Episode 126 – How to Win Land and Influence Ardea

In around 443 BCE Rome is navigating its relationships with its neighbours. Last time we caught up with Rome they became involved in the affairs of the nearby city of Ardea. The conflict seems to have centred around a very attractive plebeian woman whose name has not been recorded in the annals of history. It’s this meddling in Ardea which sets the scene for 442 BCE... Episode 126 - How to Win Land and Influence Ardea The challenges of 442 BCE The consuls of 443 had such a great year that the incoming consuls for 442 BCE knew they had a lot to live up to. There’s a sense that the successes over Ardea were substantial but there are mixed feelings about how this all come about…. The complexity lies in the nature of the history of conflict with Ardea. The Romans sense that they have actually made some mistakes in how they have dealt with Ardea and the Rutilian people. The Rutilians are the people of this region and Ardea is their capital. In order to determine how best to proceed they opt to form the triumviri coloniae deducendae “the group of three men for the commission of the settlement”. Their task to solve the problem of land allotment in relation to Ardea. A colony might just solve their concerns, but what should that colony look like? We explore the details! Ardea, the central settlement of the Rutilians was south of Rome. Rome and 441 BCE It’s a brand new year and it’s time for some games, apparently. There are rumours that the decemvirs had promised the people a set of games, and it now seems to have fallen to the tribune of the plebs, Poetilius to get this event off the ground.  Beyond the issue of games at Rome, there’s some interesting rumblings far to the south of Italy in Magna Graecia that might also become important later on. Polychromatic terracotta head of a woman with brown hair and pale skin. From Taranto (Magna Graecia) end of 4th century BCE. Antikenmuseum Basel und Sammlung Ludwig, Inv. Kuhn 35. Image courtesy of Wikimedia Commons. Our Players The Consuls  442 BCE * Marcus Fabius Q. f. M. n. Vibulanus * Postumus Aebutius - f. - n. Helva Cornicen 441 BCE * Gaius Furius - f. - n. Pacilus Fusus * Manius (or Marcus) Papirius - f. - n. Crassus  The triumviri coloniae deducendae * Agrippa Menenius (Lanatus) * Titus Cloelius Siculus * Marcus Aebutius Helva Tribune of the Plebs * Poetilius Sources * Dr G reads Diodorus Siculus 12.34-5 * Dr Rad reads Livy ab Urbe Condita 4.11-12. * Broughton, T. R. S., Patterson, M. L. 1951. The Magistrates of the Roman Republic Volume 1: 509 B.C. – 100 B.C. (The American Philological Association) * Cornell, T. J. 1995. The Beginnings of Rome: Italy and Rome from the Bronze Age to the Punic Wars (c. 1000-264 BC) (Taylor & Francis)