How did the Romans become the dominant power in Italy?

TTHE COLONIES ESTABLISHED BY GREEK POLEIS (city-states) in the Hellenic era included a number along the coast of southern Italy and Sicily (see Chapter 3). Although Alexander the Great created an empire that stretched from his homeland of Macedonia to India (see Chapter 4), his conquests did not reach as far as southern Italy and Sicily. Thus the Greek colonies there remained politically independent. They became part of the Hellenistic cultural world, however, and they transmitted much of that culture to people who lived farther north in the Italian peninsula. These people included the Etruscans, who built the first cities north of the Greek colonies, and then the Romans, who eventually came to dominate the peninsula.

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The Temple of Hercules VictorThis round temple, dating from the second century B.C.E., is the oldest surviving marble building in Rome, and was imported from Greece. It once contained a statue of the mythical hero Hercules and was dedicated to him because the temple was the spot where legend told he killed a monster who had stolen some cattle. (Justin Kase z12z/Alamy)> PICTURING THE PASTANALYZING THE IMAGE: Looking at the picture of the Acropolis of Athens, what stylistic similarities do you see between those buildings and this temple?
CONNECTIONS: How do those similarities, and the fact that this temple was dedicated to Hercules, provide evidence for Roman adoption of Greek religion and culture?