Ancient Rome

Rome, ancient

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Ancient Rome grew from a small prehistoric settlement on the Tiber River in Latium, in central Italy, into an empire that encompassed all of the Mediterranean world. The Romans developed a civilization that formed the basis for modern Western civilization. The history of Rome comprises three major epochs: the kingship, from the legendary foundation of Rome to 509 B.C.; the republic, from 509 B.C. to 31 B.C.; and the empire, which survived until Rome finally fell to the German chieftain Odoacer in A.D. 476.

The genius of the Romans lay in the military, in government administration, and in the law. Decisive but cautious imperialists, they valued crafty diplomacy as much as military discipline. The Romans conquered Greece, adopting Greek culture and transmitting it to the medieval world. Unlike the Greeks, they did not develop a philosophical theory of state and society; they were the practitioners of power and law. Roman civil law, which reached its peak under the emperors, excelled in precision of formulation and logic of thought; but it was a law of inequality and social prejudice, and that also became part of the Roman heritage.

Early Rome: the Kingship

According to legend, Rome was founded by descendants of Aeneas, a Trojan who fled to Italy after the fall of Troy. Two of those descendants were Romulus and Remus, twin brothers who were abandoned at birth and suckled by a bitch wolf. The brothers founded a town on the Palatine, one of the seven hills of Rome, and ruled it jointly for a while. They eventually quarreled, and Romulus killed his brother, becoming