#ANCIENT WORLD TIME LINE FULL#
#ANCIENT WORLD TIME LINE CODE#
#ANCIENT WORLD TIME LINE SERIES#

Gaius Marius, a commoner whose military prowess elevated him to the position of consul (for the first of six terms) in 107 B.C., was the first of a series of warlords who would dominate Rome during the late republic. and 123-22 B.C., respectively) ended in the reformers’ deaths at the hands of their opponents.

Attempts to address these social problems, such as the reform movements of Tiberius and Gaius Gracchus (in 133 B.C. The gap between rich and poor widened as wealthy landowners drove small farmers from public land, while access to government was increasingly limited to the more privileged classes. Rome’s complex political institutions began to crumble under the weight of the growing empire, ushering in an era of internal turmoil and violence. The first Roman literature appeared around 240 B.C., with translations of Greek classics into Latin Romans would eventually adopt much of Greek art, philosophy and religion. Rome’s military conquests led directly to its cultural growth as a society, as the Romans benefited greatly from contact with such advanced cultures as the Greeks. At the same time, Rome also spread its influence east, defeating King Philip V of Macedonia in the Macedonian Wars and turning his kingdom into another Roman province. In the Third Punic War (149–146 B.C.), the Romans captured and destroyed the city of Carthage and sold its surviving inhabitants into slavery, making a section of northern Africa a Roman province.

#ANCIENT WORLD TIME LINE FULL#

The first two Punic Wars ended with Rome in full control of Sicily, the western Mediterranean and much of Spain. Rome then fought a series of wars known as the Punic Wars with Carthage, a powerful city-state in northern Africa. Though the Gauls sacked and burned Rome in 390 B.C., the Romans rebounded under the leadership of the military hero Camillus, eventually gaining control of the entire Italian peninsula by 264 B.C. Military Expansionĭuring the early republic, the Roman state grew exponentially in both size and power. By around 300 B.C., real political power in Rome was centered in the Senate, which at the time included only members of patrician and wealthy plebeian families. These laws included issues of legal procedure, civil rights and property rights and provided the basis for all future Roman civil law.

#ANCIENT WORLD TIME LINE CODE#

In 450 B.C., the first Roman law code was inscribed on 12 bronze tablets–known as the Twelve Tables–and publicly displayed in the Roman Forum.

Politics in the early republic was marked by the long struggle between patricians and plebeians (the common people), who eventually attained some political power through years of concessions from patricians, including their own political bodies, the tribunes, which could initiate or veto legislation. The magistrates, though elected by the people, were drawn largely from the Senate, which was dominated by the patricians, or the descendants of the original senators from the time of Romulus. They also served as commanders in chief of the army. The power of the monarch passed to two annually elected magistrates called consuls. Rome was built on seven hills, known as “the seven hills of Rome”-Esquiline Hill, Palatine Hill, Aventine Hill, Capitoline Hill, Quirinal Hill, Viminal Hill and Caelian Hill. Whatever the cause, Rome turned from a monarchy into a republic, a world derived from res publica, or “property of the people.” A popular uprising was said to have arisen over the rape of a virtuous noblewoman, Lucretia, by the king’s son. with the overthrow of its seventh king, Lucius Tarquinius Superbus, whom ancient historians portrayed as cruel and tyrannical, compared to his benevolent predecessors. Rome’s era as a monarchy ended in 509 B.C. While they were referred to as “Rex,” or “King” in Latin, all the kings after Romulus were elected by the senate.ĭid you know? Four decades after Constantine made Christianity Rome's official religion, Emperor Julian-known as the Apostate-tried to revive the pagan cults and temples of the past, but the process was reversed after his death, and Julian was the last pagan emperor of Rome. There are seven legendary kings of Rome: Romulus, Numa Pompilius, Tullus Hostilius, Ancus Martius, Lucius Tarquinius Priscus (Tarquin the Elder), Servius Tullius and Tarquinius Superbus, or Tarquin the Proud (534-510 B.C.). After killing his brother, Romulus became the first king of Rome, which is named for him.Ī line of Sabine, Latin and Etruscan (earlier Italian civilizations) kings followed in a non-hereditary succession. Left to drown in a basket on the Tiber by a king of nearby Alba Longa and rescued by a she-wolf, the twins lived to defeat that king and found their own city on the river’s banks in 753 B.C. by Romulus and Remus, twin sons of Mars, the god of war. As legend has it, Rome was founded in 753 B.C.

Ancient world time line