Ancient Rome

Roma
753 BC–476/4801 AD
Motto: Senatus Populusque Romanus
Territories of the Roman civilisation:   Roman Republic   Roman Empire   Western Roman Empire   Eastern Roman Empire
Status	Kingdom  (753–509 BC) Republic  (509–27 BC) Empire  (27 BC–476 AD)
Capital	Rome (and others during the late Empire, notably Constantinople and Ravenna)
Common languages	Latin
Government	Elective absolute monarchy (753–509 BC) Mixed diarchic constitutional republic (509 BC–476 AD, only de jure after 27 BC) absolute monarchy (27 BC–476 AD, de facto)
Historical era	Ancient history
• Founding of Rome	753 BC
• Overthrow of Tarquin the Proud	509 BC
• Octavian proclaimed Augustus	27 BC
• Collapse of the Western Roman Empire	476/4801 AD
^ While the deposition of Emperor Romulus Augustulus in 476 is the most commonly cited end date for the Western Roman Empire, the last Western Roman emperor Julius Nepos, was assassinated in 480, when the title and notion of a separate Western Empire were abolished. Another suggested end date is the reorganization of the Italian peninsula and abolition of separate Western Roman administrative institutions under Emperor Justinian during the latter half of the 6th century.

In modern historiography, ancient Rome is the Roman civilisation from the founding of the Italian city of Rome in the 8th century BC to the collapse of the Western Roman Empire in the 5th century AD. It encompasses the Roman Kingdom (753–509 BC), the Roman Republic (509–27 BC), and the Roman Empire (27 BC–476 AD) until the fall of the western empire.^[1][a]

Ancient Rome began as an Italic settlement, traditionally dated to 753 BC, beside the River Tiber in the Italian Peninsula. The settlement grew into the city and polity of Rome, and came to control its neighbours through a combination of treaties and military strength. It eventually controlled the Italian Peninsula, assimilating the Greek culture of southern Italy (Magna Grecia) and the Etruscan culture, and then became the dominant power in the Mediterranean region and parts of Europe. At its height it controlled the North African coast, Egypt, Southern Europe, and most of Western Europe, the Balkans, Crimea, and much of the Middle East, including Anatolia, Levant, and parts of Mesopotamia and Arabia. That empire was among the largest empires in the ancient world, covering around 5 million square kilometres (1.9 million square miles) in AD 117,^[2] with an estimated 50 to 90 million inhabitants, roughly 20% of the world's population at the time.^[b] The Roman state evolved from an elective monarchy to a classical republic and then to an increasingly autocratic military dictatorship during the Empire.

Ancient Rome is often grouped into classical antiquity together with ancient Greece, and their similar cultures and societies are known as the Greco-Roman world. Ancient Roman civilisation has contributed to modern language, religion, society, technology, law, politics, government, warfare, art, literature, architecture, and engineering. Rome professionalised and expanded its military and created a system of government called res publica, the inspiration for modern republics such as the United States and France.^[3] It achieved impressive technological and architectural feats, such as the empire-wide construction of aqueducts and roads, as well as more grandiose monuments and facilities.

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