This article mentions the most significant events throughout the span of the history of Rome.[1]
Contents |
753 BC - According to Livy, the city is founded in this year by Romulus and Remus.
750 BC - Tarpeia besieges cities, and hands it over to the Sabines
c. 715 BC - The Roman King Numa Pompilius creates a 12-month calendar.
700 BC - Near Rome, the Etruscan civilization more or less begins.
659 BC - The enemy city of Alba Longa is destroyed by the Romans.
616 BC - The first Etruscan king of Rome, Tarquinius Priscus establishes a Forum and a Circus Maximum.
c.600 BC - Cloaca Maxima is probably first built around this year.
578 BC - Servius Tullius becomes the next Etruscan king of Rome
565 BC - Servian Walls are built.
534 BC - King Servurius is assassinated.
510 BC - Temple of Jupiter on the Capitol is completed and consecrated.
509 BC - Lucius Brutus Junior founds the republic and expels the Etruscans and Tarquin the Proud from Rome.
508 BC - A Treaty is made between Rome and Carthage.
507 BC - The famous war against the Etruscans begins, featuring hero Horatio.
499 BC - A battle against foreign tribes commences, including the construction of the Temple of Castor and Pollux.
396 BC - The Etruscan city of Veio is defeated by the Romans.
390 BC - the Gauls attempt to invade Rome, including the famous story of the quacking geese.
380 BC - The once destroyed Severian wall is reconstructed.
312 BC - The Via Appia and Aqua Appia are constructed.
264 - 241 BC - The period of the First Punic War
220 BC - Via Flamina is constructed.
218 - 202 BC - The Second Punic War
168 BC - The Romans have a great victory in the Macedonian War, conquering Greece.
149 - 146 BC - The Third Punic War
133 BC - 120 BC - Gracchi brothers are controversially killed.
71 BC - Spartacus is killed and his rebel army destroyed.
60 BC - Pompey, Crassus and Caesar rule Rome jointly.
51 BC - Caesar conquers Gaul
49 BC - Caesar crosses the Rubicon in order to take Rome.
44 BC - Caesar elects himself dictator, and in March is killed by Brutus and Cassius
27 BC - Augustus is made Rome's first emperor.
13 BC - The Ara Pacis is constituted since Augustus secured his empire.
42 AD - The apostle St Peter arrives in Rome.
64 AD - Rome burns, and by popular myth, was caused by Emperor Nero, who apparently fiddled when it happened.
c. 65 AD - Christians are first persecuted and killed by Nero.
67 AD - St Peter is crucified in Rome, and similarly St Paul is executed.
72 AD - Work on the Flavian Amphitheatre (Colosseum) begins.
125 AD - Emperor Hadrian has the Pantheon reconstructed to more or less how it is today.
212 AD - All the inhabitants of the empire are granted citizenship.
216 AD - Work on the Baths of Caracalla is finally over, as the building gets completed.
247 AD - The first millennium of Rome is celebrated.
270 AD - The Aurelian wall is begun.
284 AD - The Roman Empire is divided into Eastern and Western ones.
312 - Constantine the Great achieves winning the Roman Empire after the Battle of Milvian Bridge.
c.320 - The First St. Peter's Basilica is constructed.
380 - The Christian emperor Theodosius makes Christianity the official religion of Rome, persecuting pagans and destroying temples.
395 - Ravenna becomes the capital of the Western Roman Empire, whilst Constantinople that of the east.
410 - Rome is sacked by the Goths.
422 - The Church of Santa Sabina is founded.
455 - Rome is even more destructively sacked by the Vandals (thus the word vandalism was coined).
475 - The Western Empire falls, and Byzantium becomes the capital of the New Empire.
496 - The first pope to achieve the Pontifex Maximus is Anastasius II.
C. 590 - 604 - Pope Gregory the Great makes the Christian church exceedingly strong.
609 - The Pantheon becomes a Christian church.
630 - The Church of Sant' Agnese is the first Roman church to be constructed in Byzantine style.
725 - The King Ine of Wessex is the first man to create a hostel for pilgrims to Rome.
778 - Charlemagne conquers Italy and Rome.
800 - Charlemagne is crowned the emperor in St. Peter's Basilica.
880 - 932 - A rare occasion, the city is governed by women, Theodora and later her daughter Marozia.
961 - King Otto the Great of Germany becomes in Rome the world's first Holy Roman Emperor
1084 - The city of Rome is attacked by the Normans
1108 - The church of San Clemente is in this year rebuilt.
1140 - The church of Santa Maria in Trastevere is restored.
1200 - The city becomes an independent commune
1232 - The cloisters in the Basilica of St. John Lateran are finished.
1300 - Pope Boniface VIII proclaims the First Holy Year.
1309 - The Papacy is moved to Avignon under Pope Clement V
1347 - The patriot and rebel Cola di Rienzo tries to restore the Roman Republic.
1348 - Just like across Italy and parts of Europe, the Black Death strikes Rome.
1377 - The Papacy returns to Rome with Pope Gregory XI.
1409 - 1415 - For a short while, the Papacy moves over to Pisa.
1417 - The Great Schism of the 14th century is ended by Pope Martin V
1444 - Bramante is born.
1452 - Old St. Peter's Basilica is demolished and a new one is begun.
1475 - Painter Michelangelo is born.
1483 - Raphael is born.
1486 - The Palazzo della Cancelleria is built.
1506 - The first significant works on the New St. Peter's Basilica re begun with Pope Julius II
1508 - Michelangelo paints the famous Sistine Chapel
1519 - The famous frescos of the Villa Farnesina are finally completed.
1527 - Charles V's troops attack Rome, looting and ruining the city.
1547 - Michelangelo is appointed by Pope Paul III as the main architect of St. Peter's Basilica.
1568 - The Jesuits build the early Baroque church of the Gesu.
1571 - Caravaggio is born.
1585 - Rome's streets are re-planned by Pope Sixtus V
1595 - The frescos in the Palazzo Farnese are begun by Annibale Carracci
1600 - Giordano Bruno (philosopher) is burned at the stake for his heresies.
1624 - Apollo and Daphne, the sculpture by Bernini, is made in this year.
1626 - New St. Peter's Basilica is finally completed.
1633 - Galileo is condemned for heresy.
1651 - Piazza Navona is fully re-designed by Bernini.
1656 - Bernini's colonnades in St. Peter's Square are begun.
1657 - Borromini finishes his work in Sant' Agnese in Agone.
1694 - The Palazzo di Montecitorio is finished.
1721 - The English prince and pretender Bonnie Prince Charlie is born in the city.
1732 - Work on the Trevi Fountain begins.
1734 - The Palazzo Nuovo is made by Pope Clement XII the world's first public museum.
1735 - This is the year in which Rome's Spanish Steps are designed.
1751 - The Views of Rome by Piranesi revives interest in Rome's classical ruins.
1762 - The Trevi Fountain is completed.
1792 - Pope Clement XIII tomb by Canova is completed.
1797 - Napoleon Bonaparte has Rome captured.
1799 - Napoleon is driven out of Rome and Italy by the Russians and the Austrians
1800 - 1801 - Napoleon retakes Italy and Rome.
1807 - Garibaldi is born.
1816 - Work on the Piazza del Popolo begins.
1820 - There are a series of revolts in Rome and the rest of Italy.
1821 - The British poet Keats dies in Rome.
1848 - Uprisings in Rome.
1849 - The Pope is restored to power in the city, with French help.
1860 - Garibaldi and his famous 1,000 soldiers take Naples and Sicily.
1861 - The Kingdom of Italy is founded with Turin as its capital.
1870 - Rome is made part of the Italian kingdom.
1911 - The Vittorio Emanuele monument is completed.
1915 - Italy enters the World War I
1922 - March on Rome
1926 - Any party opposing Fascism is banned.
1929 - A separate country, the Vatican City is created with the Lateran Treaty.
1940 - EUR begins, and the nation enters World War II.
1944 - Rome is liberated by the Allied troops from the Germans.
1946 - A National Referendum states that Italy becomes a Republic.
1957 - Treaty of Rome
1960 - Rome hosts the Olympic Games with great success.
1962 - Roman Catholic church reforms are brought about with the Second Vatican Council.
1978 - Italian prime minister Aldo Moro is kidnapped and later killed by the Brigate Rosse; Pope John Paul I and Pope John Paul II are made popes in this year.
c.1978 - 1990 - Years of Lead.
1981 - An assassination attempt on Pope John Paul II is made this year in St. Peter's Basilica Square.
1990 - Rome hosts the football (soccer) World Cup.
1993 - Francesco Rutelli becomes the first elected mayor of Rome.
2000 - The city enters the New Millennium, featuring a new Holy Year, or the Jubilee.
2004 - A new constitution of the EU signed in Rome.
2005 - Pope John Paul II dies in Rome, and Pope Benedict XVI takes his place.