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The legend goes that Rome was founded by two brothers, Romulus and Remus. They were sent by the king to be drowned in the river as infants but they were rescued by a wolf who raised them. They grew up to kill the king and they founded the city of Rome. Romulus and Remus had a disagreement over the land and Romulus killed his brother, so Rome was named after him.

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The Roman Republic was formed in 509 B.C. Before this Rome was ruled by the nearby Etruscan kings. All of the kings were eventually overthrown, and the wealthy citizens of Rome formed a new government where the people had power.

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The Twelve Tables were the laws of rome engraved into twelve tablets. They were created by a commission of men for the purpose of keeping the Roman people safe and in line.

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In 218 B.C. Hannibal, a general from Carthage carried out an attack on Italy. He led his army of about 30,000 troops over the Alps to Rome. Hannibal was a very strong general and achieved many other victories but he was not able to conquer Rome. These events were apart of the Second Punic War that lasted from 218 B.C. to 201 B.C. and ended with Hannibal being defeated by the Roman army.

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Julius Caesar Becomes Dictator - 45 B.C.

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Julius Caesar Becomes Dictator - 45 B.C.

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Julius Caesar was a highly respected and powerful politician and military general. He directly disobeyed the orders of the senate when they told him to disband his army and he ended up causing a civil war, which he emerged victorious from. With all of his enemies defeated he was now probably the most powerful man in Rome and was named dictator. Dictators normally only lasted 6 months but Caesar proclaimed himself dictator for life.

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Some people did not like Caesars dictatorship. They were concerned about the idea of absolute power granted to one person and feared the danger it could cause. Some also did not like the reforms he had made to the government. A group of senators who opposed him made the decision to assassinate him, wanting to preserve the traditions of Rome.

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Julius Caesar's death was the event that caused a long period of unrest in Rome followed by many civil wars which led to the end of the Roman Republic. The Roman Empire rose in its place and Octavian Caesar, Caesar's nephew was crowned the first emperor of Rome. He then renamed himself Augustus. The way the government and leadership was organized had changed greatly and so had the entirety of Rome.

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On July 18th, a great fire broke out in Rome, causing large damage to the majority of the city. Hundreds of people were dead and thousands had lost their homes. The fire burned for 9 days before finally dying out. The story goes that Nero, the current emperor, was seen playing the fiddle at the edge of the city. Many people believe that he was the one who started the fire, but nobody knows what really caused it. Nero blamed the growing population of Christians for the fire and had hundreds of them arrested and executed.

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The Roman Colosseum was a giant amphitheatre, probably the most important and memorable building from Ancient Rome, it serves as a reminder of Rome's great history and architecture. Construction started in 70-72 A.D. under the rule of emperor Vespasian and it was finished about a decade later in 80 A.D. It was created as a gift to the people and to restore the greatness of Rome. When The Colosseum was finished emperor Titus held a hundred days of games. Tens of thousands of people would gather in The Colosseum, the main attraction was the gladiator battles where two men would fight to the death. People also would come to watch battles with animals, executions of prisoners, and simulated naval battles. The arena would be flooded from tunnels underground.

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In 380 A.D. Christianity was made the official religion of the Roman Empire. Christianity had been slowly spreading through Rome for hundreds of years. Though they were originally persecuted, as the religion grew in popularity they grew to be accepted. In 313 A.D. Christianity was granted legal status, when before it was a crime to practice. Theodosius was the emperor who named it official, specifically only the Nicene subset of Christianity though, most others were still banned. Christianity being made the official religion of Rome is what caused it to gain so much widespread popularity, and set it on the path to becoming the most practiced religion in the world.

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The Visigoths were a group of Germanic people living in the Roman Empire. On August 27th 410 A.D. they carried out a three day long attack on Rome led by their king Alaric, looting and causing damage to the city. The Visigoths had a history of being mistreated by Rome and they wanted vengeance, as well as the wealth and power that rome held. The Roman Empire had been slowly breaking apart for a while now, it had already split in two, into the Western and Eastern regions. Rome wasn't even the capital anymore. The sack was a big hit on Rome, the city hadn't been defeated like this for hundreds of years. This defeat signified that Rome wasn't the great empire it once used to be.

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The Roman Empire had been on a gradual decline for years, the Visigoths attack was really what sealed its fate. The military and political system had fallen apart, Rome was not seen as strong anymore. The Germanic people had mostly taken over Rome and in 476 A.D. the last emperor Romulus Augustulus was deposed by the German chief. The Western Roman Empire had fallen, but the East remained, now known as the Byzantine Empire. Their power stayed for many more centuries, but it would never have the same greatness and influence that Rome once did.