History of Rome

According to legend, the city of Rome was founded by Romulus (with his brother, Remus, in some accounts) in 753 bc.

Although archaeological evidence suggests earlier habitations on the site, extended human settlement may well have dated from this time.

Traces of an Iron Age village from the mid-8th century bc have been found on the Palatine Hill.

The legend of the rape of the Sabine women (see Sabines) and the subsequent merger of the Romans and Sabines are similarly supported by excavated remains.

Earliest Rome was a kingdom with two classes, the patricians (nobles) and the plebeians (commoners). The Senate, or Council of Elders, elected the monarchs and limited their power.

Republican Rome ~~~
Etruscan kings ruled Rome from the 7th to the late 6th century bc, but when the last monarch was overthrown, about 510 bc, a republic was established.

Rome subsequently began to absorb the surrounding areas.

After a Gallic invasion early in the 4th century bc, the so-called Servian Wall was built around the city.

The first aqueduct in Rome was built in 312 bc. At the same time, the Via Appia (see Appian Way), connecting the city with southern Italy, was constructed.

Rome continued to grow during and after the Punic Wars (264-146 bc).

During that time the first basilica, a type of building that could accommodate crowds in bad weather, was constructed (184 bc) in the Forum.

After the assassinations (133 and 121 bc) of the brothers Tiberius and Gaius Gracchus, who had attempted to institute land reforms to aid the poor, the city experienced a period of instability that climaxed in the civil wars of the 1st century bc.

Julius Caesar ultimately became dictator and instituted a series of reforms.

The Forum had become crowded with structures and monuments and needed to be expanded; the Forum of Caesar was then planned. It was completed under Augustus, the first emperor, who also built the Forum of Augustus.

Imperial Rome ~~~
By the early imperial period, Rome was the hub of the Roman Empire, both physically, as the center of the Italian road system, and psychologically, as the capital of the world.

This vast agglomeration had adequate water supply and efficient sewers, but the overcrowding of poor people in tenements resulted in frequent fires.

Emperor Augustus instituted the vigiles, or fire fighters with police powers.

In addition, vehicles were not allowed in the crowded streets except at night, and legislation was passed restricting the maximum height of buildings.

A disastrous fire in ad 64 nevertheless destroyed much of the center of the city.

For Nero, the emperor then in power, this was an opportunity to build his palatial Golden House.

The Flavian dynasty (ad 69-96), in order to gain favor with the Roman populace, began a program of public works.

The most prominent of these was the amphitheater known as the Colosseum, which could accommodate gladiatorial games and even mock sea battles staged for huge crowds.

Few or no large-scale industries existed in Rome at the time, and adequate employment was not available for the vast population; hence, the grain dole and games (bread and circuses) that had begun during Republican times continued.

In addition to events in amphitheaters, chariot races were arranged in circuses and pantomimes in sumptuous theaters.

Emperor Trajan had the last of the imperial forums built in the early 2nd century.

By that time, huge baths, some of them even including libraries, had become a fixture of the city’s life; the largest were built by Caracalla and Diocletian in the 3rd century.

Because of the deterioration already threatening the empire, a wall was built around the city during the 3rd century.

By the following century, however, it was clear that the imperial court would have to be closer to the borders.

Emperor Constantine the Great therefore founded the city of Constantinople as the Christian “New Rome.”

Although Rome then began to decline, the first major Christian basilicas, among them the original Saint Peter’s, were constructed during this period.

Decline of the City ~~~
In 410 and 455 Rome was sacked by invading Germanic tribes.

Attempts were made to preserve the physical plant of the city in the face of growing chaos, but occupation by the Ostrogoths in the 6th century, subsequent Byzantine reoccupation, and concomitant destruction all contributed to a precipitous decline, and the population dwindled.

The city was, however, the seat of the papacy, and a certain number of people remained. Under Pope Gregory I the decline was even arrested for a while, but Italy later became a battleground again; in the 9th century a new low ebb was reached when Arabs attacked the area around the city, including the Vatican.

During the Middle Ages, the built-up areas shrank until they were confined to the shore of the Tiber, where water was available. Only one of the ancient aqueducts was still operable.

Papal Glory ~~~
The city’s fortunes began to improve in the 11th century, although improvement lagged at the beginning of the 14th century, when the popes settled in Avignon.

The papacy returned to Rome in 1377, and after the middle of the 15th century the city became a center of Renaissance culture.

Massive papal patronage of the arts began to enrich Rome.

During the papacy (1447-1455) of Nicholas V the defense walls were repaired, palaces built, and churches restored.

Major artists and architects now worked in Rome, and by the end of the century it had supplanted Florence as the primary focal point of the Renaissance.

The sack of the city in 1527 by Habsburg mercenaries was a temporary setback.

During the 16th century Michelangelo, Donato Bramante, Raphael, and other artists worked for the popes, and construction of the new Saint Peter’s Basilica progressed.

It was not until the reign (1585-1590) of Pope Sixtus V, however, that the dense, confused medieval urban pattern began to be modernized.

Three major streets were laid out to radiate from the Piazza del Popolo to the center of the city.

Sixtus also built squares and fountains, and he restored the Acqua Felice aqueduct.

In addition, old churches were refurbished, and Saint Peter’s dome was completed.

The dramatic baroque style that characterized Counter-Reformation Rome was predominant in structures of the 17th century.

Sculptors and architects, such as Gianlorenzo Bernini and Francesco Borromini, changed the face of Rome during this period.

In the 18th century Rome enjoyed a period of relative quiet under papal rule.
Structures built in a subdued rococo style in the early part of the century later gave way to neoclassic structures.

In 1797 Napoleon Bonaparte took Rome and appropriated many art treasures. Ultimately, after the Congress of Vienna in 1815, Rome became papal again.

Napoleon’s occupation of Italy, however, had stimulated a nationalist reaction, and in 1861 Italy was unified under the house of Savoy.

Because of Rome’s position as papal headquarters it had to be forcibly taken by the kingdom of Italy in 1870. The pope then made himself a “prisoner of the Vatican.”

National Capital ~~~
After the city became the capital of united Italy in 1871, feverish growth followed. Whole new quarters were constructed.

By the beginning of the 20th century the entire area within the ancient walls had been built up, and the city began to expand outward.

High embankments were built along the Tiber to prevent floods, and Rome was extensively modernized.

The dictatorship (1922-1943) of Benito Mussolini was marked by the destruction of old quarters and the construction of such pompous projects as the Via dell’Impero (now Via dei Fori Imperiali).

In 1929 the Vatican became an independent papal enclave. Declared an open city during World War II, Rome was spared heavy bombing.

Postwar growth continued at a rapid pace, and new residential developments extend far out into the Roman countryside.