Rome

**Rome** (Latin: *Roma*) was a major  Latin city-state located largely on the left bank of river Tiber, founded c. 366 AVD by Romulus, its first king, and destroyed as a result of the  Senonian invasion in ĀVD. The city had a great strategic and economic location, as it was situated on the trade routes between  Etruscans to the north and Greeks to the south. Thanks to this, it grew and prospered pretty fast, it had great influence on the surrounding area, and it had a strong, competent army. Yet, those things didn't save Rome from being sacked and destroyed.

*The **Sack of Rome** (ĀVD) is the point of divergence from our history.*

## Battle of the Allia

After being asked by the Etruscan city of Clevsin to help them to defeat the Senonian invaders, Rome sent its army north to face the Senones. They met them near Via Salaria at the confluence of the Tiber and Allia rivers, 16 km north of Rome. The Romans lost the battle, and the Senones, who were apparently stunned by their unexpected victory, did not move from the place of battle for some time. After they realized there were no more enemy forces nearby, they packed and marched towards Rome.

## Sack of Rome

When the Gauls approached Rome, they were surprised to see the gates opened and the walls undefended. They were hesitant to enter an unknown city, so they camped nearby for a few days. Unbeknownst to them, most of Roman soldiers fled to the recently conquered Etruscan city of Veia after the last battle, while only little force returned to Rome.

When the Senones finally entered Rome and went to the city's Forum, they met nobody except for some patricians, who were quietly sitting in front of their mansions. The Senones hesitated to even approach them, seeing them as if they were supernatural beings. That was, at least, until one of the Gauls, who stroked the long beard of the patrician Marcus Papirius, was hit by the latter with his staff. The Gauls then killed all the patricians they found and started plundering the city. Most houses were rifled and burned. Then they learned that most people fled to the Capitoline Hill and were now fortifying it. The Senones tried to raid the hill but were repulsed by the fierce Roman counterattack. They suffered severe casualties, and tried to convince those on the hill to surrender. But the Romans were determined to defend themselves.

Seeing no other option, the Gauls decided to lay a siege. Their provisions were also running out, so they assembled several foraging parties to collect grain from the neighboring cities, because all of grain from Roman territories was taken to Veia by the Roman soldiers. One of such parties reached the Latin city of Ardea, where Marcus Furius Camillus, a respected patrician and a great commander, who was exiled due to accusations of embezzlement, was living for a few years now. He managed to convince the Ardeans to help him destroy the Gauls. Some cities also gave their support, but it was very limited. He marched out at night and caught the Gauls by surprise, some of whom, however, managed to return to Rome.

Meanwhile in Veia, the Roman soldiers who had fled from the Allia, began to regroup. They chose Quintus Caedicius, their centurion, as a temporary leader. Under him, the Romans defeated the Etruscans who came to loot lands around Veia. Some volunteers from Latium later joined them. Caedicius then has sent Camillus a letter asking him to become their commander once again. He replied, though, that this required the approval of the Senate, so a young soldier named Cominius Pontius was sent to deliver the message to senators in the besieged Rome.

He crossed the Tiber, and slipped into Rome without being noticed. He then tried climbing the unguarded steep cliff to get to the hill. It is unknown if he climbed at day or at night. Whatever the case is, he failed to do so in silence as he almost fell to his death. Some of the Senones came nearby, because they heard the noise, but didn't find anybody. They left one man to look out for anyone around here.

After Pontius delivered the message to the senators and gained their approval to annul the banishment of and to make Camillus a dictator, he started climbing back down. The Senone left at the bottom noticed him and called some other warriors, and so they captured Pontius and his message. Thus, Camillus recieved no legal approval from the Senate, and the forces remained divided between Veia and Ardea. After a few days, Camillus realized that Pontius was caught and possibly even murdered.

The Ardeans soon marched on Rome to relieve the city. The Gauls, meanwhile, realized the they could potentially scale the cliff which Pontius climbed not long ago. They attempted a night raid on the hill, which was successful, because, just as Gauls below, the Romans didn't guard this side of the hill since it was "too steep to climb". The rest of Romans soon awoke when they heard noise nearby and so rushed to help the guards, but were unprepared for this and so the Senones managed to break through and killed anybody they could find, including all the senators. They then pillaged what remained on the hill and burned and razed every house. Few of those who managed to survive fled to the neighboring cities or villages, never to return.

The Gauls soon learned that the Ardeans were marching towards Rome. They knew they couldn't face them off right after losing many men in the last siege, much less if they were to unite with the forces in Veia, so they quickly gathered what they could take and left, burying everything else near the city, planning to return someday.

## Republic of Veii

When Camillus arrived to Rome, he was upset at what he saw. After paying respects to the city's defenders and burying their bodies, he disbanded the Ardean forces, left Rome with only volunteers and went to Veia.

There he told the Veians (*or Veientes*) what had happened to Rome. Rebuilding Rome at this point was simply not worth it, because the Senones left virtually nothing to build upon there. So instead Veians proclaimed Camillus to be their ruler for life. During his reign they restored the Roman republican government, proclaimed the Republic of Veii (sic: *Veii* is the Latin name of the city) in 1 PVD, and made plans to expand its territories. The city at this point had been largely assimilated into Latin culture, especially after the recent migration of Roman citizens (many of whom had previously fled to Roman ally Caisra), although some Etruscans still lived in the city. The biggest problem for Veians was that the city was severely depopulated after being conquered by Rome just a few years before.

Even before all of this though many of Rome's neighbors were in pretty bad relations with it, and some of them decided to struck Veii while it was still recovering, as it was functionally a direct successor to Rome. Right after Rome fell some of them, who were recently conquered by the Romans, like Falerii and Capena, declared independence. Soon a coalition was formed to destroy the new republic and return Veia into the Etruscan hands, led by the Etruscan city of Tarchna, which was joined by Nepete, Falerii and Capena, as well as some minor cities near Veia. A few weeks after the Aequi and Volsci also joined them.

Camillus soon found out about this and he knew he couldn't afford to be attacked from both sides, so he quickly started to prepare to defeat the forces while they were still separate. With his new military, although much weaker than before the Allia, and now he was marching north to defeat the Etruscan forces one by one, then turn south and crush the Aequi and Volsci.

## Sources

1. ↑  Battle of the Allia § Battlefield
2. ↑  Battle of the Allia § Sack