The history of the Roman world is an epic story which stretches out over the course of more than two millennia - the story of an small group of villages which went on to dominate a major part of the western world and was to substantially define its culture. It is obviously impossible to summarize the entire history within a few lines. However, most chronologies distinguish between the following phases:
- Origins and Roman Monarchy(753 - 509 B.C.) , a somewhat less familiar period, at the end of which Roman territory was only one small area, Latium, which remained threatened on all sides by Italic and Etruscan peoples.
- The Roman Republic (509 - 27 B.C.) paved the way for the institutions, administration and organizational structures that were to sustain the force of Rome. By 264 B.C.., Rome controlled the entire Italian peninsula. Its ambition would then be to dominate the Mediterranean. Following the destruction of Carthage in 146, this was achieved for the western part. Macedonia, allied with Carthage, was then defeated, and Greece was “liberated” from the Macedonians in 194. Rome occupied what is today the Turkish coastline. Julius Caesar was at the origin of the change which, within a few years (49-29 B.C.) would change the Roman institutions into an empire which covered almost the whole of the Mediterranean shores, plus Gaul and present day Spain.
- The Roman Empire (27 B.C. - 476 A.D.) increased the grasp of Rome on the Western world even more so. However signs of crisis increase from 250 A.D. onwards, with the rise of new peoples who threaten the borders of the Roman empire. Within the empire, Christianity progresses and the Emperor Constantine converts to it in 324. In 395, Theodosius shares the empire between his two sons. The Western Empire fell in 476, whereas the Byzantine Empire remained, with many trials and tribulations until 1453.
However things are not that simple. The rise of Rome and the fall of the Empire cannot be scribed by a smooth curve, and the periods of disorder were numerous - but to evoke them would mean entering into a “Roman history” requiring several volumes.
In addition, if Rome militarily conquered Greece, then undoubtedly Greek culture conquered the Roman world, and it caused an admiration and a passion which profoundly influenced it.
In its turn, Rome was to indelibly influence the western world, but in different aspects: although artistically inclined, the Romans left especially a legacy of pragmatism, of civic and legislative conscience, and of civil and military organization. This organization, their collective courage and the talent of their tenacious builders still makes its mark today.
