Jack Rackam's video: My Favorite Lie about Rome

King Ancus Marcius was said to have been as warlike as Romulus and as peace-loving and pious as King Numa. Sure, that makes sense. He definitely did more religious rituals than his predecessor, considering the latter got smited with lightning. During Ancus Marcius’ reign, Rome was invaded by the people called the Latins, but he defeated them which ultimately expanded Rome’s territory to reach the seaside port of Ostia. Thus begins one of my favorite historical tropes of all time. According to Roman historians, Rome, the city that fought hundreds of wars over countless centuries, Rome, the empire that spanned over an entire continent, somehow inexplicably accidentally created that empire entirely through self-defense.