Romans lived originally in Latium, a small land area in southern Italy on the Tiber River far enough inland to be protected against pirates.  They built a city which finally covered seven adjacent hills and developed a community of working farmers, merchants, craftsmen and professionals.  The farms were small, averaging perhaps eight to fifteen acres, an area large enough to provide a family with a stable though meagre livelihood.  The farmers were hard working and frugal.

At this period of Roman history and mythology Latium was one of many communities occupying Italy.  Each was self-governing.  Each took the steps necessary for survival and expansion.  Like their neighbors, the inhabitants of Latium were prepared to defend themselves against piracy, brigandage and ambitious, aggressive rivals.  Defense took the form of an embankment and a water-filled moat which surrounded the early settlements and provided shelter for herdsman and farmers in case of emergencies.

At some point in pre-history, presumably when Etruscan princes were in control of Roman affairs, the protective earth embankment which surrounded the Roman settlements was strengthened by building a moat 100 feet wide and 30 feet deep.  Behind the moat was a stone wall 10 feet thick and 30 feet or more in height.  Parts of this defense were built and rebuilt at various times.  When completed they were about six miles in length, enclosing an area sufficient to accommodate the chief buildings of the city and living space for a population of perhaps 200,000 people.

The defenses were designed to prevent interference or intrusion into the life of the Romans.  Behind them the inhabitants constructed temples, a forum, palaces and other public buildings, bringing in clean mountain water by an aqueduct that eventually reached a length of 44 miles, constructing an extensive system of drains and sewers that disposed of city wastes, building a network of roads that eventually gave the Romans access first to all parts of Italy and later to the entire Mediterranean Basin.  They also replaced the wooden bridges over the Tiber and other rivers by stone bridges carried on stone piers and arches.

Early in their building activities the Romans learned to make a cement so weather-resistant that many of their constructs are still usable two thousand years after the Romans built them.  These and similar building operations made Rome one of the show places of the Graeco-Roman world.  They also provided for the Romans a level of stability and security far beyond that of their neighbors in that part of the unstable Italian peninsula.