History of Rome

History Of Rome by D. D. Thomas Arnold is a rigorous, source-based examination of Rome’s origins, focusing on early chronology and military organization, with extensive notes, addenda, and appendices that illuminate how historians reconstruct Rome’s distant past. The work analyzes how four authorities—the Fasti Capitolini, Livy, Diodorus Siculus, and Dionysius of Halicarnassus—place Rome’s early years, the decemvirate, and the Gaulish invasion, noting systematic differences in their Olympiad-based dating and arguing for a practical, conventional chronology for readers. It describes two sets of tables listing consuls and military tribunes, drawn from multiple sources, and explains why some years appear under different magistrates across authorities. Addenda survey Roman society and economy in early times, covering urban development, language and population, land ownership, commerce, social norms, marriage, and the evolution of civic institutions. Appendices discuss Manlius and political ritual and the Roman legion in the fifth century, including armaments, formations, and the shift to the cohort-based legion. The tone is cautious and methodologically careful, guiding readers through uncertainties in ancient chronology with detailed source-driven notes.