History of Italy during Roman times
Encyclopedia
This is an overview of the history of Italy
during Roman times.
According to legend, Rome was founded in 753 BC by Romulus and Remus
, and was then governed by seven Kings of Rome. In 509 BC the last of them, Tarquinius Superbus
was overthrown, and the Roman Republic
was formed.
s at a time, while the Senate
(formed by the most notable patricians or aristocrats) and a city assembly formed a sort of Parliament
.
The institutions of the Roman republic, born for governing a city-state
, were unfit to rule over such a large empire. Furthermore, there was discontent both inside Rome and between Rome and its Italic allies, and the tension favored military commanders, who started taking dictatorial
powers. The first of these was Sulla
, who prevented an overthrow of the republic by Gaius Marius
but became a sort of "lord protector" of the Senate until his death (78 BC
). After him came Julius Caesar
, who after conquering the Gaul
(present day France
) won a civil war against Pompey
but was assassinated by senators fearing he would start a monarchy, in 44 BC
.
He was avenged by his nephew Octavianus
who first defeated the senatorial party with the help of Mark Antony
, and later (31 BC
) Antony himself (who was allied to the queen of Egypt, Cleopatra
).
Octavius was awarded the titles of Augustus
and Princeps
by what remained of the Senate, and was proclaimed Imperator
(which at the time only meant "supreme commander") by his Legion
s. Even if he was careful to abide the rules of the old republic, Octavius actually ruled as an Emperor
, and the Roman Empire
was born. This became apparent in 14
, when he died and was succeeded by his adoptive son, the former general Tiberius
.
The establishment of the empire brought substantial benefits to the provinces, which could now appeal to the emperor against rapacious administrators, rather than to the corrupt senatorial class to whom the administrators usually belonged. Furthermore, Roman citizenship was slowly extended to the provinces, and the rule of law became less arbitrary.
Despite its military strength, the empire made few efforts to expand its already vast extent; the most notable being the conquest of Britain
, begun by emperor Claudius
(47), and emperor Trajan
s conquest of Dacia (101-102, 105-106). In the 1st and 2nd century Roman legions were also employed in intermittent warfare with the Germanic tribes to the north and the Parthian Empire
to the east. While armed insurrections (e.g. the Hebraic insurrection in Judea
) (70) and brief civil wars (e.g. in 68
the year of the four emperors
) demanded the legions attention on several occasions.
The internal power structure was slowly deteriorating, and exploded in the crisis of the Third Century
, when economic problems, barbarian
incursions and civil wars led to a fragmentation of the empire as the regions tried to respond effectively to Persians and 'barbarian' invasions. The empire began to recover in the reign of the emperor Aurelian (270-275) and, stengthened, was saved by Diocletian
(284
-305
) and Constantine (306
-337
), who split the empire into western and eastern parts, with Rome
and Constantinopolis (founded by Constantine himself) as capitals. Constantine also stopped opposing the diffusion of the Christian
religion
(313
, Edict of Milan
), actually allying with the Christian church. Christianity became the only official religion of the empire in 380
under emperor Theodosius
. Italy continued to be the center of the Roman empire in the West and Rome its capital, although through most of the fifth century the emperors resided at the more easily defensible Ravenna
. The last resident western emperor was deposed in 476 (although the legitimate emperor, Julius Nepos, lived until the year 480, but in Split). Under Odoacer (476-489) and Theodoric (489-526), Italy enjoyed an Indian Summer economically and culturally until the damage done in the wars of Justinian (535-554), who wanted to recover Italy completely for the Empire, devastated the peninsula and destroyed the flourishing Christian Roman civilization that had survived along with the administrative and financial apparatus of the Late Roman Empire.
History of Italy
Italy, united in 1861, has significantly contributed to the political, cultural and social development of the entire Mediterranean region. Many cultures and civilizations have existed there since prehistoric times....
during Roman times.
According to legend, Rome was founded in 753 BC by Romulus and Remus
Romulus and Remus
Romulus and Remus are Rome's twin founders in its traditional foundation myth, although the former is sometimes said to be the sole founder...
, and was then governed by seven Kings of Rome. In 509 BC the last of them, Tarquinius Superbus
Lucius Tarquinius Superbus
Lucius Tarquinius Superbus was the legendary seventh and final King of Rome, reigning from 535 BC until the popular uprising in 509 BC that led to the establishment of the Roman Republic. He is more commonly known by his cognomen Tarquinius Superbus and was a member of the so-called Etruscan...
was overthrown, and the Roman Republic
Roman Republic
The Roman Republic was the period of the ancient Roman civilization where the government operated as a republic. It began with the overthrow of the Roman monarchy, traditionally dated around 508 BC, and its replacement by a government headed by two consuls, elected annually by the citizens and...
was formed.
Roman Republic
The Republic was ruled by two elected consulConsul
Consul was the highest elected office of the Roman Republic and an appointive office under the Empire. The title was also used in other city states and also revived in modern states, notably in the First French Republic...
s at a time, while the Senate
Roman Senate
The Senate of the Roman Republic was a political institution in the ancient Roman Republic, however, it was not an elected body, but one whose members were appointed by the consuls, and later by the censors. After a magistrate served his term in office, it usually was followed with automatic...
(formed by the most notable patricians or aristocrats) and a city assembly formed a sort of Parliament
Parliament
A parliament is a legislature, especially in those countries whose system of government is based on the Westminster system modeled after that of the United Kingdom. The name is derived from the French , the action of parler : a parlement is a discussion. The term came to mean a meeting at which...
.
The institutions of the Roman republic, born for governing a city-state
City-state
A city-state is an independent or autonomous entity whose territory consists of a city which is not administered as a part of another local government.-Historical city-states:...
, were unfit to rule over such a large empire. Furthermore, there was discontent both inside Rome and between Rome and its Italic allies, and the tension favored military commanders, who started taking dictatorial
Roman dictator
In the Roman Republic, the dictator , was an extraordinary magistrate with the absolute authority to perform tasks beyond the authority of the ordinary magistrate . The office of dictator was a legal innovation originally named Magister Populi , i.e...
powers. The first of these was Sulla
Lucius Cornelius Sulla
Lucius Cornelius Sulla Felix , known commonly as Sulla, was a Roman general and statesman. He had the rare distinction of holding the office of consul twice, as well as that of dictator...
, who prevented an overthrow of the republic by Gaius Marius
Gaius Marius
Gaius Marius was a Roman general and statesman. He was elected consul an unprecedented seven times during his career. He was also noted for his dramatic reforms of Roman armies, authorizing recruitment of landless citizens, eliminating the manipular military formations, and reorganizing the...
but became a sort of "lord protector" of the Senate until his death (78 BC
78 BC
Year 78 BC was a year of the pre-Julian Roman calendar. At the time it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Lepidus and Catulus...
). After him came Julius Caesar
Julius Caesar
Gaius Julius Caesar was a Roman general and statesman and a distinguished writer of Latin prose. He played a critical role in the gradual transformation of the Roman Republic into the Roman Empire....
, who after conquering the Gaul
Gaul
Gaul was a region of Western Europe during the Iron Age and Roman era, encompassing present day France, Luxembourg and Belgium, most of Switzerland, the western part of Northern Italy, as well as the parts of the Netherlands and Germany on the left bank of the Rhine. The Gauls were the speakers of...
(present day France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
) won a civil war against Pompey
Pompey
Gnaeus Pompeius Magnus, also known as Pompey or Pompey the Great , was a military and political leader of the late Roman Republic...
but was assassinated by senators fearing he would start a monarchy, in 44 BC
44 BC
Year 44 BC was either a common year starting on Sunday or Monday or a leap year starting on Friday or Saturday of the Julian calendar and a common year starting on Sunday of the Proleptic Julian calendar...
.
He was avenged by his nephew Octavianus
Augustus
Augustus ;23 September 63 BC – 19 August AD 14) is considered the first emperor of the Roman Empire, which he ruled alone from 27 BC until his death in 14 AD.The dates of his rule are contemporary dates; Augustus lived under two calendars, the Roman Republican until 45 BC, and the Julian...
who first defeated the senatorial party with the help of Mark Antony
Mark Antony
Marcus Antonius , known in English as Mark Antony, was a Roman politician and general. As a military commander and administrator, he was an important supporter and loyal friend of his mother's cousin Julius Caesar...
, and later (31 BC
31 BC
Year 31 BC was either a common year starting on Tuesday, Wednesday or Thursday or a leap year starting on Tuesday or Wednesday of the Julian calendar and a common year starting on Tuesday of the Proleptic Julian calendar...
) Antony himself (who was allied to the queen of Egypt, Cleopatra
Cleopatra VII of Egypt
Cleopatra VII Philopator was the last pharaoh of Ancient Egypt.She was a member of the Ptolemaic dynasty, a family of Greek origin that ruled Egypt after Alexander the Great's death during the Hellenistic period...
).
Augustus
Augustus ;23 September 63 BC – 19 August AD 14) is considered the first emperor of the Roman Empire, which he ruled alone from 27 BC until his death in 14 AD.The dates of his rule are contemporary dates; Augustus lived under two calendars, the Roman Republican until 45 BC, and the Julian...
and Princeps
Princeps
Princeps is a Latin word meaning "first in time or order; the first, chief, the most eminent, distinguished, or noble; the first man, first person."...
by what remained of the Senate, and was proclaimed Imperator
Imperator
The Latin word Imperator was originally a title roughly equivalent to commander under the Roman Republic. Later it became a part of the titulature of the Roman Emperors as part of their cognomen. The English word emperor derives from imperator via Old French Empreur...
(which at the time only meant "supreme commander") by his Legion
Roman legion
A Roman legion normally indicates the basic ancient Roman army unit recruited specifically from Roman citizens. The organization of legions varied greatly over time but they were typically composed of perhaps 5,000 soldiers, divided into maniples and later into "cohorts"...
s. Even if he was careful to abide the rules of the old republic, Octavius actually ruled as an Emperor
Emperor
An emperor is a monarch, usually the sovereign ruler of an empire or another type of imperial realm. Empress, the female equivalent, may indicate an emperor's wife or a woman who rules in her own right...
, and the Roman Empire
Roman Empire
The Roman Empire was the post-Republican period of the ancient Roman civilization, characterised by an autocratic form of government and large territorial holdings in Europe and around the Mediterranean....
was born. This became apparent in 14
14
Year 14 was a common year starting on Monday of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Pompeius and Appuleius...
, when he died and was succeeded by his adoptive son, the former general Tiberius
Tiberius
Tiberius , was Roman Emperor from 14 AD to 37 AD. Tiberius was by birth a Claudian, son of Tiberius Claudius Nero and Livia Drusilla. His mother divorced Nero and married Augustus in 39 BC, making him a step-son of Octavian...
.
The establishment of the empire brought substantial benefits to the provinces, which could now appeal to the emperor against rapacious administrators, rather than to the corrupt senatorial class to whom the administrators usually belonged. Furthermore, Roman citizenship was slowly extended to the provinces, and the rule of law became less arbitrary.
Despite its military strength, the empire made few efforts to expand its already vast extent; the most notable being the conquest of Britain
Roman conquest of Britain
The Roman conquest of Britain was a gradual process, beginning effectively in AD 43 under Emperor Claudius, whose general Aulus Plautius served as first governor of Britannia. Great Britain had already frequently been the target of invasions, planned and actual, by forces of the Roman Republic and...
, begun by emperor Claudius
Claudius
Claudius , was Roman Emperor from 41 to 54. A member of the Julio-Claudian dynasty, he was the son of Drusus and Antonia Minor. He was born at Lugdunum in Gaul and was the first Roman Emperor to be born outside Italy...
(47), and emperor Trajan
Trajan
Trajan , was Roman Emperor from 98 to 117 AD. Born into a non-patrician family in the province of Hispania Baetica, in Spain Trajan rose to prominence during the reign of emperor Domitian. Serving as a legatus legionis in Hispania Tarraconensis, in Spain, in 89 Trajan supported the emperor against...
s conquest of Dacia (101-102, 105-106). In the 1st and 2nd century Roman legions were also employed in intermittent warfare with the Germanic tribes to the north and the Parthian Empire
Parthian Empire
The Parthian Empire , also known as the Arsacid Empire , was a major Iranian political and cultural power in ancient Persia...
to the east. While armed insurrections (e.g. the Hebraic insurrection in Judea
Judea
Judea or Judæa was the name of the mountainous southern part of the historic Land of Israel from the 8th century BCE to the 2nd century CE, when Roman Judea was renamed Syria Palaestina following the Jewish Bar Kokhba revolt.-Etymology:The...
) (70) and brief civil wars (e.g. in 68
68
Year 68 was a leap year starting on Friday of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Asconius and Thraculus...
the year of the four emperors
Year of the Four Emperors
The Year of the Four Emperors was a year in the history of the Roman Empire, AD 69, in which four emperors ruled in a remarkable succession. These four emperors were Galba, Otho, Vitellius, and Vespasian....
) demanded the legions attention on several occasions.
The internal power structure was slowly deteriorating, and exploded in the crisis of the Third Century
Crisis of the Third Century
The Crisis of the Third Century was a period in which the Roman Empire nearly collapsed under the combined pressures of invasion, civil war, plague, and economic depression...
, when economic problems, barbarian
Barbarian
Barbarian and savage are terms used to refer to a person who is perceived to be uncivilized. The word is often used either in a general reference to a member of a nation or ethnos, typically a tribal society as seen by an urban civilization either viewed as inferior, or admired as a noble savage...
incursions and civil wars led to a fragmentation of the empire as the regions tried to respond effectively to Persians and 'barbarian' invasions. The empire began to recover in the reign of the emperor Aurelian (270-275) and, stengthened, was saved by Diocletian
Diocletian
Diocletian |latinized]] upon his accession to Diocletian . c. 22 December 244 – 3 December 311), was a Roman Emperor from 284 to 305....
(284
284
Year 284 was a leap year starting on Tuesday of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Carinus and Numerianus...
-305
305
Year 305 was a common year starting on Monday of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Constantius and Valerius...
) and Constantine (306
306
Year 306 was a common year starting on Tuesday of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Constantius and Valerius...
-337
337
Year 337 was a common year starting on Saturday of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Felicianus and Titianus...
), who split the empire into western and eastern parts, with Rome
Rome
Rome is the capital of Italy and the country's largest and most populated city and comune, with over 2.7 million residents in . The city is located in the central-western portion of the Italian Peninsula, on the Tiber River within the Lazio region of Italy.Rome's history spans two and a half...
and Constantinopolis (founded by Constantine himself) as capitals. Constantine also stopped opposing the diffusion of the Christian
Christianity
Christianity is a monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus as presented in canonical gospels and other New Testament writings...
religion
Religion
Religion is a collection of cultural systems, belief systems, and worldviews that establishes symbols that relate humanity to spirituality and, sometimes, to moral values. Many religions have narratives, symbols, traditions and sacred histories that are intended to give meaning to life or to...
(313
313
Year 313 was a common year starting on Thursday of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Constantinus and Licinianus...
, Edict of Milan
Edict of Milan
The Edict of Milan was a letter signed by emperors Constantine I and Licinius that proclaimed religious toleration in the Roman Empire...
), actually allying with the Christian church. Christianity became the only official religion of the empire in 380
380
Year 380 was a leap year starting on Wednesday of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Augustus and Augustus...
under emperor Theodosius
Theodosius I
Theodosius I , also known as Theodosius the Great, was Roman Emperor from 379 to 395. Theodosius was the last emperor to rule over both the eastern and the western halves of the Roman Empire. During his reign, the Goths secured control of Illyricum after the Gothic War, establishing their homeland...
. Italy continued to be the center of the Roman empire in the West and Rome its capital, although through most of the fifth century the emperors resided at the more easily defensible Ravenna
Ravenna
Ravenna is the capital city of the Province of Ravenna in the Emilia-Romagna region of Italy and the second largest comune in Italy by land area, although, at , it is little more than half the size of the largest comune, Rome...
. The last resident western emperor was deposed in 476 (although the legitimate emperor, Julius Nepos, lived until the year 480, but in Split). Under Odoacer (476-489) and Theodoric (489-526), Italy enjoyed an Indian Summer economically and culturally until the damage done in the wars of Justinian (535-554), who wanted to recover Italy completely for the Empire, devastated the peninsula and destroyed the flourishing Christian Roman civilization that had survived along with the administrative and financial apparatus of the Late Roman Empire.
See also
- List of Roman Emperors
- Italia (Roman Empire)