Story of Rome
Romulus is given the credit for founding Ancient Rome – so legend has it. Children in Roman
schools were taught the story and it became almost set in stone.
What is legend of Romulus and Remus?
Romulus and Remus were twin brothers. They were abandoned by their parents as babies
and put into a basket that was then placed into the River Tiber. The basket ran aground
and the twins were discovered by a female wolf. The wolf nursed the babies for a short
time before they were found by a shepherd. The shepherd then brought up the twins.
When Romulus and Remus became adults, they decided to found a city where the wolf had
found them. The brothers quarrelled over where the site should be and Remus was killed
by his brother. This left Romulus the sole founder of the new city and he gave his name to
it – Rome. The date given for the founding of Rome is 753 BC.
This story, of course, is only a legend. According to legend, Rome began in 753 BC as a
collection of villages on the site of present-day Rome. In the following century, these
villages grew into a city. The Romans were Latins, as were the neighbouring tribes on the
plain of Latium. The Latins were successful farmers and traders and they became rich and
successful. Therefore, Rome from its early days was a rich city. This created jealousy and
brought the city of Rome into conflict with areas surrounding the city.
In 396 BC Rome captured the powerful Etruscan city of Veii. Just a few years later, the
Gauls from the north defeated the Roman army and destroyed much of the city of Rome.
For this reason, the leaders of Rome invested a lot more to create a stronger army. This
skilled force both protected the city and expanded its power. By 300 BC, the Romans
controlled most of the Italian peninsula.
By 272 BC the city of Rome had almost 150,000 inhabitants and had become very wealthy
through plundering and taxing those it defeated.
Punic Wars
Rome went to war against the people of Carthage in 264 BC. Carthage was a powerful
North African trading city-state that had several colonies around the Mediterranean Sea.
These wars, called the Punic Wars, continued for over a century.
The Social War
Though Rome dominated the western Mediterranean, it could not take its power for
granted. In 91 BC Rome’s Italian allies united to fight against it. This conflict was called
the Social War from the Latin word socii (allies). After three years of fighting the Italian
allies lost the war but won the right to be Roman citizens.
Republic and empire
Ancient Rome was first ruled by monarchs or kings. However when kings started misusing
their powers they were overthrown. Rome's era as a monarchy ended. A new system of
government called ‘republic’ came into existence. Rome turned from a monarchy into
republic, a word derived from the Latin phrase res publica, meaning "property of the
people." In other words it means that the supreme power rests with the people. The
republic lasted for almost 500 years and gradually lost its power to the Roman emperors.
Before becoming a major power in the ancient world, Historian refer to the period before
27 BC as the Roman republic, and the period from 27 BC as the Roman Empire, because
Rome was then ruled by emperors. Some of the famous Roman emperors were Augustus
Caesar and Julius Caesar.
Rome’s empire continued to grow until it reached its greatest extent early in the second
century AD.
The End.