Tap a place

Italy

Italy is the long land shaped a bit like a boot. Rome sat in the middle of it.

What happened here

• 218–203 BC

  Hannibal in Italy

  Hannibal won battles but could not take Rome itself. He left when Africa was in danger.

• 49 BC

  Crossing the Rubicon

  Caesar brought his army across the Rubicon River. That started a civil war. The exact ford is still debated.

  We are not sure of every detail.

• 73–71 BC

  Spartacus’s revolt

  Spartacus and other fighters broke free and beat Roman forces for a while. They were defeated in the end.

People tied to this place

• CincinnatusHe led Rome in a crisis, then went back to his farm.
• HannibalHe led Carthage and crossed mountains with elephants.
• SpartacusHe led enslaved fighters in a huge revolt.
• CiceroHe was Rome’s most famous speaker and letter writer.
• Julius CaesarHe was a general, a writer, and Rome’s dictator.
• CrassusHe was Rome’s richest man and helped defeat Spartacus.
• VirgilHe wrote the Aeneid, Rome’s great epic poem.
• HoraceHe wrote poems about friendship, war, and simple joys.
• LivyHe wrote a giant history of Rome from its stories to his own time.
• VitruviusHe wrote a famous book on how to build.
• OvidHe wrote playful poems and a book of myth stories.
• TiberiusHe was the second emperor, a serious soldier.
• Pliny the ElderHe wrote a huge book about nature and died at Vesuvius.
• Pliny the YoungerHis letters describe the Vesuvius eruption and Roman life.
• Antoninus PiusHe gave Rome a long, mostly peaceful reign.
• DiocletianHe split the hard job of ruling a huge empire.
• Theodosius IHe was the last emperor to rule east and west together.
• AetiusHe was a western general who fought Attila in Gaul.
• Romulus AugustulusHe was a boy often called the last western emperor.
• CrixusHe was a gladiator who fought beside Spartacus.