The rape of the Sabine women ( Latin : Sabinae raptae , Classical pronunciation: [saˈbiːnae̯ ˈraptae̯] ; lit. ' the kidnapped Sabine women ' ), also known as the abduction of the Sabine women or the kidnapping of the Sabine women , was an incident in the legendary history of Rome in which the men of Rome committed a mass abduction of young women from the other cities in the region. It has been a frequent subject of painters and sculptors, particularly since the Renaissance .
197-513: The history of Rome includes the history of the city of Rome as well as the civilisation of ancient Rome . Roman history has been influential on the modern world, especially in the history of the Catholic Church , and Roman law has influenced many modern legal systems . Roman history can be divided into the following periods: Attempts have been made to find a linguistic root for the name Rome. Possibilities include derivation from
394-460: A civil war against the Senate and Pompey. After his victory, Caesar established himself as dictator for life . His assassination in 44 BC led to a second Triumvirate among Octavian (Caesar's grandnephew and heir), Mark Antony and Lepidus , and to a final civil war between Octavian and Antony. In 27 BC, Octavian was named Augustus and princeps , founding the principate ,
591-523: A diarchy between the princeps and the senate. Over time, the new monarch came to be known as the imperator (hence emperor ), meaning "commander". During the reign of Nero , two thirds of the city was ruined after the Great Fire of Rome , and the persecution of Christians commenced. Rome's empire reached its greatest expansion in the second century under the Emperor Trajan . Rome
788-632: A peace treaty . This was completed in the autumn of 598—later recognised by Maurice—lasting until the end of his reign. Rome Rome ( Italian and Latin : Roma , pronounced [ˈroːma] ) is the capital city of Italy . It is also the capital of the Lazio region , the centre of the Metropolitan City of Rome Capital , and a special comune (municipality) named Comune di Roma Capitale . With 2,860,009 residents in 1,285 km (496.1 sq mi), Rome
985-584: A ploughing ritual . Romulus then declared the town an asylum, permitted men of all classes to come to Rome as citizens , including criminals, runaway slaves , and freemen without distinction. To provide his citizens with wives, Romulus invited the neighbouring tribes to a festival in Rome where the Romans abducted many of their young women . After the ensuing war with the Sabines , Romulus shared Rome's kingship with
1182-467: A senatore or patrizio . In the 12th century, this administration, like other European cities, evolved into the commune , a new form of social organisation controlled by the new wealthy classes. Pope Lucius II fought against the Roman commune, and the struggle was continued by his successor Pope Eugenius III : by this stage, the commune, allied with the aristocracy, was supported by Arnaldo da Brescia ,
1379-468: A series of civil wars between rival claimants to power resulted in the unification of the empire under Constantine the Great in 324. Hereditary succession was restored, but the east–west division was maintained. Constantine undertook a major reform of the bureaucracy, not by changing the structure but by rationalising the competencies of the several ministries. The so-called Edict of Milan of 313, actually
1576-657: A better education . After the wars, the Senate was theoretically restored, but under the supervision of the urban prefect and other officials appointed by, and responsible to, the Eastern Roman authorities in Ravenna . However, the Pope was now one of the leading religious figures in the entire Byzantine Roman Empire and effectively more powerful locally than either the remaining senators or local Eastern Roman (Byzantine) officials. In practice, local power in Rome devolved to
1773-538: A coherent architectural and urban programme over four hundred years, aimed at making the city the artistic and cultural centre of the world. In this way, Rome first became one of the major centres of the Renaissance and then became the birthplace of both the Baroque style and Neoclassicism . Famous artists, painters, sculptors, and architects made Rome the centre of their activity, creating masterpieces throughout
1970-575: A crusade against the Colonna family and, in 1300, called for the first Jubilee of Christianity , which brought millions of pilgrims to Rome. However, his hopes were crushed by the French king Philip the Fair , who took him prisoner and held him hostage for three days at Anagni . The Pope was able to return to Rome, but died a month later, it was said of shock and grief. Afterwards, a new pope faithful to
2167-561: A cultural and technical point of view, Etruscans had arguably the second-greatest impact on Roman development, only surpassed by the Greeks. Expanding further south, the Etruscans came into direct contact with the Greeks and initially had success in conflicts with the Greek colonists; after which, Etruria went into a decline. Taking advantage of this, Rome rebelled and gained independence from
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#17327657067962364-619: A depiction of the rape of the Sabine women, where the women are portrayed, with a deliberate anachronism, in Victorian costume and being carried off from the Corona et Anchora ("Crown and Anchor", a common English pub sign in seafaring towns). Edgar Degas painted The Rape of the Sabines (after Poussin ), c. 1861–1862. "The masters must be copied over and over again", Degas said, "and it
2561-513: A disastrous flood of the Tiber in 589, described by Paul the Deacon as a "swarm of snakes." This was followed by a plague in 590, which was notable for the legend of the angel seen, while the newly elected Pope Gregory I (term 590–604) was passing in procession by Hadrian's Tomb , to hover over the building and to sheathe his flaming sword as a sign that the pestilence was about to cease. The city
2758-419: A fragment of a letter from his co-emperor Licinius to the governors of the eastern provinces, granted freedom of worship to everyone, including Christians, and ordered the restoration of confiscated church properties upon petition to the newly created vicars of dioceses. He funded the building of several churches and allowed clergy to act as arbitrators in civil suits (a measure that did not outlast him but which
2955-420: A fringe hypothesis. Traditional stories handed down by the ancient Romans themselves explain the earliest history of their city in terms of legend and myth . The most familiar of these myths, and perhaps the most famous of all Roman myths , is the story of Romulus and Remus , the twins who were suckled by a she-wolf . They decided to build a city, but after an argument, Romulus killed his brother and
3152-452: A great host of Germanic peoples , namely Cimbri and Teutones , crossed the river Rhone and moved to Italy. Gaius Marius was consul five consecutive times (seven total), and won two decisive battles in 102 and 101 BC. He also reformed the Roman army, giving it such a good reorganisation that it remained unchanged for centuries. The first thirty years of the last century BC were characterised by serious internal problems that threatened
3349-635: A group of all-male players offering to put on a performance of The Rape of the Sabine Women , to the disgust of the title characters. The latest adaptation is a film without dialogue, The Rape of the Sabine Women , which was produced in 2005 by Eve Sussman and the Rufus Corporation. The rape of the Sabine women is depicted in Debra May Macleod ’s historical fiction novel Tarpiea . Scholars have cited parallels between
3546-469: A large area in Rome, and the city has one of the largest areas of green space among European capitals. The most notable part of this green space is represented by the large number of villas and landscaped gardens created by the Italian aristocracy. While most of the parks surrounding the villas were destroyed during the building boom of the late 19th century, some of them remain. The most notable of these are
3743-598: A mix of Latins , Etruscans , and Sabines . Eventually, the city successively became the capital of the Roman Kingdom , the Roman Republic and the Roman Empire , and is regarded by many as the first-ever Imperial city and metropolis . It was first called The Eternal City ( Latin : Urbs Aeterna ; Italian : La Città Eterna ) by the Roman poet Tibullus in the 1st century BC, and the expression
3940-626: A monk who was a religious and social reformer. After the pope's death, Arnaldo was taken prisoner by Adrianus IV , which marked the end of the commune's autonomy. Under Pope Innocent III , whose reign marked the apogee of the papacy, the commune liquidated the senate, and replaced it with a Senatore , who was subject to the pope. In this period, the papacy played a role of secular importance in Western Europe , often acting as arbitrators between Christian monarchs and exercising additional political powers. In 1266, Charles of Anjou , who
4137-604: A pretext to send forces to Italy under his famed general Belisarius , recapturing the city next year, on 9 December AD 536. In 537–538, the Eastern Romans successfully defended the city in a year-long siege against the Ostrogothic army, and eventually took Ravenna, too. Gothic resistance revived however, and on 17 December 546, the Ostrogoths under Totila recaptured and sacked Rome . Belisarius soon recovered
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#17327657067964334-458: A steady rate in comparison to its neighbors, Romulus became concerned with maintaining the city's strength. His main concern was that with few women inhabitants there would be no chance of sustaining the city's population, without which Rome might not last longer than a generation. On the advice of the Senate, the Romans then set out into the surrounding regions in search of wives to establish families with. The Romans negotiated unsuccessfully with all
4531-687: A very rare occurrence (the most recent ones were in 2018, 2012 and 1986). Rape of the Sabine Women The word "rape" (cognate with rapto in Portuguese, rapto in Spanish, ratto , in Italian, meaning "bride kidnap") is the conventional translation of the Latin word raptio used in the ancient accounts of the incident. The Latin word means "abduction" or "kidnapping", but when used with women as its object, sexual assault
4728-484: A war after the Sabines submitted to unification with Rome, would have been powerful one for Rome to send at the time. Many treatments of the legend combined a suitably inspiring example of the hardiness and courage of ancient Romans with the opportunity to depict multiple figures, including heroically semi- nude figures in intensely passionate struggle. The subject was popular during the Renaissance as symbolising
4925-554: A warrior pope, to Alexander VI , immoral and nepotist , from Julius II , soldier and patron, to Leo X , who gave his name to this period ("the century of Leo X"), all devoted their energy to the greatness and the beauty of the Eternal City and to the patronage of the arts. During those years, the centre of the Italian Renaissance moved to Rome from Florence. Majestic works, as the new Saint Peter's Basilica ,
5122-463: Is a wide consensus that the city developed gradually through the aggregation (" synoecism ") of several villages around the largest one, placed above the Palatine. This aggregation was facilitated by the increase of agricultural productivity above the subsistence level , which also allowed the establishment of secondary and tertiary activities . These, in turn, boosted the development of trade with
5319-405: Is above 21 °C (70 °F) during the day and 9 °C (48 °F) at night. In the coldest month, January, the average temperature is 12.6 °C (54.7 °F) during the day and 2.1 °C (35.8 °F) at night. In the warmest month, August, the average temperature is 31.7 °C (89.1 °F) during the day and 17.3 °C (63.1 °F) at night. December, January and February are
5516-585: Is also a notable pine wood at Castelfusano , near Ostia. Rome also has a number of regional parks of much more recent origin, including the Pineto Regional Park and the Appian Way Regional Park. There are also nature reserves at Marcigliana and at Tenuta di Castelporziano. Rome has a Mediterranean climate ( Köppen climate classification : Csa ), with hot, dry summers and mild, humid winters. Its average annual temperature
5713-619: Is also of dubious historical value, though the last-named kings may be historical figures. It is believed by some historians (again, this is disputed) that Rome was under the influence of the Etruscans for about a century. During this period, a bridge was built called the Pons Sublicius to replace the Tiber ford, and the Cloaca Maxima was also built; the Etruscans are said to have been great engineers of this type of structure. From
5910-1008: Is also the seat of several specialised agencies of the United Nations , such as the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), the World Food Programme (WFP), the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) and the UN System Network on Rural Development and Food Security . The city also hosts the European Union (EU) Delegation to the United Nations (UN) and the Secretariat of the Parliamentary Assembly of
6107-622: Is another large green space: it has few trees but is overlooked by the Palatine and the Rose Garden ('roseto comunale'). Nearby is the lush Villa Celimontana , close to the gardens surrounding the Baths of Caracalla. The Villa Borghese garden is the best known large green space in Rome, with famous art galleries among its shaded walks. Overlooking Piazza del Popolo and the Spanish Steps are the gardens of Pincio and Villa Medici . There
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6304-430: Is archaeological evidence of human occupation of the Rome area from at least 5,000 years, but the dense layer of much younger debris obscures Palaeolithic and Neolithic sites. The evidence suggesting the city's ancient foundation is also obscured by the legend of Rome's beginning involving Romulus and Remus . The traditional date for the founding of Rome is 21 April 753 BC, following M. Terentius Varro , and
6501-562: Is based on the amount of pork, 3,629,000 lbs. distributed to poorer Romans during five winter months at the rate of five Roman lbs per person per month, enough for 145,000 persons or 1/4 or 1/3 of the total population. Grain distribution to 80,000 ticket holders at the same time suggests 400,000 (Augustus set the number at 200,000 or one-fifth of the population). After the fall of the Western Roman Empire in AD ;476, Rome
6698-520: Is disputed and considered unlikely to have happened by many historians, or at least not to have happened in the way described. Theodor Mommsen (as well as later historians such as Jacques Poucet [ fr ] ) believed that the story was likely spread during the later fourth century BC after the Samnite Wars as a tale to explain the assimilation of Samnites into Rome after a combination of wars and alliances, and sending similar events into
6895-671: Is generally associated with the beginning of the decline of the Western Roman Empire. Rome's population was only a fraction of its peak when the Aurelian Wall was completed in AD 273 (in that year its population was only around 500,000). Starting in the early 3rd century, matters changed. The " Crisis of the Third Century " defines the disasters and political troubles for the Empire, which nearly collapsed. The new feeling of danger and
7092-591: Is generally considered to be the cradle of Western civilization and Western Christian culture , and the centre of the Catholic Church . Rome's history spans 28 centuries. While Roman mythology dates the founding of Rome at around 753 BC, the site has been inhabited for much longer, making it a major human settlement for over three millennia and one of the oldest continuously occupied cities in Europe. The city's early population originated from
7289-559: Is generally thought the population of the city until AD 300 was 1 million (estimates range from 2 million to 750,000) declining to 750–800,000 in AD 400, then 450–500,000 in AD 450 and down to 80–100,000 in AD 500 (though it may have been twice this). The Bishop of Rome, called the Pope , was important since the early days of Christianity because of the martyrdom of both the apostles Peter and Paul there. The Bishops of Rome were also seen (and still are seen by Catholics) as
7486-739: Is in the Museo Nazionale di Capodimonte in Naples . Giambologna then revised the scheme, this time with a third figure, in two wax models now in the Victoria and Albert Museum , London. The artist's full-scale gesso for the finished sculpture, executed in 1582, is on display at the Galleria dell'Accademia in Florence . The woman and the kneeling man reference figures from the ancient sculpture Laocoön and His Sons . Bronze reductions of
7683-639: Is more developed than in the original. This painting currently resides in the Louvre Museum in Paris. According to the Louvre, painting multiple versions of one subject was not uncommon throughout Poussin's career. Peter Paul Rubens painted his version of The Rape of the Sabine Women around 1635–40. It now resides in the National Gallery , London. The painting depicts the moment Romulus gave
7880-476: Is only after proving yourself a good copyist that you should reasonably be permitted to draw a radish from nature." Degas first received permission to copy paintings at the Louvre in 1853 when he was eighteen. He was most interested in the great works of the Italian Renaissance and of his own classical French heritage, hence this detailed copy of Poussin's painting. Charles Christian Nahl painted
8077-548: Is said by the ancient literary sources to be the son of a Greek refugee and an Etruscan mother.) Their names refer to the Etruscan town of Tarquinia . Livy , Plutarch , Dionysius of Halicarnassus , and others claim that Rome was ruled during its first centuries by a succession of seven kings. The traditional chronology, as codified by Varro , allots 243 years for their reigns, an average of almost 35 years, which has been generally discounted by modern scholarship since
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8274-667: Is the country's most populated comune and the third most populous city in the European Union by population within city limits. The Metropolitan City of Rome, with a population of 4,355,725 residents, is the most populous metropolitan city in Italy. Its metropolitan area is the third-most populous within Italy. Rome is located in the central-western portion of the Italian Peninsula , within Lazio ( Latium ), along
8471-425: Is usually implied. According to Roman historian Livy , the abduction of Sabine women occurred in the early history of Rome shortly after its founding in the mid-8th century BC and was perpetrated by Romulus and his predominantly male followers; it is said that after the foundation of the city, the population consisted solely of Latins and other Italic peoples, in particular male bandits. With Rome growing at such
8668-652: The Age of Enlightenment , new ideas reached the Eternal City, where the papacy supported archaeological studies and improved the people's welfare. But not everything went well for the Church during the Counter-Reformation. There were setbacks in the attempts to assert the Church's power, a notable example being in 1773 when Pope Clement XIV was forced by secular powers to have the Jesuit order suppressed . The rule of
8865-729: The Altar of Victory in the Senate House, as asked by remaining pagan Senators. The Empire's conversion to Christianity made the Bishop of Rome (later called the Pope) the senior religious figure in the Western Empire, as officially stated in 380 by the Edict of Thessalonica . In spite of its increasingly marginal role in the Empire, Rome retained its historic prestige, and this period saw
9062-797: The Cinecittà Studios have been the set of many Academy Award –winning movies. According to the Ancient Romans' founding myth , the name Roma came from the city's founder and first king , Romulus . However, it is possible that the name Romulus was actually derived from Rome itself. As early as the 4th century, there have been alternative theories proposed on the origin of the name Roma . Several hypotheses have been advanced focusing on its linguistic roots which however remain uncertain: Rome has also been called in ancient times simply "Urbs" (central city), from urbs roma , or identified with its ancient Roman initialism of SPQR ,
9259-422: The Dominate , derived from his title of dominus ("lord"). His most marked feature was the unprecedented intervention of the State down to the city level: whereas the State had submitted a tax demand to a city and allowed it to allocate the charges, from his reign the State did this down to the village level. In a vain attempt to control inflation, he imposed price controls which did not last. Diocletian divided
9456-412: The Etruscans and other ancient Italic peoples were admitted as citizens as well. The Sabines—considered to be Gaulish along with the other Umbri peoples of central Italy— were first mentioned in Dionysius's account for having captured the city of Lista by surprise, which was regarded as the mother-city of the Aborigines. The Italic speakers in the area included Latins (in the west), Sabines (in
9653-416: The First Punic War brought the first two provinces outside the Italian peninsula, Sicily and Sardinia . Parts of Spain ( Hispania ) followed, and in the beginning of the 2nd century the Romans got involved in the affairs of the Greek world. By then all Hellenistic kingdoms and the Greek city-states were in decline, exhausted from endless civil wars and relying on mercenary troops. The Romans looked upon
9850-412: The Forum of Augustus and the Ara Pacis . He is said to have remarked that he found Rome a city of brick and left it a city of marble ( Urbem latericium invenit, marmoream reliquit ). Augustus's successors sought to emulate his success in part by adding their own contributions to the city. In AD 64, during the reign of Nero , the Great Fire of Rome left much of the city destroyed, but in many ways it
10047-521: The French Revolution . The painting depicts Romulus's wife Hersilia – the daughter of Titus Tatius , leader of the Sabines – rushing between her husband and her father and placing her babies between them. A vigorous Romulus prepares to strike a half-retreating Tatius with his spear, but hesitates. Other soldiers are already sheathing their swords. The rocky outcrop in the background is the Tarpeian Rock . The English 19th-century satirical painter John Leech included in his The Comic History of Rome
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#173276570679610244-459: The Gauls under their leader Brennus in 387 BC. The sacking of 410 is seen as a major landmark in the decline and fall of the Western Roman Empire . St. Jerome , living in Bethlehem at the time, wrote that "The City which had taken the whole world was itself taken." These sackings of the city astonished all the Roman world. In any case, the damage caused by the sackings may have been overestimated. The population already started to decline from
10441-406: The Gauls , Osci - Samnites and the Greek colony of Taranto , allied with Pyrrhus , king of Epirus ) whose result was the conquest of the Italian peninsula , from the central area up to Magna Graecia . The 3rd and 4th century BC saw the establishment of Roman hegemony over the Mediterranean and the Balkans through the three Punic Wars (264–146 BC) fought against Carthage and
10638-529: The Greek Rhṓmē ( Ῥώμη ), meaning "bravery" or "courage"; Compare also Rumon , former name of the Tiber River. Its further etymology remains unknown, as with most Etruscan words. Thomas G. Tucker 's Concise Etymological Dictionary of Latin (1931) suggests that the name is most probably from *urobsma (cf. urbs , robur ) and otherwise, "but less likely" from *urosma "hill" (cf. Skt. varsman- "height, point," Old Slavonic врьхъ "top, summit", Russ. верх "top; upward direction", Lith. virsus "upper"). There
10835-479: The Ostrogoths continued, like the last emperors, to rule Italy as a virtually independent realm from Ravenna . Meanwhile, the Senate, even though long since stripped of wider powers, continued to administer Rome itself, with the Pope usually coming from a senatorial family. This situation continued until Theodahad murdered Amalasuntha , a pro-imperial Gothic queen, and usurped the power in 535. The Eastern Roman emperor , Justinian I (reigned 527–565), used this as
11032-432: The Plebeians (commoners) and Patricians (aristocrats) of the ancient Roman Republic , in which the Plebeians sought political equality with the Patricians. It played a major role in the development of the Constitution of the Roman Republic . It began in 494 BC, when, while Rome was at war with two neighbouring tribes, the Plebeians all left the city (the first Plebeian Secession ). The result of this first secession
11229-411: The Reign of Terror and the Thermidorian Reaction , during which David himself had been imprisoned as a supporter of Robespierre . After David's estranged wife visited him in jail, he conceived the idea of telling the story to honor his wife, with the theme being love prevailing over conflict. The painting was also seen as a plea for the French people to reconcile their differences after the bloodshed of
11426-403: The Sabines . Winning the Battle of Lake Regillus in 493 BC, Rome established again the supremacy over the Latin countries it had lost after the fall of the monarchy. After a lengthy series of struggles, this supremacy became fixed in 393, when the Romans finally subdued the Volsci and Aequi . In 394 BC, they also conquered the menacing Etruscan neighbour of Veii . The Etruscan power
11623-424: The San Lorenzo district was subject to Allied bombing raids , resulting in about 3,000 fatalities and 11,000 injuries, of whom another 1,500 died. Mussolini was arrested on 25 July 1943 . On the date of the Italian Armistice 8 September 1943 the city was occupied by the Germans. Allied bombing raids continued throughout 1943 and extended into 1944. Rome was liberated on 4 June 1944. Rome developed greatly after
11820-487: The Sistine Chapel and Ponte Sisto (the first bridge to be built across the Tiber since antiquity, although on Roman foundations) were created. To accomplish that, the Popes engaged the best artists of the time, including Michelangelo , Perugino , Raphael , Ghirlandaio , Luca Signorelli , Botticelli , and Cosimo Rosselli . The period was also infamous for papal corruption, with many Popes fathering children, and engaging in nepotism and simony . The corruption of
12017-456: The Union for the Mediterranean (UfM) as well as the headquarters of several Italian multinational companies, such as Eni , Enel , TIM , Leonardo , and banks such as BNL . Numerous companies are based within Rome's EUR business district, such as the luxury fashion house Fendi located in the Palazzo della Civiltà Italiana . The presence of renowned international brands in the city has made Rome an important centre of fashion and design, and
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#173276570679612214-408: The Villa Borghese , Villa Ada , and Villa Doria Pamphili . Villa Doria Pamphili is west of the Gianicolo hill, comprising some 1.8 km (0.7 sq mi ). The Villa Sciarra is on the hill, with playgrounds for children and shaded walking areas. In the nearby area of Trastevere, the Orto Botanico (Botanical Garden) is a cool and shady green space. The old Roman hippodrome (Circus Maximus)
12411-543: The western and eastern empires respectively. The seat of government in the Western Roman Empire was transferred to Ravenna in 408, but from 450 the emperors mostly resided in Rome. Rome, which had lost its central role in the administration of the empire, was sacked in 410 by the Visigoths led by Alaric I , but very little physical damage was done, most of which was repaired. What could not be so easily replaced were portable items such as artwork in precious metals and items for domestic use (loot). The popes embellished
12608-449: The 10th century BC. The site of Sant'Omobono Area is crucial for understanding the related processes of monumentalisation, urbanisation , and state formation in Rome in the late Archaic period. The Sant'Omobono temple site dates to 7th–6th century BC, making these the oldest known temple remains in Rome. The city's name was long credited to the legendary culture hero Romulus . It was said that Romulus and his twin brother Remus were
12805-426: The Aequi, and of course the Etruscans. As years passed and military successes increased Roman territory, new adversaries appeared. The fiercest were the Gauls , a loose collective of peoples who controlled much of Northern Europe including what is modern North and Central-East Italy. In 387 BC, Rome was sacked and burned by the Senones coming from eastern Italy and led by Brennus , who had successfully defeated
13002-423: The Balkans made serious uncoordinated incursions that were more like giant raiding parties rather than attempts to settle. The Persian Empire invaded from the east several times during the 230s to 260s but were eventually defeated. The civil wars ended in 285 with the final victory of Diocletian , who undertook the restoration of the State. He ended the Principate and introduced a new authoritarian model known as
13199-527: The Caeninenses on 1 March 752 BC. At the same time, the army of the Antemnates invaded Roman territory. The Romans retaliated, and the Antemnates were defeated in battle and their town captured. According to the Fasti Triumphales , Romulus celebrated a second triumph in 752 BC over the Antemnates. The Crustumini also started a war, but they too were defeated and their town was captured. Roman colonists were subsequently sent to Antemnae and Crustumerium by Romulus, and many citizens of those towns, particularly
13396-516: The Capitoline Hill, which they had captured in the battle. The motivation behind the abduction of the Sabine women is contested among ancient sources. Livy writes that Rome's motivation for abducting the Sabine women was solely to increase the city's population and claims that no direct sexual assault took place during the abduction. Livy says that Romulus offered the Sabine women free choice as well as civic and property rights. According to Livy, Romulus spoke to each of them in person, declaring "that it
13593-568: The Church. Under the popes from Pius IV to Sixtus V , Rome became the centre of a reformed Catholicism and saw the building of new monuments which celebrated the papacy. The popes and cardinals of the 17th and early 18th centuries continued the movement by having the city's landscape enriched with baroque buildings. This was another nepotistic age; the new aristocratic families ( Barberini , Pamphili , Chigi , Rospigliosi , Altieri , Odescalchi ) were protected by their respective popes, who built huge baroque buildings for their relatives. During
13790-419: The Empire. Later, western emperors ruled from Milan or Ravenna , or cities in Gaul . In 330, Constantine I established a second capital at Constantinople . Christianity reached Rome during the 1st century AD. For the first two centuries of the Christian era , Imperial authorities largely viewed Christianity simply as a Jewish sect rather than a distinct religion. No emperor issued general laws against
13987-461: The Etruscan origin of some of the mythical Roman kings. Historians have no literature, nor texts of religion or philosophy; therefore, much of what is known about this civilisation is derived from grave goods and tomb findings. The Greeks had founded many colonies in Southern Italy between 750 and 550 BC (which the Romans later called Magna Graecia ), such as Cumae , Naples , Reggio Calabria , Crotone , Sybaris , and Taranto , as well as in
14184-416: The Etruscans around 500 BC. It also abandoned monarchy in favour of a republican system based on a Senate , composed of the nobles of the city, along with popular assemblies which ensured political participation for most of the freeborn men and elected magistrates annually. The Etruscans left a lasting influence on Rome. The Romans learned to build temples from them, and the Etruscans may have introduced
14381-473: The French was elected, and the papacy was briefly relocated to Avignon (1309–1377). During this period Rome was neglected, until a plebeian man, Cola di Rienzo , came to power. An idealist and a lover of ancient Rome, Cola dreamed about a rebirth of the Roman Empire: after assuming power with the title of Tribuno , his reforms were rejected by the populace. Forced to flee, Cola returned as part of
14578-567: The Gothic siege of 537, the population dropped to 30,000 but had risen to 90,000 by the papacy of Gregory the Great . The population decline coincided with the general collapse of urban life in the West in the fifth and sixth centuries, with few exceptions. Subsidized state grain distributions to the poorer members of society continued right through the sixth century and probably prevented the population from falling further. The figure of 450,000–500,000
14775-698: The Great (which by then was in a dilapidated state) was demolished and a new one begun. The city hosted artists like Ghirlandaio , Perugino , Botticelli and Bramante , who built the temple of San Pietro in Montorio and planned a great project to renovate the Vatican . Raphael, who in Rome became one of the most famous painters of Italy, created frescoes in the Villa Farnesina , the Raphael's Rooms , plus many other famous paintings. Michelangelo started
14972-523: The Greek civilisation with great admiration. The Greeks saw Rome as a useful ally in their civil strifes, and it was not long before the Roman legions were invited to intervene in Greece. In less than 50 years the whole of mainland Greece was subdued. The Roman legions crushed the Macedonian phalanx twice, in 197 and 168 BC; in 146 BC the Roman consul Lucius Mummius razed Corinth , marking
15169-399: The Greek colonies of southern Italy (mainly Ischia and Cumae ). These developments, which according to archaeological evidence took place during the mid-eighth century BC, can be considered as the "birth" of the city. Despite recent excavations at the Palatine hill, the view that Rome was founded deliberately in the middle of the eighth century BC, as the legend of Romulus suggests, remains
15366-645: The Italian peninsula. In the 3rd century BC, Rome brought the Greek poleis in the south under its control as well. Amidst the never-ending wars (from the beginning of the Republic up to the Principate, the doors of the temple of Janus were closed only twice—when they were open it meant that Rome was at war), Rome had to face a severe major social crisis, the Conflict of the Orders , a political struggle between
15563-455: The Jews during Nero's reign, which so destabilised the empire that it led to civil war and Nero's suicide, provided an additional rationale for suppression of this 'Jewish' sect. Diocletian undertook what was to be the most severe and last major persecution of Christians , lasting from 303 to 311. Christianity had become too widespread to suppress, and in 313, the Edict of Milan made tolerance
15760-1028: The Kings was built on seven hills: the Aventine Hill , the Caelian Hill , the Capitoline Hill , the Esquiline Hill , the Palatine Hill , the Quirinal Hill , and the Viminal Hill . Modern Rome is also crossed by another river, the Aniene , which flows into the Tiber north of the historic centre. Although the city centre is about 24 km (15 mi) inland from the Tyrrhenian Sea , the city territory extends to
15957-640: The Met, the subject matter of Poussin's work allowed him to highlight his understanding of pose and gesture as well as his knowledge of Roman architecture. This version of the painting currently resides at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City. Poussin's second version, entitled The Rape of the Sabine Women , is essentially a recreation of his original work and was likely completed around 1637–1638. The architectural setting of this work
16154-657: The Pagan god or hero to a corresponding Christian saint or martyr. In this way, the Temple of Romulus and Remus became the basilica of the twin saints Cosmas and Damian . Later, the Pantheon , Temple of All Gods, became the church of All Martyrs. In 480, the last Western Roman emperor, Julius Nepos , was murdered and a Roman general of barbarian origin, Odoacer , declared allegiance to Eastern Roman emperor Zeno . Despite owing nominal allegiance to Constantinople , Odoacer and later
16351-740: The Palatine Hill, and Titientes on the Quirinal Hill, backed by the Luceres living in the nearby woods. These were simply three of numerous Italic-speaking communities that existed in Latium , a plain on the Italian peninsula, by the 1st millennium BC. The origins of the Italic peoples lie in prehistory and are therefore not precisely known, but their Indo-European languages migrated from
16548-529: The Papal States were reconstituted by a decision of the Congress of Vienna of 1814. In 1849, a second Roman Republic was proclaimed during a year of revolutions in 1848 . Two of the most influential figures of the Italian unification , Giuseppe Mazzini and Giuseppe Garibaldi , fought for the short-lived republic. Rome then became the focus of hopes of Italian reunification after the rest of Italy
16745-616: The Pope and, over the next few decades, both much of the remaining possessions of the senatorial aristocracy and the local Byzantine Roman administration in Rome were absorbed by the Church . The reign of Justinian's nephew and successor Justin II (reigned 565–578) was marked from the Italian point of view by the invasion of the Lombards under Alboin (568). In capturing the regions of Benevento , Lombardy , Piedmont , Spoleto and Tuscany ,
16942-616: The Popes and the huge expenses for their building projects led, in part, to the Reformation and, in turn, the Counter-Reformation . Under extravagant and rich popes, Rome was transformed into a centre of art, poetry, music, literature, education and culture. Rome became able to compete with other major European cities of the time in terms of wealth, grandeur, the arts, learning and architecture. The Renaissance period changed
17139-579: The Popes was interrupted by the short-lived Roman Republic (1798–1800), which was established under the influence of the French Revolution . The Papal States were restored in June 1800, but during Napoleon 's reign Rome was annexed as a Département of the French Empire : first as Département du Tibre (1808–1810) and then as Département Rome (1810–1814). After the fall of Napoleon,
17336-407: The Republic, but its champions, Marcus Junius Brutus (descendant of the founder of the republic) and Gaius Cassius Longinus were defeated by Caesar's lieutenant Marcus Antonius and Caesar's nephew, Octavian . The years 44–31 BC mark the struggle for power between Marcus Antonius and Octavian (later known as Augustus). Finally, on 2 September 31 BC, in the Greek promontory of Actium ,
17533-764: The Roman army at the Battle of the Allia in Etruria . Multiple contemporary records suggest that the Senones hoped to punish Rome for violating its diplomatic neutrality in Etruria. The Senones marched 130 kilometres (81 mi) to Rome without harming the surrounding countryside; once they had sacked the city, the Senones withdrew from Rome. Brennus was defeated by the dictator Furius Camillus at Tusculum soon afterwards. After that, Rome hastily rebuilt its buildings and went on
17730-447: The Romans expelled the last king from their city and established an oligarchic republic led by two annually-elected consuls . Rome then began a period characterised by internal struggles between patricians (aristocrats) and plebeians (small landowners), and by constant warfare against the populations of central Italy: Etruscans, Latins, Volsci , Aequi , and Marsi . After becoming master of Latium , Rome led several wars (against
17927-582: The Romans met the Caeninenses in battle, killed their king, and routed their army. Romulus later attacked Caenina and took it upon the first assault. Returning to Rome, he dedicated a Temple of Jupiter Feretrius (according to Livy, the first temple dedicated in Rome) and offered the spoils of the enemy king as spolia opima . According to the Fasti Triumphales , Romulus celebrated a triumph over
18124-611: The Sabine Women in the late 1630s. His work now resides at the State Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg. Jacques Stella painted a version of the rape of the Sabine women entitled The Rape of the Sabines in the mid-17th century. Stella's depiction of the scene is said to have so closely resembled Nicholas Poussin's works that following his death his version was mistaken for a Poussin. This work now resides at Princeton University's Art Museum. Jacques-Louis David painted
18321-509: The Sabine king Titus Tatius . Romulus selected 100 of the most noble men to form the Roman Senate , initially serving as his advisory council. These men he called fathers ( Latin : patres ), and their descendants became the patricians . He created three centuries of equites : Ramnes (meaning Romans), Tities (after the Sabine king), and Luceres (Etruscans). He also divided the general populace into thirty curiae , named after thirty of
18518-503: The Sabine women who had intervened to end the war between Romulus and Tatius. The curiae formed the voting units in the Comitia Curiata . Rome grew from pastoral settlements on the Palatine Hill and surrounding hills approximately 30 km (19 mi ) from the Tyrrhenian Sea on the south side of the Tiber . The Quirinal Hill was probably an outpost for the Sabines , another Italic -speaking people. At this location,
18715-565: The Sabines crushed her to death with their shields, and her body was buried on or thrown from a rock known ever since by her name, the Tarpeian Rock . The Romans attacked the Sabines who now held the citadel, in what would become known as the Battle of the Lacus Curtius . The Roman advance was led by Hostus Hostilius , the Sabine defence by Mettus Curtius. Hostus fell in battle, and the Roman line gave way. The Romans retreated to
18912-584: The Third Century , during which numerous generals fought for power and the central authority in Rome weakened dramatically. Around the same time, the Plague of Cyprian ( c. 250–270) afflicted the Mediterranean. Instability caused economic deterioration, and there was a rapid rise in inflation as the government debased the currency in order to meet expenses. The Germanic tribes along the Rhine and north of
19109-411: The Tiber forms a Z-shaped curve that contains an island where the river can be forded. Because of the river and the ford, Rome was at a crossroads of traffic following the river valley and of traders travelling north and south on the west side of the peninsula . Archaeological finds have confirmed that there were two fortified settlements in the 8th century BC, in the area of the future Rome: Rumi on
19306-496: The Tiber's embankments fell into disrepair in the course of the latter half of the 6th century. Here, malaria developed. The aqueducts , except for one, were not repaired. The population, without imports of grain and oil from Sicily, shrank to less than 50,000 concentrated near the Tiber and around the Campus Martius , abandoning those districts without water supply. There is a legend, significant though untrue, that there
19503-405: The abduction of the Sabine as an avenue for the men of Rome to fulfill their sexual desires rather than an attempt at taking wives to produce children for the city. While he does make note of the issue surrounding Rome's lack of women, he does not make it out to be a factor in the planning of the abduction. While it is clear that the story was part of the founding mythology of Rome, its historicity
19700-474: The affinity between you, if with our marriages, turn your resentment against us; we are the cause of war, we of wounds and of bloodshed to our husbands and parents. It were better that we perish than live widowed or fatherless without one or other of you." The battle came to an end, and the Sabines agreed to unite in one nation with the Romans. Titus Tatius jointly ruled with Romulus until Tatius's death five years later. The new Sabine residents of Rome settled on
19897-513: The artist's ability to create a complex sculptural group, its subject matter, the legendary rape of the Sabines, had to be invented after Francesco I de' Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany , decreed that it be put on public display in the Loggia dei Lanzi in Piazza della Signoria , Florence. The proposed site for the sculpture, opposite Benvenuto Cellini 's statue of Perseus , prompted suggestions that
20094-403: The birth of the conclave . In this period the city was also shattered by continuous fights between the aristocratic families: Annibaldi , Caetani , Colonna , Orsini , Conti , nested in their fortresses built above ancient Roman edifices, fought each other to control the papacy. Pope Boniface VIII , born Caetani, was the last pope to fight for the church's universal domain ; he proclaimed
20291-482: The city and surrounding region of Latium has continued to be inhabited with little interruption since around that time. Excavations made in 2014 have revealed a wall built long before the city's official founding year. Archaeologists uncovered a stone wall and pieces of pottery dating to the 9th century BC and the beginning of the 8th century BC, and there is evidence of people arriving on the Palatine hill as early as
20488-515: The city centre in order to build wide avenues and squares which were supposed to celebrate the fascist regime and the resurgence and glorification of classical Rome. The interwar period saw a rapid growth in the city's population which surpassed one million inhabitants soon after 1930. During World War II, due to the art treasuries and the presence of the Vatican, Rome largely escaped the tragic destiny of other European cities. However, on 19 July 1943,
20685-568: The city took his name. According to the Roman annalists , this happened on 21 April 753 BC. This legend had to be reconciled with a dual tradition, set earlier in time, that had the Trojan refugee Aeneas escape to Italy and found the line of Romans through his son Iulus , the namesake of the Julio-Claudian dynasty . This was accomplished by the Roman poet Virgil in the first century BC. In addition, Strabo mentions an older story, that
20882-624: The city was affected by the divisions which rocked the Church. In 1418, the Council of Constance settled the Western Schism , and a Roman pope, Martin V , was elected. This brought to Rome a century of internal peace, which marked the beginning of the Renaissance . The ruling popes until the first half of the 16th century, from Nicholas V , founder of the Vatican Library , to Pius II , humanist and literate, from Sixtus IV ,
21079-554: The city was an Arcadian colony founded by Evander . Strabo also writes that Lucius Coelius Antipater believed that Rome was founded by Greeks. After the foundation by Romulus according to a legend, Rome was ruled for a period of 244 years by a monarchical system , initially with sovereigns of Latin and Sabine origin, later by Etruscan kings. The tradition handed down seven kings: Romulus , Numa Pompilius , Tullus Hostilius , Ancus Marcius , Tarquinius Priscus , Servius Tullius and Lucius Tarquinius Superbus . In 509 BC,
21276-471: The city with large basilicas, such as Santa Maria Maggiore (with the collaboration of the emperors). The population of the city had fallen from 800,000 to 450–500,000 by the time the city was sacked in 455 by Genseric , king of the Vandals . The weak emperors of the fifth century could not stop the decay, leading to the deposition of Romulus Augustus , who resided on Ravenna, on 4 September 476. This marked
21473-436: The city, but the Ostrogoths retook it in 549. Belisarius was replaced by Narses , who captured Rome from the Ostrogoths for good in 552, ending the so-called Gothic Wars which had devastated much of Italy. The continual war around Rome in the 530s and 540s left it in a state of total disrepair – near-abandoned and desolate with much of its lower-lying parts turned into unhealthy marshes as the drainage systems were neglected and
21670-548: The city. In 1871, Rome became the capital of the Kingdom of Italy , which, in 1946, became the Italian Republic. In 2019, Rome was the 14th most visited city in the world, with 8.6 million tourists, the third most visited city in the European Union, and the most popular tourist destination in Italy. Its historic centre is listed by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site . The host city for the 1960 Summer Olympics , Rome
21867-455: The coldest months, with a daily mean temperature of approximately 8 °C (46 °F). Temperatures during these months generally vary between 10 and 15 °C (50 and 59 °F) during the day and between 3 and 5 °C (37 and 41 °F) at night, with colder or warmer spells occurring frequently. Snowfall is rare but not unheard of, with light snow or flurries occurring on some winters, generally without accumulation, and major snowfalls on
22064-429: The courage to throw themselves amid the flying weapons, and making a rush across, to part the incensed armies, and assuage their fury; imploring their fathers on the one side, their husbands on the other, "that as fathers-in-law and sons-in-law they would not contaminate each other with impious blood, nor stain their offspring with parricide, the one their grandchildren, the other their children. If you are dissatisfied with
22261-584: The decoration of the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel and executed the famous statue of the Moses for the tomb of Julius II. Its economy was rich, with the presence of several Tuscan bankers, including Agostino Chigi , who was a friend of Raphael and a patron of arts. Before his early death, Raphael also promoted for the first time the preservation of the ancient ruins. The War of the League of Cognac caused
22458-500: The distant past. The story likely gained relevance again during the time period where the coins depicting the event were minted, in 89 BC. This would have been made during the Social War , a conflict between Rome and its Italian allies over their status and whether they deserved Roman citizenship. A story from Rome's past wherein Rome came into conflict with its neighbors, showed a capacity for brutal violence, but ultimately avoided
22655-473: The early part of the Republic (before roughly 300 BC, when Old Latin inscriptions and Greek histories about Rome provide more concrete evidence of events) are generally considered to be legendary, their historicity being a topic of debate among classicists. The Roman Republic traditionally dates from 509 BC to 27 BC. After 500 BC, Rome is said to have joined with the Latin cities in defence against incursions by
22852-480: The east in the second half of the 2nd millennium BC. According to Dionysius of Halicarnassus , many Roman historians—including Cato and Sempronius —considered the Italian aborigines to have been prehistoric Greek colonists . The Romans then considered themselves a mix of these people, the Albans , and the other Latins , considered a blend of Pelasgians , Arcadians , Epeans , and refugee Trojans . Over time,
23049-564: The eastern two-thirds of Sicily . After 650 BC, the Etruscans became dominant in Italy and expanded into north-central Italy. Roman tradition claimed that Rome had been under the control of seven kings from 753 to 509 BC beginning with the mythical Romulus who was said to have founded the city of Rome along with his brother Remus . The last three kings were said to be Etruscan (at least partially)—namely Tarquinius Priscus , Servius Tullius and Tarquinius Superbus . (Priscus
23246-546: The empire in 286, ruling over the eastern half from Nicomedia , while his co-emperor Maximian ruled the western half from Mediolanum (when not on the move). The empire was further divided in 293, when Diocletian named two caesar , one for each augustus (emperor). Diocletian tried to turn into a system of non-dynastic succession, similar to the Antonine dynasty. Upon abdication in 305, both caesars succeeded and they, in turn, appointed two colleagues for themselves. However,
23443-506: The end of free Greece. The same year Cornelius Scipio Aemilianus , the son of Scipio Africanus , destroyed the city of Carthage , making it a Roman province. In the following years, Rome continued its conquests in Spain with Tiberius Gracchus , and it set foot in Asia, when the last king of Pergamum gave his kingdom to the Roman people. The end of the 2nd century brought another threat, when
23640-536: The end of the Western Roman Empire and, for many historians, the beginning of the Middle Ages . The decline of the city's population was caused by the loss of grain shipments from North Africa, from 440 onward, and the unwillingness of the senatorial class to maintain donations to support a population that was too large for the resources available. Even so, strenuous efforts were made to maintain
23837-400: The entourage of Cardinal Albornoz , who was charged with restoring the Church's power in Italy. Back in power for a short time, Cola was soon lynched by the populace, and Albornoz took possession of the city. In 1377, Rome became the seat of the papacy again under Gregory XI . The return of the pope to Rome in that year unleashed the Western Schism (1377–1418), and for the next forty years,
24034-508: The existence of the Republic. The Social War , between Rome and its allies, and the Servile Wars (slave uprisings) were hard conflicts, all within Italy, and forced the Romans to change their policy with regards to their allies and subjects. By then Rome had become an extensive power, with great wealth which derived from the conquered people (as tribute, food or manpower, i.e. slaves). The allies of Rome felt bitter since they had fought by
24231-565: The exposed figure of Hersilia and her child. The episode of the rape of the Sabine women is recounted by Cicero , Livy , Dionysius of Halicarnassus , and Plutarch . The poetry of Ovid also contains several allusions to this episode and it is included on the shield of Aeneas in Virgil 's Aeneid . The Sabine women are mentioned in Canto VI of Dante 's Paradiso . The midrash Sefer haYashar (first attested in 1624) portrays
24428-459: The extraordinary commands of Pompey Magnus , and the first triumvirate made that clear. In January 49 BC, Julius Caesar the conqueror of Gaul, crossed the Rubicon with his legions, occupying Rome and beginning a civil war with Pompey. In the following years, he vanquished his opponents, and ruled Rome for four years. After his assassination in 44 BC, the Senate tried to reestablish
24625-600: The face of Rome dramatically, with works like the Pietà by Michelangelo and the frescoes of the Borgia Apartments . Rome reached the highest point of splendour under Pope Julius II (1503–1513) and his successors Leo X and Clement VII , both members of the Medici family . In this twenty-year period, Rome became one of the greatest centres of art in the world. The old St. Peter's Basilica built by Emperor Constantine
24822-423: The failed attempt of social reform of the populares Tiberius and Gaius Gracchus , and the war against Jugurtha , there was a civil war from which the general Sulla emerged victorious. A major slave revolt under Spartacus followed, and then the establishment of the first Triumvirate with Caesar , Pompey and Crassus . The conquest of Gaul made Caesar immensely powerful and popular, which led to
25019-533: The faith or its Church, and persecutions, such as they were, were carried out under the authority of local government officials. A surviving letter from Pliny the Younger , governor of Bythinia, to the emperor Trajan describes his persecution and executions of Christians; Trajan notably responded that Pliny should not seek out Christians nor heed anonymous denunciations, but only punish open Christians who refused to recant. Suetonius mentions in passing that during
25216-467: The families of the captured women, also migrated to Rome. The Sabines themselves finally declared war, led into battle by their king, Titus Tatius . Tatius almost succeeded in capturing Rome, thanks to the treason of Tarpeia , daughter of Spurius Tarpeius , Roman governor of the citadel on the Capitoline Hill . She opened the city gates for the Sabines in return for "what they bore on their arms", thinking she would receive their golden bracelets. Instead,
25413-430: The festival along with the Sabines, eager to see the newly established city for themselves. At the festival, Romulus gave a signal by "rising and folding his cloak and then throwing it round him again," at which the Romans grabbed the Sabine women and fought off the Sabine men. Livy does not report how many women were abducted by the Romans at the festival, he only notes that it was undoubtedly many more than thirty. All of
25610-786: The final battle took place in the sea. Octavian was victorious, and became the sole ruler of Rome (and its empire). That date marks the end of the Republic and the beginning of the Principate . By the end of the Republic, the city of Rome had achieved a grandeur befitting the capital of an empire dominating the whole of the Mediterranean . It was, at the time, the largest city in the world. Estimates of its peak population range from 450,000 to over 3.5 million people with estimates of 1 to 2 million being most popular with historians. This grandeur increased under Augustus , who completed Caesar's projects and added many of his own, such as
25807-512: The first great basilica, the old St. Peter's Basilica . Still Rome remained one of the strongholds of paganism, led by the aristocrats and senators. However, the new walls did not stop the city being sacked first by Alaric on 24 August 410, by Geiseric on 2 June 455, and even by general Ricimer 's unpaid Roman troops (largely composed of barbarians) on 11 July 472. This was the first time in almost 800 years that Rome had fallen to an enemy. The previous sack of Rome had been accomplished by
26004-624: The first half of the first century (under Tiberius ) and popularised by his apostles through the empire and beyond. The Antonine age is considered the zenith of the Empire, whose territory ranged from the Atlantic Ocean to the Euphrates and from Britain to Egypt . After the end of the Severan dynasty in AD 235, the Empire entered into a 50-year period known as the Crisis of
26201-512: The first plunder of the city in more than five hundred years since the previous sack ; in 1527, the Landsknechts of Emperor Charles V sacked the city , bringing an abrupt end to the golden age of the Renaissance in Rome. Beginning with the Council of Trent in 1545, the Church began the Counter-Reformation in response to the Reformation, a large-scale questioning of the Church's authority on spiritual matters and governmental affairs. This loss of confidence led to major shifts of power away from
26398-460: The gate of the Palatium. Romulus rallied his men, promising to build a temple to the Roman God Jove on the site. He then led them back into battle. Mettus Curtius was unhorsed and fled on foot, and the Romans appeared to be winning. At this point in the story, the Sabine women intervened: [They], from the outrage on whom the war originated, with hair dishevelled and garments rent, the timidity of their sex being overcome by such dreadful scenes, had
26595-440: The great Mediterranean empire of Carthage (264–146 BC), Rome's stature increased further as it became the capital of an overseas empire for the first time. Beginning in the 2nd century BC, Rome went through a significant population expansion as Italian farmers, driven from their ancestral farmlands by the advent of massive, slave-operated farms called latifundia , flocked to the city in great numbers. The victory over Carthage in
26792-469: The group should illustrate a theme related to the former work, such as the rape of Andromeda by Phineus . The respective rapes of Proserpina and Helen were also mooted as possible themes. It was eventually decided that the sculpture was to be identified as one of the Sabine virgins. The work is signed OPVS IOANNIS BOLONII FLANDRI MDLXXXII ("The work of Johannes of Boulogne of Flanders , 1582"). An early preparatory bronze featuring only two figures
26989-471: The help of the plebs (urban lower class) to gain power. In the same period, the bankruptcy of the small farmers and the establishment of large slave estates caused large-scale migration to the city. The continuous warfare led to the establishment of a professional army, which turned out to be more loyal to its generals than to the republic. Because of this, in the late 2nd and early 1st century BC there were several conflicts both abroad and internally: after
27186-407: The hills around Rome's later Forum Boarium , an important river port connected in Roman myth with Hercules 's tenth labour , capturing the cattle of Geryon . Disputing some point of the founding or its related auguries , Remus was murdered by Romulus or one of his supporters. Romulus then established a walled and roughly square settlement , whose sacred boundary and gates were established by
27383-411: The importance of marriage for the continuity of families and cultures. It was also an example of a battle subject in which the artist could demonstrate his skill in depicting female as well as male figures in extreme poses, with the added advantage of a sexual theme. It was depicted regularly on 15th-century Italian cassoni and later in larger paintings. A comparable opportunity from the New Testament
27580-434: The invaders effectively restricted Imperial authority to small islands of land surrounding a number of coastal cities, including Ravenna , Naples , Rome and the area of the future Venice . The one inland city continuing under Eastern Roman control was Perugia , which provided a repeatedly threatened overland link between Rome and Ravenna. In 578 and again in 580, the Senate, in some of its last recorded acts, had to ask for
27777-415: The last wave of construction activity: Constantine's predecessor Maxentius built buildings such as its basilica in the Forum , Constantine himself erected the Arch of Constantine to celebrate his victory over Maxentius, and Diocletian built the greatest baths of all. Constantine was also the first patron of official Christian buildings in the city. He donated the Lateran Palace to the Pope, and built
27974-414: The late 4th century onward, although around the middle of the fifth century it seems that Rome continued to be the most populous city of the two parts of the Empire, with a population of no fewer than 650,000 inhabitants. The decline greatly accelerated following the capture of Africa Proconsularis by the Vandals . Many inhabitants now fled as the city no longer could be supplied with grain from Africa from
28171-408: The legend. Later adapted into the 1954 musical Seven Brides for Seven Brothers , it tells the story of seven gauche but sincere backwoodsmen, one of whom gets married, encouraging the others to seek partners. After a social where they meet girls they are attracted to, they are denied the chance to pursue their courtship by the latter's menfolk. Following the Roman example, they abduct the girls. As in
28368-461: The menace of barbarian invasions was clearly shown by the decision of Emperor Aurelian , who at year 273 finished encircling the capital itself with a massive wall which had a perimeter that measured close to 20 km (12 mi). Rome formally remained capital of the empire , but emperors spent less and less time there. At the end of 3rd century Diocletian 's political reforms, Rome was deprived of its traditional role of administrative capital of
28565-405: The mid-1980s when the comune had more than 2.8 million residents. After this, the population declined slowly as people began to move to nearby suburbs. Rome is in the Lazio region of central Italy on the Tiber ( Italian : Tevere ) river. The original settlement developed on hills that faced onto a ford beside the Tiber Island , the only natural ford of the river in this area. The Rome of
28762-428: The mid-5th century onward. At the end of the 6th century Rome's population had reduced to around 30,000. Many monuments were being destroyed by the citizens themselves, who stripped stones from closed temples and other precious buildings, and even burned statues to make lime for their personal use. In addition, most of the increasing number of churches were built in this way. For example, the first Saint Peter's Basilica
28959-513: The monumental centre, the palatine, and the largest baths, which continued to function until the Gothic siege of 537. The large baths of Constantine on the Quirinale were even repaired in 443, and the extent of the damage exaggerated and dramatised. However, the city gave an appearance overall of shabbiness and decay because of the large abandoned areas due to population decline. The population declined to 500,000 by 452 and 100,000 by 500 AD (perhaps larger, though no certain figure can be known). After
29156-409: The north Latium town of Sutri to the Church, starting its temporal power. In 756, Pepin the Short , after having defeated the Lombards, gave the Pope temporal jurisdiction over the Roman Duchy and the Exarchate of Ravenna , thus creating the Papal States . Since this period, three powers tried to rule the city: the pope, the nobility (together with the chiefs of militias, the judges, the Senate and
29353-422: The offensive, conquering the Etruscans and seizing territory from the Gauls in the north. After 345 BC, Rome pushed south against other Latins. Their main enemy in this quadrant were the fierce Samnites , who outsmarted and trapped the legions in 321 BC at the Battle of Caudine Forks . In spite of these and other temporary setbacks, the Romans advanced steadily. By 290 BC, Rome controlled over half of
29550-425: The official policy. Constantine I (sole ruler 324–337) became the first Christian emperor, and in 380 Theodosius I established Christianity as the official religion. Under Theodosius , visits to the pagan temples were forbidden, the eternal fire in the Temple of Vesta in the Roman Forum extinguished, the Vestal Virgins disbanded, auspices and witchcraft punished. Theodosius refused to restore
29747-475: The offspring of the rape of an Alban princess by the war god Mars and, via their mother, were further descended from the Trojan prince Aeneas , supposed son of the Greek love goddess Aphrodite . Exposed on the Tiber , they were suckled by a she-wolf and raised by a shepherd and his wife . Avenging themselves on their usurping grand-uncle and restoring their grandfather Numitor to Alba Longa 's throne , they were ordered or decided to settle
29944-420: The original tale, the women are at first indignant but are eventually won over. In 1962, a Mexican " sword and sandal " film based on the story was made, directed by Alberto Gout . Titled El Rapto de las Sabinas, the film was released in the USA under the titles The Rape of the Sabine Women and The Shame of the Sabine Women. Tom Stoppard 's play Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead (1966) features
30141-404: The other end of the story, when the women intervene to reconcile the warring parties. The Sabine Women Enforcing Peace by Running Between the Combatants (also known as The Intervention of the Sabine Women ) was completed in 1799. It is in the Louvre Museum . David had begun work on it in 1796, when France was at war with other European nations, after a period of civil conflict culminating in
30338-405: The outbreak of the Franco-Prussian War . Italian troops were able to capture Rome entering the city through a breach near Porta Pia . Pope Pius IX declared himself a prisoner in the Vatican . In 1871 the capital of Italy was moved from Florence to Rome. In 1870 the population of the city was 212,000, all of whom lived with the area circumscribed by the ancient city, and in 1920, the population
30535-562: The peoples that they appealed to, including the Sabines , who populated the neighboring areas. The Sabines feared the emergence of a rival society and refused to allow their women to marry the Romans. Consequently, the Romans devised a plan to abduct the Sabine women during the festival of Neptune Equester . They planned and announced a festival of games to attract people from all the nearby towns. According to Livy , many people from Rome's neighboring towns – including Caenina , Crustumerium , and Antemnae – attended
30732-445: The pope, the emperor, and each other. These were the times of Theodora and her daughter Marozia , concubines and mothers of several popes, and of Crescentius , a powerful feudal lord, who fought against the Emperors Otto II and Otto III . The scandals of this period forced the papacy to reform itself: the election of the pope was reserved to the cardinals, and reform of the clergy was attempted. The driving force behind this renewal
30929-402: The populace), and the Frankish king, as king of the Lombards, patricius, and Emperor. These three parties (theocratic, republican, and imperial) were a characteristic of Roman life during the entire Middle Ages. On Christmas night of 800, Charlemagne was crowned in Rome as Emperor by Pope Leo III : on that occasion, the city hosted for the first time the two powers whose struggle for control
31126-468: The rape of the Sabine women, the Æsir–Vanir War in Norse mythology , and the Iliad of Greek mythology , providing support for a Proto-Indo-European "war of the functions ". Regarding these parallels, J. P. Mallory states: Basically, the parallels concern the presence of first-(magico-juridical) and second-(warrior) function representatives on the victorious side of a war that ultimately subdues and incorporates third function characters, for example,
31323-404: The reign of Nero "punishment was inflicted on the Christians, a class of men given to a new and mischievous superstition " ( superstitionis novae ac maleficae ). He gives no reason for the punishment. Tacitus reports that after the Great Fire of Rome in AD 64, some among the population held Nero responsible and that the emperor attempted to deflect blame onto the Christians. The war against
31520-416: The sculpture, produced in Giambologna's own studio and imitated by others, were a staple of connoisseurs' collections into the 19th century. Nicolas Poussin produced two major versions of this subject. His initial version was entitled The Abduction of the Sabine Women and was most likely completed around 1633–1634. The painting depicts Romulus giving the signal to the Romans for the abduction. According to
31717-428: The shore, where the south-western district of Ostia is located. The altitude of the central part of Rome ranges from 13 m (43 ft) above sea level (at the base of the Pantheon ) to 139 m (456 ft) above sea level (the peak of Monte Mario ). The Comune of Rome covers an overall area of about 1,285 km (496 sq mi), including many green areas. Public parks and nature reserves cover
31914-416: The shores of the Tiber Valley . Vatican City (the smallest country in the world and headquarters of the worldwide Catholic Church under the governance of the Holy See ) is an independent country inside the city boundaries of Rome, the only existing example of a country within a city. Rome is often referred to as the City of Seven Hills due to its geographic location, and also as the "Eternal City". Rome
32111-531: The side of the Romans, and yet they were not citizens and shared little in the rewards. Although they lost the war, they finally got what they asked, and by the beginning of the 1st century AD practically all free inhabitants of Italy were Roman citizens. However, the growth of the Imperium Romanum (Roman power) created new problems, and new demands, that the old political system of the Republic, with its annually elected magistrates and its sharing of power, could not solve. Sulla's civil war and his later dictatorship,
32308-446: The signal for the Romans to abduct the Sabine women. Rubens emphasizes the violence of the abduction and sexualizes it by depicting women with exposed breasts and a soldier lifting up a woman's skirt. Pietro da Cortona depicted the rape of the Sabines at least twice. There are at least eight paintings by Luca Giordano or his workshop on this subject. Johann Heinrich Schönfeld painted a version of this subject entitled The Rape of
32505-439: The story as part of a war between the Sabines , descended from Tubal , and the Roman Kittim ( Jasher 17:1–15 ). A more detailed version of this narrative is found in the earlier mediaeval rabbinic work Yosippon . The story was parodied by Lady Carlotta, the mischief-making character in Saki 's short story "The Schartz-Metterklume Method". Stephen Vincent Benét wrote a short story called "The Sobbin' Women" that parodied
32702-407: The subject in a trio of works entitled The Abduction , The Captivity , and The Invasion . Pablo Picasso visited this theme in his several versions of the Rape of the Sabine Women (1962–63), one of which is in the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston . These are based on David's version. These conflate the beginning and end of the story, depicting the brutish Romulus and Tatius ignoring and trampling on
32899-408: The successors of Peter, who is considered the first Bishop of Rome. The city thus became of increasing importance as the centre of the Catholic Church . After the Lombard invasion of Italy (569–572), the city remained nominally Byzantine, but in reality, the popes pursued a policy of equilibrium between the Byzantines , the Franks , and the Lombards . In 729, the Lombard king Liutprand donated
33096-414: The support of Tiberius II Constantine (reigned 578–582) against the approaching Dukes, Faroald I of Spoleto and Zotto of Benevento . Maurice (reigned 582–602) added a new factor in the continuing conflict by creating an alliance with Childebert II of Austrasia (reigned 575–595). The armies of the Frankish King invaded the Lombard territories in 584, 585, 588 and 590. Rome had suffered badly from
33293-430: The support system from its control. Christianity in the form of the Nicene Creed became the official religion of the empire in 380, via the Edict of Thessalonica issued in the name of three emperors – Gratian, Valentinian II, and Theodosius I – with Theodosius clearly the driving force behind it. He was the last emperor of a unified empire: after his death in 395, his young children, Honorius and Arcadius , inherited
33490-569: The symbol of Rome's constituted republican government . Furthermore, Rome has been called Urbs Aeterna (The Eternal City), Caput Mundi (The Capital of the world ), Throne of St. Peter and Roma Capitale. While there have been discoveries of archaeological evidence of human occupation of the Rome area from approximately 14,000 years ago, the dense layer of much younger debris obscures Palaeolithic and Neolithic sites. Evidence of stone tools, pottery, and stone weapons attest to about 10,000 years of human presence. Several excavations support
33687-419: The three Macedonian Wars (212–168 BC) against Macedonia . The first Roman provinces were established at this time: Sicily , Sardinia and Corsica , Hispania , Macedonia , Achaea and Africa . From the beginning of the 2nd century BC, power was contested between two groups of aristocrats: the optimates , representing the conservative part of the Senate , and the populares , which relied on
33884-529: The upper valley of the Tiber ), Umbrians (in the north-east), Samnites (in the South), Oscans , and others. In the 8th century BC, they shared the peninsula with two other major ethnic groups: the Etruscans in the North and the Greeks in the south. The Etruscans ( Etrusci or Tusci in Latin ) are attested north of Rome in Etruria (modern northern Lazio, Tuscany and part of Umbria ). They founded cities such as Tarquinia , Veii , and Volterra and deeply influenced Roman culture, as clearly shown by
34081-418: The view that Rome grew from pastoral settlements on the Palatine Hill built above the area of the future Roman Forum . Between the end of the Bronze Age and the beginning of the Iron Age , each hill between the sea and the Capitoline Hill was topped by a village (on the Capitoline, a village is attested since the end of the 14th century BC). However, none of them yet had an urban quality. Nowadays, there
34278-433: The war as part of the " Italian economic miracle " of post-war reconstruction and modernisation in the 1950s and early 1960s. During this period, the years of la dolce vita ("the sweet life"), Rome became a fashionable city, with popular classic films such as Ben Hur , Quo Vadis , Roman Holiday and La Dolce Vita filmed in the city's iconic Cinecittà Studios . The rising trend in population growth continued until
34475-453: The women abducted at the festival were said to have been virgins except for one married woman, Hersilia, who became Romulus's wife and would later be the one to intervene and stop the ensuing war between the Romans and the Sabines. The indignant abductees were soon implored by Romulus to accept the Roman men as their new husbands. Outraged at what had happened, the king of the Caeninenses entered upon Roman territory with his army. Romulus and
34672-400: The women's newly founded relationships with Roman men. Livy's account is reinforced in some ways through the works of Cicero . In Cicero's work De re publica , he reiterates Livy's view that the plan to abduct the Sabine women at the festival was done in order "to strengthen the new state" and "safeguard the resources of his kingdom and people." Unlike Livy, Cicero, and Dionysius, Ovid sees
34869-406: The work of Barthold Georg Niebuhr . The Gauls destroyed much of Rome's historical records when they sacked the city after the Battle of the Allia in 390 BC (according to Polybius, the battle occurred in 387/386) and what was left was eventually lost to time or theft. With no contemporary records of the kingdom existing, all accounts of the kings must be carefully questioned. The list of kings
35066-418: The worship of a triad of gods— Juno , Minerva , and Jupiter —from the Etruscan gods : Uni , Menrva , and Tinia . However, the influence of Etruscan people in the development of Rome is often overstated. Rome was primarily a Latin city. It never became fully Etruscan. Also, evidence shows that Romans were heavily influenced by the Greek cities in the South, mainly through trade. The commonly held stories of
35263-424: Was 660,000. A significant portion lived outside the walls in the north and across the Tiber in the Vatican area. Soon after World War I in late 1922 Rome witnessed the rise of Italian Fascism led by Benito Mussolini , who led a march on the city . He did away with democracy by 1926, eventually declaring a new Italian Empire and allying Italy with Nazi Germany in 1938. Mussolini demolished fairly large parts of
35460-425: Was a moment where no one remained living in Rome. Justinian I provided grants for the maintenance of public buildings, aqueducts and bridges—though, being mostly drawn from an Italy dramatically impoverished by the recent wars, these were not always sufficient. He also styled himself the patron of its remaining scholars , orators , physicians and lawyers in the stated hope that eventually more youths would seek
35657-399: Was afforded by the theme of the Massacre of the Innocents . The 16th-century Italo-Flemish sculptor Giambologna sculpted a representation of this theme with three figures (a man lifting a woman into the air while a second man crouches), carved from a single block of marble . This sculpture is considered Giambologna's masterpiece. Originally intended as nothing more than a demonstration of
35854-407: Was all owing to the pride of their parents in denying right of intermarriage to their neighbours. They would live in honourable wedlock, and share all their property and civil rights, and – dearest of all to human nature – would be the mothers of freemen." Scholars like Dionysius of Halicarnassus argue that it was an attempt to secure an alliance with the Sabines through
36051-456: Was also taken up by Ovid , Virgil , and Livy . Rome is also called Caput Mundi (Capital of the World). After the fall of the Empire in the west , which marked the beginning of the Middle Ages , Rome slowly fell under the political control of the Papacy , and in the 8th century, it became the capital of the Papal States , which lasted until 1870. Beginning with the Renaissance , almost all popes since Nicholas V (1447–1455) pursued
36248-435: Was erected using spoils from the abandoned Circus of Nero . This architectural cannibalism was a constant feature of Roman life until the Renaissance . From the 4th century, imperial edicts against stripping of stones and especially marble were common, but the need for their repetition shows that they were ineffective. Sometimes new churches were created by simply taking advantage of early Pagan temples, while sometimes changing
36445-483: Was first under the control of Odoacer and then became part of the Ostrogothic Kingdom before returning to East Roman control after the Gothic War , which devastated the city in 546 and 550 . Its population declined from more than a million in AD 210 to 500,000 in AD 273 to 35,000 after the Gothic War (535–554), reducing the sprawling city to groups of inhabited buildings interspersed among large areas of ruins, vegetation, vineyards and market gardens. It
36642-443: Was governed by creating regional dioceses. The existence of regional fiscal units from 286 served as the model for this unprecedented innovation. The emperor quickened the process of removing military command from governors. Henceforth, civilian administration and military command would be separate. He gave governors more fiscal duties and placed them in charge of the army logistical support system as an attempt to control it by removing
36839-408: Was heading south to fight the Hohenstaufen on behalf of the pope, was appointed Senator. Charles founded the Sapienza , the university of Rome. In that period the pope died, and the cardinals, summoned in Viterbo , could not agree on his successor. This angered the people of the city, who then unroofed the building where they met and imprisoned them until they had nominated the new pope; this marked
37036-444: Was known as the caput Mundi , i.e. the capital of the known world, an expression which had already been used in the Republican period. During its first two centuries, the empire was ruled by emperors of the Julio-Claudian , Flavian (who built an eponymous amphitheatre known as the Colosseum ), and Antonine dynasties. This time was also characterised by the spread of the Christian religion, preached by Jesus Christ in Judea in
37233-516: Was mostly paid by taxes that were levied by the Roman government. If it had not been subsidised, Rome would have been significantly smaller. Rome's population declined after its apex in the 2nd century. At the end of that century, during the reign of Marcus Aurelius , the Antonine Plague killed 2,000 people a day. Marcus Aurelius died in 180, his reign being the last of the " Five Good Emperors " and Pax Romana . His son Commodus , who had been co-emperor since AD 177, assumed full imperial power, which
37430-409: Was now limited to Etruria itself, and Rome was the dominant city in Latium. A formal treaty was agreed with the city-state of Carthage in 509 BC which defined the spheres of influence of each city and regulated trade between them. At the same time, Heraclides stated that 4th-century Rome was a Greek city (Plut. Cam. 22). Rome's early enemies were the neighbouring hill tribes of the Volscians,
37627-405: Was restored in part much later). In 330, he transformed Byzantium into Constantinople , which became his new capital. However, it was not officially anything more than an imperial residence like Milan , Trier or Nicomedia until given a city prefect in 359 by Constantius II . Constantine, following Diocletian's reforms. regionalised the administration, which fundamentally changed the way it
37824-428: Was safe from capture at least. Agilulf , however, the new Lombard King (reigned 591 to c. 616), managed to secure peace with Childebert , reorganised his territories and resumed activities against both Naples and Rome by 592. With the Emperor preoccupied with wars in the eastern borders and the various succeeding Exarchs unable to secure Rome from invasion, Gregory took personal initiative in starting negotiations for
38021-404: Was the creation of the office of Plebeian Tribune , and with it the first acquisition of real power by the Plebeians. According to tradition, Rome became a republic in 509 BC. However, it took a few centuries for Rome to become the great city of popular imagination. By the 3rd century BC, Rome had become the pre-eminent city of the Italian peninsula. During the Punic Wars between Rome and
38218-399: Was the monk Ildebrando da Soana , who once elected pope under the name of Gregory VII became involved into the Investiture Controversy against Emperor Henry IV . Subsequently, Rome was sacked and burned by the Normans under Robert Guiscard who had entered the city in support of the Pope, then besieged in Castel Sant'Angelo . During this period, the city was autonomously ruled by
38415-409: Was to be a constant of the Middle Ages. This event marks the beginning of the Carolingian Empire , the first phase of the Holy Roman Empire . In 846, Muslim Arabs unsuccessfully stormed the city's walls , but managed to loot St. Peter 's and St. Paul's basilica, both outside the city wall. After the decay of Carolingian power , Rome fell prey to feudal chaos: several noble families fought against
38612-431: Was united as the Kingdom of Italy in 1861 with the temporary capital in Florence . That year Rome was declared the capital of Italy even though it was still under the Pope's control. During the 1860s, the last vestiges of the Papal States were under French protection thanks to the foreign policy of Napoleon III . French troops were stationed in the region under Papal control. In 1870 the French troops were withdrawn due to
38809-401: Was used as an excuse for new development. Rome was a subsidised city at the time, with roughly 15 to 25 percent of its grain supply being paid by the central government. Commerce and industry played a smaller role compared to that of other cities like Alexandria . This meant that Rome had to depend upon goods and production from other parts of the Empire to sustain such a large population. This
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