A time-line of the Roman empireWorld News | Politics | History | Editor(Copyright © 1999 Piero Scaruffi) |
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753 BC: Roma (Rome) is founded by Romulus 750 BC: Greeks establish a colony at Cuma 750 BC: first Etruscan inscriptions 616 BC: Tarquinius I becomes an Etruscan king of Roma 600 BC: Etruscans build the colossal tombs of Cerveteri 600 BC: the Forum is built 600 BC: oldest Latin inscriptions 578 BC: Tarquinius Priscus builds the Cloaca Maxima, the first sewer 550 BC: Servius Tullius builds city walls 474 BC: the Greeks defeat the Etruscans at Cuma 509 BC: the last king is expelled and Roma becomes a republic 450 BC: the Twelve Tables of the Roman law 396 BC: Roma conquers the Etruscan city of Veii 387 BC: the Gauls/Celts sack Roma 326 BC: the Circus Maximus is built 312 BC: the Via Appia is opened 312 BC: the first aqueduct, the Aqua Appia, is built 308 BC: Roma conquers the Etruscan city of Tarquinia 295 BC: Roma defeats the Gauls/Celts in northern Italy 287 BC: the Lex Hortensia makes plebiscites binding 280 BC: Roma issues coins 275 BC: Roma conquers southern Italy (Greek colonies) 272 BC: a second aqueduct, the Anio Vetus, is built 264 BC: Roma and Carthage fight the first Punic war 264 BC: the Romans destroy the last vestiges of the Etruscan civilization (Volsinies) 222 BC: the Gauls are defeated 221 BC: the Circus Flaminius 218 BC: Hannibal invades Italy 214 BC: war machines designed by Greek mathematician Archimedes save the city of Syracuse, an ally of Carthage, from a Roman naval attack 202 BC: Scipio defeats Hannibal and Roma annexes Spain 196 BC: the Romans defeat the Macedonian king Philip V at Cynoscephalae 189 BC: Antiochus III, king of the Seleucids, is defeated at the battle of Magnesia and surrenders his possessions in Europe and Asia Minor 184 BC: the Basilica Porcia 181 BC: Aquileia is founded on the head of the Adriatic 149 BC: Roma destroys Carthage 149 BC: Roma conquers Greece after winning the battle of Corinth (and destroying Corinth) 144 BC: the first high-level aqueduct 133 BC: Attalus III of Pergamum wills his kingdom to Roma and the whole Mediterranean Sea is under Roman control ("mare nostrum") 106 BC: the Romans defeat Jugurtha, king of Numidia 88 BC: Italians are granted full citizenship 83 BC: Sulla becomes dictator 74 BC: Cicero enters the senate 73 BC: Spartacus leads the revolt of the gladiators 71 BC: Mithridates VI of Pontus is conquered by Roman general Lucius Lucullus 71 BC: Crassus puts down Spartacus' revolt 70 BC: Crassus and Pompey are elected consuls 69 BC: Rome invades Tigranes' Armenian kingdom and edstroys its capital, Tigranocerta 64 BC: Syria becomes a Roman province under general Pompey (Gnaeus Pompeius) 63 BC: Pompeus captures Jerusalem and annexes Palestine to Roma 60 BC: Crassus, Pompey and Caesar form a "triumvirate" 59 BC: Caesar is elected consul 57 BC: Caesar conquers all of Gaul 53 BC: in the first war against Persia, Crassus is defeated and killed by the Parthians at Carrhae (Syria) 51 BC: Caesar crushes revolt of Vercingetorix in Gaul 50 BC: Roma introduces the gold coin "aureus" 49 BC: Ceasar crosses the Rubicon, defeats Pompey and becomes sole dictator of Rome, calling himself "imperator" 47 BC: Ceasar invades Egypt and proclaims Cleopatra queen 45 BC: Julius Caesar employs the Egyptian astronomer Sosigenes to work out a new 12-month calendar (Julian calendar) 44 BC: Ceasar is killed. 36 BC: Rome tries to invade Persia 31 BC: Octavianus (Augustus) becomes the first emperor after defeating Mark Anthony at the battle of Actium 30 BC: Cleopatra commits suicide and Egypt is annexed to Roma 20 BC: a treaty between Roma and Persia (Parthians) fixes the boundary between the two empires along the Euphrates river (Iraq) 17 BC: the theater of Marcellus 13 BC: Augustus expands the borders to the region of the Danube 6 BC: Jesus is born in Palestine 1 AD: Roma has about one million people 2 AD: the Forum of Augustus 5 AD: Roma acknowledges Cymbeline, King of the Catuvellauni, as king of Britain 6 AD: Augustus expands the borders to the Balkans 12 AD: The last Etruscan inscription is carved 14 AD: Augustus dies and Tiberius becomes emperor 14 AD: five million people live in the Roman empire 25 AD: Agrippa builds the Pantheon 37 AD: Tiberius dies and the mad Caligula succeeds him 41 AD: Caligula is assassinated and is succeeded by Claudius 43 AD: Claudius invades Britain 46 AD: Thracia becomes a Roman province 50 AD: the Romans found Londinium in Britain 54 AD: Claudius is succeeded by Nero 58 AD: the Romans conquer Armenia 64 AD: Nero sets fire to Roma and blames the Christians for it 68 AD: Nero commits suicide and is succeeded by Vespasianus 79 AD: Vespasianus is succeeded by Tito 70 AD: Tito destroys Jerusalem and Jews spread in Armenia, Iraq, Iran, Arabia, Egypt, Italy, Spain and Greece 77 AD: the Romans conquer Wales 79 AD: the Vesuvius erupts and Pompeii is buried under ash 79 AD: the Colosseum is completed 80 AD: the Romans invade Caledonia (Scotland) 81 AD: the Arch of Titus 84 AD: British rebels are defeated by the Romans at the battle of Mons Graupius 97 AD: Rome forbids human sacrifice throughout the Roman empire 97 AD: Chinese general Pan Chao sends an embassy to the Roman Empire 98 AD: Trajan becomes emperor 100: the city of Roma has one million inhabitants 106: Trajan defeats Dacia that becomes a Roman province 106: Trajan captures the Nabataean capital Petra (Jordan) and turns Nabataea into the province of Arabia 107: The Roman Empire sends an embassy to India 110: the Basilica of Trajano is completed 112: the Forum of Trajanus 113: Colonna Traiana 116: Trajan conquers Mesopotamia and the Parthian capital Ctesiphon 117: Trajan dies on his way to the Persian Gulf and Hadrian becomes emperor 122: Hadrian's Wall is built along the northern frontier to protect from the Barbarians 132: Jews, led by Bar-Cochba, whom some identify as the Messiah, revolt against Roma 134: Villa Hadriana 136: emperor Hadrian definitely crushes the Jewish resistance, forbids Jews from ever entering Jerusalem, and changes the name of the city to Aelia Capitolina 138: Hadrian is succeeded by Antoninus Pius, who repels Hadrian's anti-Jewish laws 139: Hadrian's mausoleum (Castel Sant'Angelo) 161: Marcus Aurelius becomes Roman emperor 164: the plague spreads throughout the Roman empire 193: Septimius Severus, from Libya, becomes emperor 194: Rome annexes Palmyra to the province of Syria 212: Caracalla grants Roman citizenship on all free people who live in the Roman Empire 214: Caracalla murders King Abgar IX of Edessa and declares Edessa a Roman colony 216: the thermae of Caracalla 217: the Baths of Caracalla are inaugurated 217: Caracalla is murdered in Edessa 218: Marcus Aurelius Antoninus, the last of the Antonines, becomes emperor and promoties the cult of Elegabalus, a Syriac sun god 244: Shapur I becomes king of the Sassanids and attacks Roma 250: emperor Decius orders the first emperor-wide persecution of Christians 256: the Persians/Sassanids defeat the Romans and conquer Dura Europus in Mesopotamia 273: the Romans destroy the rebellious city of Palmyra in Syria 284: Diocletian becomes emperor but rules from Nicomedia in the East 298: Roma captures Nisibis and the Sassanids sign a peace treaty with Roma 300: the population of the Roman Empire is 60 million (about 15 million Christians) 303: Diocletian orders a general persecution of the Christians 303: the thermae of Diocletian 312: Constantine becomes emperor 313: Constantine ends the persecution of the Christians (edict of Milano) 313: the Basilica of Maxentius is completed 313: Constantine recognizes the Christian church 330: Constantine I builds a new city, Constantinople (Byzantium) 337: after Constantine's death, his sons split the empire: Constantine II (Spain, Britain, Gaul), Constans I (Italy, Africa, Illyricum, Macedon, Achaea) and Constantius II (the East) 356: Roma has 28 libraries, 10 basilicas, 11 public baths, two amphitheaters, three theaters, two circuses, 19 aqueducts, 11 squares, 1,352 fountains, 46,602 insulae (city blocks) 359: Constantinople becomes the capital of the Roman empire 360: pagan (Mithraist) general Julian (the "apostate") defeats an invasion of Barbarians and is declared emperor by his German troops 363: Julian dies attempting to invade the Sassanid kingdom of Persia, which recaptures Nisibis and Armenia, and general Valentinian becomes emperor 363: an earthquake destroys Petra 364: Valentinian delegates Valens as emperor of the East 376: Valens allows Visigoths to settle within the empire 378: the Visigoths defeat the Roman army at Hadrianopolis 380: Theodosius I proclaims Christianity as the sole religion of the Roman Empire 393: Theodosius forbids the Olympic Games because pagans and shuts down the temple of Zeus at Olympia 395: Theodosius divides the Roman empire in the Western and Eastern Empires, with Milano and Constantinople as their capitals 402: the western Roman empire moves the capital from Milano to Ravenna 406: Barbarians invade France from the north 410: the Visigots sack Roma 410: Roma withdraws from Britannia 418: the emperor grants Wallia's Visigoths to settle in Aquitaine (Atlantic coast of France) 425: the eastern emperor Theodosius II installs Valentinian III as emperor of the west 427: Gensenric's Vandals crosses the strait of Gibraltar and lands in Africa 443: the emperor grants Burgundi to settle in Savoy 450: Theodosius II dies and Marcian succeeds him, the first Roman emperor to be crowned by a religious leader (the patriarch of Constantinople) 452: the Huns invade Italy 455: the Vandals sack Roma 476: Odoacer, a mercenary in the service of Roma, leader of the Germanic soldiers in the Roman army, deposes the western Roman emperor and thereby terminates the western Roman empire 488: emperor Zeno sends Theodoric's Ostrogoths (still settled in Pannonia) to conquer Italy 493: the Ostrogoths led by Theodoric conquer Italy 500: Roma's population has declined to less than 100,000 people 526: Antioch in Syria is destroyed by an earthquake 527: Justinian becomes eastern Roman emperor and decides to reconquer Italy 527: Byzantium enforces anti-Jewish laws and the Jews all but disappear from the eastern Roman Empire 529: Roman emperor Justinian shuts down the Academia of Plato 533: Justinian's code of law ("Corpus Juri Civilis") is published 534: Justinian's general Belisarius destroys the Arian kingdom of the Vandals and reconquers southern Spain and northern Africa 536: the Ostrogoths surrender and Belisarius reconquers Rome (beginning of the Barbar wars in Italy) 537: Justinian's general Belisarius deposes pope Silverius and replaces him with pope Vigilius 537: Justinian builds the church of Hagia Sophia in Constantinople 540: Justinian's general Belisarius takes Ravenna from the last Ostrogothic resistance and thus reconquers Italy to the empire 542: the plague decimates the Empire 546: Visigothic rebels led by Totila sack Roma 551: imperial troops reconquer Rome 552: Nestorian monks smuggle silkworm eggs from China to Byzanthium 552: End of Ostrogothic resistance in Italy 554: Rome is reduced to a camp of about 30,000 people, while Constantinople has about one million people 554: the new king of the Visigoths, Athanagild, accepts the emperor's sovereignity over Spain 554: the empire reorganizes Italy as an imperial province (end of the Barbar wars) 565: Justinian dies 568: Alboin's Lombards invade northern Italy 600: Constantinople has 500,000 inhabitants 602: the Persians (Sassanids) attack the eastern Roman empire in Asia Minor 610: Heraclius I overthrows the tyrant Phocas and becomes emperor 614: the Persians (Sassanids) capture Jerusalem 619: the Persians capture Egypt 621: the Visigoths reconquer all of Spain from the Roman empire 626: the Sassanids besiege Constantinople 627: the Sassanid king Khusrau II is defeated by Roman emperor Heraclius at Niniveh 628: the Romans retake Syria from the Sassanids 636: Arabs capture Syria and Palestine 639: the Arabs invade the southern provinces of the Empire 673: the Arabs besiege Constantinople 714: the Arabs besiege Constantinople 718: Leo III repels the Arabs from Constantinople 726: Emperor Leo III orders the destruction of all icons (iconoclasm) 739: emperor Leo III issues the Ecloga that introduces Christian principles into law 800: Charlemagne, king of the Franks, is crowned emperor by Pope Leo III and founds the Holy Roman Empire 811: the eastern Roman emperor recognized Charlemagne as emperor of Roma 812: a peace treaty between Charlemagne and the Eastern Roman Empire surrenders Venezia to the Eastern empire but grants Venezia the right to trade with the Holy Roman Empire 813: an Armenian general becomes eastern Roman emperor Leo V 840: Basil's fleet retakes Bari from the Muslims 843: Icons are restored 846: the city of Roma has 17,000 inhabitants 860: the Rus attack Constantinople 867: Basil I becomes the Byzantine emperor and founds the Macedonian dynasty 879: Basil I defeats the Arabs and reconquers Cappadocia 896: Symeon of Bulgaria defeats the Byzantine army for the first time 922: Symeon of Bulgaria defeats the Byzantine army for the fourth and last time 934: Magyars raid Constantinople 968: Nicephorus II defeats the Arabs and reconquers Syria 969: Nicephorus II defeats the Bulgars 976: Basil II becomes the Byzantine emperor 1018: Basil II annexes Bulgaria and the Byzantine empire reaches its zenith 1025: Basil II dies 1054: The patriarch of Constantinople and the pope in Roma excommunicate each other (the Great Schism) 1057: end of the Macedonian dynasty 1064: the Seljuks invade Armenia 1071: the Byzantine army of Romanus IV Diogenes is defeated by the Seljuks at Manzikert in Armenia, and establish a sultanate in Anatolia 1071: Normans led by Robert Guiscard conquer southern Italy from the eastern Roman empire 1081: Alexius I Komnenos establishes the Komnenos dynasty 1099: the first Crusade captures Jerusalem 1187: Saladin defeats the crusaders 1204: the Crusaders, led by the Doge of Venezia, sack Constantinople, expel the Greek emperor Alexius III and set up a Latin kingdom, led by Baldwin I of the Flanders, while Venezia acquires territories in the Mediterranean and Black Seas 1204: Theodore I Lascaris, son-in-law od Alexius III, flees from Constantinople to Nicaea (Bithynia), where he founds a the empire, whereas Alexius founds the empire of Trebizond further east 1211: Nicaea emperor Theodore I Lascaris conquers most of Anatolia 1261: Constantinople is liberated by the Nicaean emperor Michael VIII Paleologus and Greek becomes the official language of the ever smaller eastern Roman empire 1291: the Moslems expel the Crusaders from the Middle East 1345: Serbia defeats the eastern Roman empire and annexes Macedonia and Thrace 1347: the plague (Black Death) strikes Constantinople and it will kill half the population of the city 1348: Serbia defeats the eastern Roman empire and annexes Thessaly and Epirus 1453: the Ottoman Turks under Mehmet II capture Constantinople 1461: the Ottomans conquer the empire of Trebizond, the last Greek state |
Roman emperors27BC-14AD: Augustus/ Octavianus 14-37: Tiberius 37-41: Caligula 41-54: Claudius 54-68: Nero 68-69: Galba 69: Otho 69: Vitellius 69-79: Vespasian 79-81: Titus 81-96: Domitian 96-98: Nerva 98-117: Trajan 117-38: Hadrian 138-61: Antoninus Pius 161-80: Marcus Aurelius 161-69: Lucius Aurelius Verus 180-92: Commodus 193: Pertinax 193: Didius Julian 193-211: Septimius Severus 211-17: Caracalla 209-11: Geta 217-18: Macrinus 218-22: Elagabalus 222-35: Alexander Severus 235-38: Maximin 238: Gordian I 238: Gordian II 238: Pupienus 238: Balbinus 238-44: Gordian III 244-49: Philipp "Arabs" 249-51: Decius 251: Hostilian 251-53: Gallus 253: Aemilian 253-59: Valerian 259-68: Gallienus 268-70: Claudius II 270: Quintillus 270-75: Aurelian 275-76: Tacitus 276: Florian 276-82: Probus 282-83: Carus 283-84: Numerian 283-85: Carinus 284-305: Diocletian 286-305: Maximian 305-306: Constantius I 305-311: Galerius 306-7: Severus 306-8: Maximian 306-12: Maxentius 308-13: Maximinus Daia 311-24: Licinius 311-37: Constantine I 337-40: Constantine II 337-61: Constantius II 337-50: Constans 361-63: Julian 363-64: Jovian 364-75: Valentinian I 364-78: (East) Valens 375-83: (West) Gratian 375-92: (West) Valentinian II 379-95: (West) Theodosius 383-88: Maximus 392-94: Eugenius 395-408: (East) Arcadius 395-423: (West) Honorius 421: Constantius III 423-25: Johannes 408-50: (East) Theodosius II 425-55: (West) Valentinian III 450-57: (East) Marcian 455: (West) Petronius 455-56: (West) Avitus 457-61: (West) Majorian 457-74: (East) Leo I 461-65: (West) Severus 467-72: (West) Anthemius 472: (West) Olybrius 473: (West) Glycerius 473-75: (West) Julius Nepos 473-74: (East) Leo II 474-91: (East) Zeno 475-76: (West) Romulus Augustulus 474-91: (East) Zeno 475-76: (East) Basiliscus 491-518: (East) Anastasius I 518-27: (East) Justin I 527-65: Justinian 565-78: Justin II 578-82: Tiberius II 582-602: Maurice 602-10: Phocas I 610-41: Heraclius I 641: Constantine III 641: Heracleon 641-68: Constans II 668-85: Constantine IV 685-95: Justinian II 695-98: Leontius 698-705: Tiberius II 705-11: Justinian II 711-13: Philippicus 713-15: Anastasius II 715-17: Theodosius III 717-41: Leo III 741-75: Constantine V 775-80: Leo IV 780-97: Constantine VI 797-802: Irene 802-11: Nicephorus I 811: Stauracius 811-13: Michael I 813-20: Leo V 820-29: Michael II 829-42: Theophilus I 842-67: Michael III 867-86: Basil I 886-912: Leo VI 912-13: Alexander II 912-59: Constantine VII 920-44: Romanus I 959-63: Romanus II 963-69: Nicephorus II 969-76: John I 976-1025: Basil II 1025-28: Constantine VIII 1028-50: Zoe 1028-34: Romanus III 1034-41: Michael IV 1041-42: Michael V 1042-55: Constantine IX 1055-56: Theodora 1056-57: Michael VI 1057-59: Isaac I 1059-67: Constantine X 1068-71: Romanus IV 1071-78: Michael VII 1078-81: Nicephorus III 1081-1118: Alexius I 1118-43: John II 1143-80: Manuel I 1180-83: Alexius II 1183-85: Andronicus I 1185-95: Isaac II 1195-1203: Alexius III 1203-4: Isaac II 1203-4: Alexius IV 1204: Alexius V 1204-5: (Latin) Baldwin I 1205-16: (Latin) Henry 1216-17: (Latin) Peter of Courtenay 1217-19: (Latin) Yolande 1219-28: (Latin) Robert of Courtenay 1228-61: (Latin) Baldwin II 1231-37: (Latin) John of Brienne 1204-22: (Nicean) Theodore I 1222-54: (Nicean) John III 1254-58: (Nicean) Theodore II 1258-61: (Nicean) John IV 1259-61: (Nicean) Michael VIII 1261-82: Michael VIII 1282-1328: Andronicus II 1295-1320: Michael IX 1328-41: Andronicus III 1341-47: John V 1347-54: John VI 1355-76: John V 1376-79: Andronicus IV 1379-91: John V 1390: John VII 1391-1425: Manuel II 1425-48: John VIII 1448-53: Constantine XI |
| (Copyright © 1999 Piero Scaruffi) |