Top Ten Major Events in Roman History

Julius Caesar's Assassination is the most infamous event in Roman History. It would set in motion a 2nd Roman Civil War in the span of a few decades and would lead to the creation of the Roman Empire and the fall of the Republic. A group of senators known as The Liberators, plotted to kill Caesar, because they believed he would bring the fall of Rome. They believed him to be corrupt and considered his Crossing of the Rubicon a power grab. They stabbed him 23 times during a Senate meeting at the Theatre of Pompey in 44 B.C. At least 60 senators were involved in the plot. This would create citizen outcry that would lead to a 2nd Civil War, the effective end of the Senate, and the rise of the Principate period. In an attempt to save the Roman Republic, the Liberators did the complete opposite and killed debatebly the best leader ever. Also a pretty good Shakespearean Play was made over the event and it has been immortalized in paintings.

The Founding of Rome is a very popular legend in its history. According to the legend, a she-wolf raises two twin brothers found on the Tiber River. Romulus and Remus. As they grew up, they became very popular and they decided to build a city. The two disagreed on which hill to build the city and they decided to have a divine contest. Romulus won. They got into another argument about who should rule the city. It ended with Remus's death. Is the story true? Maybe. I believe some of it has to be true, but I think some of it is false. Either way it is a very popular story in Roman History.

There were three civil wars in a relatively short timespan. The first was actually a chain of three mini wars, but they were all related. It included a lot of power grabs, backstabbing, and rebellion, but long story short, it ended with Sullus becoming Rome's sole leader. It inspired and made a few people famous: Pompey, Marcus Crassus, and Julius Caesar, just to name a few.

Fast forward 29 years to 59 B.C. and the First Triumvirate, an unofficial political alliance, was formed between Caesar, Pompey, and Crassus in an effort to challenge the corrupt Senate. A few years later, Crassus was killed in battle and the Senate picked Pompey to be Counsel of Rome. That made Caesar mad, and another civil war broke out. It ended with Pompey's end on a spike in 48 B.C. and Caesar being made an effective dictator.

In 44 B.C., Caesar was killed, which led to another civil war. Octavian, Marc Antony, and Lepidus then formed the Second Triumvirate for the purpose of avenging Caesar. After killing the Liberators, Octavian and Marc Antony split the Roman territory in two. Octavian controlled the west side, Antony the east. Antony got with Cleopatra, who Octavian hated, and he planned on making Alexandria the new capital. Octavian made the Senate declare war on Cleopatra. They met at the Battle of Actium. Despite being outnumbered, Octavian ran a huge propaganda campaign against Antony and demoralized him and his army. It was a huge defeat for Antony, resulting in both Antony and Cleopatra committing suicide. Octavian returned home a hero. He renamed himself Augustus Caesar and became Emperor.

The Punic Wars were instrumental in making Rome what it became. In its earlier years, Rome was already a powerful nation. They quickly expanded. One nation stood in their way: Carthage. While Rome had a great land army, Carthage dominated the sea. Rome attempted to take Sicily, and it resulted in a huge stalemate. However, Rome eventually built up a powerful navy that Carthage could never defeat. After 23 years of exhausting war for both sides (264-241 B.C.), they signed a treaty. Carthage paid Rome, and Rome took in Sicily as a province.

In 219 B.C., Hannibal Barca sacked the Roman town of Saguntum, and Rome reacted by declaring war. Hannibal then grew a massive army and crossed the Alps, which was unheard of. Rome was shocked, and Hannibal annihilated all of Rome's soldiers sent at him. Eventually, Rome sent a full army to meet Hannibal. It was the largest army to date, but they were slaughtered at the Battle of Cannae in 216 B.C. It was one of the worst military defeats ever. Hannibal stayed in Italy salvaging off the land, but he received no reinforcements, and he could not siege a city. In 204 B.C., Hannibal was recalled when Publius Scipio invaded mainland Carthage.

In 202 B.C., Scipio and Hannibal met for the first time in the decisive battle of Zama, and Scipio defeated Hannibal. A peace treaty was then signed that made the Carthaginians pay 10,000 silver (paid over 50 years), get rid of all war elephants, limit their navy to ten warships, and give up all overseas territories. They could not go to war with any country outside of Africa, and they had to get permission from Rome to go to war in Africa. It was very harsh, but Hannibal pushed Carthage to accept. This is when Scipio gets his famous title, Africanus.

The third Punic War was straightforward. Rome wanted Carthage to be gone, so they simply besieged it and killed everyone in the city or made them slaves. That ended Carthage in 146 B.C.

In 509 B.C., The Romans overthrew their Etruscan rulers. When they became free they established the Roman Republic. There is not a lot of writing on the exact details of how the Republic was formed. In the system, the citizens allowed to vote on representatives. In 449 B.C., The Twelve Tables was formed. These were the first laws of Rome. It was basically a list of penalities. It was very basic, but this was the first law system. It eventually evolved over time into so much more. These two ideas would be instrumental in future societies and governments like the U.S. Government.

Speaking of Christians, remember when I said the persecution of Christians after the Fire of Rome would come back to bite their butts? Well yeah Christians ended up winning in the end. In 312, Emperor Constantine the Great converted to Christianity and, in 313, released the Edict of Milan which effectively ended widespread Christian Persecution. Crucifixion was also outlawed out of respect to Christianity. Ten years later, in 323, Christianity was made the Roman Empires official religion, which would change the course of Christianity forever.

On July 19th, A.D. 64, a massive fire broke out in Rome. It was started in a merchant shop outside a chariot stadium. The fire raged out of control six days then reignited for another three days. Nero, the Roman Emperor, blamed the Christians for the fire. That led to horrible persecution of Christians. Christians were totured and some were killed. It was so bad that if you said you were a Christian you might of been executed on the spot. However this would end up biting people in the butt, but that's another story. A lot of the Historians believed Nero was the cause. He was insane. It could have just been an accident though. However two thirds of Rome burned.

In 410 A.D. Rome was sacked for a final time by the Visigoths led by Alaric. After multiple sacks and raids, Rome had finally fallen. Of course it was still a very important city and to this day remains one of the most influential cities in the world. Rome was no longer the capital of the Roman Empire, but after this attack the whole Western side of the Roman Empire fell. The Roman Empire continued through the Byzantines, but you can make the case that they were a completely different Empire. A sad end for a once powerful empire.

This has to do with Christian Conversion, but the Edict of Milan is officially what made Christianity the religion of the Roman Empire and ended the torture Christians had to go through.