Rome

Ancient Rome was a civilization that grew out of the city-state of Rome, founded on the Italian peninsula around 800 BC. During its twelve-century existence, the Roman civilization shifted from a monarchy to an oligarchic republic to a vast empire. It came to dominate Western Europe and the entire area surrounding the Mediterranean Sea through conquest and assimilation. The western half of the empire, including Hispania, Gaul, and Italia, eventually succumbed to a number of factors and broke into independent kingdoms in the 5th century (see The Roman Empire). The eastern empire, governed from Constantinople, is referred to as the Byzantine Empire after 476 AD.

The city of Rome grew from settlements around a ford on the river Tiber, a crossroads of traffic and trade. According to archaeological evidence, the village of Rome was probably founded sometime in the 9th century BC by members of two central Italian tribes, the Latins and the Sabines, on the Palatine, Capitoline, and Quirinal Hills.

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