The Romans first began building with concrete over 2,100 years ago and used it throughout the Mediterranean basin in everything from aqueducts and buildings to bridges and monuments. Combined with volcanic rocks called tuff, this ancient cement formed a concrete that could effectively endure chemical decay.

For centuries the Forum was the center of day-to-day life in Rome: the site of triumphal processions and elections; the venue for public speeches, criminal trials, and gladiatorial matches; and the nucleus of commercial affairs. Here statues and monuments commemorated the city’s great men.

How was the Forum the heart of Roman society? It was the location of important government buildings and temples. It was also a popular meeting place for citizens.

Elected by the plebeians, tribunes had the ability to veto ( VEE-toh), or prohibit, actions by other officials. Veto means “I forbid” in Latin, the Romans’ language. This veto power made tribunes very pow- erful in Rome’s government. To keep them from abusing their power, each tribune remained in office only one year.

The tribunes of the plebs had the power to convene the concilium plebis, or plebeian assembly, and propose legislation before it. Only one of the tribunes could preside over this assembly, which had the power to pass laws affecting only the plebeians, known as plebiscita, or plebiscites.

Rome’s location offered several advantages. One of the advantages was the protection of the hills and mountains found in the peninsula. The Apennine Mountains made it difficult for people to cross from one side of the peninsula to the other. These two groups of mountains helped to protect Rome from outside attacks.

To keep the gods happy, animals were sacrificed (killed) as offerings. Romans sacrificed animals such as bulls, sheep and pigs. People worshipped the gods in temples where they made sacrifices of animals and precious things. Sheep were often sacrificed to Jupiter.

Etruscan civilization endured until it was assimilated into Roman society. The reduction in Etruscan territory was gradual, but after 500 BC, the political balance of power on the Italian peninsula shifted away from the Etruscans in favor of the rising Roman Republic.

Etruscan, member of an ancient people of Etruria, Italy, between the Tiber and Arno rivers west and south of the Apennines, whose urban civilization reached its height in the 6th century bce. Many features of Etruscan culture were adopted by the Romans, their successors to power in the peninsula.

The Etruscans, people from the Etrurian region of the Italian peninsula, were known as the Tyrrhenians to the Greeks. They were at their height in Italy from the 8th to the 5th century BCE, and they were rivals and to a degree precursors to the Greeks.

Yet the Etruscans, whose descendants today live in central Italy, have long been among the great enigmas of antiquity. Their language, which has never properly been deciphered, was unlike any other in classical Italy. Their origins have been hotly debated by scholars for centuries.

The slaves Like all ancient civilizations, the Etruscans also used slaves for their labour force, and they provided low cost manpower that could nevertheless also be highly specialized. The main sources of slaves were wars and raids in enemy territory.

Because Medieval Tuscans appears directly descended from Etruscan ancestors, one can reasonably speculate that the genetic build-up of the Murlo and Florence populations was modified by immigration in the last five centuries.

The Etruscans took rule over Rome around 650 BCE. They influenced Rome in many ways; they created square urban planning, drained out the marshes around it, built roads and bridges and they built underground sewers.

Etruscan Art Add to that the fact the many of the images show the dark-skinned people in positions of power, and we have a bounty of evidence that the Etruscans were, in fact, black.