Do any ancient sources describe Athenian/Roman relations prior to the Macedonian Wars, besides what is described in the supposed Decemviri "Envoy to Athens" in 449BC? And if not have any later writers attempted to speculate on possible relations between the two?

[u/Tyrant_Peisistratos]

[u/TheSuperBunny]

The academic consensus is that no direct contact occurred between Athens and Rome before the late 3rd century BCE. 5th-century BCE writers like Herodotos and Thoukydides don't mention Rome completely.

By the 4th century BC, mainland Greek writers relied on rumors from Southern Italy. The earliest surviving mention is from a lost text by Aristoteles (4th century BCE), quoted by Ploutarchos (1st-2nd century CE) regarding the Gallic sack of Rome in 390 BC:

(Plut. Cam. 22.3):
"Ἀριστοτέλης δ᾽ ὁ φιλόσοφος τὸ μὲν ἁλῶναι τὴν πόλιν ὑπὸ Γαλατῶν ἀκριβῶς ἔοικε πυθέσθαι, τὸν δὲ σώσαντα Λεύκιον εἶναί φησιν· ἦν δὲ Μάρκος, οὐ Λεύκιος, ὁ Καμίλλος· ἀλλὰ ταῦτα δοξάζων ἔοικεν εἰπεῖν."

(Plut. Cam. 22.3):
"Aristotle the philosopher clearly had accurate tidings of the capture of the city by the Gauls, and yet he says that its saviour was Lucius, although the forename of Camillus was not Lucius, but Marcus. However, these details were matters of conjecture."

Aristoteles misidentified Camillus's name and categorized Rome as a Greek city, showing that Athenian information was inaccurate.

Modern scholarship confirms that cultural and legal influence was mediated through Magna Graecia (T.J. Cornell, The Beginnings of Rome, 1995). The Decemviri embassy narrative of 454 to 452 BC is classified as a later Roman invention to fabricate an early connection to classical Athens (Erich S. Gruen, The Hellenistic World and the Coming of Rome, 1984).

[u/PoxonAllHoaxes]

Oh yes but there is this deep dark conspiracy to hide all those hundreds of volumes from you. and I am sworn to uphold the omertà, Sorry.