Ancient Rome By Wij0003 753 BCE Founding of Rome 509 BCE Rome becomes a republic 146 BCE Rome invades Greece 44 BCE Julius Caesar, Roman consul (the highest elected official in Rome), is assassinated 27 BCE Start of the rule of Augustus; Rome moves towards becoming an empire 64 The Great Fire of Rome destroys most of the city 79 The volcanic eruption of Mount Vesuvius destroys the cities of Pompeii and Herculaneum, killing 16,000 people 80 The Colosseum opens 395 The Roman Empire is permanently divided into two parts; the Western Empire and the Eastern Empire. 451 Last strong military campaign of Roman army 476 'Barbarian' forces remove the last Western emperor from power, marking an end to the Western Roman Empire.