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Rome

Rome was the famous city on seven hills. It grew into the heart of a huge empire.

What happened here

• 753 BC, tradition

  A founding story

  Old stories say Romulus started Rome this year. We cannot prove the date.

  We are not sure of every detail.

• 44 BC

  Caesar is killed

  A group of senators killed Julius Caesar in the city. Rome slid into more civil war.

• AD 80

  The Colosseum opens

  Titus held huge shows in the new arena. Vespasian had started the building.

People tied to this place

• RomulusStories say he founded the city of Rome.
• CincinnatusHe led Rome in a crisis, then went back to his farm.
• CorneliaShe was a noble mother famous for her sons, the Gracchi.
• Scipio AfricanusHe beat Hannibal and saved Rome’s war with Carthage.
• MariusHe opened the army to poorer citizens.
• SullaHe marched an army into Rome and ruled by force.
• CiceroHe was Rome’s most famous speaker and letter writer.
• PompeyHe was a great general who later lost to Caesar.
• Julius CaesarHe was a general, a writer, and Rome’s dictator.
• CrassusHe was Rome’s richest man and helped defeat Spartacus.
• HortensiaShe gave a public speech against a tax on wealthy women.
• OctaviaShe was Augustus’s sister and tried to keep the peace.
• Mark AntonyHe fought for Caesar’s memory, then lost to Octavian.
• AgrippaHe won battles for Augustus and built works for Rome.
• 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.
• LiviaShe was Augustus’s wife and a power at court.
• AugustusHe became the first Roman emperor.
• TiberiusHe was the second emperor, a serious soldier.
• GermanicusHe was a popular general in the imperial family.
• CaligulaHe was an emperor remembered for cruel and wild stories.
• ClaudiusHe was the emperor who made Britain a Roman province.
• Agrippina the YoungerShe was Nero’s mother and a powerful empress.
• NeroHe was an emperor who loved shows and became hated.
• SenecaHe was a writer and a teacher of Nero.
• VespasianHe became emperor after civil war and started the Colosseum.
• Pliny the ElderHe wrote a huge book about nature and died at Vesuvius.
• TitusHe finished the Colosseum and ruled during the Vesuvius disaster.
• Pliny the YoungerHis letters describe the Vesuvius eruption and Roman life.
• DomitianHe was a stern emperor who built a great deal and was feared.
• TrajanHe expanded the empire to its biggest size.
• Apollodorus of DamascusHe designed great buildings and a famous bridge for Trajan.
• HadrianHe built a famous wall across northern Britain.
• SuetoniusHe wrote gossipy lives of the first emperors.
• TacitusHe wrote sharp, serious histories of the early empire.
• FrontinusHe ran Rome’s water system and wrote a book about it.
• Antoninus PiusHe gave Rome a long, mostly peaceful reign.
• Faustina the YoungerShe was empress and traveled with the army.
• Marcus AureliusHe was an emperor who wrote a calm book of thoughts.
• GalenHe was a famous doctor whose books taught Europe for ages.
• CommodusHe was an emperor who loved performing in the arena.
• Septimius SeverusHe was an emperor from a grand city in North Africa.
• Julia DomnaShe was an empress who loved learning and held the court together.
• CaracallaHe made many free people across the empire into citizens.
• DiocletianHe split the hard job of ruling a huge empire.
• HelenaShe was Constantine’s mother and a famous traveler.
• ConstantineHe favored the Christian church and built Constantinople.
• Theodosius IHe was the last emperor to rule east and west together.
• Galla PlacidiaShe helped rule the west while her son was young.
• Romulus AugustulusHe was a boy often called the last western emperor.
• PriscusHe fought Verus in a famous match, and both were freed.