Ancient Rome began as an
Italic settlement, traditionally dated to 753 BC, beside the
River Tiber in the
Italian Peninsula. The settlement grew into the city and polity of Rome, and came to control its neighbours through a combination of treaties and military strength. It eventually controlled the Italian Peninsula, assimilating the
Greek culture of southern
Italy (
Magna Grecia) and the
Etruscan culture, and then became the dominant power in the Mediterranean region and parts of Europe. At its height it controlled the
North African coast,
Egypt, Southern Europe, and most of Western Europe, the
Balkans,
Crimea, and much of the Middle East, including
Anatolia,
Levant, and parts of
Mesopotamia and
Arabia. That empire was among the
largest empires in the ancient world, covering around 5 million square kilometres (1.9 million square miles) in AD 117, with an estimated 50 to 90 million inhabitants, roughly 20% of the world's population at the time. The Roman state evolved from an elective monarchy to a
classical republic and then to an increasingly
autocraticmilitary dictatorship during the Empire.
Ancient Rome is often grouped into
classical antiquity together with
ancient Greece, and their similar cultures and societies are known as the
Greco-Roman world. Ancient Roman civilisation has contributed to modern language, religion, society, technology, law, politics, government, warfare, art, literature, architecture, and engineering. Rome professionalised and expanded its military and created a system of government called res publica, the inspiration for modern republics such as the
United States and
France. It achieved impressive
technological and
architectural feats, such as the empire-wide construction of
aqueducts and
roads, as well as more grandiose monuments and facilities. (Full article...)
The
constitutional history of the Roman Republic can be divided into five phases. The first phase began with the revolution which overthrew the
Roman Kingdom in 510 BC, and the final phase ended with the revolution which overthrew the Roman Republic, and thus created the
Roman Empire, in 27 BC. Throughout the history of the republic, the constitutional evolution was driven by the
struggle between the aristocracy (the "
Patricians") and the ordinary citizens (the "
Plebeians"). Approximately two centuries after the founding of the republic, the Plebeians attained, in theory at least, equality with the Patricians. In practice, however, the plight of the average Plebeian remained unchanged. This set the stage for the civil wars of the 1st century BC, and Rome's transformation into a formal
empire. (Full article...)
Image 6The administrative divisions of the Roman Empire in 395 AD (from Roman Empire)
Image 7Landscape resulting from the ruina montium mining technique at
Las Médulas, Spain, one of the most important gold mines in the Roman Empire (from Roman Empire)
Image 13Solidus issued under
Constantine II, and on the reverse
Victoria, one of the last deities to appear on Roman coins, gradually transforming into an
angel under Christian rule (from Roman Empire)
Image 36Forum of Gerasa (
Jerash in present-day
Jordan), with columns marking a covered walkway (
stoa) for vendor stalls, and a semicircular space for public speaking (from Roman Empire)
Image 41Excavation on the
Palatine Hill has found the foundations of a hut believed to correspond to the
Hut of
Romulus, which the Romans themselves preserved into late antiquity (from Founding of Rome)
Image 70A fresco from
Pompeii depicting the foundation of Rome.
Sol riding in his chariot;
Mars descending from the sky to
Rhea Silvia lying in the grass;
Mercury shows to
Venus the she-wolf suckling the twins; in the lower corners of the picture: river-god
Tiberinus and water-goddess
Juturna. 35–45 AD. (from Founding of Rome)
Image 75Pride in literacy was displayed through emblems of reading and writing, as in this portrait of
Terentius Neo and his wife (c. 20 AD) (from Roman Empire)
Image 76Wall painting (1st century AD) from Pompeii depicting a multigenerational banquet (from Culture of ancient Rome)
Drusus Julius Caesar (7 October
c. 14 BC – 14 September AD 23), also called Drusus the Younger, was the son of Emperor
Tiberius, and heir to the
Roman Empire following the death of his adoptive brother
Germanicus in AD 19.
He was born at
Rome to a prominent branch of the gens Claudia, the son of Tiberius and his first wife,
Vipsania Agrippina. His name at birth was Nero Claudius Drusus after his paternal uncle,
Drusus the Elder. In AD 4, he assumed the name Julius Caesar following his father's adoption into the
Julii by
Augustus, and became Drusus Julius Caesar. (Full article...)
...That according to Suetonius, Caligula "often sent for men whom he had secretly killed, as though they were still alive, and remarked offhandedly a few days later that they must have committed suicide"?
...That Mark Antony, who avenged Julius Caesar, was killed by Julius Caesar's grand nephew (Octavian) Augustus Caesar?
...That Sulla's grave read No friend ever surpassed him in kindness, and no enemy in ill-doing?
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Quotes
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[...]
Caesar is a god in his own city. Outstanding in war or peace, it was not so much his wars that ended in great victories, or his actions at home, or his swiftly won fame, that set him among the stars, a fiery comet, as his descendant. There is no greater achievement among Caesar's actions than that he stood father to our emperor. Is it a greater thing to have conquered the sea-going Britons; to have led his victorious ships up the seven-mouthed flood of the papyrus-bearing Nile; to have brought the rebellious Numidians, under Juba of Cinyps, and Pontus, swollen with the name of Mithridates, under the people of
Quirinus; to have earned many triumphs and celebrated few; than to have sponsored such a man, with whom, as ruler of all, you gods have richly favoured the human race? Therefore, in order for the emperor not to have been born of mortal seed, Caesar needed to be made a god. [...]
Augustus, his 'son', will ensure that he ascends to heaven as a god, and is worshipped in the temples. Augustus, as heir to his name, will carry the burden placed upon him alone, and will have us with him, in battle, as the most courageous avenger of his father's murder. Under his command, the conquered walls of besieged Mutina will sue for peace; Pharsalia will know him; Macedonian Philippi twice flow with blood; and the one who holds Pompey's great name, will be defeated in Sicilian waters; and a Roman general's Egyptian consort, trusting, to her cost, in their marriage, will fall, her threat that our
Capitol would bow to her city of Canopus, proved vain.
Why enumerate foreign countries or the nations living on either ocean shore? Wherever earth contains habitable land, it will be his: and even the sea will serve him!