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 a tragic one.

Yet the various causes for the demise of the republic are far from clear cut.

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.