FACT: “Before 775/750 BC, which is the space of time considered by excavators to be the most likely period in which Rome was founded, there were no cities or states in the Mediter­ranean of a more or less constitutional character. From 775/750 BC to the fifth–sixth centuries AD, in the western Mediterranean, and much later in the eastern Mediterranean, a world based on the ‘ancient’ city-states was created—and then swallowed up by the Roman Empire. After the period of decadence of the Western cities between the fifth–sixth and tenth–eleventh centuries ad, during which protohistory seems to revive, the cities blossomed anew, never to fall again into decadence. A number of these cities achieved a degree of regional prominence, while others became centers and me­tropolises of large states.”

Rome: Day One by Andrea Carandini
Translated by Stephen Sartarelli

Andrea Carandini’s archaeological discoveries and controversial theories about ancient Rome have made international headlines over the past few decades. In this book, he presents his most important findings and ideas, including the argument that there really was a Romulus—a first king of Rome—who founded the city in the mid-eighth century BC, making it the world’s first city-state, as well as its most influential. Rome: Day One makes a powerful and provocative case that Rome was established in a one-day ceremony, and that Rome’s first day was also Western civilization’s.




We invite you to read the Introduction here: