Rise of Ancient RomeFounded by Romulus and Remus, twin sons of Mars, the god of war
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. After killing his brother, Romulus became the first king of Rome, which is named for him A line of Sabine, Latin and Etruscan (earlier Italian civilizations) kings followed in a non-hereditary succession. |
Fall of Ancient RomeWest
Broke up into independent kingdoms in the 5th century Plagued by internal instability and attacked by various migrating people This splintering is a landmark historians use to divide the ancient period of universal history from the pre-medieval "Dark Ages" of Europe East
Survived this crisis and was governed from Constantinople It comprised Greece, the Balkans, Asia Minor, Syria and Egypt Despite the later loss of Syria and Egypt to the Arab- Islamic Empire, the Eastern Roman Empire continued for another millennium Until its remnants were finally annexed by the emerging Turkish Ottoman Empire This eastern, Christian, medieval stage of the Empire is usually called the Byzantine Empire by historians. |