How did the mix of people living on the Italian Peninsula influence the romans?

Answer 1

The Greeks who settled in Italy in the 8th and 7th centuries, the Etruscans and the Sabines influenced the early Romans. The foundation of Rome was said to have involved a fusion of Latins and Sabines. The Sabines influenced Roman religion and some Roman customs. The Etruscans also influenced religion and some customs and introduced the Romans to the arch. The Greeks of Italy influenced architecture and sculpture, some aspects of religion, and the alphabet. All alphabets of the ancient Italic peoples adopted and adapted the western Greek alphabet.

From 321 BC to 107 BC, the Romans adopted the maniples, the battle formation of the Samnites.

The exact extent of the influence by the Italic people or from which of them it came is difficult to know or disentangle. For example, there are indications of religious influences from the Umbrians.

Answer 2

Italy lies in the central Mediterranean, between the western and eastern basins of the Mediterranean. This made it easier to conduct operations and/or control the western, central and eastern Mediterranean.

During the Second Punic War, the Romans fought in Italy, Spain (western Med.) and Greece (eastern med.) at the same time. They had to fend off a major invasion of Italy by Hannibal, the Carthaginian general. They also conducted two campaigns in southern Spain, which had been the flash point of which led to the war and which was Hannibal's power base. They lost the first one, but won the second one. This led to Rome taking over this Carthaginian territory and establishing the first Roman province in the western Mediterranean. They also fought the First Macedonian War against Macedon, the largest and most powerful state in mainland Greece, with the help of other Greek states which were her allies.

The First Macedonian War led to Rome's further involvement in Greek affairs and her fighting two more wars to support allied Greek states in disputes among states in the Greek word (in Greece, Turkey and Syria). This eventually led to Rome annexing Macedon to secure stability in the area. Rome then fought two wars in Greece, one against a rebellion by Macedon and another one against a league of city states in the of Greece (which led to the annexation of the whole of mainland Greece) in the year she also won the Third Punic War against Carthage in present day Tunisia. Again, the location of Italy in the Mediterranean made it easier for the Roman to fight both in the eastern and central Mediterranean

One of the wars Rome fought for her Greek allies (The Roman-Syrian War) was against the Seleucid Empire which wanted to take over territories in Turkey. This led to Roman involvement in the affairs of the area, intervention to support allies there, and wars with the kingdom of Pontus (in north-eastern Turkey) which wanted to take over territories and become the dominant power in the area. This is what led to further expansion into the eastern Mediterranean.