ancient Rome

Table of Contents

Introduction & Top Questions
Rome from its origins to 264 bc
- Early Rome to 509 bc
  - Early Italy
  - Historical sources on early Rome
  - Rome’s foundation myth
  - The regal period, 753–509 bc
- Early centuries of the Roman Republic
  - Foundation of the republic
  - The struggle of the orders
  - The consulship
  - The dictatorship
  - The Senate
  - The popular assemblies
  - The plebeian tribunate
  - The Law of the Twelve Tables
  - Military tribunes with consular power
  - Social and economic changes
  - The Latin League
- Roman expansion in Italy
  - The Samnite Wars
  - The Pyrrhic War, 280–275 bc
The middle republic (264–133 bc)
- The first two Punic Wars
  - First Punic War (264–241 bc)
  - Second Punic War (218–201 bc)
- The establishment of Roman hegemony in the Mediterranean world
  - Roman expansion in the eastern Mediterranean
  - Roman expansion in the western Mediterranean
  - Explanations of Roman expansion
- Beginnings of provincial administration
The transformation of Rome and Italy during the Middle Republic
- Citizenship and politics in the middle republic
- Culture and religion
- Demographic and economic developments
- Social changes
- Rome and Italy
The Late Republic (133–31 bc)
- The aftermath of the victories
  - Changes in provincial administration
  - Social and economic ills
- The reform movement of the Gracchi (133–121 bc)
  - The program and career of Tiberius Sempronius Gracchus
  - The program and career of Gaius Sempronius Gracchus
- The republic (c. 121–91 bc)
  - War against Jugurtha
  - The career of Gaius Marius
- Wars and dictatorship (c. 91–80 bc)
  - Events in Asia
  - Developments in Italy
  - Civil war and the rule of Lucius Sulla
- The Roman state in the two decades after Sulla (79–60 bc)
  - The early career of Pompey
  - Pompey and Crassus
  - Political suspicion and violence
- The final collapse of the Roman Republic (59–44 bc)
  - Caesar, Pompey, and Crassus
  - Political maneuvers
  - Civil war
  - The dictatorship and assassination of Caesar
- The Triumvirate and Octavian’s achievement of sole power
Intellectual life of the Late Republic
- Grammar and rhetoric
- Law and history
- Philosophy and poetry
The Early Roman Empire (31 bc–ad 193)
- The consolidation of the empire under the Julio-Claudians
  - The establishment of the principate under Augustus
  - The Roman Senate and the urban magistracies
  - The equestrian order
  - Administration of Rome and Italy
  - Administration of the provinces
  - Emperor worship
  - The army
  - Foreign policy
  - Economic life
  - Augustan art and literature
  - Appraisal of Augustus
  - The succession
- Growth of the empire under the Flavians and Antonines
  - The year of the four emperors
  - The Flavian emperors
  - The early Antonine emperors: Nerva and Trajan
  - Hadrian and the other Antonine emperors
- The empire in the 2nd century
  - Trend to absolute monarchy
  - Political life
  - Rome and Italy
  - Developments in the provinces
- The creation of a unified civilization
  - Urban centres
  - Latinization
  - Limits of unification
  - Cult of the emperors
  - The economic factor
  - The army
  - Cultural life
The Later Roman Empire
- The dynasty of the Severi (ad 193–235)
  - Septimius Severus
  - Caracalla
  - Macrinus
  - Elagabalus and Severus Alexander
- Religious and cultural life in the 3rd century
  - The rise of Christianity
  - Cultural life from the Antonines to Constantine
- Military anarchy and the disintegration of the empire (235–270)
  - Succession of emperors and usurpers
  - The barbarian invasions
  - Difficulties in the East
- Economic and social crisis
- The recovery of the empire and the establishment of the dominate (270–337)
  - The Illyrian emperors
  - Diocletian
  - Struggle for power
  - The reign of Constantine
- The Roman Empire under the 4th-century successors of Constantine
  - The rule of Constantine’s sons
  - The reign of Julian
  - The reign of Valentinian and Valens
  - The reign of Gratian and Theodosius I
  - Social and economic conditions
  - The remnants of pagan culture
  - The Christian church
- The eclipse of the Roman Empire in the West (c. 395–500) and the German migrations
  - Invasions in the early 5th century
  - The beginning of Germanic hegemony in the West
  - Barbarian kingdoms
  - Analysis of the decline and fall

References & Edit History Quick Facts & Related Topics

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ancient Rome: Facts & Related Content

Written and fact-checked by The Information Architects of Encyclopaedia Britannica

Facts

Date	753 BCE - c. 500

Did You Know?

Romans consumed flamingo tongues.
During the fesitval of Saturnalia, slaves were treated as their masters' equals.
Roman Emperor Tiberius banned kissing in public.
Upper class Romans ate while lying down.
Roman rulers ingested small doses of poison daily to develop immunity.

Photos and Videos

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Roman war galley

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How ancient Romans honoured their dead relatives…by feeding them

What led to the fall of the ancient Roman Empire?

History of Rome's Colosseum

See All Videos, Images and Podcasts →

Topics

Roman law Neoclassical art Senate aqueduct civitas jus Latii Appian Way consul Pergamonmuseum Monumentum Ancyranum Roman Empire Ottoman Empire Soviet Union Holy Roman Empire Third Reich Byzantine Empire British Empire German Empire Austria-Hungary Mauryan empire

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Major Events

The western Mediterranean during the Punic Wars

Punic Wars

Julius Caesar, marble bust; in the Capitoline Museums, Rome.

Battle of Pharsalus

Battle of Zama

Battle of Zama

Battle of Alesia

Battle of Cannae

Battle of Cannae

Battle of Trasimene

Battle of the Trebbia River

Battle of Cynoscephalae

Second Punic War

Scipio Aemilanus captures Carthage

Battle of Carthage

Boudica's army burning Londinium

Battle of Watling Street

Jerusalem, Siege of; Flavius Josephus

Siege of Jerusalem

Battle of Ilipa

Social War

Valens, portrait on a Roman coin, c. ad 360; in the British Museum.

Battle of Adrianople

Macedonian Wars

Archimedes

Siege of Syracuse

Masada, Israel

Siege of Masada

Alaric

Sack of Rome

Edessa

Battle of Edessa

Italy

Extent of the Roman Empire in 117 ce

Roman Empire

ancient state [27 bce-476 ce]

Sphinx and the Great Pyramid of Khufu

ancient Egypt

Mount Vesuvius and Pompeii

Pompeii

ancient city, Italy

Al-Dayr

Petra

ancient city, Jordan

Roman expansion in Italy from 298 to 201 bce

Roman Republic

ancient state [509 bc-27 bc]

mosque of Abū al-ʿAbbās al-Mursī

Alexandria

Egypt

Roman Gaul

Gaul

ancient region, Europe

Carthage

Carthage

ancient city, Tunisia

Cappadocia, Göreme National Park, Turkey: caves

Cappadocia

ancient district, Turkey

Temple of Apollo, Corinth, Greece

Corinth

Greece

Trajan's campaign in Dacia

Dacia

historic region, Europe

Herculaneum

Herculaneum

ancient city, Italy

Hispania

Hispania

ancient region, Iberian Peninsula

Numidia

Numidia

ancient region, Africa

Key People

Julius Caesar

Julius Caesar

Roman ruler

Augustus

Augustus

Roman emperor

Cicero

Cicero

Roman statesman, scholar, and writer

Pompey

Pompey the Great

Roman statesman

Diocletian

Diocletian

Roman emperor

Theodosius I

Theodosius I

Roman emperor

Scipio Africanus the Younger

Roman general

Silver coin from Carthago Nova, believed to be a portrait of Scipio Africanus the Elder; in the Royal Collection of Coins and Medals, National Museum, Copenhagen.

Scipio Africanus

Roman general

Marcus Aurelius

Marcus Aurelius

emperor of Rome

Bust of Vespasian, found at Ostia; in the Museo Nazionale Romano, Rome.

Vespasian

Roman emperor

Gaius Gracchus

Roman tribune

Cleopatra

Cleopatra

queen of Egypt

Trajan

Trajan

Roman emperor

Livy

Livy

Roman historian

Theodor Mommsen.

Theodor Mommsen

German historian, philologist, and legal scholar

Gaius Marius

Gaius Marius

Roman general

Mark Antony marble bust

Mark Antony

Roman triumvir

Polybius, statue in Vienna.

Polybius

Greek historian

Tiberius Sempronius Gracchus

Roman tribune

Sallust

Roman historian

Quiz

Overlooking the Roman Forum with Temple of Saturn in Rome, Italy

The Roman Empire

The Battle of Actium, 2 September 31 BC, oil on canvas by Lorenzo A. Castro, 1672.

Ancient Rome Quiz

Temple ruins of columns and statures at Karnak, Egypt (Egyptian architecture; Egyptian archaelogy; Egyptian history)

History Buff Quiz

Demystified

Nero (Nero Claudius Caesar Augustus Germanicus) (ad 50-54) the fifth Roman emperor (ad 54-68), stepson and heir of the emperor Claudius.

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