Timeline of Rome history

Rome's ancient forum.

Rome in 1834.

This article mentions the most significant events throughout the span of the history of Rome.

Early history

1000 BC - Latins begin to settle in Italy.

753 BC - The city is allegedly founded in this year by Romulus and Remus.

750 BC - Tarpeia besieges cities, and hands it over to the Sabines

700 BC - Near Rome, the Etruscan civilization more or less begins.

659 BC - The enemy city of Alba Longa is destroyed by the Romans.

616 BC - The first Etruscan king of Rome, Tarquinius Priscus establishes a Forum and a Circus Maximus.

c.600 BC - Cloaca Maxima is probably(?) first built around this year.

578 BC - Servius Tullius becomes the next Etruscan king of Rome

565 BC - Servian Walls are built.

534 BC - King Servius is assassinated.

510 BC - Temple of Jupiter on the Capitol is completed and consecrated.

509 BC - Lucius Brutus founds the republic and expels the Etruscans and Tarquin the Proud from Rome.

508 BC - A Treaty is made between Rome and Carthage.

507 BC - The famous war against the Etruscans begins, featuring hero Horatio.

Republic

499 BC - A battle against foreign tribes commences, including the construction of the Temple of Castor and Pollux.

396 BC - The Etruscan city of Veio is defeated by the Romans.

390 BC - Rome is sacked by the Gauls after the Battle of the Allia

380 BC - The once destroyed Servian wall is reconstructed.

312 BC - The Via Appia and Aqua Appia are constructed.

264 - 241 BC - The period of the First Punic War

220 BC - Via Flamina is constructed.

218 - 202 BC - The Second Punic War

168 BC - The Romans have a great victory in the Macedonian War, conquering Greece.

149 - 146 BC - The Third Punic War

133 BC - 120 BC - Gracchi brothers are controversially killed.

71 BC - Spartacus is killed and his rebel army destroyed.

60 BC - Pompey, Crassus and Caesar form the first triumvirate.

58-50 BC - Caesar conquers Gaul

Imperial city

49 BC - Caesar crosses the Rubicon in order to take Rome.

44 BC - Caesar elects himself dictator, and in March is killed by Brutus and Cassius

27 BC - Augustus is made Rome's first emperor.

13 BC - The Ara Pacis is constituted since Augustus secured his empire.

42 AD - The apostle St Peter arrives in Rome.

64 AD - The Great Fire of Rome, rumored to be blamed by Nero on the Christians.

c. 65 AD - The Romans begins to massacre Christians .

67 AD - St Peter is crucified in Rome, and similarly St Paul is executed.

72 AD - Work on the Flavian Amphitheatre (Colosseum) begins?

March, 80 AD - The inauguration of the Colosseum begins.

121 AD - The Hadrian Wall is completed.

125 AD - Emperor Hadrian has the Pantheon reconstructed to more or less how it is today.

212 AD - All the inhabitants of the empire are granted citizenship.

216 AD - Work on the Baths of Caracalla is finally over, as the building gets completed.

247 AD - The first millennium of Rome is celebrated.

270 AD - Construction of the Aurelian Wall begins.

284 AD - Diocletian partitions administration of the Roman Empire in half, thereby establishing the Eastern Roman Empire in Byzantium.

Early Medieval period

312 - Constantine the Great defeats Maxentius at Battle of the Milvian Bridge to become the sole ruler of the Roman Empire

c.320 - Old St. Peter's Basilica is constructed.

325- Constantine convenes the First Council of Nicaea.

380 - The Christian emperor Theodosius makes Christianity the official religion of Rome, persecuting pagans and destroying temples.

395 - Ravenna becomes the capital of the Western Roman Empire, whilst Constantinople that of the east.

410 - Rome is sacked by Alaric, King of the Visigoths

422 - The Church of Santa Sabina is founded.

455 - Rome is sacked by Genseric, King of the Vandals

476 - Romulus Augustulus is deposed, traditionally considered the end of the Western Roman Empire and the beginning of the Middle Ages in Europe. Byzantium continues to be the capital of the Eastern Roman Empire.

496 - The first pope to achieve the Pontifex Maximus is Anastasius II.

546 - Rome is sacked by Totila, King of the Ostrogoths

C. 590 - 604 - Pope Gregory the Great makes the Christian church exceedingly strong.

609 - The Pantheon becomes a Christian church.

630 - The Church of Sant' Agnese is the first Roman church to be constructed in Byzantine style.

725 - The King Ine of Wessex is the first man to create a hostel for pilgrims to Rome.

778 - Charlemagne conquers Italy and Rome.

800 - Charlemagne is crowned the emperor in St. Peter's Basilica.

846 - The Arab sack of Rome plundered the environs of Rome, including Old St. Peter's Basilica, but were prevented from entering the city itself by the Aurelian Wall

880 - 932 - A rare occasion, the city is governed by women, Theodora and later her daughter Marozia.

961 - King Otto the Great of Germany becomes in Rome the world's first Holy Roman Emperor

High Middle Ages

1084 - The city of Rome is attacked by the Normans

1108 - The church of San Clemente is in this year rebuilt.

1140 - The church of Santa Maria in Trastevere is restored.

1200 - The city becomes an independent commune

1232 - The cloisters in the Basilica of St. John Lateran are finished.

1300 - Pope Boniface VIII proclaims the First Holy Year.

1309 - The Papacy is moved to Avignon under Pope Clement V

1347 - The patriot and rebel Cola di Rienzo tries to restore the Roman Republic.

1348 - Just like across Italy and parts of Europe, the Black Death strikes Rome.

Roman Renaissance

1377 - The Papacy returns to Rome with Pope Gregory XI.

1409 - 1415 - For a short while, the Papacy moves over to Pisa.

1417 - The Great Schism of the 14th century is ended by Pope Martin V

1444 - Bramante is born.

1452 - Old St. Peter's Basilica is demolished and a new one is begun.

1475 - Painter Michelangelo is born.

1483 - Raphael is born.

1486 - The Palazzo della Cancelleria is built.

1506 - The first significant works on the New St. Peter's Basilica re begun with Pope Julius II

1508 - Michelangelo paints the famous Sistine Chapel

1519 - The famous frescos of the Villa Farnesina are finally completed.

1527 - Charles V's troops attack Rome, looting and ruining the city.

1547 - Michelangelo is appointed by Pope Paul III as the main architect of St. Peter's Basilica.

Baroque period

1568 - The Jesuits build the early Baroque church of the Gesu.

1571 - Caravaggio is born.

1585 - Rome's streets are re-planned by Pope Sixtus V

1595 - The frescos in the Palazzo Farnese are begun by Annibale Carracci

1600 - Giordano Bruno (philosopher) is burned at the stake for his heresies.

1624 - Apollo and Daphne, the sculpture by Bernini, is made in this year.

1626 - Construction of the new St. Peter's Basilica is completed.

1633 - Galileo is condemned for heresy.

1651 - Piazza Navona is fully re-designed by Bernini.

1656 - Bernini's colonnades in St. Peter's Square are begun.

1657 - Borromini finishes his work in Sant' Agnese in Agone.

1694 - The Palazzo di Montecitorio is finished.

1721 - The English prince and pretender Bonnie Prince Charlie is born in the city.

1732 - Work on the Trevi Fountain begins.

1734 - The Palazzo Nuovo is made by Pope Clement XII the world's first public museum.

1735 - This is the year in which Rome's Spanish Steps are designed.

1751 - The Views of Rome by Piranesi revives interest in Rome's classical ruins.

1762 - The Trevi Fountain is completed.

1792 - Pope Clement XIII tomb by Canova is completed.

1797 - Napoleon Bonaparte has Rome captured.

1799 - Napoleon is driven out of Rome and Italy by the Russians and the Austrians

19th century and Risorgimento

1800 - 1801 - Napoleon retakes Italy and Rome.

1807 - Garibaldi is born.

1816 - Work on the Piazza del Popolo begins.

1820 - There are a series of revolts in Rome and the rest of Italy.

1821 - The British poet Keats dies in Rome.

1848 - Uprisings in Rome.

1849 - The Pope is restored to power in the city, with French help.

1860 - Garibaldi and his famous 1,000 soldiers take Naples and Sicily.

1861 - The Kingdom of Italy is founded with Turin as its capital.

1870 - Rome is made part of the Italian kingdom.

20th century and Modern Rome

1911 - The Vittorio Emanuele monument is completed.

1915 - Italy enters the World War I

1922 - March on Rome

1926 - Any party opposing Fascism is banned.

1929 - A separate country, the Vatican City is created with the Lateran Treaty.

1940 - EUR begins, and the nation enters World War II.

1944 - Rome is liberated by the Allied troops from the Germans.

1946 - A National Referendum states that Italy becomes a Republic.

1957 - Treaty of Rome

1960 - Rome hosts the Olympic Games with great success.

1962 - Roman Catholic church reforms are brought about with the Second Vatican Council.

1978 - Italian prime minister Aldo Moro is kidnapped and later killed by the Brigate Rosse; Pope John Paul I and Pope John Paul II are made popes in this year.

c.1978 - 1990 - Years of Lead.

1981 - An assassination attempt on Pope John Paul II is made this year in St. Peter's Basilica Square.

1990 - Rome hosts the football (soccer) World Cup.

1993 - Francesco Rutelli becomes the first elected mayor of Rome.

2000 - The city enters the New Millennium, featuring a new Holy Year, or the Jubilee.

2004 - A new constitution of the EU signed in Rome.

2005 - Pope John Paul II dies in Rome, and Pope Benedict XVI takes his place.

Bibliography

• Rome. DK. 2006. ISBN 1-4053-1090-1.