Roman Empire - The Mother of all Civilizations

Roman history has been the most influential to the modern world, from supporting the tradition of the rule by law to influencing the creation of the Catholic church. Roman history can be divided into the following periods:

•The Pre-historical and Early Rome

•Period of Etruscan Dominance

• The Roman Republic

• The Roman Empire

• Medieval Rome

• Modern Rome

Pre-historical and Early Rome

There is archeological evidence of human occupation of the Rome area from at least 5,000 years, but the dense layer of much younger debris obscures Palaeolithic and Neolithic sites. The evidence suggesting the city's ancient foundation is also obscured by the legend of Rome's beginning involving Romulus and Remus.

According to legend, Romulus founds Rome in 753 B.C., archeologists uncovered a stone wall and pieces of pottery dating to the 9th century B.C. and the beginning of the 8th century B.C., and there is evidence of people arriving on the Palatine hill as early as the 10th century B.C. The site of Sant'Omobono Area is crucial for understanding the related processes of monumentization, urbanization, and state formation in Rome in the late Archaic period and it dates to 7th-6th century B.C.

Period of Etruscan Dominance

The Etruscan Civilization is the modern name given to a civilization of ancient Italy in the area coŕresponding to Tuscany, western Umbria northern Lazio. A culture that is identifiably Etruscan developed in Italy about 900 B.C., approximately with the Iron Age Villonovan Culture, regarded as the oldest phase of Etruscan civilization. Etruscan civilization endured until its assimilation into the Roman Society, beginning in the late 4th century B.C. with the Roman-Etruscan wars, continuing with the granting of Roman citizenship as from 90 B.C. and ending in 27 B.C. with the establishment of Roman Empire.

The Roman Republic

The Roman Republic, which commenced in 509 B.C. when kings were replaced with the rule by elected Senators. The period was marked by vast expansion of Roman territory. During the 5th century B.C., Rome gained regional dominance in Latium, and eventually by the 3rd century B.C. With the Punic Wars from 264 to 146 B.C. Rome gained dominance over the western Mediterranean displacing Carthage as the dominant regional power.

The Roman Empire

The Roman Empire, with the rise of Julius Caesar, the Republic waned and by all measures concluded after a period of civil war and the victory of Octavian, the adopted son of Caesar in 27 bc over Mark Antony. After the collapse of the western Roman Empire, Rome managed to hang onto the empire, still known as the Roman Empire but long centered on the eastern Mediterranean, until the 8th century as the Duchy of Rome. At this time, the city was reduced to a fraction of its former size, being sacked several times in the 5th to 6th centuries.

Medieval Rome

Medieval Rome: characterized by a break with Byzantium and the formation of Papal States. The Papacy struggled to retain influence in the emerging Holy Roman Empire, and during the Saeculum obscurum, the population of Rome fell to as low as 30,000 inhabitants. Following the east-west schism and the limited success in the Investiture Controversy, the Papacy did gain considerable influence in high medieval Europe, but with the Avignon Papacy and the western Schism, the city of Rome was reduced to irrelevance, its population falling below 20,000. Rome's decline into complete irrelevance during the medieval period with the associated lack of construction activity, assured the survival of very significant ancient Roman material remains in the centre of the city, some abandoned and others continuing in use.

Modern Rome

The period from the 19th century to today. Rome was under siege by the Allied invasion of Italy and was bomìbed several times. It was declared an open city on 14th August 1943. Rome became the capital of Italian Republic (estd. 1946), with a population of 4.4 million is the largest city in Italy. It is among the largest urban areas of European union and classified as a "global city".