The Entire Roman Empire Timeline Explained

Don't know your Latin from your Latium? Never heard of a mammertine before? Fear not! This is Rome's entire history, start to finish. Archaeologists have found that continual habitation of the Palatine Hill, one of the seven hills that formed the city of Rome, began close to the year 1000 BC. This means that the so-called Eternal City has actually only been a site of human habitation for about 3,020 years, which, in fairness, is quite a decent run. According to legend, the Palatine Hill was the place where Romulus founded the city of Rome after slaying his brother Remus. According to another legend, this is where the Trojan hero Aeneas settled after fleeing the destruction of his home. In truth, the Palatine Hill was settled by groups of farmers and shepherds looking for a more defensible place to raise crops and livestock, while also allowing for trade with the wealthy Etruscans to the north. These settlers were the Latins, named for Latium, the region from which they migrated. They were the forbearers of Roman civilization. The ancient Romans held that their civilization was founded in 753 BC. In fact, they even pinpointed a specific day, which correlates to our modern calendar's date of April 21st. The story goes that Rome was founded by Romulus, who chose to settle on the site of the future city after killing his brother Remus. Many Romans also believed that these quarrelsome brothers were the ancestors of the Aeneas, and that Rome was named for a woman called Roma, with whom Aeneas and his fellow Trojan exiles traveled. The veracity of these accounts is easily doubted by the modern scholar, but for Romans, 753 BC was seen in much the same way as the year 1776 is for Americans. Before that year, there was simply no true Rome in the minds of the ancients. As it happens, though, Rome's actual founding can be traced to a date that lies more than 125 years later. The actual founding of ancient Rome took place sometime between the years 625 BC and 600 BC. It was around these years that several groups of Latium villagers came together to form a larger, more permanent settlement. People had lived on the Palatine Hill for some four centuries by then, but now a truly permanent town took shape, one that archaeologists have confirmed was fully established by around 600 BC. However, it's not certain whether this larger city was founded to ward off Etruscan aggression or whether it arose in the wake of an Etruscan victory over the Latiums. The histories of these two groups would be closely intertwined for hundreds of years, right up until Etruscan power began to wane following the ascendance of the Roman Republic. It's therefore possible that a group of Etruscans took over a Latium settlement, built it up, and in so doing, sowed the seeds of their own fate. That's because we do know that, over the course of the centuries that led up to the so-called Common Era, Rome gradually wiped the Etruscan civilization off the map. "...the king." The Regal Period, also known as the Period of Kings, is where you'll find the divide between mythology and history. The Romans held that their first king was none other than Romulus himself, who is thought to have ruled from 753 to 715 BC. Next came the kings Numa Pompilius and Tullus Hostilius, who ruled from 715 to 673 BC and from 673 to 642 BC, respectively. Then came the Roman king Ancus Marcius, who ruled from 642 to 616 BC. The next king was of Etruscan descent. He was named Tarquinius Priscus, and he ruled from 616 to 579 BC. Tarquinius was followed by Servius Tullius, who was king from 579 to 535 BC, until he was murdered by his successor Tarquin the Proud. Tarquin ruled from 534 to 509 BC, which you might recognize as the date of the founding of the Roman Republic. After Tarquin's tyrannical rule was cut short, the Roman people decided they were quite done with kings, and the Period of Kings came to an end. The year 509 BC saw the founding of the Roman Republic. Historians believe that in 509 BC, a group of Etruscans led by the Etruscan king Porcena defeated Tarquin in a battle and took his throne. Porcena tried to take over as the new king of Rome, but he was frustrated by the efforts of the Senate, a political body that existed to advise the king. The people of Rome subsequently took power, appointing consuls as rulers who led without absolute power. In the early days of the Roman Republic, most actual power resided in the hands of men from a few powerful families. They were known as the patricians. Over the ensuing centuries, however, a new system of government emerged. After years of conflict between the patricians and the less powerful but more numerous plebeians, several other political bodies were formed to represent other demographics. Notably, the Plebeian Council gained the power to create new laws, while Roman citizens acquired a higher degree of self-rule. This method of government would persist, in some form or another, for nearly 500 years. The Twelve Tables of Law were created in either the year 451 or 450 BC. They represent some of the earliest known codified laws and have served as the basis for law throughout history, even influencing some modern legal documents. Some, not all. Now let's say you and I go toe-to-toe on bird law and see who comes out the victor. You know, I don't think I'm going to do anything, um, close to that. Scholars believe that, in the year 451 BC, the Roman Senate formed a committee called the Decemviri and sent them to Athens to study the work of Solon, a celebrated Greek politician who had lived some hundred years before. Guided by the advice of this committee, a group of patricians then created the Legibus Rebundis, or Written Laws, which came to be known as the Twelve Tables. These laws limited the power of the wealthy and elites and enshrined equal protections for all full citizens — women and slaves excepted, of course. In the year 390 BC, foreign soldiers sacked the city of Rome, a feat nobody else would manage for the next 800 years. This particular fall of the Roman capital followed a Roman defeat at a battle that took place a short distance north of the city. The conflict followed Roman intervention on behalf of an Etruscan city the year before, in 391 BC. Though defeated in that particular battle, a Gallic army under the chieftain Brennus regrouped and rounded a Roman army before marching on Rome itself, which was largely undefended at the time. Two days after the battle, the Gauls invaded and looted Rome, burning much of the city and killing scores of Roman citizens. A number of Romans held out on the fortified Capitoline Hill, and a months-long siege commenced, eventually leaving both the encircled Romans and Gauls starving, sickened, and weak. The Romans sued for peace and agreed to hand over 1,000 pounds of gold, but during a squabble over the weighting of the ransom, a Roman army led by General Camillus arrived. And that's why you never get greedy. Ka-ching! Ka-ching! Prior to the Punic Wars, Rome had been the major power on the Italian peninsula. Afterwards, the Republic became dominant across the Mediterranean. In the 280s BC, a group of Italian mercenaries known as the Mamertines invaded the town of Messana in northern Sicily. In 265 BC, the people of the Sicilian Greek city-state Syracuse attempted to oust the Mamertines, who appealed to the Carthaginians for help. Carthage was a major naval power at the time, and their forces quickly drove the Syracusan troops back out of Messana. Worried by an ongoing Carthaginian occupation, the Mamertines then appealed to Rome for help. Rome, uncomfortable with a major regional power sitting so close by, agreed. The ensuing war began with a number of battles fought all around the island of Sicily. By 256 BC, Rome had built up a powerful navy and brought the war to North Africa, the Carthaginian homeland. After a handful of early Roman victories, the Carthaginians dealt the Romans a number of dramatic defeats. Helped along by ravaging storms that ruined entire fleets, Carthage put Rome on the defensive. The tide finally turned again in the late 240s BC when the Roman Senate pushed for a major offensive against the Carthaginians. After 23 years of war, Carthage capitulated and evacuated Sicily. In the end, Rome's overwhelming manpower and resources secured the Republic's victory. The Second Punic War began with the occupation of a city that lay only marginally under the auspices of Rome. Saguntum was an independent city allied with Rome yet surrounded by Carthaginian lands. In 219 BC, Carthage's leader Hannibal took Saguntum. Not that guy. This guy. Love your suit. Some of the people of Saguntum went to Rome for help. Negotiations for a peaceful settlement failed, war loomed once more, and Hannibal decided to take the fight right to Rome. Knowing Rome's navy outmatched his and hoping to head off an attack on the Carthaginian homeland, Hannibal led his armies over the Alps to attack Rome from the north. These armies consisted of 38,000 foot soldiers, 8,000 mounted troops, and famously, 37 war elephants. Though some 30 percent of his troops and almost all of his elephants died in the mountain crossing, when Hannibal arrived in northern Italy, his horses were able to wage a successful war against the Romans. Hundreds of towns fell to the Carthaginians over the next few years. Nevertheless, by the time Hannibal finally reached the outskirts of Rome, his armies were too depleted to properly besiege the city, and the tides of war turned. Rome subsequently regained all the territory it had lost and then began to capture land in Hispania and North Africa, largely thanks to the leadership of the Roman general Scipio Africanus. By 201 BC, Carthage had sued for peace and surrendered all of its lands outside of Africa. Rome had become the greatest power in the Mediterranean. In the decades that followed the Punic Wars, Rome consolidated its power by defeating a number of barbarian tribes to the north. Many of the troubles faced by the Roman Republic in those years were internal. These included uprisings among the resisted populace and a slave revolt led by an escaped gladiator named Spartacus. You probably know how that one turned out. I'm Spartacus! I'm Spartacus! I'm Spartacus! Rome also struggled with the threat of civil war. At the time, armies tended to be loyal primarily to their leaders, not the state. In 60 BC, three generals, Gaius Julius Caesar, Marcus Licinius Crassus, and Gnaeus Pompeius Magnus, banded together to form an alliance that would come to be known as the First Triumvirate. After seizing control of the Senate, the members of the First Triumvirate shared an uneasy alliance for seven years, until Crassus was killed following a defeat in battle against the Parthians to the east. With Crassus dead, the rivalry that had long simmered between Pompey and Caesar finally flared, and the alliance fell apart. In 48 BC, Pompey and Caesar met in battle. Caesar won, and Pompey fled to Egypt, where he was promptly murdered. Julius Caesar then took on the title of dictator, effectively becoming the first emperor of Rome. Following the defeat and death of Pompey the Great, Julius Caesar took power as the unchallenged ruler of Rome, serving a role not known in the civilization since the end of the period of kings. Unlike previous dictators, who had held unchecked rule for only the duration of a significant threat to Rome, Caesar's power was to be total. In early 44 BC, he was declared dictator for life. Caesar began ignoring the Senate and passing his own laws. He had coins minted with his image on them, and he personally accepted or rejected the results of low-level elections, thereby negating their legitimacy. But what most concerned members of the formerly ruling parties was the fact that, despite his autocratic ways, Caesar was gaining popularity with the people, largely by promising to give his own land and money to retiring soldiers. Determined to stop the dictator once and for all, a group of senators calling themselves liberators conspired to assassinate Caesar. The murder was carried out in the chambers of the Senate on March 15, the Ides of March, in 44 BC. A group of senators stabbed Caesar 23 times. They hoped that in doing so, they might restore the Roman Republic. The result was the exact opposite. Outraged at the killing of a popular ruler, many Romans rose up in revolts, and most of the conspirators were killed. A civil war then broke out between Mark Antony, Caesar's one-time deputy, and Octavian, Caesar's great-nephew and prescribed heir. With the death of Julius Caesar, the fate of the Republic was sealed. Sixteen years after the murder of Julius Caesar, Rome's first true emperor took power. This was Caesar's heir, Octavian, who became known as Caesar Augustus on his ascension to power. "'Who will speak against the motion?' Augustus' appointment came straight from the Senate. But thereafter, Augustus, and all subsequent Roman emperors, would be considered the undeniable heads of the Roman state. Caesar Augustus commanded Rome until his death in the year 14 AD. During his reign, the tumult that had blighted Roman society for decades was calmed, peace was restored, and Rome became a powerful and influential civilization once more. Augustus proved himself a capable military commander overseas and a skilled politician in Rome. Shortly before his death, he even took on the title Pontifex Maximus, making him the head of the Roman religion as well. On August 24, 79 AD, Mount Vesuvius erupted for the first time in hundreds of years. The eruption destroyed the city of Pompeii and the town of Herculaneum, both prosperous Roman settlements. Many thousands of people were killed. Their bodies were buried in volcanic ash and rock until their rediscovery by archaeologists some 1,700 years later. The eruption of Mount Vesuvius was a tragedy that was well-noted across much of ancient Rome, and it was famously written about by the famed orator and historian Pliny the who witnessed the event firsthand. Despite the tragedy that followed, the eruption of Vesuvius later became the source of great learning for modern scholars. Because Pompeii and Herculaneum were so well-preserved under many feet of rock and ash, their excavations have offered a treasure trove of artifacts and information from Rome during the days of the empire. The Battle of Milvian Bridge marked a significant milestone in Roman history, as it saw Emperor Constantine assert his rule over the Western Roman Empire after defeating his rival and ending the Civil War. But what made the battle so important to the history of humanity is the fact that, shortly before the fight, Constantine converted to Christianity. Long story short, it's kind of a big deal for mankind. Get on with it!" After securing his victory, Constantine lifted the ban on Christianity in the Roman Empire and soon made it the primary religion in the land. He also moved to cede power from Rome to Byzantium, which would later become Constantinople, and eventually Istanbul. In 330, however, Constantine again officially divided the empire into East and West, and, in doing so, badly weakened the Western religion. On August 27, 410 A.D., the city of Rome was sacked by foreign invaders for the first time in 800 years. Not since the Gauls had entered the city in 390 B.C. had Rome been invaded, and this three-day rampage through the city marked the beginning of the end of the Roman Empire. Ironically, the Visigoths who took the city that August had quite a lot in common with the Romans. Like the Romans of the day, they were Christians, and their leader, Alaric, had even sought to ally with Rome in the past, but his appeals had been firmly rejected. During the sacking of Rome, the Visigoths laid waste to much of the city, but dutifully protected the Christian relics and treasures that were housed in the city's churches. Notably, at the time of the attack, Rome wasn't even considered the official Roman capital. The cede of power had previously been moved to Ravenna, 200 miles to the north. 476 is the year generally accepted as the end of the Roman civilization. Having already been sacked again in 455 by the Vandals, it was in 476 that Rome officially fell, following the deposition of the last emperor, Romulus Augustus, by the Ostrogoth leader, Odoacer. Never again would the Western Empire have a true ruler, and never again would it have an emperor or take lands from other peoples. Persisting from about 625 B.C. until 476 A.D., from the period of kings through the Roman Republic and until the end of the Roman Empire, ancient Rome stood for approximately 1,100 years. The fall of Rome is commonly regarded as the end of antiquity and the beginning of the early medieval period. In the East, however, Rome persisted in many ways. Though the Western Roman Empire fell in 476 A.D., the Eastern Roman Empire evolved into the Byzantine Empire, which held on strong for another thousand years or so. During the reign of Justinian I, which lasted from 527 to 656 A.D., the Church of Hagia Sophia was built, which remains one of the world's most impressive and celebrated structures. But the good times didn't last forever. In the 15th century, the larger and more powerful Ottoman Sultanate threatened Byzantium. Finally, following a brutal two-month siege, Constantinople fell to the forces of Sultan Mehmed II. In that sense, May 29, 1453 could be considered the final end of Rome. That said, Roman architecture lives on in ruins around Europe, while its style is mimicked in countless buildings and monuments erected in the subsequent centuries. Roman law and the Republican approach to government is still very much alive today, too. Meanwhile, Latin greatly influenced many modern tongues. And of course, Roman Christianity played a pivotal role in the history of mankind, in the sense that so much of this ancient civilization's influence can still be felt, you could say that the age of Rome persists to this day.