86 Roman history Timeline

Roman Timeline

An Era-by-Era Timeline of Ancient Rome

1.  Roman Kings

In the legendary period, there were 7 kings of Rome, some Roman, but others Sabine or Etruscan. Not only did the cultures mingle, but they started to compete for territory and alliances. Rome expanded, extending to about 350 square miles during this period, but the Romans didn't care for their monarchs and got rid of them.

1.  Roman Kings

In the legendary period, there were 7 kings of Rome, some Roman, but others Sabine or Etruscan. Not only did the cultures mingle, but they started to compete for territory and alliances. Rome expanded, extending to about 350 square miles during this period, but the Romans didn't care for their monarchs and got rid of them.

2.  Early Roman Republic

The Roman Republic began after the Romans deposed their last king, in about 510 B.C., and lasted until a new form of monarchy began, the principate, under Augustus, at the very end of the 1st century B.C.This Republican period lasted about 500 years. After about 300 B.C., the dates become reasonably reliable.

The early period of the Roman Republic was all about expanding and building Rome into a world power to be reckoned with. The early period ended with the start of the Punic Wars.

Learn more through the Early Republican Rome 

3.  Late Republican Period

The Late Republican Period continues Rome's expansion, but it's easy -- with hindsight -- to see it as a downward spiral. Instead of the great sense of patriotism and working together for the good of the republic that was celebrated in the legendary heroes, individuals began to gather power and use it to their advantage. While the Gracchi may have had the interests of the lower classes in mind, their reforms were divisive: It's hard to rob Paul to pay Peter without bloodshed. Marius reformed the army, but between him and his enemy Sulla, there was a bloodbath in Rome. A relative by marriage of Marius, Julius Caesar created civil war in Rome. While he was dictator, a conspiracy of his fellow consuls assassinated him, putting an end to the Late Republican Period.

4.  Principate

The Principate is the first part of the Imperial Period. Augustus was first among equals or princeps. We call him Rome's first emperor. The second part of the Imperial Period is known as the Dominate. By that time, there was no pretense that the princeps was an equal.

During the time of the first imperial dynasty, the Julio-Claudians, Jesus was crucified, Caligula lived licentiously, Claudius died of a poison mushroom at the hand of his wife, supposedly, and was succeeded by her son, a would-be performer, Nero, who committed ​assisted-suicide to avoid being murdered. The next dynasty was the Flavian, associated with destruction in Jerusalem. Under Trajan, the Roman Empire reached its greatest expanse. After him came the wall-builder Hadrian and the philosopher-king Marcus Aurelius. Problems of administering so large an empire led to the next stage.

he principate is the name we give to mark the period in ancient Roman history when one man (the princeps) took political control. The period of the principate runs from Augustus to Diocletian, who split the Roman Empire into four parts, the tetrarchy. The earlier period, the Republic, is seen as a time of greater freedom than the principate, but the principate initially brought peace from civil war.

Sometimes the term principate is used to cover the period from Augustus to the Fall of Rome in A.D. 476.

5.  The Dominate

When Diocletian came to power, the Roman Empirewas already too big for one emperor to handle. Diocletian started the tetrarchy or system of 4 rulers, two subordinates (Caesars) and two full-fledged emperors (Augusti). The Roman Empire was split between an eastern and a western section. It was during the Dominate that Christianity went from a persecuted sect to the national religion. During the Dominate, barbarians attacked Rome and the Roman Empire. The city of Rome was sacked, but by that time, the capital of the Empire was no longer in the city. Constantinople was the eastern capital, so when the last emperor of the west, Romulus Augustulus, was deposed, there was still a Roman Empire, but it was headquartered in the East. The next phase was the Byzantine Empire, which lasted until 1453, when the Turks sacked Constantinople.