Kathryn Lomas provides an innovative account of Roman relations with Magna Graecia from 350 BC to the third century AD, focusing on the Greek cities of Southern Italy and Campania. The book highlights the means by which Rome expanded into Southern Italy, the particular local factors which affected the nature of this relationship, and the social, political, economic and cultural changes which accompanied Romanization. More specifically, it explores the role of Greek cities in Italy as cultural mediators between the Greek and Roman worlds and shows how the exploitation of the region's cultural heritage served to legitimate Roman power and to define civic identities.

Although this work refers to archaeological documentation on the development of Magna Graecia from the third century BC, it is based primarily on historical, epigraphic and literary evidence. This detailed case study of the relations of Rome with one area of Italy clarifies the processes of political/diplomatic control and cultural Romanization. This is the first full length treatment of the region as a whole in English for over thirty years.