Ancient Rome

The city of Rome is founded

753 BCE

According to tradition, on April 21, 753 B.C., Romulus and his twin brother, Remus, found Rome on the site where they were suckled by a she-wolf as orphaned infants. However, Rhea was impregnated by the war god Mars and gave birth to Romulus and Remus.

Hannibal invades Italy.

218 BCE

Hannibal invaded Italy by crossing the Alps with North African war elephants. In his first few years in Italy, he won a succession of victories at the Battle of the Trebia, Lake Trasimene, and Cannae, inflicting heavy losses on the Romans.

Spartacus the gladiator leads the slaves in an uprising.

73 BCE

Spartacus was a Thracian gladiator who led a slave revolt with an army numbering in the tens of thousands. He defeated Roman forces over half a dozen times, marching his people up and down the Italian peninsula until he was killed in battle in April 71 B.C.c

Julius Caesar becomes the first dictator of Rome.

45 BCE

Julius Caesar was a Roman general and politician who named himself dictator of the Roman Empire, a rule that lasted less than one year before he was famously assassinated by political rivals in 44 B.C. Returning to Italy, Caesar consolidated his power and made himself dictator.

Julius Caesar is assassinated on the Ides of March by Marcus Brutus.

44 BCE

Julius Caesar, dictator of Rome, is stabbed to death in the Roman Senate house by 60 conspirators led by Marcus Junius Brutus and Gaius Cassius Longinus on March 15. The day later became infamous as the Ides of March.