Program Information

Breaking through the confusion of the myth-makers and the lack of written evidence is difficult but, beginning scant decades ago, archeology began to supply a picture of the founding of Rome.

A Moment in Time is a brief, exciting and compelling journey into the past. Created to excite and enlighten the public about the past, its relevance to the present and its impact on the future, A Moment In Time is a captivating historical narrative that is currently broadcast worldwide.

Transcript

Lead: Breaking through the confusion of the myth-makers and the lack of written evidence is difficult but, beginning scant decades ago, archeology began to supply a picture of the founding of Rome.

Intro.: A Moment in Time with Dan Roberts.

Content: Complicating the work of archeologists is the fact that the area that became the city of Rome has enjoyed almost continuous habitation. This requires that scholars interpret the evidence they discover. It is generally understood that the city of Rome emerged from the coalition of several villages in and around the hills that eventually constituted the city of Rome. The heart of the city was probably a shepherd’s village, which in time became linked with other shepherds' villages on other hills, and from that point the Forum--which up to that time had been used as a burial ground--became the open public space of Republican and Imperial times.

After 1871, Rome became the capital of a modern nation-state. As a result, the Italian government leveled and constructed new streets and buildings along with parks and plazas. In the course of this construction much archaeological evidence emerged. These discoveries confirmed the complex and diverse nature of early Roman municipal life. For instance, a slave freed by a Roman citizen often became a Roman citizen. This custom of inclusion soon was extended to members of the Latin communities and eventually to all Italian people as Rome expanded in the peninsula and throughout the Mediterranean world. This openness to ethnically and culturally diverse populations may have laid the groundwork for the relative openness of Roman social and political institutions, thus setting the stage for Roman triumph as an imperial power in a period long after its founding in relative obscurity, by founders whose identity is equally obscure.

Research by Ashleigh Greene, our producer is Steve Clark. At the University of Richmond, this is Dan Roberts.

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