[2] The Latin League was originally created for protection against enemies from surrounding areas (the Etruscans) under the leadership of the city of Alba Longa.

[1] An incomplete fragment of an inscription recorded by Cato the Elder claims that at one time the league included Tusculum, Aricia, Lanuvium, Lavinium, Cora, Tibur, Pometia and Ardea.

The alliance helped repel attacks from such peoples as the Aequi and the Volsci, tribes of the Apennine Mountains, who were prevented from invading Latium by the blending of armies.

During the Roman Kingdom and the early-to-mid Roman Republic there were numerous disputes between Rome and the Latins, which led to a number of wars between Rome and individual Latin cities and occasionally with the entire league.

After 338 BC, the end of the Latin league, Rome renamed the cities municipia and established coloniae inside them.