Why Rome?

[Queequeg]

Why, in your view, did Rome rise to become the preeminent state in the Mediterranean?

[Eddie Teach]

The gods favored them.

[mongers]

Mussolini knew the reason.

[CountDeMoney]

The gods favored them.

[alfred russel]

All roads led to Rome. So it was a rather obvious location for centralized rule.

[CountDeMoney]

All roads led to Rome.

But were the roads there before Rome?  And don't lie, or I'll know.

[alfred russel]

All roads led to Rome.

But were the roads there before Rome?  And don't lie, or I'll know.

Which came first, the chicken or the egg?

These are mysteries that will never be solved.

[mongers]

All roads led to Rome.

But were the roads there before Rome?  And don't lie, or I'll know.

Many amphibians have the answer buried in their DNA.

[Viking]

Well the Romans would have said it was their "Virtus".

I tend to agree with them. The nature of the med and the economics of the sea trade in the region meant that somebody was going to come out of on top. The attitude the romans had towards the other and the attitude the romans had towards the state and kingship meant that they not only could cope with ambitious men like Hannibal or Alcibiades better than others (a roman Alcibiades would have sacked Syracuse, not defected to the Spartans, then bribed his way out of prosecution, a Roman Hannibal would have gotten re-enforcements to finish the campaign and gotten a tribute and been first citizen for life). It falls apart with Caesar, but by then It all belonged to Rome.

[Admiral Yi]

Inclusive citizenship and resulting manpower advantage.

[MadImmortalMan]

Black Swan.

[PDH]

Probably because they moved around a lot.

[Josephus]

The weather's nice there.

[Iormlund]

The weather's nice there.

Not really. It was a malarial swamp back then.

[Eddie Teach]

That's it. Rome rose because they knew how to drain swamps.