Ancient Rome 1000 B.C - 476 A.D. Archives - Page 2 of 2

Ancient Rome 1000 B.C – 476 A.D.

Important dates and events in Ancient Rome, 1000 B. C. – 476 A. D.

1000 B. C.	Phoenicians build Carthage and explore coast of Italy.
800-700 B. C.	Six farming villages unite to become the city of Rome.
750 B. C.	Cumae, first Greek colony in Italy, settled by refugees.
509 B. C.	Romans drive out the last of the Etruscan kings.
353 B. C.	Rome expands, conquering the towns of nearby Latium.
312 B. C.	Work begins on Appian Way, first Roman road.
280-256 B. C.	Rome fights a Greek army under Pyrrhus, wins control of entire Italian peninsula.
264-146 B. C.	Rome and Carthage at war.
218 B. C.	Carthaginian army under Hannibal crosses the Alps to invade Italy.
204 B. C.	The Roman general, Scipio, invades Africa, menaces Carthage.
203 B. C.	Hannibal, recalled from Italy, meets Scipio in battle of Zama and is defeated.
196 B. C.	Deaths of Hannibal, Scipio.
146 B. C.	After nearly three years of siege, Roman troops capture Carthage, enslave its citizens and burn the city to the ground.
133 B. C.	Tiberius Gracchus elected tribune, murdered by Senate.
124 B. C.	His brother Caius Gracchus elected, passes many reform laws.
121 B. C.	The mob turns on Caius and forces him to commit suicide.
107-86 B. C.	Struggle for power between Marius and Sulla, which ends only with the death of Marius.
73-71 B. C.	Slaves, led by Spartacus, revolt; they are suppressed after two years of fighting.
60 B. C.	Pompey, Julius Caesar and Crassus form the First Triumvirate to combat the power of the senate.
58-50 B. C.	Caesar, commander of the legions in Gaul, subdues the barbarians; Pompey plots in Rome.
49 B. C.	Caesar crosses the Rubicon with his legions; Pompey and the Senate flee; Pompey is crushed at the battle of Pharsalus.
48-46 B. C.	Caesar, charmed by Cleopatra, stays in Egypt.
46 B. C.	Caesar returns to Rome, begins to consolidate his power and enact reforms.
44 B. C.	Caesar assassinated by Cassius, Brutus and other Senators. Civil War breaks out.

42 B. C.	Octavius, Antony and Lepidus form the Second Triumvirate and destroy Cassius and Brutus at battle of Philippi.
41-31 B. C.	Rivalry between Octavius and Antony develops into war.
31 B. C.	Fleet of Antony and Cleopatra beaten by Octavius at the battle of Actium.
30 B. C.	Antony and Cleopatra kill themselves; Octavius becomes Augustus.
29 B. C. – A.D. 14	Reign of Augustus; the Empire at peace; the arts and culture flourish.
A. D. 14 – 117	A series of emperors rule Rome.
A.D. 64	Fire devastates Rome; Nero blames it on Christians
A.D. 68	Nero, last of Caesar’s family, commits suicide to avoid assassination at the hands of his guards.
A.D. 79	Eruption of Vesuvius buries town of Pompeii under lava.
A.D. 106	Legions under Emperor Trajan push the borders of the Empire beyond the Danube River.
A.D. 117-138	Reign of Hadrian; trade flourishes; walls built on the borders to stop barbarians.
A.D. 138-180	Hadrian’s successors, Antoninus and Marcus Aurelius, govern the Empire.
A.D. 167	Barbarians break through the border defenses into Italy and are beaten back with difficulty.
A.D. 192-284	Chaos in the Empire; the borders are breached; revolts in the provinces; trade falls off; famine and plague in the cities.
A.D. 284-305	Diocletian restores order by making the Empire an armed camp ruled by the legions.
A.D. 324	Constantine, a Christian, becomes Emperor.
A.D. 326	Constantine begins to build a new capital for the Empire at Byzantium on the Hellespont.
A.D. 395	At the death of Theodosius, his two sons divided the Empire between them; it is never reunited.
A.D. 406	The Rhine defenses collapse before waves of barbarian invaders; Gaul is overrun.
A.D. 410	Visigoths under Alaric capture and sack the city of Rome.
A.D. 476	Emperor Romulus deposed by barbarians, bringing the Roman Empire in the West to an end; Caesar’s heirs still rule the East.

The City of Aeneas 1000 B. C. – 500 B. C.

Ancient Rome 1000 B.C - 476 A.D.

The minstrels who wandered from country to country in the ancient world told a legend of Aeneas, a Trojan prince. According to the story, Aeneas escaped the Greeks who broke through the walls of Troy and fled to his ships with a little band of warriors. Rowing out onto the Hellespont, they watched while a great fire destroyed their city and they knew that they could never return to Troy. Then, the storytellers said, the gods spoke to Aeneas, telling him to turn his ships west. They commanded him to sail away from the Hellespont and the Aegean Sea, past Crete and the country of the Greeks, into the unknown western ocean. There he would find a new land and build a new Troy, a mighty city that would conquer the Greeks and all the world. Aeneas obeyed the gods and sailed west; but before he came to the place where his new city would be built, he knew many years of adventure and hardship. A storm wrecked his ships on the coast of Africa, where he was found by Dido, the queen of a great city called Carthage. Dido took Aeneas to her palace and told her people to greet him like a prince. While he lived in the palace, waiting for new ships to be built, the queen fell in love with him. She begged him to give up his wandering and his dreams of a new Troy. She would make him king of Carthage, if only he would stay with her. When he refused, she killed herself, calling on the gods to grant her curse: “May Carthage and the city of Aeneas be enemies, make war on one another and live in hatred forever.” Aeneas sailed on, until he came to Italy and the ancient Greek city …