for a perpetual peace between the two parties; a defensive alliance by which the parties pledged mutual assistance in case of attack; a promise not to aid or allow passage to each other's enemies;

18760-402: Was built after the sack of Rome by the Gauls. Servius Tullius was also credited with the centuriate organisation of the Roman citizen body which again scholars agree cannot have been established by Servius in the form described by Livy in book I.43. His centuriae were supposedly designed to organise the military levy, but would have resulted in the majority of the total levy being raised from

18900-454: Was greatly enhanced by the formation of the Samnite League by the four Samnite tribal cantons (the Caudini, Hirpini, Caraceni and Pentri). This brought their forces under the unified command of a single general in times of crisis. It took the Romans three gruelling wars (the Samnite wars , 343–290 BC), during which they suffered many severe reverses, to subjugate the Samnites. Even after this,

19040-424: Was highly militaristic. Graves with weapons and armour were common and captured enemies were often offered as human sacrifice and their severed heads displayed in public, as happened to 300 Roman prisoners at Tarquinii in 358. It took the Romans a century and four wars (480–390) just to reduce Veii , a single neighbouring Etruscan city. To the South, the Samnites had a reputation for martial ferocity unrivalled in

19180-546: Was occupied by troops from Tarquinii militarily and culturally Etruscanised. But this theory has been dismissed as a myth by Cornell and other more modern historians, who point to the extensive evidence that Rome remained politically independent, as well as linguistically and culturally a Latin city. In relation to the army, the Cornell faction argue that the introduction of heavy infantry in the late regal era followed Greek, not Etruscan, models. In addition, it seems certain that

19320-402: Was only limited in the fields of military and foreign policy, by a treaty with Rome which often varied in detail but always required them to provide troops to serve under Roman command and to "have the same friends and enemies as Rome" (in effect prohibiting them from waging war on other socii and from conducting independent diplomacy). In some cases, no territory was annexed. For example, after

19460-444: Was supplied by the Italian socii . Although the socii provided around half the levies raised by Rome in any given year, they had no say in how those troops were used. Foreign policy and war were matters exclusively in the hands of the Roman consuls and the Roman Senate . Despite the loss of independence and heavy military obligations, the system provided substantial benefits for the socii . Most importantly, they were freed from

19600-587: Was then the largest in the peninsula. Tarentine cavalry was renowned for its quality and celebrated in the city's coins, which often showed youths on horseback placing wreaths over their mount's head. The Tarentines' most important cult was to Nike , the Greek goddess of Victory. A famous status of Nike which stood in the city centre was ultimately transferred to the Senate House in Rome by the emperor Augustus . The rise of Roman hegemony by three main means: (a) direct annexation of territory and incorporation of

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