Classical Rome

Rome is located on the Italian peninsula along the Tiber River. The city's surrounding geography allowed for a large population to settle in the area. Early Rome was heavily influenced by two other civilizations in the Mediterranean. First were the Greeks, who resided on the neighboring Balkan Peninsula and spread their culture all throughout the Mediterranean. Second were the Etruscans, who lived on the Italian Peninsula and came before the Roman civilization we have come to know today. These two cultures lent their religious and cultural ideas to this new Roman civilization that began in 753 B.C.E.