Some key dates in Ancient Rome and the major events afterward that shaped what happened in Rome and to its monuments and art collections.
REGAL ROME
753 BC Traditional date for the foundation of Rome
THE REPUBLIC
509 BC Traditional date of the expulsion of the kings and foundation of the Roman Republic
496 BC Battle of Lake Regillus (defeat of Latin League)
396 BC Destruction of Veii
390 BC Gauls sack Rome
343-290 BC Samnite Wars
280-275 BC Pyrrhus of Epirus invades Italy but fails to defeat Rome and leaves
272 BC Rome defeats Tarentum; now controls the Italian peninsula
264-241 BC First Punic War
218-201 BC Second Punic War
197-150 Rome wages various wars against Alexander the Great’s successor kingdoms
149-146 BC Third Punic War
146 BC Carthage and Corinth sacked
133 BC Tribunate of Tiberius Gracchus
123 BC Tribunate of Gaius Gracchus
122-104 War against Iugurtha; rise of Marius
111-101 War against the Cimbri and Teutones in Gaul, Spain, Northern Italy
102 BC Marcus Antonius’ war against Cilician pirates
91-87 BC Social War
88 BC Sulla marches of Rome
84 BC Sulla returns to Rome from the East; passes reforms as dictator; resigns, and dies in 79 BC
73-71 BC Revolt of Spartacus
67 BC Pompey wages war against pirates
LATE REPUBLIC
60 First Triumvirate (Pompey, Caesar, Crassus)
58-53 Julius Caesar wages war in Gaul
49-48 Civil war of Pompey and Julius Caesar
44BC Julius Caesar assassinated on Ides of March
43 BC Second Triumvirate (Mark Antony, Lepidus, Octavian)
PRINCIPATE
31 BC Battle of Actium ends civil wars of the Republic. Principate begins
AD 14 Death of Augustus
AD 14-68 Julio-Claudian dynasty (Tiberius, Caligula, Claudius, Nero)
AD 69 Year of the Four Emperors
AD 69-96 Flavian dynasty (Vespasian, Titus, Domitian)
AD 96-97 Reign of Nerva
AD 97-117 Reign of Trajan; expands empire to its greatest extent
AD 117-138 Reign of Hadrian
AD 138-192 Antonine dynasty (Antoninus Pius, Marcus Aurelius, Commodus)
AD 192 Year of the Emperors
AD 192-235 Severan dynasty (Septimius Severus, Carcalla, Elagabalus, Alexander Severus); Caracalla extends citizenship to all freed people within the \ empire in AD 212; Sassanians overthrow Parthians in 226
AD 235-284 Years of military crisis
AD 249-252 Reign of Decius (increased raids across Rhine)
AD 260 Sassanians kill Valerian
AD 260-268 Reign of Gallienus
AD 270-275 Reign of Aurelian
LATE ANTIQUITY
AD 284- 305 Reign of Diocletian; creation of tetrarchy rule
AD 306-337 Reign of Constantine
AD 212 Edict of Toleration
AD 378 Battle of Adrianople. Goths defeat the Eastern empire army
AD 410 Sack of Rome by Alaric the Goth
AD 455 Vandals sack Rome
AD 476 Ostrogoths depose last Western emperor (Romulus Augustulus)
AD 527-565 Justinian in Constantinople attempts to reconquer the Western empire
AD 568 Lombards invade Italy
AD 636 Arab armies defeat Roman army at Al Yarmouk
AD 711 Arab army invades Spain of the Visigoths
MEDIEVAL ROME AND THE RISE OF THE PAPACY
800 Charlemagne crowned Holy Roman Emperor in Rome
846 Saracens sack Rome
852 Construction of the Leonine Walls
1084 Normans sack Rome
1144 Creation of the commune of Rome
1300 First Jubilee year (Pope Boniface VIII)
1309-1377 Papacy relocates to Avignon and then returns to Rome
RENAISSANCE TO EARLY MODERN ROME
1420s- 1519 Rome becomes the center of the Renaissance in Rome; buildings include: St. Peter’s, Sistine Chapel, Ponte Sisto, etc. Artists included: Bramante, Michelangelo, Raphael
1527 Sack of Rome by Charles V
1545-1648 Counter-Reformation (addressing the effects of the Protestant
Reformation
1584-1792 Baroque period. Artists included: Bernini, Borromini. Late monuments: Trevi (1762), Spanish Steps (1725)
NAPOLEONIC ERA
1798-1799; French occupation
1800-1814 Excavation of the area around Trajan’s Column. Many ancient works of art sent to France; some returned
1848-1849 Republic of Rome (Mazzini and Garibaldi)
RISORGIMENTO/ UNIFICATION OF ITALY
1860-1870 Unification of Italy
1870 Rome captured by Italy
1871 Rome becomes capital of Italy
Late 19C- early 20C Formation of national collections of art and archaeology in Rome constituted out of purchased private collections and well as new excavations
1898-1910 Excavation of the Roman Forum, led by Giacomo Boni
FASCISM
1922 Mussolini’s march on Rome
1919-1945 Mussolini as Duce of Fascism
Archaeology in Rome:
Excavation of Largo Argentina (1926-1929)
Destruction of monuments around Theater of Marcellus
(1930) for Via del Mare
1932: Via dei Fori Imperiali created (Vial dell’Impero), revealing imperial fora
1937/8: Ara Pacis Museum and Mausoleum of Augustus created for excavated monument (completion in 1940)
Excavations on Palatine hill
Design of EUR, modeled on many Roman monuments
1929 Lateran Treaty establishes Papal State of the Vatican
1943 Germany occupies Rome
1944 Allies liberate Rome
1950s- Today Major collections and sites are managed by the Comune of Rome and the National Superintendency. Some sites and monuments remain private (e.g., Palazzo Colonna, Palazzo Pamphilj), and the Vatican maintains Vatican City, Vatican Museums, and many properties (palazzi, churches, catacombs, etc) in and around Rome.
