Rome

AOR
Archaeology Online Resources

Cultural Database

"Discover, Explore, and Learn from the Past!"

Rome/Romans

Rome was supposedly founded by Romulus, who was to have killed his brother Remus for ridiculing the city he had founded around 753 BC. During the early years, Rome was ruled by kings such as King Numa Pompilius, Ancus Marcius, and the sixth king, Servius Tullus. During the time of these kings, the political areana was controlled by the Etruscan nobility. Families were organized into clans, and clans into tribes.
   This period, known as the Regal Period, came to an end around 509 BC when the last Etruscan King, Tarquinius Superbus (Tarquin the Proud) was deposed by the Romans who set up a republic to rule as the governing body. It is said that he was overthrown because he had raped Lucretia, a daughter of an important Roman citizen. The Roman Republic lasted nearly 500 years, which is generally referred to as the period from 509 BC to 27 BC.
   Different classes of citizenship existed. Some offered full voting privileges and the ability to gain membership in the Roman senate. Rome became a prominent power as it continued to expand its territories. By 266 BC, the Roman Republic controlled the entire Italian Peninsula.
   Gaius Julius Caesar, who ruled the Roman Republic as a dictator, was assassinated March 15th in 44 BC. This caused Rome to fall into more than ten years of civil war and political turmoil. After Caesar's heir Gaius Octavius defeated his last rivals, the Senate proclaimed him Augustus, establishing the monarchy that became known as the Roman Empire.

The Roman Empire lasted for nearly five centuries. It is generally held that the Roman Empire began around 27 BC when the Roman Senate gave Gaius Octavius the name Augustus and he became emperor. The Empire would endure for another 500 years until AD 476.
   The Roman Empire lasted until invasions by Germans, economic decline, and internal unrest in the 4th and 5th centuries AD ended Rome's ability to control its vast territories.
   Emperor Augustus reigned from 27 BC to AD 14, ruling with absolute power. He helped lead Rome into two centuries of prosperity which became known as the Roman Peace (Pax Romana), adding several new territories as well. These included Britain, Arabia, and Dacia (Romania). Octavian, in his own words, "transferred the Republic from my own power to the authority of the Senate and the Roman people." People from Roman provinces became soldiers, bureaucrats, senators, and emperors. Rome became the social, economic, and cultural capital of the Mediterranean world.
   A German invader deposed Romulus Augustulus in AD 476, the last emperor in Rome. Afterwards, emperors who proclaimed to be Romans (known of Byzantine origin) continued rule in Constantinople until AD 1453.