The 

history of Rome includes the history of the city of Rome as well as the civilisation of

ancient Rome. Roman history has been influential on the modern world, especially in
the history of the Catholic Church, and Roman law has influenced many modern legal
systems. Roman history can be divided into the following periods:
 Pre-historical and early Rome, covering Rome's earliest inhabitants and the legend of its founding
by Romulus
 The period of Etruscan dominance and the Regal Period, in which according to tradition,
Romulus was the first of seven kings
 The Roman Republic, which commenced in 509 BC when kings were replaced with rule by
elected senators. The period was marked by vast expansion of Roman territory. During the 5th
century BC, Rome gained regional dominance in Latium. With the Punic Wars from 264 to 146
BC, Ancient Rome gained dominance over the Western Mediterranean, displacing Carthage as
the dominant regional power.
 The Roman Empire followed the Republic, which waned with the rise of Julius Caesar, and by all
measures concluded after a period of civil war and the victory of Caesar's adopted son, Octavian,
in 27 BC over Mark Antony. With the collapse of the Western Roman Empire, Rome's power
declined, and it eventually became part of the Eastern Roman Empire, as the Duchy of
Rome until the 8th century. At this time, the city was reduced to a fraction of its former size,
being sacked several times in the 5th to 6th centuries, even temporarily depopulated entirely. [1]
 Medieval Rome is characterized by a break with Constantinople and the formation of the Papal
States. The Papacy struggled to retain influence in the emerging Holy Roman Empire, and during
the Saeculum obscurum, the population of Rome fell to as low as 30,000 inhabitants. Following
the East–West Schism and the limited success in the Investiture Controversy, the Papacy did gain
considerable influence in the High Middle Ages, but with the Avignon Papacy and the Western
Schism, the city of Rome was reduced to irrelevance, its population falling below 20,000. Rome's
decline into complete irrelevance during the medieval period, with the associated lack of
construction activity, assured the survival of very significant ancient Roman material remains in
the centre of the city, some abandoned and others continuing in use.
 The Roman Renaissance occurred in the 15th century, when Rome replaced Florence as the
centre of artistic and cultural influence. The Roman Renaissance was cut short abruptly with
the devastation of the city in 1527, but the Papacy reasserted itself in the Counter-Reformation,
and the city continued to flourish during the early modern period. Rome was annexed by
Napoleon and was part of the First French Empire from 1798 to 1814.
 Modern history - the period from the 19th century to today. Rome came under siege again after
the Allied invasion of Italy and was bombed several times. It was declared an open city on 14
August 1943. Rome became the capital of the Italian Republic (established in 1946). With a
population of 4.4 million in its (as of 2015; 2.9 million within city limits), it is the largest city in
Italy. It is among the largest urban areas of the European Union and classified as a global city.
There is archaeological evidence of human occupation of the Rome area from at least
5,000 years, but the dense layer of much younger debris obscures Palaeolithic and
Neolithic sites.[2] The evidence suggesting the city's ancient foundation is also obscured
by the legend of Rome's beginning involving Romulus and Remus.
The traditional date for the founding of Rome is 753-04-21 BC, following Marcus Terentius
Varro,[3] and the city and surrounding region of Latium has continued to be inhabited
with little interruption since around that time. Excavations made in 2014 have revealed a
wall built long before the city's official founding year. Archaeologists uncovered a stone
wall and pieces of pottery dating to the 9th century BC and the beginning of the 8th
century BC, and there is evidence of people arriving on the Palatine hill as early as the
10th century BC.[4][5]
The site of Sant'Omobono Area is crucial for understanding the related processes of
monumentalization, urbanization, and state formation in Rome in the late Archaic period.
The Sant'Omobono temple site dates to 7th–6th century B.C., making these the oldest
known temple remains in Rome.[6]
Legend of Rome originEdit

Capitoline Wolf suckles the infant twins Romulus and Remus.

The origin of the city's name is thought to be that of the reputed founder and first ruler,
the legendary Romulus.[7] It is said that Romulus and his twin brother Remus, apparent
sons of the god Mars and descendants of the Trojan hero Aeneas, were suckled by a
she-wolf after being abandoned, then decided to build a city. The brothers argued,
Romulus killed Remus, and then named the city Rome after himself. After founding and
naming Rome (as the story goes), he permitted men of all classes to come to Rome as
citizens, including slaves and freemen without distinction.[8] To provide his citizens with
wives, Romulus invited the neighboring tribes to a festival in Rome where he abducted
many of their young women (known as The Rape of the Sabine Women). After the ensuing
war with the Sabines, Romulus shared the kingship with Sabine King Titus Tatius.
[9] Romulus selected 100 of the most noble men to form the Roman senate as an advisory
council to the king. These men he called patres, and their descendants became
the patricians. He created three centuries of equites: Ramnes (meaning Romans), Tities
(after the Sabine king), and Luceres (Etruscans). He also divided the general populace
into thirty curiae, named after thirty of the Sabine women who had intervened to end
the war between Romulus and Tatius. The curiae formed the voting units in the Comitia
Curiata.[10]
Attempts have been made to find a linguistic root for the name Rome. Possibilities
include derivation from the Greek Ῥώμη, meaning bravery, courage;[11] possibly the
connection is with a root *rum-, "teat", with a theoretical reference to the totem wolf
that adopted and suckled the cognately-named twins. The Etruscan name of the city
seems to have been Ruma.[12] Compare also Rumon, former name of the Tiber River. Its
further etymology remains unknown, as with most Etruscan words. Thomas G.
Tucker's Concise Etymological Dictionary of Latin (1931) suggests that the name is most
probably from *urobsma (cf. urbs, robur) and otherwise, "but less likely"
from *urosma "hill" (cf. Skt. varsman- "height, point," Old Slavonic врьхъ "top, summit",
Russ. верх "top; upward direction", Lith. virsus "upper").
City's formationEdit
Rome grew from pastoral settlements on the Palatine Hill and surrounding
hills approximately 30 km (19 mi) from the Tyrrhenian Sea on the south side of the Tiber.
The Quirinal Hill was probably an outpost for the Sabines, another Italic-speaking people.
At this location, the Tiber forms a Z-shaped curve that contains an island where the river
can be forded. Because of the river and the ford, Rome was at a crossroads of traffic
following the river valley and of traders traveling north and south on the west side of
the peninsula.
Archaeological finds have confirmed that there were two fortified settlements in the 8th
century BC, in the area of the future Rome: Rumi on the Palatine Hill, and Titientes on
the Quirinal Hill, backed by the Luceres living in the nearby woods. [13] These were simply
three of numerous Italic-speaking communities that existed in Latium, a plain on
the Italian peninsula, by the 1st millennium BC. The origins of the Italic peoples lie in
prehistory and are therefore not precisely known, but their Indo-European
languages migrated from the east in the second half of the 2nd millennium BC.
According to Dionysius of Halicarnassus, many Roman historians (including Porcius Cato
and Gaius Sempronius) considered the origins of the Romans (descendants of
the Aborigines) as Greek despite the fact that their knowledge was derived from Greek
legendary accounts.[14] The Sabines, specifically, were first mentioned in Dionysius's
account for having captured the city of Lista by surprise, which was regarded as the
mother-city of the Aborigines.[15]
Italic contextEdit

The Etruscan Tomb of the Whipping

The Italic speakers in the area included Latins (in the west), Sabines (in the upper valley
of the Tiber), Umbrians (in the north-east), Samnites (in the South), Oscans, and others. In
the 8th century BC, they shared the peninsula with two other major ethnic groups:
the Etruscans in the North and the Greeks in the south.
The Etruscans (Etrusci or Tusci in Latin) were settled north of Rome in Etruria (modern
northern Lazio, Tuscany and part of Umbria). They founded cities such as Tarquinia, Veii,
and Volterra and deeply influenced Roman culture, as clearly shown by the Etruscan
origin of some of the mythical Roman kings. The origins of the Etruscans are lost in
prehistory. Historians have no literature, no texts of religion or philosophy; therefore,
much of what is known about this civilisation is derived from grave goods and tomb
findings.[16] The behaviour of the Etruscans has led to some confusion. Like Latin,
Etruscan is inflected and Hellenised. Like the Indo-Europeans, the Etruscans were
patrilineal and patriarchal. Like the Italics, they were war-like. The gladiatorial displays
actually developed out of Etruscan funerary customs.[17][18]
The Greeks had founded many colonies in Southern Italy between 750 and 550 BC
(which the Romans later called Magna Graecia), such as Cumae, Naples, Reggio
Calabria, Crotone, Sybaris, and Taranto, as well as in the eastern two-thirds of Sicily.[19][20]
Etruscan dominanceEdit
Further information: Roman Kingdom

Temple of Jupiter Optimus Maximus 526–509 BC[21]

The Servian Wall takes its name from king Servius Tullius and are the first true walls of Rome

After 650 BC, the Etruscans became dominant in Italy and expanded into north-central

Italy. Roman tradition claimed that Rome had been under the control of seven kings from
753 to 509 BC beginning with the mythical Romulus who was said to have founded the
city of Rome along with his brother Remus. The last three kings were said to be Etruscan
(at least partially)—namely Tarquinius Priscus, Servius Tullius and Tarquinius Superbus.
(Priscus is said by the ancient literary sources to be the son of a Greek refugee and an
Etruscan mother.) Their names refer to the Etruscan town of Tarquinia.
Livy, Plutarch, Dionysius of Halicarnassus, and others. It claims that Rome was ruled during
its first centuries by a succession of seven kings. The traditional chronology, as codified
by Varro, allots 243 years for their reigns, an average of almost 35 years, which has been
generally discounted by modern scholarship since the work of Barthold Georg Niebuhr.
The Gauls destroyed much of Rome's historical records when they sacked the city after
the Battle of the Allia in 390 BC (according to Polybius, the battle occurred in 387/6) and
what was left was eventually lost to time or theft. With no contemporary records of the
kingdom existing, all accounts of the kings must be carefully questioned. [22] The list of
kings is also of dubious historical value, though the last-named kings may be historical
figures. It is believed by some historians (again, this is disputed) that Rome was under
the influence of the Etruscans for about a century. During this period, a bridge was built
called the Pons Sublicius to replace the Tiber ford, and the Cloaca Maxima was also built;
the Etruscans are said to have been great engineers of this type of structure. From a
cultural and technical point of view, Etruscans had arguably the second-greatest impact
on Roman development, only surpassed by the Greeks.
Expanding further south, the Etruscans came into direct contact with the Greeks and
initially had success in conflicts with the Greek colonists; after which, Etruria went into a
decline. Taking advantage of this, Rome rebelled and gained independence from the
Etruscans around 500 BC. It also abandoned monarchy in favour of a republican system
based on a Senate, composed of the nobles of the city, along with popular assemblies
which ensured political participation for most of the freeborn men and elected
magistrates annually.
The Etruscans left a lasting influence on Rome. The Romans learned to build temples
from them, and the Etruscans may have introduced the worship of a triad of
gods — Juno, Minerva, and Jupiter — from the Etruscan gods: Uni, Menrva, and Tinia.
However, the influence of Etruscan people in the development of Rome is often
overstated.[23] Rome was primarily a Latin city. It never became fully Etruscan. Also,
evidence shows that Romans were heavily influenced by the Greek cities in the South,
mainly through trade.[24]
Roman RepublicEdit
Further information: Overthrow of the Roman monarchy, Roman Republic, and Crisis of the Roman Republic
Forum Romanum

The Roman Republic traditionally dates from 509 BC to 27 BC. After 500 BC, Rome
joined with the Latin cities in defence against incursions by the Sabines. Winning
the Battle of Lake Regillus in 493 BC, Rome established again the supremacy over the
Latin countries it had lost after the fall of the monarchy. After a lengthy series of
struggles, this supremacy became fixed in 393, when the Romans finally subdued
the Volsci and Aequi. In 394 BC, they also conquered the menacing Etruscan neighbour
of Veii. The Etruscan power was now limited to Etruria itself, and Rome was the
dominant city in Latium.
Also a formal treaty with the city of Carthage is reported to have been made in the end
of the 6th century BC, which defined the spheres of influence of each city and regulated
the trade between them.

Chart Showing the Checks and Balances of the Roman Constitution.

At the same time, Heraclides states that 4th-century Rome is a Greek city.[25]

Rome's early enemies were the neighbouring hill tribes of the Volscians, the Aequi, and
of course the Etruscans. As years passed and military successes increased Roman
territory, new adversaries appeared. The fiercest were the Gauls, a loose collective of
peoples who controlled much of Northern Europe including what is modern North and
Central-East Italy.
In 387 BC, Rome was sacked and burned by the Senones coming from eastern Italy and
led by Brennus, who had successfully defeated the Roman army at the Battle of the
Allia in Etruria. Multiple contemporary records suggest that the Senones hoped to
punish Rome for violating its diplomatic neutrality in Etruria. The Senones marched 130
kilometres (81 mi) to Rome without harming the surrounding countryside; once sacked,
the Senones withdrew from Rome.[26] Brennus was defeated by the dictator Furius
Camillus at Tusculum soon afterwards.[27][28]
After that, Rome hastily rebuilt its buildings and went on the offensive, conquering the
Etruscans and seizing territory from the Gauls in the north. After 345 BC, Rome pushed
south against other Latins. Their main enemy in this quadrant were the fierce Samnites,
who outsmarted and trapped the legions in 321 BC at the Battle of Caudine Forks. In spite
of these and other temporary setbacks, the Romans advanced steadily. By 290 BC, Rome
controlled over half of the Italian peninsula. In the 3rd century BC, Rome brought the
Greek poleis in the south under its control as well.[29]

Map showing Roman expansion in Italy.

Amidst the never ending wars (from the beginning of the Republic up to the Principate,
the doors of the temple of Janus were closed only twice – when they were open it meant
that Rome was at war), Rome had to face a severe major social crisis, the Conflict of the
Orders, a political struggle between the Plebeians (commoners) and Patricians (aristocrats)
of the ancient Roman Republic, in which the Plebeians sought political equality with the
Patricians. It played a major role in the development of the Constitution of the Roman
Republic. It began in 494 BC, when, while Rome was at war with two neighboring tribes,
the Plebeians all left the city (the first Plebeian Secession). The result of this first secession
was the creation of the office of Plebeian Tribune, and with it the first acquisition of real
power by the Plebeians.[30]

Map of the centre of Rome during the time of the Roman Empire

According to tradition, Rome became a republic in 509 BC. However, it took a few

centuries for Rome to become the great city of popular imagination. By the 3rd century
BC, Rome had become the pre-eminent city of the Italian peninsula. During the Punic
Wars between Rome and the great Mediterranean empire of Carthage (264 to 146 BC),
Rome's stature increased further as it became the capital of an overseas empire for the
first time. Beginning in the 2nd century BC, Rome went through a significant population
expansion as Italian farmers, driven from their ancestral farmlands by the advent of
massive, slave-operated farms called latifundia, flocked to the city in great numbers. The
victory over Carthage in the First Punic War brought the first two provinces outside the
Italian peninsula, Sicily and Sardinia.[31] Parts of Spain (Hispania) followed, and in the
beginning of the 2nd century the Romans got involved in the affairs of the Greek world.
By then all Hellenistic kingdoms and the Greek city-states were in decline, exhausted
from endless civil wars and relying on mercenary troops.
The Romans looked upon the Greek civilisation with great admiration. The Greeks saw
Rome as a useful ally in their civil strifes, and it wasn't long before the Roman legions
were invited to intervene in Greece. In less than 50 years the whole of mainland Greece
was subdued. The Roman legions crushed the Macedonian phalanx twice, in 197 and
168 BC; in 146 BC the Roman consul Lucius Mummius razed Corinth, marking the end of
free Greece. The same year Cornelius Scipio Aemilianus, the son of Scipio Africanus,
destroyed the city of Carthage, making it a Roman province.
In the following years, Rome continued its conquests in Spain with Tiberius Gracchus, and
it set foot in Asia, when the last king of Pergamum gave his kingdom to the Roman
people. The end of the 2nd century brought another threat, when a great host
of Germanic peoples, namely Cimbri and Teutones, crossed the river Rhone and moved to
Italy. Gaius Marius was consul five consecutive times (seven total), and won two decisive
battles in 102 and 101 BC He also reformed the Roman army, giving it such a good
reorganization that it remained unchanged for centuries.
The first thirty years of the last century BC were characterised by serious internal
problems that threatened the existence of the Republic. The Social War, between Rome
and its allies, and the Servile Wars (slave uprisings) were hard conflicts,[32] all within Italy,
and forced the Romans to change their policy with regards to their allies and subjects.
[33] By then Rome had become an extensive power, with great wealth which derived
from the conquered people (as tribute, food or manpower, i.e. slaves). The allies of
Rome felt bitter since they had fought by the side of the Romans, and yet they were not
citizens and shared little in the rewards. Although they lost the war, they finally got what
they asked, and by the beginning of the 1st century AD practically all free inhabitants of
Italy were Roman citizens.
However, the growth of the Imperium Romanum (Roman power) created new problems,
and new demands, that the old political system of the Republic, with its annually elected
magistrates and its sharing of power, could not solve. The dictatorship of Sulla, the
extraordinary commands of Pompey Magnus, and the first triumvirate made that clear. In
January 49 BC, Julius Caesar the conqueror of Gaul, marched his legions against Rome. In
the following years, he vanquished his opponents, and ruled Rome for four years. After
his assassination in 44 BC, the Senate tried to reestablish the Republic, but its
champions, Marcus Junius Brutus (descendant of the founder of the republic) and Gaius
Cassius Longinus were defeated by Caesar's lieutenant Marcus Antonius and Caesar's
nephew, Octavian.
The years 44–31 BC mark the struggle for power between Marcus Antonius and
Octavian (later known as Augustus). Finally, on 2 September 31 BC, in the Greek
promontory of Actium, the final battle took place in the sea. Octavian was victorious, and
became the sole ruler of Rome (and its empire). That date marks the end of the Republic
and the beginning of the Principate.[34][35]
Rome Timeline

Roman Empire

44 BC –
Augustus establishes the Empire.
AD 14

AD 64 Great Fire of Rome during Nero's rule.

Flavian dynasty. Building of

69–96
the Colosseum.

Crisis of the Roman Empire. Building of

3rd
the Baths of Caracalla and the Aurelian
century
Walls.

Diocletian and Constantine. Building of
the first Christian basilicas. Battle of
284–
Milvian Bridge. Rome is replaced
337
by Constantinople as the capital of the
Empire.

Definitive separation
395
of Western and Eastern Roman Empire.

410 The Goths of Alaric sack Rome.

455 The Vandals of Gaiseric sack Rome.

Fall of the west empire and deposition

476
of the final emperor Romulus Augustus.

Gothic War (535–554). The Goths cut off

the aqueducts in the siege of 537, an
6th
act which historians traditionally
century
regard as the beginning of the Middle
Ages in Italy[36]
 Emperor Phocas donates
the Pantheon to Pope Boniface IV,
converting it into a Christian
608
church. Column of Phocas (the last
addition made to the Forum Romanum)
is erected.

The Curia Julia (vacant since the

disappearance of the Roman Senate) is
630
transformed into the basilica
of Sant'Adriano al Foro.

Constans II visits Rome for twelve days

—the only emperor to set foot in
Rome for two centuries. He strips
663
buildings of their ornaments and
bronze to be carried back to
Constantinople.

Lombard conquest of the Exarchate of

751 Ravenna, the Duchy of Rome is now
completely cut off from the empire.

Alliance with the Franks, Pepin the

Younger, declared Patrician of the
754
Romans, invades Italy. Establishment of
the Papal States