Dr Simon Elliott

Then you're getting Alexander the Great and Alexander the Great

literally conquers his entire known world.

Truly astonishing feat.

That's all happening.

So in a way, what's going on in Italy is a backwater.

It's almost irrelevant.

When Alexander the Great dies, the contemporary sources don't say his next offensive is going to be against Italy.

It was going to be Arabia.

So why bother with Italy?

So in that sense, in actual fact, you can almost see that the Romans, with their grittiness and with their ability to osmosis other people's ideas and technologies and culture,

are given a free hand.

And so we'll run through to 323.

They're fighting various wars against the Etruscans to the north, and they're losing, but then win.

They're fighting various wars against the Magna Grakians to the south, but losing, and then win.

They're fighting their own Latin city neighbours, and they win.

They're fighting the various tribes in the Apennine Mountains,

And they win.

They're losing and winning and losing, but they're always coming back.

Always coming back.

So as you get towards the time when Alexander dies in 323, they're more or less beginning to dominate, certainly central Italy, and looking towards the south.