Titus Livius’ incredible work, The History of Rome, details everything from the inhabitation of Italy by Trojans until the rise of Augustus as the first Emperor. I’ve only just started reading this mammoth work – and here is a quick summary of the first chapter of the first book which I’ve already finished:
- After the destruction of the Greek city of Troy, two men, Aeneas and Antenor, leave their homelands and head for the seas of Italy
- Antenor travels with a group of Trojans and Venetians and disembarks at the North Coast of the Adriatic Sea in the lands of Veneti, where they kick out the Euganei and make home in the lands between the Alps and sea
- Meanwhile, Aeneas takes a tour to Macedonia and down to Sicily, and eventually stops in the Laurentian territory
- He destroys the homes of the Aborigines and King Latinus gathers arms to fight back
- There are two stories of what happened in the conflict:
- Either Aeneas beats Latinus and forces him to make peace and give him land
- Or Latinus stops before the battle begins and asks them their story. Compelled by their tale, he forms a truce and allows them to make a city, Lavinium. Latinus give his daughter to Aeneas and they marry, having a son called Ascanius.
If you liked this extremely brief and simple summary, share it with your friends! The History of Rome is a very interesting to read manuscript. I highly recommend you give it a try.
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As I read more, I’ll note things down in following blog posts.
The Augustus 