tHe RoMe

753
Foundation of Rome
Iron Age huts on Palatine hill

600
Forum area drainedEarliest Latin inscriptions

616-579
Tarquinius Priscus

579-543
Servius Tullius

543-509
Tarquinius Superbus

Capitoline temple built
Period: The Republic, 509 BC to 27 BC

509
Expulsion of the Kings

494
Plebeians struggle with patricians for rights

More temples built

450
First law code: Twelve Tables

390
Rome sacked by Gauls

378
City wall builtRomanisation of Italy

338
Extension of Roman citizenship

312
Appian Way built

287
End of struggle with patricians

280
Coinage begins

272
Rome wins control of whole of Italy

264-241
First Punic War (against Carthage): Rome wins Sicily

264
First gladiatorial games

218-201
Second Punic War: Hannibal defeated; 206 Spain becomes two Roman provinces

214-167
Macedonian Wars
Hellenisation of Roman society; comedies of Plautus and Terence; poetry of Ennius

197-133
Wars in Spain

149-146
Third Punic War: Carthage destroyed, Africa becomes Roman province

148
Macedonia becomes Roman province

133
Asia becomes Roman province; land reforms of Tiberius Gracchus

123-122
Laws of Gaius Gracchus

113-101
War against Cimbri

107-86
Seven consulships of Marius; 104 army reforms

91-87
Social War; Roman citizenship extended to all Italy

88-85
First Mithridatic War

82-81
Dictatorship of Sulla: proscriptions, reforms; rise of Pompey

73-71
Revolt of Spartacus

73-63
Third Mithridatic War

63
Consulship of Cicero; conspiracy of Catiline

60
'First triumvirate' (Pompey, Caesar, Crassus)

58-50
Caesar conquers Gaul; 55, 54 expeditions to Britain
Speeches, treatises and letters of Cicero; poetry of Catullus and Lucretius; histories of Caesar; 55 Pompey's theatre

49-45
Caesar wins civil war against Pompey and republicans

46
Caesar's forum

44
Caesar dictator for life; assassinated

43
'Second triumvirate' (Antony, Octavian, Lepidus); proscriptions, murder of Cicero

39
Histories of SallustVirgil's Eclogues

32-31
Octavian wins civil war against Mark Antony; 31 Actium

30
Death of Antony

29
Virgil's Georgics
Period: The Empire, 27 BC to AD 476

27
Octavian becomes first emperor Augustus

27
Agrippa's Pantheon

19
Virgil's Aeneid; poetry of Horace, Tibullus, Propertius, Ovid; history of Livy

16-AD 6
Conquest of Danube provinces

13
Theatre of Marcellus

9
Ara Pacis Augustae

2
Augustus' forum

AD

9
Varian disaster

14
Death of Augustus

14
Augustus' Res Gestae

14-37
Tiberius

Teaching and death of Christ
37-41
Caligula

41-54
Claudius

43
Conquest of Britain

54-68
Nero Treatises and tragedies of Seneca;
poetry of Persius and Lucan; novel of Petronius

60-61
Boudicca's revolt

64
Fire of Rome; first persecution of Christians

66-70
Jewish revolt

68-69
Galba, Otho, Vitellius

69-79
Vespasian

Histories and treatises of Pliny the Elder

79-81
Titus

79
Eruption of Vesuvius

80
Colosseum

81-96
Domitian

Epigrams of Martial, rhetoric of QuintilianHistories of Tacitus, letters of Pliny the Younger, satires of Juvenal

96-98
Nerva

98-117
Trajan

107
Conquest of Dacia

112
Trajan's forum

117-138
Hadrian

122
Biographies of Suetonius

138-161
Antoninus Pius

142
Hadrian's WallAntonine WallNovel and oratory of Apuleius; legal writings of Gaius

161-180
Marcus Aurelius

180-192
Commodus

193-235
Severan dynasty

212
Roman citizenship extended to all free inhabitants of the empire

216
Baths of Caracalla

260
Decree of toleration of Christianity

271
Aurelian's city wall

272
Dacia ceded to the Goths

284-305
Diocletian

293
Tetrarchy established

307-337
Constantine I

312
Defeat of Maxentius at Milvian Bridge

315
Arch of Constantine

324
Foundation of Constantinople

410
Britain told to defend itself

455
Vandals sack Rome

476
Loss of western Roman empire complete