• Did not begin writing own history until 200 BCE
  • Much of tradition is based on oral history
• Unlike Greek figures, historical characters were exceptional only in virtue
• Best-preserved account is from Livy, who lived from 59 BCE to 17 AD
• Had a profound sense of their origins and destiny
• Every year, posted record of important events called Annales maximi
• Sense of themselves was complicated because boundaries were very fluid
• Did not have to be born a Roman, extended citizenship to others
• Beginning around 650 BCE, began to develop into city with constitution