771 BC - 700 BC (No Rome)

''Following the removal of all threats to Amulius’ reign, he would begin consolidating power in his kingdom. Amulius' descendants would continue his efforts, establishing themselves as a powerful union in the peninsula, matched closely by the Etruscans, who expand unhindered, and several other native tribes. ''

Beginning
Several weeks after the removal of Rhea Silvia’s children, she too would meet a similar fate, falling ill in her prison cell. She died, further removing all possibilities of a male heir challenging Amulius. Dealing with the small crisis accordingly, Amulius turned his focus back toward the duties of Alba Longa. He retired back to his palace, residing in the city of Lavinium, first founded by Aeneas centuries earlier. Looking to further establish himself as a force that would not be removed, Amulius secured the borders of Alba Longa, from Lavinium to Albanus Lacus, where the city of Alba Longa stands. Years earlier the city of Alba Longa had been the site of the founding of the Latin League, a loose confederation of Latin towns and villages, acting as a buffer to Etruscan expansion from the north. The land of the Latin people stretched from the Tiber River to the promontory of Monte Circeo, separating the Latins from Etruria via the Silva Ciminia, an unbroken and feared forest to the north of Lavinium.

More exact borders were drawn by Amulius, and a careful eye was played upon the forest, toward the Etruscans and the Sabines to the east. For this purpose, and to prevent another wealthy individual usurping his kingdom, Amulius commissioned a small militia known as the Diogmita Latinum, drawing men from several local clans and villages. The group was paid small wages, and tasked primarily with pursuing robbers outside major cities. Several paid guards would also be stationed in the palace at Lavinium.

Guards were paid with primarily with pecus, sheep, much like most of the peninsula. For most of the early Latins, bartering had been the dominant form of trade, used in small local marketplaces to buy basic necessities. Trade was local, especially farther inland, the only exception being sea trade, to which the Latins were mostly excluded.

Etruria
The Etruscans benefited greatly from trade over the seas. With settlements spread across the peninsula, trade commenced from the Po Valley, in the far north, to the Campania region, and to the Etruscan homeland of Etruria. Etruscan traders are also known to have contacted Greek colonies in Sicily and southern Italy.

The Etruscans imposed their cultural and political institutions over the native people of the north, creating a second Dodecapolis, a federation of twelve cities, much like the twelve main cities of the first Dodecapolis in Etruria, founded by Tarchon and his brother Tyrrhenus. The Etruscans were able to trade with several cities states along the Adriatic Sea, transporting goods along the Po River, from cities such as Mantua, to ports in the east, such as Atria and Spica. Throughout Umbria and several city states in the area, imported goods from Greece and Etruria became common, as well as the production of local pottery.

Alba Amulius
In 749 BC Amulius died of natural causes, leaving his only son, Alba Amulius to be crowned king. Under his reign Alba Longa would extend its influence over the Latin tribes, and lay the foundations for future towns.

Alba Amulius was seventeen years of age when he became leader of Alba Longa. At his coronation in Lavinium many looked on with mixed thoughts. The new king was smaller and less experienced than his father, having little experience in actual combat. At his first Feriae Latinae as king, the Latin Festival, first established generations earlier, Alba Amulius allowed his people gathered on Alban Mount to feast and celebrate heavily.

As part of his first real acts as king Alba Amulius commissioned the creation of several large pastures near the city of Alba Longa. Trade along ancient Sabine trails would help the Latins to secure salt from the Adriatic Sea, mostly through trade. This trail would eventually become known as the Via Salaria, due to its importance in the salt trade.

Alba Longa’s small militia began to be paid in salt, as well as pecus from the northern pastures. This military improvement, which increased the loyalty of the Latin militia worried the tribes north of Alba Longa, across the Tiber River, known as the Fidenates, an Etruscan people.