INTRODUCTION

The prehistory and history of this great nation and center of western civilization has seen various
cultures inhabit the italic peninsula, today known as the Italian Republic. Since ancient times,
peoples such as Indo-Europeans, Etruscan, Greeks and others have flourished in the territory of
present day Italy, being eventually absorbed by the Latins (which is from where the romans
descend), whose authority and power have remained for centuries as the leading political and
religious center of the land and, in time, western civilization.
There is much to be discussed about the rich tales that await the intellectual, but for the time
disposed for this exposition, we will start in the foundation of its great city and catalyst to power,
Rome.

LEGENDARY BEGINNINGS
According to one myth, Rome was founded the 21st of April 753 BC by the twin brothers Romulus
and Remus, descendants of the Trojan (Yes, those Trojans) Prince Aeneas and grandsons of the
Latin King Numitor of Alba Longa. Numitor was deposed from his throne by his brother, Amulius,
while his daughter, Rhea Silvia, gave birth to the twins by the seed, according to legend, of the
Greek god of war Ares, whose Roman counterpart is today known as Mars, making the twins
demigods, or, half divine.
Fearing being overthrown by the twins, Amulius ordered them to be drowned, but a shepherds
wife known as the she-wolf saved and raised them, until the day they returned the throne to
their grandfather Numitor.
The twins then founded their own city, but after a quarrel over the location of the Roman
kingdom, Romulus killed Remus, though some sources state that the conflict was about who was
to rule and give name to the city. Since the death of his brother, Romulus gave the name Rome
to the city and became a sanctuary for the indigent, exiled and unwanted, which caused problems
for the city, which had a large workforce but was bereft of women. Romulus then travelled to
secure marriage rights. Legend says that the Latins invited the local Sabines to a festival and stole
(Raped) their unmarried maidens.
This time of its history is known as the Roman Kingdom.

THE ROMAN REPUBLIC

We push forward in history into the Roman Republic, which according to tradition was
established around 509 BC, when the last of the seven kings of Rome was deposed by Lucius
Junius Brutus and a system of annually elected magistrates and various representative
assemblies was established. A constitution was set and the powers were divided. Since then, for
Rome began a period characterized by internal struggles between aristocrats and small land
owners and constant warfare. This period saw several struggles with other peoples, both inside
the italic peninsula or its vicinities, such as the Phoenician state of Carthage, the Macedonians
and others.
Despite this, lasting for about 500 years, the Roman republic was a center of the world, over time
its power and influence grew, funding its hegemony over the Mediterranean Sea, expanding its
territory and merging close cultures into its own.
However, the story of the late Roman republic is essentially
Yet the various causes for the demise of the republic are far from clear cut.

tragic

one.

The first thirty years of the last century BC were characterized by serious internal problems that
threatened the existence of the Republic. The Social War, between Rome and its allies, and the
Servile Wars (slave uprisings) were very hard conflicts, all within Italy. The growth of the Roman
power created new problems, and new demands, that the old political system of the Republic,
with its annually elected magistrates and its sharing of power, could not solve. In January 49 BC,
Julius Caesar the conqueror of Gaul, marched his legions against Rome. In the following years, he
vanquished his opponents, and ruled Rome for four years. After his assassination in 44 BC, the
Senate tried to reestablish the Republic, but its champions, Marcus Junius Brutus (descendant of
the founder of the republic) and Gaius Cassius Longinus were defeated by Caesar's lieutenant
Marcus Antonius and Caesar's nephew, Octavian.
The years 44-31 BC mark the struggle for power between Marcus Antonius and Octavian (later
known as Augustus). Finally, on 2 September 31 BC, the final battle took place in the sea. Octavian
was victorious, and became the sole ruler of Rome (and its empire). That date marks the end of
the Republic and the beginning of the Empire.

THE ROMAN EMPIRE

By the end of the Republic, the city of Rome had achieved a grandeur befitting the capital of an
empire dominating the whole of the Mediterranean. It was, at the time, the largest city in the
world. In 27 BC Octavius took the name Augustus (The Venerated), and assumed absolute
power. The first Epoch of the Roman Empire, usually dated from 27 BC to 284 AD was a period of
unprecedented political stability and prosperity, the size of the Empire was dramatically
increased, there were great advancements in engineering, particularly in warfare technology and
construction techniques, which led to some of some of the worlds greatest patrimonial sites,
such as the Flavian Amphitheatre (The Roman Coliseum).It was also the Golden Age of Latin
Literature, with poets like Vergil, Horace, Ovid and Rufus.
This era was the time known as the Pax Romana or Roman Peace.
Despite its prosperity and Glory, what followed were a series of internal conflicts, imperatorial
assassinations, corruption, and tyranny. Following the collapse of the tumultuous Severan Dynasty in
212 AD, the Roman Empire was engulfed by the Crisis of the Third Century, a period of invasions, civil
strife, economic disorder, and plague.
This marks the transition from Classical Antiquity to Late Antiquity.
The final centuries of the pre-byzantine Roman Empire saw the absolute monarchy and Christian
persecution under Diocletan, the failed tetrarchy of the four emperors, the establishment of
Constantinople as the capital under the Christian converted Emperor Constantine, The division of the
empire in an East and West Axis and the making of Christianity as the official Religion of the Empire under
Theodosius I (He was also the last emperor to rule both sides of the empire)

The Roman Empire began to disintegrate in the early 5th century as Germanic migrations and
invasions overwhelmed the capacity of the Empire to assimilate the migrants and fight off the
invaders.

THE BIZANTINE EMPIRE

The Byzantine Empire, alternatively known as the Eastern Roman Empire, was the
predominantly Greek-speaking eastern half continuation and remainder of the Roman Empire
during Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages. Its capital city was Constantinople (modern-day
Istanbul), originally founded as Byzantium. It survived the fragmentation and fall of the Western
Roman Empire in the 5th century AD and continued to exist for an additional thousand years until
it fell to the Ottoman Turks in 1453. During most of its existence, the empire was the most
powerful economic, cultural, and military force in Europe.

RENAISSANCE
The Renaissance was so called because it was a "rebirth" not only of economy and urbanization,
but also of arts and science. It has been argued that this cultural rebirth was fuelled by massive
rediscoveries of ancient texts that had been forgotten for centuries by Western civilization,
hidden in monastic libraries or in the Islamic world, as well as the translations of Greek and Arabic
texts into Latin. The migration west into Italy of intellectuals fleeing the crumbling Eastern Roman
Empire at this time also played a significant part.
The Italian Renaissance began in Tuscany, centered in the city of Florence. It then spread south,
having an especially significant impact on Rome, which was largely rebuilt by the Renaissance
popes. The Italian Renaissance peaked in the late 15th century as foreign invasions plunged the
region into turmoil.

EARLY MODERN HISTORY

Italy began to experience an economic and social decline as the 16th century progressed. The
Age of Discovery had shifted the center of trade in Europe from the Mediterranean to the
Atlantic, and so the Italian states lost much of their previous importance. Venice continued to
fight bitterly with the Ottoman Empire for control of outposts in the eastern Mediterranean. It
participated in the great naval battle of Lepanto in 1571, and in the following century battled the
Turks for 25 years until 1669, when it gained control of the Peloponnese in Greece. Venice
experienced one last great martial triumph by helping to defeat the Ottoman Empire in the war
of 16831699. By the 18th century, economic activity dwindled as the city withdrew in on itself
and fell into stagnation, becoming easy pickings for the French revolutionary armies in 1796.
The Papal States also lost much of their former power as the Protestant Reformation divided
Europe into two camps. The remaining Catholic princes increasingly sought to be the masters in
their own houses and often clashed with the papacy over jurdistrictional matters. In addition to
its loss of political power, the Church came under increasing attack during the Age of Enlightenment in
the 18th century.