History of Rome

The founding of Rome
A king had twin grandsons, Romulus and Remus. When the king was overthrown the twins were left to die beside the river Tiber.

A wolf found them and brought them up. When the twins grew up, they decided to build a city where they had been abandoned. They held a ceremony to mark the boundaires. But REMUS began to tease his brother. Romulus flew into a rage and killed him. Romulus gave his name to Rome, and ruled it.

Italy south of the line crossing the peninsula westwards from rimini was conquered by rome by 266 bc. The inclusion of the North, and so the unification of the territory now inhabited by Italians, was not to be complete until after the fonding of the empire by Augustus, but by 266 BC the latin peoples and the various other people in the peninsula south of this line were under roman control.

By that date the city of Rome herself had a population of perhalps 150,000 and so was still much smaller than Siracuse, which is calculated to have had a population of some 500,000 while Taranto may have had 200,000 inhabitants.

The largest urban centres were thus still the greek ones, but a century later Rome also had a population of half a milion. It is interesting to remember that this was about the size of Paris in 1850. Apart from London, no other european city in the mid-nineteenth century was so large.

Yet Rome was to growe much larger under the empire. Both Etruscan and Latin inscription dating from the late seventh, or early sixth century have beeen found in Rome. Acording to the literary sources Etruscans ruled Rome for over a century.

An Etruscan king Tarquin, is said to have been on the throne in the early sixth century, and another Tarquin to have been the last, when, in 510 bc, the Romans secured control and founded the Republic. However close to accuracy these facts may, not be, there seems little doubt that Rome was developed into a city in the sixth century. The Forum was drained and paved.

With the foundation of the Roman Republic came for the first time in Italy a dim realization of a basic principle of political philosophy – that the people were sovereign. The concept was to be lost with the decline of Rome and the coming of the Middle Ages, and not to be properly rediscovered until the ideas of the French revolution crossed the Alps in the 1790s.

In Rome it was expressed by the phrase “Senatus Populusque Romanus” the Senate and Roman People, the initials of which, SPQR, are still stamped on public property in Rome.

The Romans were undoubtedly excellent builders because so many of their constructions are still standing today. They not only erected impressive buildings, but also developed heating systems and roads, and made aqueducts to carry water over long distances. This picture of a work site shows some of the methods, materials and equipment that the Romans invented and used.

Roads – The Romand needed good roads to move troops and supllies over long distances. Their surveyors chose the straightest, flattest routes. Workers dug trenches and filled them with gravel and stones. The top layers had a mound in the middle, called a camber, which allowed rainwater to run off the roads into ditches.

Famous Romans

Julius Caesar
The best known Roman is probably Julius Caesar (100- 44BC), famous as politician and as a general in the army. Having become the most powerful man in Rome he was declared dictator for live.
He was murdered in 44BC. Augustus Octavian become the first Roman emperor when he seized power in 27BC.
He took the name Augustus, which means “revered one”. After years of unrest, he brought peace, encouraged trade and developed better communications throughout the empire.

Nero Nero
(AD37-68) was a cruel emperor. He murdered anyone who opposed him, including his own wife and his mother. He may have caused a fire that distroyed much of Rome in AD64. Eventually he became so unpopular that he had to leave Rome.

Caligula
Caligula was emperor of Rome from AD37-41. He was known as Caligula because of the sodier’s boots. Called “caligae”, that he wore as a child. After only a few month in power, Caligula suffered illness which left him deranged. He soon began to act very strangely. After four years in power he was murdered.

Livy
Livy (59BC-AD17) was a famous historian. He spent much of his life writing Ab Urbe Condita, a huge history of Rome and its people. It traced the development of Rome from the earliest times and provides us with much detail of both historical events and everyday life.