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500 BCE
The Rise and Fall of the Roman Empire 50BC - 44BC
The lastest is Julius Caesar, who, after conquering Gaul, turned his armies on Rome and, after yert another civil war, made himself master of the Roman world. Then, on the 15th March, 44 BC, Caesar was assassinated by some of his enemies.
The Republic then began to slip into anarchy until Caesar’s three chief lieutenants,and Lepidus, took control of the government. Caesar’s assassins fled to Greece, where, in 42 BC, they were defeated by the forces of Antony and Octavian. -
390 BCE
The Rise and Fall of the Roman Empire - 390BC
Having expelled its Etruscan kings and become a republic around the year 510 BC, Rome went to to become the dominant city of the Latin League - a group of Latin-speaking cities in central Italy. In around 390 BC, however, Rome suffered a catastrophic defeat at the hands of a band of marauding Celts coming down from southern Gaul. -
220 BCE
The Rise and Fall of the Roman Empire 220BC - 200BC
During generations of almost continuous warfare, the city of Rome first came to dominate a confederacy which spanned almost all Italy, and then emerged victorious from two long, bitter wars with its arch-rival, Carthage.
Victory in these struggles has made Rome the leading power in the western Mediterranean. -
200 BCE
The Rise and Fall of the Roman Empire 200BC - 100BC
The Roman victory in the war against Hannibal (known to the Romans as the Second Punic War) left her as the dominant power in the western Mediterranean. She had also extended her overseas empire, this time in Spain. She soon found herself being drawn into further wars, which ended, in 146 BC, with her annexation of Macedonia, Greece and North Africa. -
44 BCE
The Rise and Fall of the Roman Empire 44BC - 30BC
An orgy of civil wars between ambitious generals, had given power to autocratic leaders who completely overshadowed the civilian politicians. In the final round of civil war, the two protagonists were Julius Caesar's lieutenants, Antony and Octavian. This ended in 31 BC with Octavian victorious, and Antony - and Antony's mistress, Cleopatra, queen of Egypt - dead.
In 27 BC Octavian will rename himself Augustus, and become the first of the Roman emperors. -
27 BCE
The Rise and Fall of the Roman Empire 27BC - 200AD
The Roman Empire has continued to flourish and expand over more than two centuries. A brief civil war followed the death of the emperor Nero in 68, but stability was quickly restored. For most of the time the Roman world has ruled by a succession of able rulers such as Trajan, Hadrian and Marcus Aurelius; even when inadequate emperors have sat on the throne, the imperial machine, staffed by able officials and soldiers, has continued to hold the empire together.
