MESSAGES FROM THE ALL HISTORY OF ROME WITH RADIALIST ROBERTO BARROS

Here I want to show an unprecedented narration as a full message

that defines itself about a great and fabulous story in which I show

about the ancient city called Rome that I tell about beautiful and

unforgettable international romantic songs for everyone to listen to

with immense love to understand and feel deeply about beautiful

knowledge that mixes with the true dynamics that we can remember

several ancient events that can tell us and show us great stories

that marked a great era of dreams where fantasy can be the best

companion of a great adventurous dream that we seek in your past or

in the future a deep relationship and reaction with the most

codifying nature that lacks pleasure and love for our world and that

makes us seek among many trajectories and achievements a valuable

role in getting to know much better and with divine love the very life

in which we live here in simple words that we can simply be well

connected about our desires to be happy, knowledge from our

ancestor's life, recognition with our own Self that we dedicate

ourselves to the mere pleasure of getting to know life and our world

much better through the best way to live and be happy where here

now with much love, dedication to all my formidable listeners, I want

to say that we satisfactorily admit by a simple notion and desire

about life that life is perhaps a fleeting thing and that we are duly

delving deeper into a space that I simply believe that we will still

meet as we have a lot to know and tell beautiful and extraordinary

stories that simply reveal to us a very remote era of our time and

that we are synchronized with the era of young people who have

always believed in the past as an answer to the true future and that

we can fully know it as closely as we have to take them as a friend of

a simple adventurous notion that in everything and through

everything passes through us and that will always be kept as a

memory and souvenir of a great time that here now let's remember

with beautiful love songs about a romantic moment of pleasure where

the radio waves synchronize us with power and that we can dream

much better about the future in which here I will tell a beautiful

story for everyone to hear in which here I leave my best hug as

writer and radio host Roberto Barros. Hugs!

I want to express in a few words a historical reunion of a city that

dates back to around 753 BC, with the founding of a small town on

the Italian peninsula. Although the foundation took place in the 8th

century BC, the oldest written record is that established by the

historian Marco Terêncio Varrão (116 BC - 27 BC) during the reign of

Augustus, around 500 years after the fact. Over time, Rome became

the center of a vast civilization that dominated the Mediterranean

region for centuries, and which would be overthrown by some

Germanic tribes, beginning the historiographical era of the Middle

Ages.

Let us see that we are fully showing a rich history that begins in a

very ancient era and that its particularities show us that a great

development has taken place in which art and politics play a great

role in the history of the Romans that today we can understand

their deep values and mysteries that make us highlight a true

custom and love for Rome and that Rome is simply a warrior city that

has always had a great relationship with man and the gods that we

can believe in their words and constructions of a great people who

today shows a more fertile and stronger dignity under a great

domain and military strength over a great region that transformed

us and made us believe under its influences and customs that we can

fully know in art and culture, both political and artistic, which has

demonstrated a great role for the entire world in which cinema

portrays us and has made the world a great triumphal scale of

certain films and great stories that makes me understand the

culture and history narrated in depth on a certain poster that we

conceal the knowledge and unfolding through art and culture and

that today we can understand where the world began and its variable

ways of living and that there are in the dreams of each one great

magical processes that culture unfolds for us and makes us

contemplate a great desire for our ancestors and that culture today

today be more realistic to our point of view in which we are

committed to preserving above all a very fine role in socialist

development in which we can say that Rome has class, it means love,

it is glory and work and development and that I want to show by I

complete here now his entire history in which we are preserved in

time and in the past and today we understand his origin much more

classical and better from his reign until his maturity with life in

general.

Theater of Ancient Rome

Roman mosaic depicting actors and an aulus player (House of the

Tragic Poet, Pompeii)

The theater of Ancient Rome was a diverse artistic modality,

extending from street theater and acrobatics at festivals to the

staging of the comedies of Plautus and Terence and the tragedies of

Seneca. Although Rome had its own performance tradition, cultural

Hellenization in the third century BC had a profound and energizing

effect on that civilization's theater, stimulating the development of

high-quality literature conducive to performance.

The historian Livy postulated that the Romans had experienced

theatrical art for the first time in the 4th century BC, through a

performance by Etruscan actors. Beacham argues that this

civilization would have known "pre-theatrical practices" some time

before recorded. Roman drama began to develop in 240 BC, with the

execution of productions by Livy Andronicus. This modality remained

popular in late antiquity, in the middle of the 4th century AD, with

102 out of 176 public games dedicated to theater, in addition to

events with gladiators and chariot races, in considerably fewer

numbers.

Kingdom of Rome

Kingdom of Rome, also known as Roman monarchy or royal period, is

the expression used by convention to define the Roman monarchical

state from its origin (April 21, 753 BC) until the fall of royalty in

509 BC. The documentation of this period is precarious and even the

names of the kings are uncertain, citing only the legendary kings,

presented in the works of Virgil (Aeneid) and Titus Livy (Ab Urbe

condita libri). Its origins are imprecise, although it seems clear that

it was the city's first form of government, a fact that archeology

and linguistics seem to confirm.

According to legendary tradition, Rome was ruled by seven kings.

The ancients attribute to each sovereign an innovation for the

formation of Roman institutions: Romulus (r. 753–717 BC) founded

the city and kidnapped the Sabine women; Numa Pompilius (r. 717–

673 BC) created religious institutions, priesthoods and rites; Túlio

Hostílio (r. 673–642 BC) destroyed Alba Longa; Ancus Márcio (r.

640–616 BC) founded the colony of Ostia; Tarquinius Priscus (r. 616–

579 BC) carried out major construction work in Rome; Servius Tullius

(r. 578–535 BC) divided Roman society into census classes; and

Tarquin the Proud (r. 534–509 BC) represented the typical Roman

tyrant.

The king (rex) accumulated executive, judicial, legislative and

religious functions. The ratification of laws was carried out by the

Assembly of Curia, made up of all citizens of military age (up to 45

years old), and the Senate, or "council of elders", acted as a royal

council and chose new kings. In the final phase of royalty, from the

end of the 7th century BC, Rome was dominated by the Etruscans.

They influenced the Romans both on a cultural level (spreading the

use of tunics, religious practices and worship of new gods), and on a

material level (expanding trade and creating drainage channels to

dry local swamps).

The traditional chronicles, which have reached the present day

through authors such as Livy, Plutarch, Dionysius of Halicarnassus,

among others, say that there was a succession of seven kings. The

traditional chronology, narrated by Marco Terêncio Varrão, shows

that these reigns were 243 years in total duration, that is, there is

an average of 35 years per reign (much longer than any documented

dynasty), still reevaluated today, since the work of Barthold Georg

Niebuhr. The reigns of the first monarchs raise great doubts for

historians, due to their large average length and the fact that some

appear to be rounded.

Foundation

Legend

Aeneas carrying Anchises (enócoa with Attic black painting c.

520−510 BC), Louvre Museum

Verse from a Roman didrachm, anonymous author (ca. 269-266 BC)

In Virgil's Aeneid and Livy's Ab Urbe condita libri, Aeneas, son of

the goddess Venus, flees Troy with his father Anchises, his son

Ascanius and the survivors of the city. With him he made several

pilgrimages that finally took him to Lazio, in Italy, where he was

received by the local Latin king, who offered the hand of his

daughter, Lavinia. This provokes the fury of the King of the Rutuli,

Turnus, a powerful Italic monarch who had taken an interest in her.

A terrible war between the populations of the peninsula breaks out

and as a result, Turno is killed. Aeneas, now married, founds the city

of Lavinius in honor of his wife. His son, Ascânio, rules the city for

thirty years until he decides to move and found his own city, Alba

Longa.

About 400 years later, the son and legitimate heir of the twelfth

king of Alba Longa, Numitor, is deposed by a stratagem by his

brother Amulius. To secure the throne, Amulius murders Numitor's

male descendants and forces his niece Rhea Sílvia to become a vestal

(virgin priestess, consecrated to the goddess Vesta), however, she

becomes pregnant by the god Mars and from this union the brothers

Romulus and Remus (born March 771 BC). As punishment, Amulius

locks Rhea in a dungeon and orders her children to be thrown into

the Tiber River. By miracle, the basket where the children were

staying ends up getting stuck on one of the banks of the river at the

foot of the Palatine Hill where they are found by a she-wolf who

breastfeeds them; Next to the children was a woodpecker, a bird

sacred to the Latins and to the god Mars, who protects them. Some

time later, a sheepherder named Fáustulo finds the boys near the

foot of the Fig Tree Ruminal (Ficus Ruminalis), at the entrance to a

cave called Lupercal. He collects them and takes them to his home

where they are raised by his wife Aca Larência.

Rômulo and Remus grow up with the region's shepherds, hunting,

running and exercising; They plundered the caravans that passed

through the region in search of booty. In one of the robberies, Remo

is captured and taken to Alba Longa. Fáustulo then reveals to Rômulo

the story of his origin. He leaves for the city of his ancestors, frees

his brother, kills Amulius, restores Numitor to the throne and gives

his mother all the honors due to him. Realizing that they would have

no future in the city, the twins decide to leave the city along with all

the undesirables and then found a new city in the place where they

were abandoned. Romulus wanted to call it Rome and build it on the

Palatine, while Remus wanted to name it Remora and found it on the

Aventine. As a way of deciding, it was established that it was

necessary to indicate, through auspices, who would be chosen to give

the name to the new city and reign after the foundation. This

generated disagreement among the spectators, which led to a fierce

argument between the brothers that ended with Remus' death. An

alternative version states that, to surprise his brother, Remus would

have climbed the city's newly built quadrangular yard and taken it in

a rage, Romulus would have murdered him.

Archeology

Map of the Seven Hills of Rome

Primitive huts found on the Palatine Hill (8th century BC) Classical

authors such as Livy, Plutarch and Dionysius of Halicarnassus based

their accounts on fragments of works by older writers, such as

Helanicus of Mytilene, a Greek author from the 5th century BC. ,

tried to find rational explanations for unlikely passages in the city's

creation myth, such as the Capitoline wolf. The Romans designated

the female wolf and the prostitute by the same word, lupa. Thus,

historians claim that in reality the twins' nurse would have been Aca

Larência, wife of Fáustulo, who would have worked as a prostitute.

The first inhabitants of Rome, the Latins and Sabines, are part of

the group of Indo-European populations originating from Central

Europe who came to the Italian peninsula in successive waves in the

middle of the 2nd millennium BC; Old Latium (Latium Vetus) was the

ancient territory of the Latins, currently southern Latium; in case of

danger, the Latin-Sabian dwellings united in confederations to face

their enemies. The hills of Rome began to be occupied at the

beginning of the 1st millennium BC; Archaeological remains dated

between the 14th and 10th centuries BC are the first evidence of

habitation on the Palatine. Three successive overlapping walled

enclosures have been dated at the site, two to the 8th-7th

centuries BC and one to the 7th-6th centuries BC

Location

Rome grew up on the left bank of a navigable stretch of the Tiber

River, about 25 kilometers from its mouth, therefore with easy

access to the Tyrrhenian Sea. It had the advantages of a position

that was both maritime and inland. Located about twenty kilometers

from the Alban hills, which constitute a natural defense, on a plain

far enough from the sea, the city would not need to fear incursions

by pirates. Furthermore, both the river itself (and Tiber Island) and

the Capitol and Palatine Hills operated as easily defensible natural

citadels. However, Rome's greatest asset in terms of its location

was its proximity to the Tiber River. This played a fundamental role

in the city's economic development because goods that came from

the sea had to go up the river to be sent either to Etruria or to

Greek Campania (Magna Grecia). In this way, Rome was able to

monopolize land traffic, since it was located at the intersection of

the main roads in the Italian interior. Furthermore, because there

are important salt pans close to the city, Rome managed to become

the perfect market point on the "salt route", later known as via

Salaria.

Development

Terracotta funerary urn dating from the 8th century BC found in

Lazio. Its shape would be an artistic representation of the dwellings

of the period. More information here

Rome was initially a small settlement or group of settlements located

on the Palatine Hill and the surrounding hills. Its population was

around a few hundred inhabitants who based their economy on

agriculture (wheat, barley, peas, beans), livestock (goats, pigs),

fishing, hunting and gathering; the manufacture of ceramic items,

clothing and other household items were produced by families for

internal consumption; there was no defined social stratification.

From ca. 770 BC archaeological sites in the region, especially

necropolises, began to demonstrate a greater number of human

remains, which indicates human growth, external influences derived

from commercial contacts, especially with the Greek colonies of

Campania, greater artisanal specialization (use of wheel potter), and

the emergence of economically differentiated social classes; such

processes intensified between the end of the 8th and 7th centuries

BC

Many graves from the period, found in various locations in Lazio,

contain individuals with ornaments that highlight their wealth, which

can be understood as evidence of the progressive formation of a

dominant aristocracy, which controlled the means of production, as

well as surpluses, acquiring a hereditary characteristic in maintaining

power. In this context, many settlements showed notable growth,

becoming centers of power that were fortified with terraces and

moats (remains of a wall dating from 730 BC were found in the

Northeast in the Palatine); Rome, previously a small settlement on

the Palatine, covered in the middle of the 7th century BC the Forum

Valley, the Quirinal, part of the Esquiline and the Caelian. At the end

of the 7th century BC, archaeological evidence points to an intense

urbanization process: huts were replaced by more solid houses

(stone foundations, wooden structures and tiled roofs); a public

square was opened in the Forum; traces of public buildings,

sanctuaries and temples were detected along with tiles, terracottas

and decorative friezes.

Society

Representation of a Roman family, Vatican Museum The Roman social

base was the gentes (clans), kinship associations between families

who believed they descended from common ancestors who, in order

to express their relationship, used the same name. Under these

conditions, each member of a people (the "gentil") had two names, a

personal one (first name; e.g. Marco, Cneu, Tito) and a gentilicio

(name; e.g. Márcio, Névio, Tácio); Due to the evident autonomy that

the people had in the social context, it is speculated that they

existed since before the formation of the State in Rome. Each

family that made up the people was controlled by a respective

paterfamilias who exercised absolute power (inpotesty) over their

property, animals, slaves, children and wife; Based on his power

(patria potestas), the paterfamilias had the right to kill or sell any

member of his family, represented it in its relations with other

families and the community and performed rites and sacrifices in

honor of ancestors and gods. Thus, even as adults, their children did

not acquire legal autonomy until the death of the paterfamilies, when

in their own right they were considered patresfamilias rum.

From the term pater the term patrician was coined, the name of the

dominant social layer in Rome. This layer boasted a greater number

of herds, lands and slaves, in the same way that they were

bequeathed the right to exercise public, military, religious, legal and

administrative functions; sometimes they appropriated the ager

publicus, lands that belonged to the government. Below the

patricians was the clientele (singular: client), a class made up of

commoners, freed slaves, foreigners or illegitimate children who

associated themselves with the patricians, providing them with

various services in exchange for economic aid and social protection.

This relationship between patricians and clientele was based mainly

on moral rather than legal connotations, since clients enjoyed the

"trust" (fides) of their lords. The clientele had among their

obligations the cultivation of part of the patricians' lands, as well as

providing military services. The greater the number of clients under

the protection of a patrician, the greater his social and political

prestige.

The plebeians (from plebs, crowd) were peasants, small farmers,

artisans and traders. In the monarchical period, commoners did not

have political rights although they were subject to tax burdens and

military obligations. Marriage between plebeians and patricians was

prohibited to avoid the mixing of both social classes. At the

threshold of the Roman social pyramid were slaves who were

defeated in war or commoners in debt. In the case of commoners,

slavery could occur in two ways. The first occurred when an

impoverished family sold their own children into slavery. The second

was a form of debt payment, that is, the debtor, unable to pay his

debts, could become a slave to the creditor. They were seen as

instruments of work, being considered the property of their master,

and could be sold, exchanged, rented or punished. As a slave, the

person did not have any rights, such as to marry, move from one

place to another, participate in assemblies and make decisions.

During the monarchy they were few in number.

Roman women, matrons (matronae), had the right to own property,

be educated and participate more actively in social activities, such as

banquets and election campaigns.

Political institutions

Senate

Cicero denounces Catilina, a fresco that represents the Roman

Senate meeting in the Hostilian Curia. Palazzo Madama, Rome

The Latin term senātus is derived from senex, meaning "old man".

Therefore, senate literally means "council of elders." Its origin

possibly comes from the tribal structure of the Lazio communities in

which there was often an aristocratic council of tribal elders. Early

Roman families were denoted gentes or clans that were governed by

a patriarch, the "father" (pater). When these first families came

together to form Rome, the patriarchs of the main people were

selected to participate in a council of elders (the future senate).

Over time, however, they recognized the need for a single leader,

leading them to elect a king (rex) and invest their sovereign power in

him. When the king died, power would naturally revert to them. The

senate had three main responsibilities: it functioned as the

definitive repository for executive power, advisor to the king and as

a legislative body in tune with the people of Rome. Roman senators

met in a temple (templum) or any other location that had been

consecrated by a religious official (augur).

During the monarchy, the most important function of the senate was

to select new kings. The period between the death of a king and the

election of the next was known as interregnum, when a king died, a

member of the senate (the buried) nominated a candidate to replace

him. In the first interregnum, which occurred after Romulus'

disappearance, the senate, which was then made up of one hundred

men, was divided into ten decurias, each governed by a decurion who

served as inter-king for five days. For a year the decurios

alternated in power until the new king was acclaimed. After the

Senate gave its initial approval of the candidate, he was formally

elected by the people and would then receive final approval from the

Senate. Thus, although the king was officially elected by the people,

the decision was effectively made by the senate. The most

significant role of the senate beyond royal elections was that of the

king's advisory council. Although the king was not bound by the

senatorial council, the growing prestige of the senate made his

council increasingly reckless. Technically, the Senate could make

laws, although it would be incorrect to view Senate decrees as

legislation in the modern sense. Only the king could decree new laws,

although he often involved both the senate and the curial assembly

(popular assembly) in the process. However, the king was free to

ignore any decision the senate had approved.

Legislative assemblies

Servian Wall (in red) and its respective gates

Legislative assemblies were the main institutions. One of them, the

assembly of curias, although it had some legislative powers, only had

the right to symbolically ratify decrees issued by the king. The

functions of another, the "Silent Assembly" (comitiacalata), were

purely religious. During this period, all citizens of Rome, that is,

individuals of military age (up to 45 years old), were divided into a

total of 30 curias, the basic units of division in the two popular

assemblies. Members of each curia would vote, and then the

majority would determine how the curia would vote before the

assembly.

The assembly of curias (comitia curiata) was the only popular

assembly with any political significance during the Kingdom of Rome.

The king presided over the assembly, and submitted decrees for the

assembly to ratify. An inter-king presided over the assembly during

the intercalary periods between kings. After the selection of a new

king and the initial approval of the senate was conceived, the burial

held the formal election before the assembly of the curias. The new

king interpreted the auspices (omens of the gods), and if these were

favorable, legal powers (the lex curiata of empire) were granted to

the candidate. On Kalends (first day of the month) and Nones (fifth

or seventh day of the month), this assembly met to hear

announcements. Appeals heard by the curial assembly often dealt

with issues relating to family law.

During two fixed days in the spring, the assembly was scheduled for

testimonies of wills and adorations. All other meetings did not have

pre-fixed dates and were held as needed. She also had jurisdiction

over the admission of new families to a curia, the transfer of

families between two curias, as well as the transfer of plebeian

individuals to the patrician state (or vice versa), or the restoration

of citizenship to an individual. The assembly usually decided such

matters under the presidency of a maximum pontiff. Since the

assembly was primarily a legislative assembly, it was (theoretically)

responsible for ratifying laws. However, the assembly's rejection of

such laws did not prevent their promulgation. On some occasions the

assembly of curias reaffirmed the legal authority of a king, and

sometimes ratified the decision to go to war.

The Silent Assembly (comitia calata) was the oldest Roman assembly.

It met in the Capitol and was called by the assemblies of the curia

and/or centuries. The assembly had the function of inaugurating the

king of sacred things (rex sacrorum) or any flame or vestal.

Occasionally the people were summoned to meetings that dealt with

cases such as detentatio sacrorum, that is, situations in which an

individual renounced the cult of his people and, through adoption, a

very common practice with the aim of establishing ties between

people, He adopted the cult of his new people. the people had

nominal participation in the assembly.

Executive judiciaries

Circus Maximus (in red)

During the reign of Rome, the king was the main executive

magistracy. He was the chief executive, high priest, chief legislator,

supreme judge, and commander in chief of the army. His powers

rested on law and legal precedence, and he could only receive these

powers through the political process of a democratic election. In

practice, he had no real restrictions on his power. When a war broke

out, he had the sole authority to organize the troops, select leaders

for the army, and conduct the campaign as he saw fit. He controlled

all assets held by the State, had the exclusive competence to divide

the land and spoils of war, was the city's main representative in

relations with the gods or the leaders of other communities, and

could unilaterally decree any new law. According to the historian

Sallust, the degree of legal authority (imperium) held by the Roman

king was known as legitimum imperium. This probably means that the

only restriction on the king was the mosmaiorum. This, for example,

suggests (but does not require) that he should consult the senate

before making decisions.

While the king could unilaterally declare war, for example, he

normally preferred to have these declarations ratified by the

popular assembly, furthermore, he did not normally decide matters

dealing with Roman family law, but rather let the popular assembly

decide such matters. While the king had absolute power over

criminal and civil trials, he probably only acted on cases at their

initial stage (in iure), then forwarding the case to one of his

assistants (a judge; in Latin: iudex) for decision. In the most serious

criminal cases, the king could refer the case to the people, gathered

in a popular assembly, for judgment. Furthermore, the king usually

received consent from the other priests before introducing new

deities. Sometimes he presented his decrees to both the popular

assembly and the senate for ceremonial ratification, but the

rejection of his decrees did not prevent their promulgation. The king

chose several officials to help him and unilaterally granted their

powers. When the king left the city, an urban mayor (praefectus

urbi) presided over the city in his place. The king also had two

quaestors as general assistants, while several other officials, the

duumviri perdulionis (duumviri perduellionis), assisted him during

cases of treason. In war, the king occasionally commanded only the

infantry, and delegated command of the cavalry to one of his

personal bodyguards, the tribune of the swift (tribunus celerum).

According to some theories, from the 6th century BC, with the

decline of the monarchical system, kings were replaced by life-long

masters of the people (magistri populi) (dictator) in executive

conduct.

Roman kings

The traditional chronicles, which have reached the present day

through authors such as Livy, Plutarch, Dionysius of Halicarnassus,

etc., say that there was a succession of seven kings. The traditional

chronology, narrated by Marco Terêncio Varrão, shows that these

reigns were 243 years in total duration, that is, there is an average

of 35 years per reign (much longer than any documented dynasty),

still reevaluated today, since the work of Barthold Georg Niebuhr.

The Gauls, led by Brennus, sacked Rome after their victory in the

Battle of Ália in 390/387 BC, so that all historical records of the

city were destroyed, including those from older phases. Therefore,

later sources, referring to the oldest period, must be analyzed with

caution, as they were written centuries after the events.

The reigns of the first monarchs raise great doubts for historians,

due to their long average duration and the fact that some seem to

be rounded to around 40 years. This curious fact, which stands out

even more when compared to current reigns, in which life expectancy

is greater, was explained in Roman traditions because most kings had

been related to their predecessor. However, it is more likely that

only the last kings actually existed, and so far no historical evidence

has yet been discovered regarding the first.

Romulo

Romulus transports rich booty to the temple of Jupiter, Jean-

Auguste Dominique Ingres, École des Beaux-Arts, Paris

Abduction of the Sabines, oil by Pietro de Cortona (ca 1627–1629),

Capitoline Museums, Rome

Romulus was not only the first king of Rome, but also its founder,

along with his twin Remus. In the year 753 BC, both began to build

the city next to the Palatine Hill, when, according to legend, Romulus

killed Remus for having sacrilegiously crossed the pomerium. After

the founding of the urbe (city), Romulus invited criminals, escaped

slaves and assistants to provide assistance in the new city, thus

populating five of Rome's seven hills. To obtain wives for his

citizens, Romulus invited the Sabines to a festival, where he

kidnapped the Sabine women and took them to Rome. After the

subsequent war with the Sabines, Romulus united the Sabines and

the Romans under the government of a diarchy together with the

Sabine leader Titus Tácio.

Romulus divided the population of Rome between strong men and

those unfit to fight. The fighters constituted the first Roman

legions; although the rest became commoners of Rome, Romulus

selected one hundred of the highest-ranking men as senators. These

men were called fathers and their descendants would be the

patricians, the Roman nobility. After the union between the Romans

and the Sabines, Romulus added another hundred men to the senate.

Under the reign of Romulus, the institution of augurs was also

established as part of the Roman religion, as was the assembly of

curia. Romulus divided the people of Rome into three tribes: Romans

(Ramnes), Sabines (Titians) and the rest (Lucers). Each tribe elected

ten curias (community of men), also providing 100 knights (celeres)

and 1,000 infantry soldiers (milites) each, thus forming the first

legion of 300 riders and 3,000 infants; occasionally he could summon

a second legion in case of urgency. These tribal contingents were

commanded by military tribunes (tribuni militum) and cavalry

tribunes (tribuni celerum).

After 38 years of reign, Romulus had fought numerous wars,

extending Rome's influence throughout Latium and other

surrounding areas. Pronto would be remembered as the first great

conqueror and as one of the most devout men in the history of Rome.

After his death at the age of 54, he was deified as the god of war

Quirino, honored not only as one of the three main gods of Rome.

Numa Pompilius

Numa Pompílio and the nymph Egeria, oil on canvas (c. 1631-1633),

Museu Condé

Numa Pompilius, of Sabine origin, was Romulus' successor. Reluctant

about the position, he was convinced by his father with the claim

that he would be serving the will of the gods. Remembered for his

wisdom, his reign was marked by peace and prosperity. Numa

reformed the Roman calendar, adjusting it to the solar and lunar

year, also adding the months of January and February to complete

the twelve months of the new calendar. He instituted numerous

Roman religious rituals (e.g. the Agonalia) and appointed new

priesthoods: the salians (salii) to worship Mars and a greater flamen

(flamenmaioris) as supreme priest of Quirinus, the quirinal flamen

(flamen quirinalis). He organized the territory surrounding Rome into

districts, for better administration, and distributed the lands

conquered by Romulus among the citizens, organizing the city into

guilds and offices.

Numa was remembered as the most religious of the kings, even

above Romulus himself. Under his reign, temples were erected to

Vesta and Janus, an altar was consecrated in the Capitol to the

border god Terminus, and the flames, vestals and pontiffs of Rome

were organized, as well as the College of Pontiffs. Tradition has it

that during Numa's rule a shield of Jupiter fell from the sky with

the destiny of Rome written on it. The king ordered eleven copies of

it to be made, which were revered as sacred by the Romans. As a

kind and peace-loving man, he sowed ideas of piety and justice in the

Roman mentality. During his reign, the doors of the Temple of Janus

were always closed, as a proof that he had not waged any war

throughout his term of office after 43 years of reign, Numa's death

occurred peacefully and naturally.

Túlio Hostílio

Túlio Hostílio defeats army from Veios and Fidenas, oil on wood by

Cavalier D'Arpino (ca. 1601), Petit Palais, Paris.

Túlio Hostílio, of Latin origin, was Numa Pompílio’s successor. Very

similar to Romulus in terms of his warrior character, he was

completely opposite to Numa in his lack of attention to the gods.

Túlio fomented several wars against Alba Longa, Fidenas and Veios,

which gained Rome new territories and greater power. It was during

the reign of Tullius that Alba Longa was completely destroyed, with

the entire population being enslaved and sent to Rome. In this way,

Rome imposed itself on its mother city as the hegemonic power of

Lazio. Despite his belligerent nature, Túlio Hostílio selected a third

group of individuals who came to belong to the patrician class of

Rome, chosen from among all those who had arrived in Rome seeking

asylum and a new life. He also erected a new building to house the

senate, the Hostília Curia.

During his reign, the king was involved in so many wars that he

neglected his attention to the deities, which led, according to

legends, to a plague hitting Rome, which affected many Romans,

including the king himself. When Tullius asked Jupiter for help, the

god responded like a bolt of lightning that reduced both the

monarch and his residence to ashes. His reign came to an end after

32 years of duration.

Anco Márcio

Denarius of Gaius Censorinus issued in 88 BC with an effigy of Numa

Pompílio and Anco Márcio

With the death of Túlio Hostílio, the Romans elected the Sabine

Anco Márcio, a peaceful and religious character. He was the

grandson of Numa Pompilius and, like his grandfather, he only

extended the limits of Rome, fighting in defense of Roman

territories when necessary. During his reign, he fortified Mount

Janiculum, on the western bank of the Tiber River, to guarantee

greater protection for the city on this flank, also building the first

bridge in Rome, the Sublician Bridge, as well as the first Roman

prison, the Mamertine Prison. Other of the king's works were the

construction of the Roman port of Ostia on the Tyrrhenian coast, as

well as the first salt factories, taking advantage of the traditional

river route for the salt trade (via Salária) that supplied Sabine

farmers.

The size of the city of Rome was increased due to the diplomacy

exercised by Anco, allowing the peaceful union of several smaller

villages through alliances. Thanks to this method, he gained control

of the Latins, resettled on the Aventine, thus consolidating the

plebeian class in Rome. However, conflicts between Romans and

Latins during his reign are still evident. After 24 years of reign, he

died, possibly a natural death like his grandfather, being

remembered as one of the great pontiffs of Rome. He was the last

of the Latin-Sabine kings of Rome.

Tarquínio Prisco

Túlia drives over her father's corpse, oil on canvas by Jean Bardin

(c. 1735), Mainz State Museum

Tarquinius Priscus was the fifth king of Rome, and the first of

Etruscan origin, presumably of Corinthian descent. After emigrating

to Rome, he obtained the favor of Ancus, who adopted him as his

son. Upon ascending the throne, he fought in several victorious wars

against the Sabines and Etruscans, thus doubling the size of Rome

and obtaining great treasures for the city. One of his first reforms

was to add one hundred new members to the senate, coming from

the conquered Etruscan tribes, so that the number of senators rose

to a total of three hundred. He also expanded the army, doubling the

number of troops to 6,000 infantrymen and six hundred riders.

Furthermore, he is credited with creating the Roman Games.

Tarquínio Prisco used the great booty obtained in his military

campaigns to build great monuments in Rome, of which the city's

large sewage system stands out, the Cloaca Máxima (whose purpose

was to drain the waters of small streams that tended to stagnate in

the valleys located between the hills of Rome towards the River

Tiber), the Roman Forum and the Circus Maximus, a large stadium

that housed horse races and which had a temple-fortress on the

Capitol Hill, consecrated to Jupiter. Tarquínio was assassinated

after 38 years of reign by the sons of his predecessor, Anco Márcio.

His reign is remembered for introducing Roman military symbols and

civil positions, as well as for celebrating the first Roman triumph.

Serbian Tulio

Digitally retouched version of an Etruscan fresco located in the

François Tomb, Vulcos. It features the Etruscan nobleman Célio

Vibena, Mastarna and Sérvio Túlio. See original here

Servius Tullius, son-in-law of Tarquinius Priscus, assumed the throne

and, like his predecessor, fought several victorious wars against the

Etruscans. The booty acquired was used to finance the first walls

that surrounded the seven Roman hills on the Pomerian, the so-called

Servian walls, as well as a temple dedicated to Diana on the Aventine

hill.

In the military sphere, Serbian Tullius introduced new military

tactics, along the Etruscan and Greek lines, and strove to make the

Roman army more disciplined and basically composed of heavy

infantry, like the Greek hoplite phalanxes. His army, made up of

6,000 infantrymen and 600 riders, was made up of men with a

minimum amount of goods called adsidui (adsidui), in order to

differentiate them from the proletarians (proletarii), the poor of

society who made up the lower class (" lower class") and who had no

right to participate in the army. In the social sphere, he developed a

new constitution for the Romans, with greater attention to the

citizen classes. He instituted the first census in history, dividing the

population of Rome into five census classes, also creating the

Assembly of Centuries. He also used the census to divide the city

into four urban "tribes" (tribus urbane), based on their spatial

location within the city, and the remainder of the Roman territory

into 16 rural tribes (tribus rusticae), establishing the tribal

assembly (comitia tributa). . Servius's reforms meant a major change

in Roman life: the right to vote was established based on economic

wealth, so much of the political power remained reserved for the

Roman elites. However, in Serbia's time, the most disadvantaged

classes were gradually favored, in order to obtain greater support

from the commoners, which is why his legislation could be defined as

unsatisfactory for the patricial class. The great 44-year reign of

Servius Tullius ended with his assassination in a conspiracy hatched

by his own daughter Tullia and her husband Tarquinius, his successor

on the throne.

The death of Lucrécia, oil on canvas, Eduardo Rosales (ca. 1871),

Prado Museum

The lictors bring the sons of Brutus, Jacques-Louis David (1784)

Tarquin the Superb

The seventh and last king of Rome was Tarquin the Proud. Son of

Priscus and son-in-law of Servius, Tarquinius was also of Etruscan

origin. He used violence, murder and terror to maintain control over

Rome as no previous king had, even revoking many of the

constitutional reforms that his predecessors had established. His

best work for Rome was the completion of the temple of Jupiter,

begun by his father Priscus; called the Etruscan sculptor Vulca de

Veii to produce the temple's statue of Jupiter.

Tarquinius abolished and destroyed all the Sabine sanctuaries and

altars in the Tarpeian rock, thus infuriating the Roman people. The

crucial point of his tyrannical reign occurred when he allowed the

rape of Lucrezia, a Roman patrician, by his son Sextus Tarquinius. A

relative of Lucrezia and nephew of King Lucius Junius Brutus

(ancestor of Marcus Junius Brutus), convened the senate that

decided to expel Tarquinius in the year 509 BC Tarquinius may have

then received help from Lars Porsena who, nevertheless, occupied

Rome for his own benefit. Tarquinius then fled to the city of

Tusculus and later to Cumae, where he would die in 495 BC. This

expulsion supposedly put an end to Etruscan influence in both Rome

and Latium and led to the establishment of a republican constitution.

After the expulsion of Tarquin, the senate decided to abolish the

monarchy, converting Rome into a republic in 509 BC. Pomegranate.

That same year, during the embassy of members of the royal family

in Rome, a stratagem known as the Tarquinian Conspiracy was

planned by patricians and members of the senate who were

supporters of the fallen monarchy; Among the participants in the

coup were Brutus' sons, Tito Júnio Bruto and Tibério Júnio Bruto.

The stratagem, however, proved unsuccessful, and the conspirators

were sentenced to death.

Religion

Like other Roman institutions, the religious practices of Ancient

Rome, according to tradition, were established during the Kingdom

of Rome. According to Livy, Numa Pompílio founded the Roman

religion after dedicating an altar to Jupiter Elício on the Aventine

Hill and consulting the gods through an augury. He divided the

system of Roman religious rites, which included the form and timing

of sacrifices, supervision of religious funds, authority over all public

and private religious institutions, and instruction of the population in

celestial and funerary rites. Numa also established the ceremonies

(caerimoniae), originally the secret ritual instructions, which are

described as statae et sollemnes ("established and solemn") and

which were interpreted and supervised by the College of Pontiffs,

flamines, the king of sacred things and the vestals .

Priesthoods

Augur in Etruscan representation of the Tomb of the Augurs,

Necropolis of Monterozzi

The College of Pontiffs, the most important priesthood in Ancient

Rome, as well as the position of maximum pontiff (pontifex

maximus), were established in the reign of Numa Pompilius. The

pontiffs had the supreme (judicial and practical) superintendence of

all matters, private or public, and of religion, in addition to being the

guardians of the books that contained the ritual ordinances of the

Romans. Details about their attributions and functions were

contained in the so-called pontifical books (libri pontificalis or libri

pontificii), the fundamental texts of Roman religion, which survived

in fragmentary transcriptions and commentaries, of which the first

writings were credited to Numa Pompilius, to whom is credited with

codifying the texts and fundamental principles of civil and religious

law (ius divinum and ius civile) in Rome. These books were sanctioned

during the reign of Ancus Márcio.

The flamines, Roman priests dedicated to the service of particular

gods, were among the most important priesthoods in Ancient Rome.

During the monarchy, the three who made up the group called

greater flâmine were established, those who were chosen among the

patricians and dedicated to the gods Jupiter (dial flâmine), Mars

(martial flâmine), and Quirino (quirinal flâmine). Later, another 15

flamines were established, the lesser flamines, who were chosen

among the commoners to dedicate themselves to minor gods such as

Carmenta, Ceres, Flora, Pomona and Vulcano. According to Plutarch,

Romulus established the priesthood of the first two in his reign,

however most scholars believe that these, as well as the chirinal

flâmine, were created by Numa. The flâmines, whose positions were

for life, were inaugurated by the silent assembly and were subject

to the authority of the maximum pontiff. The king of sacred things,

a characteristic position in Etruscan religion, as well as in some Latin

cities (Tusculus, Lavinius and Velitras), had notable importance in

Roman religion. In Rome, the priesthood was deliberately

depoliticized so that the king of sacred things was not elected but

chosen by the highest pontiff from among the patricians

subordinate to him, and his inauguration was witnessed by the silent

assembly. With the overthrow in 509 BC of the kings of Rome, the

king of sacred things assumed some of the sacred obligations

previously exercised by them.

Etruscan pottery found near regia, in the Roman Forum, containing

an inscription of a rex (ca. 6th-5th centuries BC). It is still a

mystery whether the engraved word rex is referring to one of the

kings of Rome, or else a king of holy things.

Bust of the Roman emperor Lucius Verus (r. 161–169) as an arval

Louvre Museum

The Vestals, chaste priestesses of the goddess Vesta, were created,

as a priesthood, during the reign of Numa Pompilius. However,

according to Livy, the origins of the Vestals come from Alba Longa.

Numa, according to Plutarch, founded the Temple of Vesta,

appointed the first four priestesses (two from the Titians and two

from the Ramnes) and appointed a maximum pontiff to assist them.

Tarquinius Priscus (according to Plutarch) or Servius Tullius

(according to Dionysius of Halicarnassus) added two other vestals to

the temple, these coming from the lucers. Their main functions were

to watch, in shifts, the eternal fire that burned on the altar of the

goddess Vesta and the sacred relics of Rome, the fatale pignus

imperii, present offerings to the goddess within established

deadlines, participate in the consecration of temples, priestly

banquets and festivals. like that of Bona Dea and sprinkled and

purified the sanctuary every morning with water, which, according to

Numa, should have come from the Egerian spring (frequented by the

nymph Egeria). It was later considered that any water that came

from a spring or stream was acceptable. In official sacrificial

rituals, they prepared and sprinkled a mixture known as mola salsa

(wheat and/or barley flour with salt) on the forehead and between

the horns of sacrificial victims, as well as on the altar and in the

sacred fire. This practice, very popular during Roman sacrifices, was

attributed to Numa Pompilius.

Augurs had a well-known role in Roman religion, since they were the

ones who interpreted the divine will regarding proposed actions

through the interpretation of auspices and/or auguries. During the

monarchical period, one of the rituals of the augurs, the inauguration

(inauguratio), which consisted of a rite in which the gods approved,

through signs, the appointment and/or inauguration of someone, was

a privilege of the king and the main priests. In the republic, the king

of sacred things, the greater flamines, the augurs and the pontiffs

acquired the right to be approved in the ritual.

The Salians, usually known as Palatine Salians (salii palatini), were

priests instituted by Numa and were chosen from among the

patricians of Rome to dedicate themselves to Mars Gradivo in his

temple on the Palatine. Túlio Hostílio, in fulfillment of a vow made

during the second War with Fidenas and Veios, established another

group of salians, the hill salians (salii collini), who dedicated

themselves to Quirino. One of the duties of the Palatine Salians was

to care for the 12 bronze ancis (ancilia) of Mars that were found in

the Palatine. Furthermore, on March 1st, they celebrated the

festival of Mars in which they traveled around the city carrying

them, singing and dancing; at the end of the route there was a

celebration of the god in the Temple of Mars on the Palatine.

The fecials (fetiales), established in Rome by Ancus Marcius, were a

priesthood dedicated to the god Jupiter. Their main functions

consisted of the formal declaration of peace and war, confirmation

of treaties and, in specific cases, the exercise of missions as

diplomats or ambassadors. Others, the Arvais brothers (fratres

arvales), were priests who dedicated themselves to providing public

offerings to the country fertility gods. It is speculated that they

were established during the reign of Romulus and that they

presumably had affinities with the priests known as Titian sodais

(titii sodales) who, according to tradition, were established by Titus

Tatius.

Cults and rituals

Sculptures representing the Capitoline triad, Prenestino

Archaeological Museum, in Palestrina

Model representing the structure of the Capitoline Temple of

Jupiter erected by Tarquin the Proud

In Ancient Rome, cults (sacer; singular sacra) were traditional cults,

public (publica) or private (privata), both supervised by the College

of Pontiffs. The creation of public worship (sacra publica) is

attributed to Numa Pompilius, although many consider it to have a

previous origin, possibly prior to the founding of Rome. In this way,

one can be seen as the reformer and reorganizer of the cult

according to his own views and education. Public services were held

and funded by the State, in accordance with the provisions left by

Numa, and were attended by all senators and magistrates.

Public cults (sacer publica) were held in the name of the entire

Roman people or their main subdivisions, the tribes and curia. They

included "rites in the name of the Roman people" (sacra per populo),

that is, all the public holidays (feriae publicae) of the Roman

calendar and the other festivals that were considered to be of

public interest, including those relating to the hills of Rome, the

paid, to curias and sanctuaries (sacelos). Public cults were aimed at

people, a family, or an individual. Individuals had cults on dates

peculiar to them, such as birthdays, the "day of consecration" (dies

lustricus), funerals and expiations. Families worshiped at home or at

the tomb of their ancestors. These were considered necessary and

imperishable, and the desire to perpetuate family worship was one of

the reasons for adoption in adulthood. Within the public cults there

were gentilic cults (sacer gentilicia), private rites particular to a

people. These rites were related to the belief in the common

ancestry of the members of a people, which is the basis of the cult

practices of the dead.

Due to contact with the Etruscans, the Romans assimilated several

of their gods who began to be worshiped by them in the Roman way.

During the conquest process that took place after the republic,

these gods tended to acquire characteristics of deities worshiped in

other regions, especially Greece. Rome offered no native creation

myth, and Roman mythography explains little of the character of its

deities, their relations, or their aspirations with the human world,

but it recognized that the Roman theology of immortal gods (di

immortales) who ruled all the kingdoms of the heavens and earth.

There were gods of the heavens, gods of the underworld, and a

myriad of lesser deities. Among all the gods worshiped, those that

stood out comprised the so-called triads: the archaic triad (Jupiter,

Mars and Quirino, of Indo-European origin) and the Capitoline triad

(Jupiter, Juno and Minerva, of Etruscan origin).

According to some scholars, Vulcan, god of forges and fire, got his

name from Latin words linked to lightning (fulgur, fulgure, fulmen),

which in turn are related to flames. On the other hand, recent

studies suggest that the word Vulcan is possibly related to the

Cretan god Velcano, linked to nature and the lower world, who in turn

is related to the Etruscan god Velchans. He was one of the oldest

Roman gods and the oldest sanctuary in Rome was dedicated to him,

the Vulcanal at the foot of the Capitol in the Roman Forum, which

had been founded by Titus Tatius in the 8th century BC and was a

meeting point for the Etruscan haruspices. A fragment of Greek

pottery found in Vulcanal dating from the 6th century BC has a

representation of the god Hephaestus, which can be seen as an

indication of the union of both gods.

Ruins of the Temple of Vesta, Roman Forum

Ruins of the Temple of Saturn, Roman Forum

Vesta, protective goddess of the home, derives her name, according

to Georges Dumézil, from an Indo-European root; according to

scholars, its origins are associated with the Vedic god Agni. Linked

with the sacred fire of fertility, she was involved in a version of the

birth of Romulus, Sérvio Tulio and Cêculo, founder of Palestrina. In

addition to Vesta, the Romans worshiped other entities that acted

as guardians of the home, as well as, by extension, of the Romans:

the homes, penates, jinn and junos. Homes were spirits that acted

either as good entities (protectors of homes, families, sailors and

soldiers, fields, roads and Rome itself) or bad. The Penates,

originally from Troy (brought by Aeneas), were a pair of gods who

protected the pantries of Roman homes. The jinn, according to

Roman tradition, were entities that acted as protectors of all men

(women were protected by the junos, servants of the goddess Juno),

so that each one had their own, even Rome; They appeared as winged

figures or as men with a cornucopia.

Diana, goddess associated with hunting, the Moon and childbirth, has

an Indo-European root in her name, the same from which the name

of the Vedic god Diaus and the Latin words deus and dies (day,

daylight) derive; in tablets from Pylos the theonym διϝια is, according

to scholars, a reference to Diana. Her cult presumably began in

Aricia with open-air cults among the Latins, having spread to the

outskirts of Rome where, in the 6th century BC, Servius Tullius

erected a temple dedicated to her on the Aventine Hill. The cult of

the Roman gods that symbolized the Sun and the Moon (Luna),

according to tradition, was established in Rome by Titus Tácio,

based on Sabine deities. Sol was identified as the grandfather of

the Latin king. Two temples were dedicated to Luna, one on the

Aventine Hill, below the Temple of Diana, and the other on the

Palatine.

In the Roman pantheon there were an infinite number of deities

linked to rural cults. Ceres, goddess of pastoral, agricultural and

human fertility, hypothetically has an Indo-European origin, as the

root of her name suggests. Archaic cults are evident among many

neighbors of the Romans, such as Latins, Oscans, Samnites and a

Faliscan inscription dating from the 600th century BC highlights

prayers to the goddess. Over time, on Roman soil, the name Ceres

became synonymous with grains and, by extension, bread. Saturn, a

god linked to the beginnings of agriculture and grapevine cultivation,

was worshiped as one of the founding Roman deities; a temple begun

during the reign of Tarquin the Proud and completed in 497 BC,

located in the Capitol, was dedicated to him. Saturn's wife was the

goddess linked to harvest, wealth, abundance and prosperity; it was

introduced into Roman cults by Titus Tácio from a Sabine deity; A

temple was dedicated to her in the Capitol, close to the one

dedicated to her husband. Faun, patron saint of agriculture and

protector of shepherds, is sometimes identified, particularly in the

work of Virgil, as one of the ancient kings of Latium, having been the

son of Pico, son of Saturn. He was, as in one, a disseminator of cults

in Latium and, according to traditions, during his reign the heroes

Evander and Hercules arrived in Latium. Conso, protective god of

grains and silos, of possible Etruscan or Sabine origin, was one of the

oldest Roman agrarian deities. Represented as a seed, an altar near

the Circus Maximus was dedicated to him. Mater Matuta, originally a

Sabine goddess, was incorporated into the Roman pantheon and a

temple erected by Servius Tullius was dedicated to her near the

place where the Forum Boarius would be founded in the future.

Image of the temple of Janus in a sesterce of the reign of Nero (r.

54–68)

During the monarchy, before the spread of the cult of some gods

such as Pluto and Proserpina, the Romans created the first concepts

of their underworld through Indo-European deities. Orcus, god of

the dead and oaths, later associated with another Roman god, Dis

Pater, was one of the first deities of the underworld; His cult was

widespread in rural areas. Another important deity of the

underworld was Libitina, goddess of funerals and burials. A grove

located on the Esquiline Hill was dedicated to her, which, like other

locations associated with underworld entities, was considered

"unhealthy and inauspicious". Serbian Tullius, during his reign,

established a tax known as the "death tax" which consisted of

paying a coin to the Libitina temple when a person died.

According to classical authors, Romulus and Titus Tatius, or Numa

Pompilius, established the cult of Terminus, god of boundary

markers, from a Sabine deity, since the word Terminus (in Latin:

Terminus meant boundary stone in Latin; presumably this deity

originated from a Proto-Indo-European god. It is speculated that a

stone dedicated to the god was situated on the Capitoline Hill

before Tarquinius Priscus or Tarquinius the Proud erected a temple

on the site; the stone was taken to the temple and believed to be It

was believed that its immobility was a good omen for the

permanence of the city's borders. Fortuna, Roman goddess of luck

and fortune, was established by Ancus Márcio] or Servius Tullius.

The first temple dedicated to her was erected during the reign of

Servius Tullius on the banks of the river Tiber (in Trastevere).

Sancus, originally an Umbrian deity, introduced to the Roman

pantheon by Titus Tatius, was the god of truth, honesty and oaths.

During the reign of Tarquin the Proud a temple was erected in his

honor .

Numa Pompílio associated Janus, god of beginnings and transitions,

with the first month of the calendar, January. Due to his

characteristics as a divinity, several elements were associated with

him, such as light, the Moon, the Sun, time, movement, the year,

doors, and bridges. Numa erected the Janus Geminus (Ianus

Geminus), a temple consecrated to the god that was ritually opened

in times of war and closed when the Roman forces rested, in addition

to a statue, both located in Argileto (an old Roman road). It is

speculated that the epithet Gemini (Geminus) was coined during

Numa's reign.

Festivals

Pales Festival, or The Summer, oil on canvas, Joseph-Benoît Suvée

(ca. 1783), Rouen Museum of Fine Arts

Hail, Caesar! Io, Saturnalia!, oil on panel, Lawrence Alma-Tadema (ca.

1880), Akron Museum of Art

Roman calendars show about 40 annual religious festivals. Some

lasted several days, others a single day or less: on the calendars

there were sacred days (dies fasti), in smaller numbers, and nonsacred

days (dies nefasti). Comparison of surviving Roman religious

calendars suggests that official festivals were organized according

to broad seasonal groups that allowed for different local traditions.

Some festivals may have required only the presence and rites of

their priests and acolytes, or specific groups.

One of the oldest rituals known to the Romans was the Latin

Holidays (Feriae Latinae) celebrated since before the founding of

Rome, in a pre-urban pastoral context, in order to reaffirm the

alliance between members of the Albensian peoples (in Latin: populi

albenses; 10th century - 8th century BC) and the Latin league (7th

century - 338 BC). Each Latin city sent a representative with

offerings, such as sheep, cheese, or other pastoral products. The

Roman leader presiding over the festival would offer a libation of

milk and perform a sacrifice of a sheep, with the sacrificial meat

consumed as part of a communal meal. Amid the festivities, figurines

called oscillas were hung on the trees. Lupercalia, another Roman

pastoral festival, was presumably established before the founding of

the city. Held between February 13-15, its purpose was to avoid evil

spirits and purify the city, providing health and fertility. In

Antiquity it was believed that the name Lupercalia demonstrated

some connection with the ancient Greek festival of Lycaia and the

worship of the god Pan, assumed to be an equivalent of the Greek

god Faunus, established by Evander; During the republic, the festival

was associated with the capital's she-wolf, an institution attributed

to Rômulo and Remus. The rites were performed by the Lupercos

(Quintilianos [Quinctiliani] and Fabianos [Fabiani]), a corporation of

Faun priests, who dressed only in goat skin.

The Parília, celebrated annually on April 21, aimed at the purification

of both shepherds and sheep. This festival was celebrated in

recognition of the Roman deity Pales (patron of shepherds and

sheep) and, according to Ovid, predates the founding of Rome;

During the late republic it was associated with the city's

anniversary. Cerealia was one of the great festivals dedicated to the

goddess Ceres. It was held over seven days from mid to late April,

however, the dates are uncertain. Its archaic nature is evidence of

its relationship with a nighttime ritual described by Ovid, in which

torches were tied to the tails of live foxes. The purpose and origin

of this ritual are unknown, but it may have been intended to cleanse

crops and protect them from disease and pests, or to bring warmth

and vitality to their growth.

Lemuria was celebrated on the 9th, 11th and 13th of May. During

this festival, the Romans performed rites to exorcise ghosts (lemurs

or larvae) from their homes. Its origin comes from another festival,

Remúria, instituted by Romulus to appease the spirit of Remus. The

Equiria, established by Romulus, was dedicated to the god Mars and

took place on February 27, according to the Roman calendar. In this

festival, the divinity was celebrated through horse racing, a common

practice in other festivities such as Consuália. According to Livy,

Consuália was created by Romulus in honor of the god Conso with the

aim of attracting new residents to Rome. Saturnalia, established by

Romulus or Numa Pompílio, was celebrated in honor of the god

Saturn, originally on December 17th. It was celebrated with a

sacrifice in the temple of Saturn and a public banquet, followed by

private offerings, continuous feasts, and a carnival atmosphere

where masters served slaves.

Roman men in pretext togas participating in a religious ceremony,

probably the Compitália. Fresco found on the outskirts of Pompeii

Fornocalia, instituted by Numa Pompílio, was dedicated to the

goddess Fornax so that the grains were properly cooked. Robigalia,

another festival instituted in an era held on April 25th, consisted of

the sacrifice of a dog to protect grain crops from disease. Due to

the presence of the king and the chirinal flâmine at the festivities,

it is speculated that it is of Sabine origin. Fordicidia, held on April

15, was a festival of fertility for both crops and animals. Instituted

by Numa, it involved the sacrifice of a pregnant cow to Telo, goddess

of the earth.

The Compitália, held once a year in honor of the communal homes,

was, according to some writers, established by Tarquínio Prisco, as a

result of having witnessed the miracle of the birth of Servius

Tullius, who was supposedly the son of a family home, a deity family

guardian; Dionysius of Halicarnassus states that the person who

established the festival was Serbian Tullius himself. Celebrated

days after Saturnalia, Compitália consisted of offering honey cakes

to homes. Each family placed a statue of the goddess Mania in front

of their residence, as well as male and female wool dolls in reverence

for the homes and the goddess; slaves offered balls of wool.

Roman law

The famous Niger Pencil, from the Roman Forum, is among the oldest

Roman objects (7th century BC), National Roman Museum

During the Roman monarchy, according to some authors, the set of

laws that prevailed in Rome were the "king's laws" (leges regiae). Its

origins date back to the institution of both the senate and the

assembly of curias by Romulus. Its function, more than just an

instrument of the power of the kings, was to create laws that

responded to the needs of a society made up of different tribes,

especially in matters in which the mores (customs) were not

sufficient. They gave kings a way to resolve religious and military

issues, either directly or through an assistant such as the master of

the people (magister populi) of the Tarquin period. Thus, while on

the one hand the king's laws created new laws different from

customs, on the other hand they transformed some of them into

laws.

The king's laws were established based on the external influence

suffered by the Romans over the centuries. Initially, a clear Greek

influence is noted, since since the 8th century BC there has been

evidence of commercial and/or political relations between the

Romans and Greeks. Furthermore, according to classical authors,

Romulus studied in Gábios, a center under Greek influence. Another

influence is Sabina, which is reflected in the use of ox skin as a

support for writing, as well as in the content of some of the laws.

And finally, the Etruscan influence becomes evident from the

government of the Etruscan kings, having a political, economic and

judicial nature. An example of this influence would be the attitude

of kings towards people who lost much of their functions during

their reigns.

According to fragments of Sextus Pomponius and other classical

authors, the king's laws were deliberated both by the senate and by

the assembly of curias (comitia curiata) and approved by the king of

sacred things and the maximum pontiff. However, there are those

who argue that, due to the power of the kings, they were the ones

who decided, without the veto of the curias, with only the support of

the College of Pontiffs, in addition to the deliberation of the senate.

It is speculated that the curias only had the function of publicly

participating in the promulgation of laws. On certain occasions the

kings held comical assemblies similar to those of the republican

period. This is attested by the words when, comitative, present in

the first Roman calendar.

The king's laws were in short applied to sanction instances of a

religious nature, however these were not the only sanctions in use.

Others include confiscation of property and the death penalty,

which was not administered in the name of any sacred principle, but

in retribution for a crime with equal punishment.

END OF THE KINGDOM AND BEGINNING OF THE REPUBLIC

Fragments of Etruscan decorative regal terracotta plaques, in the

Roman Forum (ca. 6th century BC)

The period between the founding of Rome and the expulsion of its

last king lasted two and a half centuries. Having begun, like other

cities in Latium, as a simple shepherd's refuge, the settlement on

the Palatine expanded until it dominated the entire circle of the

seven hills. Slowly, in parallel with this internal growth, a succession

of conquests brought the frontiers to both banks of the Tiber, to

the Tyrrhenian Sea, to a long strip of Latium, from Ostia to Circeios,

and from the Sabine frontier to the Volscian highlands. . Due to the

liberal policy, there was a constant flow of new settlers, who

brought strength and knowledge to the community. Over time, the

presence of this new population, outside the privileged circle of the

founders, brought problems that were overcome and contributed to

the formation of legislators and statesmen among the ruling classes.

Thus, after more than two centuries of existence, in 509 BC, the

royal period ended and the Roman Republic began without any violent

rupture of traditions.

One of the main factors supporting the gradual transition is the

large Etruscan contingent that inhabited Rome at the end of the

kingdom. One of the people who most influenced Rome in this period,

they imported into the city several elements such as the fasces

(bundle of rods and axes that symbolized the empire of kings),

games, triumphs, certain cultic and ceremonial practices, tunics,

gods and the arts (architecture, bucaro pottery, decorative arts). In

509 BC, when the senate removed Tarquin from the throne and in his

place elected two magistrates, initially called praetors and later

consuls, there was no massive expulsion of the Etruscans; This

characteristic of archaic Rome to absorb immigrants is also attested

in many Etruscan cities where there are Greek, Latin and Italic

contingents. Be that as it may, with the end of the power of the

monarchs, the consuls restored the three hundred members of the

senate that had been reduced under Tarquin and began their

mandate under the supervision of the senators who during the

republic acquired full decision-making powers over state affairs and,

until the advent of the empire, would be the active force in the

politics of Ancient Rome.

The last Roman kings, unlike their predecessors, based their position

on popular support and challenged the power and privileges of

aristocrats. To this end, like the Greek tyrants, they carried out an

ambitious foreign policy, promoted the arts and undertook major

architectural projects. Furthermore, they tried to legitimize their

position by attributing a special and personal favor from the gods

(Servio Túlio claimed kinship with Fortuna) and adopted a populist

government; Authors such as Tim Cornell state that Sérvio Túlio's

reforms fall within this scope. The populist and aristocratic

character of the regime of the last kings is confirmed by the later

Roman attitude towards monarchical authority. In the Republic, the

mere idea of a king provoked deep repulsion, as it was at odds with

the aristocratic ideology of the ruling class. Thus, among the

members of the rural oligarchy, there was horror that one of them

would try to stand above his equals by defending the needs of the

lower classes and thereby gain their support; Espúrio Mélio, Marco

Mânlio Capitolino and the Gracchus brothers were executed on

charges of monarchism (regnum).

THE HISTORY OF ROME

The history of Rome dates back to 753 BC, with the founding of a

small settlement on the Italian peninsula. Although the foundation

took place in the 8th century BC, the oldest written record is that

established by the historian Marco Terêncio Varrão (116 BC - 27 BC)

during the reign of Augustus, around 500 years after the fact. Over

time, Rome became the center of a vast civilization that dominated

the Mediterranean region for centuries, and which would be

overthrown by some Germanic tribes, beginning the historiographical

era of the Middle Ages. It became the headquarters of the Catholic

Church and, under pressure from political circumstances, it would be

forced to give up part of itself, within, to form an independent

State, Vatican City. It continued, however, to play an important role

in global politics, as it did in the history and culture of European

peoples for millennia.

Ancient Rome

Ancient Rome was a civilization that developed from the city-state

of Rome, founded on the Italian peninsula during the 8th century BC.

During its twelve centuries of existence, Roman civilization

transitioned from monarchy to an oligarchic republic until becoming

a vast empire. who dominated Western Europe and the entire

Mediterranean Sea through conquest and cultural assimilation.

However, a list of socio-political factors would worsen its decline,

and the empire would be divided in two. The western half, which

included Hispania, Gaul and Italy, definitively collapsed in the 5th

century and gave rise to several independent kingdoms; the eastern

half, governed from Constantinople, began to be referred to as the

Byzantine Empire from 476 onwards, the traditional date of the fall

of Rome and used by historiography to demarcate the beginning of

the Middle Ages.

Origin

The etymology of the city's name is uncertain, and there are several

theories that come to us from Antiquity. The least likely tells us

that it would derive from the Greek word Ρώμη (Róme), which means

"bravery", "courage". The most likely is the connection with the root

*rum-, "breasts", with a possible reference to a she-wolf (in Latin,

magnifying glass) who would have adopted the twins Romulus and

Remus who, it is thought, were descendants of the people of

Lavinius. Romulus would kill his brother and found Rome.

In recent decades, advances in the Etruscan language and archeology

in Italy have reduced the odds of these theories, introducing new

possible hypotheses. It is currently known that Etruscan was spoken

from the region that would later become the Roman province of

Récia, in the Alps, to Etruria, including Latium and the entire region

to the south, up to Capua. The Italic tribes entered Latium from a

mountainous region in the center of the Italian peninsula, coming

from the eastern coast. Despite the circumstances of Rome's

founding, its original population was, certainly, a combination of

Etruscan civilization and Italic peoples, with a probable

predominance of Etruscans. Gradually, Italic infiltration would

increase, to the point of predominating over the Etruscans; ie, the

Etruscan populations would be assimilated by the Italics, inside and

outside Rome.

The Etruscans had the word Rumach, "from Rome", from which

"Ruma" can be taken. Further etymology, as with most Etruscan

words, remains unknown. That it could perhaps mean "theta" is pure

speculation. Later mythological associations cast doubt on this

meaning; After all, none of the original colonists were raised by

wolves, and it is unlikely that the founders had any knowledge of this

myth about themselves. The name, Tiberius, could perfectly contain

the name of the Tiber (in Italian: Tevere). It is currently believed

that the name comes from an Etruscan name, Thefarie, in which case

the Tiber would derive from *Thefar.

First Italic people

Map of ancient Italic languages

Rome grew with the settlement of people on the Palatine Hill to

other hills eight miles from the Tyrrhenian Sea, on the south bank

of the Tiber River. Another of these hills, the Quirinal, was probably

a warehouse for another Italic people, the Sabines. In this area, the

Tiber forms a "Z" shaped curve containing an island that allows it to

be crossed. Thus, Rome was at the crossroads between the river

valley and the traders traveling north to south along the western

side of the peninsula.

The traditional date of foundation (April 21, 753 BC) was agreed

much later, at the end of the Republic by Publio Terêncio Varrão,

assigning a duration of 35 years to each of the seven generations

corresponding to the seven mythological kings. However,

archaeological pieces have been discovered that indicate that the

area of Rome may have been inhabited as early as 1,400 BC. These

archaeological discoveries also confirmed that in the 8th century BC,

in the area of the future Rome, there were two fortified

settlements, the Rumi, on the Palatine Hill, and the Titientes, on the

Quirinal, and, further north, the Luceres, who lived in the woods.

These were just three of the numerous Italic communities that

existed in the first millennium BC in the region of Latium, a plain on

the Italian peninsula. However, the origins of these people are

unknown, although it is assumed that they may descend from the

Indo-Europeans who migrated from the North of the Alps in the

second half of the second millennium BC, or from a possible mixture

of these peoples with other Mediterranean peoples, perhaps from

the North from Africa.

In the 8th century BC, the Italics — Latins (in the West), Sabines

(in the upper Tiber valley), Umbrians (in the Northeast), Samnites

(in the South), Oscians and others — shared the peninsula with

other large ethnic groups: the Etruscans from the north and the

Greeks from the south.

The Etruscans were established north of Rome, in Etruria (an area

corresponding to the current north of Latium and Tuscany). They

would have been a great influence on Roman culture, as clearly

demonstrated by the Etruscan origin of the seven mythological

kings.

Between 750 BC and 550 BC, the Greeks had already founded

several colonies in the south of the peninsula (which the Romans

would later call Magna Grecia), such as Cumae, Neapolis and

Tarentum, as well as in the eastern two thirds of Sicily.

Etruscan rule

The Servian Wall inherited its name from the Serbian king Tullius

and is the true first wall of Rome

Temple of Jupiter 526 BC-509 BC

Etruscan tomb

After 650 BC, the Etruscans became dominant in the Italian

peninsula, expanding into the north-central part of the region. Some

modern historians consider that this movement was associated with

the desire to dominate Rome and perhaps the entire Lazio region,

although the matter is controversial. Roman tradition only informs us

that the city was ruled by seven kings from 753 BC to 509 BC,

starting with the mythical Romulus who, together with his brother,

Remus, would have founded Rome. Regarding the last three kings,

especially Tarquinius Priscus and Tarquinius the Proud, he also

informs us that they were of Etruscan origin — according to ancient

literary sources, Priscus was the son of a Greek refugee and an

Etruscan mother — and whose names refer to Tarquinia.

The historiographical value of the king list is, however, dubious,

although the last kings appear to have been historical figures. It is

also believed — although controversially disputed — that Rome would

have been under Etruscan influence for almost a century during this

period. It is known, however, that in these years a bridge called

Ponte Sublício was built, which would replace a shoal of the Tiber

River used for its crossing, and the Cloaca Máxima, the Roman

sewage system, engineering works with a typical layout of the

Etruscan civilization. From a technical and cultural point of view, the

Etruscans are considered to have the second greatest impact on

Roman development, only surpassed by the Greeks.

Continuing their expansion south, the Etruscans established direct

contact with the Greeks. After initial success in conflicts with the

colonizing Greeks, Etruria would decline. Taking advantage of the

situation, around 500 BC, a rebellion took place in Rome that would

give it independence from the Etruscans. The monarchy was also

abolished in favor of a republican system based on a senate,

composed of the city's nobles, some popular representatives, who

would guarantee political participation to the citizens of Rome, and

magistrates elected annually.

However, the Etruscan legacy proved lasting: the Romans learned to

build temples, and the former are thought to have been responsible

for introducing the worship of a divine triad — Juno, Minerva, and

Jupiter — possibly corresponding to the Etruscan gods Uni , Menrva

and Tinia. In short, the Etruscans transformed Rome, a pastoral

community, into a true city, imprinting on it some cultural aspects of

Greek culture, which they would have adopted, such as the Western

version of the Greek alphabet.

Roman Republic

Roman Forum

Roman expansion in the Italian peninsula

At the turn of the 5th century BC, Rome joined the Latin cities as a

defensive measure against the Sabine incursions. Winning the Battle

of Lake Regilo in 493 BC, Rome once again established the supremacy

over the Latin regions that it had lost with the fall of the monarchy.

After a series of struggles, supremacy was consolidated in 393 BC,

with the subjugation of the Volsci (volsci) and the Aequi (aequi). In

the previous year, they would have already resolved the threat from

neighboring Veios, conquering them. The Etruscan power was now

confined exclusively to its own region, and Rome had become the

dominant city of Latium. However, in 387 BC, Rome would be sacked

by the Gauls led by Brennus, who had already been successful in the

invasion of Etruria. This threat would be quickly resolved by consul

Marco Fúrio Camilo, who defeated Breno in Túsculo shortly

afterwards.

To ensure the security of its territory, Rome committed itself to

rebuilding buildings and became the invader itself, conquering

Etruria and some territories from the Gauls, further north. In 345

BC, Rome turned south, fighting other Latins, in an attempt to

secure its territory against later invasions. In this quadrant, their

main enemy were the feared Samnites who had already defeated the

legions in 321 BC

Despite these and other temporal setbacks, the Romans continued

their casual expansion in a balanced manner. In 290 BC, Rome

already controlled more than half of the Italian peninsula and, during

that century, the Romans also took over the poleis of Magna Grecia

further south.

Plan of Rome in the times of the Roman Republic

According to legend, Rome became a Republic in 509 BC, when a

group of aristocrats expelled Tarquin the Proud. However, it took

several centuries for Rome to assume the monumental form in which

it is popularly conceived. During the Punic Wars, between Rome and

the great Mediterranean empire of Carthage, Rome's status

increased further, as it increasingly assumed the role of a capital of

an overseas empire for the first time. Beginning in the 2nd century

BC, Rome experienced a significant population explosion, with

ancestral farmers exchanging their land for the large city, with the

advent of farms operated by slaves obtained during the conquests,

the latifundios.

In 146 BC, the Romans razed the cities of Carthage and Corinth,

annexing North Africa and Greece to their empire and transforming

Rome into the most important city in the western Mediterranean.

From here, until the end of the republic, citizens would engage in a

race for prestige, supporting the construction of monuments and

large public structures. Perhaps the most notable was the Theater

of Pompey, built by General Pompey, which was the first permanent

theater ever built in the city. After Julius Caesar returned

victorious from the Gallic conquests and subsequent civil war with

Pompey, he embarked on a reconstruction program unprecedented in

Roman history. He would, however, be assassinated in 44 BC with

most of his projects still under construction, such as the Basilica

Julia and the new house of the Roman Senate (Cúria Hostília).

Roman Empire

At the end of the republic, the city of Rome already boasted the

grandeur of a true capital of an empire that dominated the entire

Mediterranean. It was, at the time, the largest city in the world and

probably the most populous city ever built until the 19th century.

Estimates of population peaks vary between less than 500,000 and

more than 3.5 million, although most popular values by historians

range between 1 million and 2 million. The city's grandeur increased

with the interventions of Augustus, who completed Caesar's

projects and initiated his own, such as the Forum of Augustus, and

the Ara Pacis ("Altar of Peace"), in celebration of the period of

peace experienced at the time. (Pax Romana), also redefining the

administrative organization of the city into 14 regions. Augustus'

successors tried to continue this edifying line, leaving their own

contributions to the city. The great fire of Rome, during the reign

of Nero, would destroy a large part of the city, but, in turn, it would

allow and drive a new wave of building development.

By this time, Rome was a subsidized city, with about 15 to 25

percent of the grain supply being paid for by the government.

Commerce and industry played a less significant role when compared

to other large cities such as Alexandria, but it was still a large

metropolis and the largest commercial and industrial center in the

world, so it was dependent on other regions of the empire for obtain

primary foodstuffs and raw materials. To pay for grain subsidies,

taxes were introduced into the lives of provincial citizens. If this

were not the case, Rome would be significantly smaller.

Rome's population declined shortly after its peak in the early 2nd

century. At the end of that century, during the reign of Marcus

Aurelius, a plague would devastate the citizens at a rate of about

2,000 per day. When, in 273, the Aurelian wall was completed, only a

fraction of Rome's maximum population remained: around 500,000.

A historical event graphically designated as the crisis of the third

century outlines the disasters and political problems of the empire,

which was practically collapsing. The fear and threat of barbarian

invasions were evident in the decision of Emperor Aurelian who, in

273, ended the circumscription of the city with the massive Aurelian

wall, whose perimeter was around 20 kilometers. Rome remained the

capital of the Empire, although the emperors spent less and less

time there. At the end of Diocletian's political reforms in the 3rd

century, Rome would be deprived of its traditional role as the

administrative capital of the empire. Later, Western emperors would

rule the empire from Mediolanus (modern Milan) or Ravenna, or

cities in Gaul, and in 330, Constantine I established the second

capital at Constantinople. At this time, part of the Roman

aristocratic class moved to the new center, followed by many of the

artists and men of the trade who lived in the city.

The Arch of Gallienus, one of the few remaining monuments from

Ancient Rome from the 3rd century, served as a door in the Servian

wall. The two side gates were destroyed in 1447

However, the Senate, now devoid of its former political influence,

preserved its social prestige. In 380, the two Augustians

(Theodosius I in the East and Gratian in the West) declared that

they recognized as the only religion in the empire "the faith that the

Roman Church had received from Saint Peter." The conversion of

the empire to Christianity transformed the Bishop of Rome (later

designated pope) in the most prominent religious figure of the

Western Empire, as officially declared in 380, in the Edict of

Thessalonica. Despite its increasingly passive role in the empire,

Rome managed to preserve its historical prestige, and this period

would see the last wave of building activity: Constantine's

predecessor Maxentius built notable buildings, such as the basilica in

the Roman Forum, Constantine himself Constantine erected his

famous arch to celebrate the victory against the former, and

Diocletian would build the largest baths of all. Constantine also

became the first patron saint of official Christian buildings in the

city; He donated the Lateran Palace to the Pope and built the first

great basilica, the old St. Peter's Basilica.

Rome remained, however, a banner of paganism, run by aristocrats

and senators. When the Visigoths appeared near the walls in 408,

the senate and the mayor proposed pagan sacrifices, and everything

indicates that even the pope would agree, if this could save the city.

Even so, not even the new walls prevented the city from being

sacked, first by the Visigoth Alaric on August 24, 410, and then by

the vandal Genseric in 455 BC and, later still, by the troops of

general Ricímero (mostly composed of barbarians). ) on July 11, 472.

The sacking of the city, unprecedented since the time of Brennus,

alarmed the entire Roman civilization: the fall of Rome meant the

definitive overthrow of the ancient order. Many inhabitants fled,

and by the end of the century, Rome's population had fallen to

around 30,000.

City plan during the Roman Empire

Even so, the damage caused by the looting was probably exaggerated

in the historiography of the time. The city was already in decline,

and many of the monuments had already been destroyed by the

inhabitants themselves, who stole rocks from temples, public

buildings and nearby statues for their personal purposes — it is even

common to find statues and archaeological pieces nowadays used in

residential homes throughout the city. Furthermore, many of the

churches would also have been built this way. For example, the first

St. Peter's Basilica was erected using parts of the abandoned Circus

of Nero. This attitude was a constant feature of Rome until the

Renaissance. From the 4th century onwards, imperial edicts against

the theft of stones and, especially, marble, were common - their

very repetition shows how ineffective they would be. On some

occasions, new churches were created directly from pagan temples,

probably transforming a pagan god or hero into the corresponding

saint or martyr of Christianity. This is how the Temple of Romulus

and Remus became the basilica of the twin saints Cosmas and

Damian. Later, the Pantheon, "Temple of All Gods", would become

the Church of All Martyrs.

Medieval Rome

The barbarian invasions and Byzantine rule

During the Gothic War, Rome was surrounded several times by the

Byzantine and Ostrogoth armies.

The Column of Phocas, the last imperial monument in the Roman

Forum

The ancient basilica of Saint Lawrence Outside the Walls was built

directly over the tomb of the favorite Roman martyr

In 476, the last emperor of the West, Romulus Augustus, who had

been manipulated (like most emperors in this period) by his father,

general Flávio Orestes, was deposed by barbarian troops led by

Odoacer and exiled to the Egg Castle, in Naples. . The Fall of the

Western Roman Empire would, however, have little impact on Rome.

Odoacer, and later the Ostrogoths, would continue to rule Italy

from Ravenna. However, the Senate, despite having long been

deprived of its great influence, would continue to rule Rome, with

the Pope generally coming from a senatorial family. This situation

would persist until the forces of the Eastern Roman Empire, led by

Belisarius at the behest of Justinian, captured the city in 536.

On December 17, 546, the Ostrogoths of Totila recaptured the city

and again sacked it. Belisarius recaptured the city, only to lose it

again in 549. Belisarius was replaced by Narses, who definitively

captured Rome in 552, ending the Gothic War that devastated the

Italian peninsula. The continuous war around Rome between the 530s

and 540s left it practically abandoned and desolate. The aqueducts

were no longer repaired, leading to a reduction in the population to

around 30,000 concentrated on the banks of the River Tiber, in the

Campo de Marte area, abandoning areas without a water supply.

There is even a legend that speaks of a time when Rome would be

completely uninhabited. The Eastern Roman Emperor Justinian (r.

527–565) nevertheless tried to secure subsidies for Rome for the

maintenance of public buildings, aqueducts and bridges, although

without great success, as the entire Italian peninsula was

dramatically impoverished by recent wars. He also became the

patron saint of the remaining scholars, orators, physicists and

magistrates, in the hope that the younger ones would seek a better

education. After the wars, the senate structures were reestablished

under the supervision of a prefect and other officials appointed and

held accountable by the Roman (Byzantine) authorities in Ravenna.

However, the pope had become one of the religious icons throughout

the Byzantine Empire and, effectively, more powerful locally than

senators or any other Byzantine officials. In practice, the local

power of Rome fell to the ṕapa and, over the next few decades, the

aristocratic senatorial power, as well as the Byzantine administration

of Rome, would be absorbed by the Catholic Church.

The reign of Justinian's nephew and successor, Justin II (r. 565–

578) was marked by the invasion of the Lombards led by Alboíno

(568). With the capture of the regions of Benevento, Lombardy,

Piedmont, Spoleto and Tuscany, the invaders effectively restricted

imperial authority to small swaths of land around coastal cities,

including Ravenna, Naples, Rome and the area of the future Venice.

The only portion still under Byzantine rule was Perugia, which allowed

the repeatedly besieged connection between Rome and Ravenna. In

578, and again in 580, the senate, in its last interventions on record,

was forced to resort to the assistance of Tiberius II (r. 578–582)

against the approaching dukes, Faroaldo I of Spoleto and Zoto of

Benevento.

Maurice I (r. 582–602) would insert a new fact into the ongoing

conflict by establishing an alliance with Kildebert II of Austrasia (r.

575–595). The armies of the King of the Franks invaded the

territories of Lombardy in 584, 585, 588 and 590 and, in the

previous year, Rome had already suffered a disastrous flood from

the Tiber River, followed by a plague of Black Death in 590 — the

latter became is famous for the legend associated with the

procession of the new pope, Gregory I (r. 590–604), through

Hadrian's Tomb, which tells of an angel who appeared over the

building charging his flaming sword, as a sign that the pestilence

would end . From this year onwards, the city finally remained safe.

Meanwhile, Agilolfo, the new Lombard king (r. 591–616) managed to

secure peace with Childebert II, reorganized his territories and

continued attacks on Naples and Rome in 592. With the emperor

occupied with wars on the eastern borders and the successive

exarchs unable to defend Rome from invasions, Gregory took the

initiative to begin negotiations for a peace treaty, which would be

reached in the autumn of 598 — although only later recognized by

Maurice — lasting until the end of his reign.

The pope's position would be strengthened by the usurper Phocas (r.

602–610). Phocas recognized his primacy over the Patriarch of

Constantinople and even decreed Pope Boniface III (607) as

"representative of all the Churches". It was during the reign of

Phocas that the last imperial monument in the Roman Forum was

erected, the column that bore his name. He also donated the

Pantheon to the Pope, which had already been closed for centuries,

which probably saved it from destruction.

Plan of Rome in the Middle Ages

Medieval plan of Rome

During the seventh century, an influx of Byzantine officials and

clergy from other parts of the empire culminated in a dominant

presence of the Greek language and aristocracy. However, this

strong Byzantine cultural influence did not always translate into

political harmony between Rome and Constantinople. In the

controversy over Monothelitism, the popes felt great pressure (even

physically translating) for not being able to keep up with the changes

in Constantinople's theological orientations. In 653, Pope Martin I

would be deported to Constantinople and, shortly after a brief trial,

exiled to Crimea, where he died.

Shortly afterwards, in 663, Rome received its first imperial visit in

the last two centuries, by Constantius II — its worst misfortune

since the Gallic Wars, as the emperor tried to remove the metals

that existed in the city, including those from buildings and statues,

to make them available for the construction of weapons for the

fights against the Saracens. However, during the following half of

the century, and despite various tensions, Rome and the Papacy

continued to prefer Byzantine rule — partly because the alternative

would be Lombard domination and, on the other hand, because most

of the food brought to Rome they came from papal states in other

parts of the empire, particularly Sicily.

In 727, Pope Gregory II refused to accept the decrees of Emperor

Leo III the Isaurus, establishing iconoclasm. Leo's initial reaction

was to try to kidnap the Pontiff, in vain, but he would later send a

force of Byzantine troops, under the command of Exarch Paul, who

would be contained by the Lombards of Tuscia and Benevento. On

November 1, 731, a synod was convened by Gregory III in Rome to

excommunicate the iconoclasts, to which the emperor's response

was the confiscation of large portions of papal territories in Sicily

and Calabria and the transfer of several areas of the pope's

ecclesiastical rule under Byzantine control for the Patriarch of

Constantinople (the creation of the patriarch of Grado, separating

him from the jurisdiction of Aquileia). Rome, under the rule of the

pope, was thus expelled from the Byzantine Empire.

During this period, the Lombard Kingdom was going through a phase

of renaissance, under the leadership of Liuprando. In 730 he sent a

raid against Rome to punish the pope, who had allegedly supported

the duke. Although protected by the city's massive wall, the pope

could do little against the Lombard king, who in the meantime

managed to ally himself with the Byzantines. Gregory III,

understanding the impotence of resisting such an alliance, was the

first pope to ask for help, for the first time in an official way, from

the kingdom of the Franks, then under the command of Charles

Martel (739).

Liuprando's successor, Astolfo, was even more aggressive: he

conquered Ferrara and Ravenna, thus ending the Exarchate of

Ravenna. Rome would probably be the next victim. In 754, Pope

Stephen III went to France to appoint Pepin the Short, king of the

Franks, as patricius Romanorum, ie, protector of Rome. In August of

the same year, the king and the pope crossed the Alps to defeat

Astolfo, in Susa, managing to make him promise that he would give up

conflicts with the pope, returning the occupied territories to him.

However, when Pepin returned to Saint-Denis, Astolfo broke his

promise and besieged Rome for 56 days in 756, giving up as soon as

they heard the news of Pepin's return to Italy. This time he would

agree to hand over the promised territories to the Pope, and thus

the Papal States were born.

In 771, the new king of the Lombards, Desiderius, devised a

stratagem to definitively conquer Rome and depose Pope Stephen

III. His main ally would be Paulus Afiarta, leader of the Lombard

faction residing in the city. However, the plan would not be

successful, and Stephen's successor, Pope Adrian I, called on

Charlemagne to declare war on Desiderius, who would be finally

defeated in 773. The Lombard kingdom was dissolved, and Rome was

placed in the orbit of a new and great political institution.

The Holy Empire

The crown of the Holy Roman Empire (10th century),

at the Schatzkammer in Vienna

On April 25, 799, as the new pope, Leo III, led the traditional

Lateran procession towards the Church of Saint Lawrence in Lucina,

along the Via Lata, the urban stretch of the Via Flaminia (current

Via del Corso), two nobles (followers of the predecessor, Hadrian),

who did not like the pope's weaknesses in relation to Charlemagne,

attacked the processional train, leaving the pope seriously injured.

Leo fled to meet the king of the Franks and, in November 800, the

king entered Rome leading a strong army and a large number of

Frankish bishops. Charlemagne then organized a judicial tribunal to

decide whether Leo should continue the Papacy, or whether the

conspirators' claims would be valid or not. However, this court was

part of a chain of meticulously planned events that would surprise

the world: The pope, naturally acquitted, and the conspirators

exiled, would crown Charlemagne as Western Roman Emperor in St.

Peter's Basilica on December 25 800. This attitude definitively

ended Rome's loyalty to its "half", Constantinople, creating a rival

empire that, after a series of conquests by Charlemagne, now

encompassed most of the western Christian territories.

The borders of the Holy Roman Empire between the years 962 and

1806, on the borders of modern Europe

After the death of Charlemagne, the lack of a figure of equal

prestige caused some disagreements in the new institution. At the

same time, the Roman Church faced secular demands from the city

itself, driven by the conviction that the Romans, although

impoverished and devalued, retained the right to elect the new

Western emperor. The pope claimed a territory that went from

Ravenna to Gaeta, which would mean sovereignty over Rome.

However, this sovereignty would be continually disputed over the

following centuries, and only the most politically strong popes

managed to maintain it. The main weakness of the Papacy was

precisely the need to elect new popes, from time to time, in which

the emerging noble families quickly sought to obtain a leadership

role. Neighboring powers, namely the Duchy of Spoleto and Tuscany,

and later the emperors, learned how to take advantage of this

internal weakness and, consequently, became arbiters between the

candidates.

Thus, the environment in Rome was close to anarchy. The most

scandalous moment occurred in 897 with the exhumation of

Formoso's corpse to be tried in court. These crises were worsened

by the emergence of a new threat, the Arabs or, as medieval

Italians referred to them, the Saracens: these newcomers from

North Africa had already conquered Sicily and their penetration into

Southern Italy was being conducted effectively. The infiltration of

pirate bands brought terror to the territories around Rome, to

which Paschal I (r. 817–824) responded by relocating the remains of

all the holy martyrs within the city walls. Still, this measure did not

prevent the Muslims from sacking St. Peter's Basilica in 846. In

852, Leo IV commissioned the construction of a new wall around an

area on the bank of the Tiber opposite the seven hills, which would

come to be referred to as as "Leonine City".

Rome Commune

Interior of the Basilica of Santa Maria in Trastevere, one of the

most beautiful churches in Rome built or rebuilt during the Middle

Ages By this time, the newly renovated Roman Church was once again

attracting pilgrims and prelates from all parts of the Christian

world, bringing their money with you: despite the reduced population

(ca. 30,000), Rome was once again transformed into a city dependent

on consumers, this time run by the government bureaucracy.

Meanwhile, the other cities on the Italian peninsula, run mainly by

new families that were taking over from the old aristocracy, were

increasing their autonomy, forming a new class of entrepreneurs,

traders and merchants. Soon after the sack of Rome by the

Normans in 1084, the reconstruction of the city was supported by

powerful families, such as the Frangipane and the Pierleoni, whose

financing came from trade and banks, rather than from land.

Inspired by neighboring cities, such as Tivoli and Viterbo, the Roman

people also began to consider the city the status of a commune and,

consequently, greater autonomy from papal authority.

Driven by the words of the controversial preacher Arnold of

Brescia, an idealist and fierce opponent of ecclesiastical property

and the Church's interference in internal affairs, the Romans

rebelled in 1143. The Senate and the Roman Republic were therefore

reborn. However, the Rome of the 12th century shared little with

that which had governed the Mediterranean 700 years earlier, and

the Senate soon found itself in a constant effort to survive,

alternating support for the Pope and the Western Roman Empire, in

an ambiguous political position. In Monteporzio, in 1167, during one

of these alternations, the Roman troops would be defeated by the

imperial forces of Frederick Barbarossa. Interestingly, the

victorious enemy would be briefly driven away by the plague and

Rome would remain safe.

In 1188, the communal government would finally be recognized by

Pope Clement III, forced to pay large sums to the commune's

officials, and the 56 senators would become vassals of the pope. The

Senate has always failed to fulfill its functions, which has led to

several changes being attempted. Often only one senator headed the

institution, which sometimes led to tyrannies that did not help the

stability of the newborn organism.

In 1204, the bad atmosphere set in again, this time confronting the

family of Pope Innocent III and their rivals, the powerful Orsini,

leading to new disturbances in the city. Many of the ancient

buildings suffered destruction by the machines used between rival

sides to surround their enemies in the countless towers and

fortresses, used in medieval Italy as a symbol of nobility.

The Torre dei Conti was one of the many towers built by the noble

families of Rome as a standard of their power and to defend the

various fiefdoms that surrounded the city in the Middle Ages. Only a

third of the tower remains.

The struggles between the popes and Emperor Frederick II, also

king of Naples and Sicily, would lead Rome to support the

Ghibellines. To affirm his loyalty, Frederick sent the Carroccio to

the commune, which he had won from the Lombards in the Battle of

Cortenuova in 1234, and which would be displayed on the Capitoline

Hill. Later that year, during another revolt against the pope, the

Romans, led by Luca Savelli, sacked the Lateran. Interestingly,

Savelli was the son of Pope Honorius III and father of Honorius IV,

although at this time family ties did not determine his loyalty. Rome

was definitely not destined to evolve into an autonomous and stable

commune, like other communes such as Florence, Siena or Milan. The

endless struggles between these noble families (Savelli, Orsini,

Colonna and Annibaldi), the ambiguous alignment of the Pope , the

pride of the population that never abandoned the dream and

splendor of the past, and the weakness of the republican institution

would continually deprive the city of this possibility.

In an attempt to imitate other more successful communes, in 1252,

the people elected a foreign senator, the Bolognese Brancaleone

degli Andalò. Hoping to achieve peace in the city, Andalò suppressed

the most powerful nobles (destroying around 140 towers),

reorganized the working classes and issued a set of laws inspired by

those applied in northern Italy. However, despite the rigid stance

with which he faced adversity, he died in 1258 with most of his

reforms yet to be implemented. Five years later, Charles I of Anjou,

later king of Naples, would be elected senator. His entry into the

city would only take place in 1265 and shortly afterwards he would

leave due to the need to face Conradino da Germania, the heir of the

Hohenstaufen who was approaching to claim his family's rights over

southern Italy. From June of that year, Rome's government was

once again characterized by a democratic republic, electing Henry of

Castile as senator. Conradino and the Ghibelline faction would be

defeated at the Battle of Tagliacozzo (1268) and, thus, the

government of Rome passed back into the hands of Carlos.

Nicholas III, a member of the Orsini, would be elected in 1277 and

would transfer the headquarters of the Papacy from the Lateran

Palace to the Vatican, as it was more protected, and would prohibit

access to the status of senator of Rome by foreigners. Since he was

a legitimate Roman, the people elected him to the senate, and the

city was once again run by the papal faction. Nevertheless, Carlos

was elected senator again in 1285 and, with the Sicilian Vespers, his

charisma would be irreversibly affected. Thus he lost authority in

the city, a place that would be occupied by another Roman and also

pope, Honorius IV of the Savelli family.

Babylonian captivity

Celestine V's successor was an energetic Roman from the Caetani

family, Pope Boniface VIII, who would have been involved by

heredity in family disputes with his family's traditional rivals, the

Colonna. However, this quarrel did not divert him in his struggle to

reassert the universal supremacy of the Holy See. In 1300, Boniface

VIII celebrated the first Jubilee and founded the first University

of Rome. The Jubilee would, as it proved, be an important step for

Rome, as it would increase its international prestige; consequently,

the city's economy would see a boost, due to the flow of pilgrims.

Boniface died in 1303, shortly after the humiliation of the Attack of

Anagni (Schiaffo di Anagni, "Slap of Anagni") that marked the rule

of the Papacy by the king of France, marking a new period of decline

for Rome.

For this reason, Boniface's successor, Pope Clement V, never

entered the city, beginning the famous period of the Avignon Papacy,

also known as the "captivity of Avignon" (in allusion to the Babylonian

captivity), in which the Pope moved the headquarters of the Catholic

Church to Avignon, a situation that would last for more than 70

years. As a consequence, the independence of local power was

verified, although it proved to be very unstable; Also, the lack of

financial income previously supported by the Church caused a

profound decline in Rome. For more than a century, Rome stopped

building development. Worse, many of the city's monuments,

including the main churches, were showing the first signs of decay.

The Pope's return to Rome

Cola di Rienzo rioted the Capitol in 1347 to create a new Roman

Republic. Although short-lived, this attempt was recorded on the

statue near the staircase leading to Michelangelo's square.

Despite the decline and the absence of the pope, Rome would not

lose its spiritual prestige: in 1341 the famous poet Francesco

Petrarch traveled to Rome to be distinguished as a poet on the

Capitoline Hill. Meanwhile, the nobility and the poor lined up to

demand the pope's return. Among the various ambassadors who

traveled to Avignon during this period, the simultaneously bizarre

and eloquent figure of Cola di Rienzo stands out. As his power over

the population increased, on May 30, 1347, he conquered the Capitol

leading the enthusiastic population. Although short-lived, the period

of his leadership over the population of Rome proved to be one of

the most important moments in the city's medieval history; Cola

strove to spread the rejuvenating aura of the common concept of

eventual Italian independence, at the center of a politically confused

dream similar to the prestige of Ancient Rome. Later, assuming

power in a dictatorial manner, he assumed the title of "tribune", in a

clear reference to the plebeian magistracy of the republican era. Di

Rienzo also considered his status equivalent to that of the Roman-

Germanic Emperor. On August 1, 1347, he granted Roman citizenship

to all Italian cities and prepared the election of a Roman emperor

for Italy. As a measure of containment, the Pope declared Di Rienzo

a heretic, criminal and pagan, manipulating public opinion to the point

that it began to distance itself. On December 15, Di Renzo was

forced to flee.

In August 1354, Di Rienzo again became a protagonist, when Cardinal

Gil Alvarez De Albornoz entrusted him with the position of "senator

of Rome" in the course of his certification program for the papal

government in the Papal States. In October, the tyrannical Cola, who

was once again becoming unpopular due to his controversial behavior

and heavy debts, was murdered in a dispute provoked by the

powerful Colonna family. In April 1355, Charles IV of Bohemia

entered the city for the traditional ritual of coronation as emperor.

His visit was attended with great displeasure by the citizens, as he

was not well-endowed financially, having received the crown from a

cardinal and not the pope, and for leaving just a few days after the

coronation.

With the emperor back in his lands, Albornoz could now regain some

control over the city, even remaining in the safety of his citadel in

Montefiascone, in the northern region of Lazio. The senators, now

appointed directly by the pope, were chosen from various cities

throughout Italy, although the city was independent. The senate now

included six judges, five notaries, six marshals, several family

members, twenty knights, and twenty armed men. Albornoz managed

to suppress traditionally aristocratic families, and the "democratic"

faction felt confident enough to initiate an aggressive policy. In

1362, Rome declared war on Velletri, the repercussions of which

resulted in a civil war: the rural faction hired a group of condottieri,

the Del Cappelo (those "of the Hat"), while the Romans purchased

the services of German and Hungarian troops, plus to its own 600

cavalry and 22,000 infantry units. During this period, all of Italy was

swept by the ruthless condottieri groups. Many of the Savelli, Orsini

and Annibaldi, expelled from Rome, became leaders of these military

units. When the war with the Velletri ended, Rome surrendered

again to the pope, Urban V, on condition that he forbid Albornoz

from entering Rome.

On October 6, 1367, in response to the prayers of Saint Bridget and

Francesco Petrarch, Urban V finally traveled to the city. During his

presence, Charles IV was crowned again (October 1368). At this

time, the Byzantine emperor John V Palaiologos also went to Rome to

request a crusade against the Ottoman Empire, although without

success. A few years later, unhappy with the city's atmosphere,

Urban V returned to Avignon, on September 5, 1370. His successor,

Gregory XI, scheduled his return to Rome for May 1372 but, again,

the French cardinals, with the support of their king, they managed

to persuade him. The pope remained this way until January 17, 1377,

when Gregory XI reinstalled the Holy See in Rome.

However, the incoherent behavior of his successor, the Italian

Urban VI, would provoke the Great Western Schism in 1378, which

would destroy any legitimate attempt to improve conditions in

declining Rome.

modern Rome

The Renaissance in Rome

The School of Athens, 1509, Stanza della Segnatura, painting by

Rafael Sanzio, Vatican Museums

During the pontificate of Pope Nicholas V (p. March 19, 1447), the

Renaissance entered Rome at the same time that the city became

the center of humanism. Nicholas V was the first pope to include

academics and artists, such as Lorenzo Valla and Vespasiano da

Bisticci, at the Roman court.

On September 4, 1449, Nicholas announced a Jubilee for the

following year, the consequence of which would be a new influx of

pilgrims from all over Europe. The crowd would be so large that, in

December, on the Santo Ângelo Bridge, around 200 people would die,

"run over" or drowned in the Tiber River. That same year, the plague

reappeared in the city, and Nicholas V fled Rome.

Despite his reprehensible attitude, Nicholas V managed to stabilize

the temporal power of the Papacy, isolating it from the emperor's

interference. In this way, the coronation and wedding of Emperor

Frederick II, on March 16, 1452, was nothing more than a civil

ceremony. The Papacy now firmly controlled Rome. Stefano Porcari's

attempt, which aimed to restore the republic, was ruthlessly

suppressed in January 1453. Porcari would be hanged together with

his assistants, Francesco Gabadeo, Pierto de Monterotondo, Battista

Sciarra and Angiolo Ronconi. However, the pope's reputation would

be questioned when, at the beginning of the execution, Nicholas V

appeared too drunk to confirm the graces he had granted to Sciarra

and Ronconi.

Nicholas V was also the designer of the urban remodeling, together

with Leon Battista Alberti, which included the construction of the

new St. Peter's Basilica.

Nicholas V's successor, Callixtus III, did not continue Nicholas's

cultural policy, devoting himself to his greatest passion, the love for

his nephews. The Tuscan Pius II, who took the reins after his death

in 1458, revealed himself to be a great humanist, although he did

little for Rome. It was during his pontificate that Lorenzo Valla

demonstrated that the Donation of Constantine had been a forgery.

Pius II was also the first pope to resort to armed struggle, in a

campaign against the rebellious Savelli barons in the suburbs of

Rome, in 1461. A year later, with the transfer of the head of the

apostle Saint Andrew to Rome, there was a new influx of pilgrims.

The pontificate of Pope Paul II (1464 - 1471) was notable solely for

the reintroduction of Carnival, which would become a very popular

celebration in Rome during the following centuries. Still in the same

year (1468), a conspiracy against the pope was dismantled, organized

by intellectuals from the Roman Academy, founded by Pomponio

Leto, resulting in the imprisonment of those involved in Castel

Sant'Angelo.

However, the most important pontificate was, without a doubt, that

of Sixtus IV. To favor a family member, Girolamo Riario, he

instigated a conspiracy on the part of the Pazzi (Congiura dei Pazzi)

against the Medici family of Florence (26 April 1478) and, in Rome,

he fought the Colonna and the Orsini. Despite the great costs of

this policy of intrigue and war, Sixtus IV was a true patron saint of

art in the same vein as Nicholas V: he reopened the academy and

reorganized the Collegio degli Abbreviatori and, in 1471, began the

construction of the Vatican Library, whose first curator was

Platinum. The library was officially founded on June 15, 1475. Sixtus

had several churches restored, including Santa Maria del Popolo, the

Virgin Water and the Hospital of the Holy Spirit, had some streets

paved and was also responsible for building a famous bridge over the

Tiber, which is currently known by its name. However, his largest

project was the Sistine Chapel in the Vatican Palace. Its decoration

brought together some of the most renowned artists of the time,

including Mino da Fiesole, Sandro Botticelli, Domenico Ghirlandaio,

Pietro Perugino, Luca Signorelli and Pinturicchio — already in the

16th century, Michelangelo painted it with what would become his

work -prize, transforming the Chapel into one of the most

spectacular monuments in the world. Sixtus died on August 12, 1484,

and was considered the first king-pope of Rome.

During the pontificate of his successors, Innocent VIII and

Alexander VI (1492 - 1503), Rome suffered from chaos, corruption

and emerging nepotism. In the time between the death of the first

and the election of the second, 220 murders occurred in the city.

Alexander VI had to face Charles VIII of France, who invaded Italy

in 1494 and entered Rome on December 31 of that year. The pope

was forced to barricade himself in the Castel Sant'Angelo, which

had become a true fortress thanks to the work of Antonio da

Sangallo, but the skillful Alexander knew how to win the king's help,

appointing his son César Borgia as military advisor in the subsequent

invasion of the Kingdom of Naples. Rome was thus safe. However,

with the king's movement south, the pope changed his position,

aligning himself with the anti-French league of Italian states that,

finally, forced Charles to retreat to France.

Alexander, considered the most nepotistic pope of all, favored his

implacable son Caesar Borgia, creating for him a personal duchy

made up of some of the territories belonging to the Papal States,

and banishing the Orsini family, Caesar's most insistent enemy, from

Rome. In 1500, the city celebrated a new jubilee, but the streets

became increasingly unsafe, especially at night, when they were

controlled by bands of criminals, the bravi. However, it was Caesar

himself who murdered Alfonso de Bisceglie, his sister Lucrezia and,

presumably, the pope's son, Giovanni de Gandia.

The Renaissance had a major impact on the appearance of Rome with

works such as Michelangelo's Pietà ("Piety") and the Borgia Chamber

frescoes, all created during Innocent's pontificate. Rome reached

its peak of splendor under Pope Julius II (1503 - 1513) and his

successors Leo X and Clement VII, both members of the Medici

family. During these twenty years, Rome had become the largest art

center in the world. The old St. Peter's Basilica was demolished and

a new one was started over. The city hosted artists such as

Bramante, who built the Tempietto of San Pietro in Montorio and

was the author of a major project to renovate the Vatican City,

Raphael, who in Rome became the most famous painter in Italy for

his frescoes in the Nicoline Chapel , Vila Farnesina, Raphael's Rooms,

among other famous works of art, and Michelangelo, who began

decorating the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel and created the famous

statue of Moses for Julius's tomb. Rome partially lost its religious

character to gradually become a true Renaissance city, with a large

number of popular festivities, horse races, parties, intrigues and

episodes of negligence. The economy stabilized with the presence of

several Tuscan bankers, including Agostino Chigi, who was a friend of

Rafael and also a patron of the arts. Before his premature death,

Rafael was also, and for the first time, a promoter of the

conservation of the ruins of Antiquity.

The Sack of Rome and the Counter-Reformation

In 1527, the ambiguous policy followed by the second pope of the

Mécic family, Pope Clement VII, resulted in a dramatic sack of the

city by the imperial troops of Charles V of the Holy Empire, who

devastated the city for days. Many of the citizens were murdered

or sought shelter outside the walls. The Pope himself imprisoned

himself in Castel Sant'Angelo. The sack thus marked the end of the

era of greatest splendor in modern Rome.

The Jubilee of 1525 resulted in a farce, with Martin Luther's claims

instilling criticism and spite for the pope's greed towards all of

Europe. The prestige of Rome would be confronted with the

dismemberment of the churches of Germany and England. Still, Pope

Paul III (1534 - 1549) strove to appease the situation by calling the

Council of Trent, although he was, ironically, the most nepotistic of

the popes. Paul III even separated Parma and Piacenza from the

Papal States to create an independent duchy for his own son, Pedro

Luís Farnésio. He continued, however, his patronage for art,

attending Michelangelo's Last Judgment, asking him to renovate the

Capitol and assist in the construction of the new St. Peter's Basilica.

After the initial shock of the sack of Rome, he also called upon the

brilliant architect Giuliano da Sangallo the Younger to fortify the

walls of the "Leonine City".

The need to renew religious customs became evident with the period

of vacancy that followed the death of Paul III, with the streets of

Rome becoming scenes of satire on the cardinals who attended the

conclave. His immediate successors were two figures of little

authority who knew nothing to do to escape Spain's real sovereignty

over Rome.

Paul IV, elected in 1555, was a member of the anti-Spain faction. His

policy would result in a new siege of the city by the troops of the

Neapolitan viceroy, in 1556. Paul appealed for peace, but was forced

to accept the supremacy of Philip II of Spain. He was one of the

most hated popes of all and, after his death, the population revolted,

setting fire to the palace of the Holy Inquisition and destroying his

marble statue in the Capitol. Paul's perspective on the Counter-

Reformation was evident in the order to confine the Jews to a

central area of Rome, around the Portico of Octavia, thus creating

the famous Roman Ghetto.

The Counter-Reformation would be considered only by his

successors, the moderate Pius IV and the severe Pius V. Although

the first was a nepotist, loving the splendours of the court, he

allowed the introduction of more severe customs by his advisor,

Carlos Borromeu, who was about to become one of the most popular

figures in Rome. Pius V and Borromeo gave the city the true

character of the Counter-Reformation. All pomp was removed from

the court, the jesters expelled, and the cardinals and bishops were

forced to live in the city. Blasphemy and the use of concubines were

severely punished; prostitutes were expelled or confined to districts

reserved for that purpose. The power of the Inquisition within the

city was readjusted, and the palace rebuilt with new space for

prisons. During this period, Michelangelo opened the Porta Pia and

transformed the Baths of Diocletian into the spectacular basilica of

Santa Maria degli Angeli, where Pius IV was buried.

Fontana dell'Acqua Felice in St. Bernard Square

The pontificate of his successor, Pope Gregory XIII, was a failure.

His measures would spark new riots in the streets of Rome. The

French writer and philosopher Montaigne argued that "life and

property were never so insecure as during the time of Gregory XIII,

perhaps", and that a confraternity even performed homosexual

marriages in the church of San Giovanni a Porta Latina. The

courtesans so repressed by Pius now became prostitutes who worked

openly on the streets.

Sixtus V had, however, a distinct temperament. Although his

pontificate was short (1585 - 1590), it became one of the most

effective in the history of Rome. Sixtus was even stricter than Pius

V, and gained nicknames such as castigamatti ("punisher of the

mad"), papa di ferro ("Iron Pope"), dictator and even, ironically,

devil, since no other pope preceded him in the persecution. so

determined of the reform of the Church and customs. Sixtus

profoundly reorganized the administration of the Papal States, and

cleaned the cities of Rome of all braves, prostitutes, procurators,

duels, and the like. Neither nobles nor cardinals considered

themselves exempt from the policing carried out by Sixtus. The

money from taxes, which was no longer allocated to corruption,

allowed an ambitious building program to take place. Some older

aqueducts were restored, and a new one was built, the Acqua Felice

(named after Sisto, Felice Peretti). New houses were also built in

the desolate district of Esquilino, Viminal and Quirinal, while other

houses in the center were demolished to open new, wider roads.

Sixtus' goal was to make Rome a better destination for pilgrims, and

new roads would allow better access to the basilicas. The old

obelisks were moved or erected to beautify Saint John Lateran,

Saint Mary Major and Saint Peter, as well as Piazza del Popolo, in

front of the church Santa Maria del Popolo.

Italian unification

Proclamation of the Roman Republic

Government by the papacy was interrupted by the brief Roman

Republic (1798), established under the influence of the French

Revolution.

Another Roman Republic emerged in 1849, following the revolutions

of 1848. Two of the most influential figures in Italian unification,

Giuseppe Mazzini and Giuseppe Garibaldi, fought on the side of the

republic.

The return of Pius IX to Rome, with the help of French troops,

marked the exclusion of Rome from the unification process of the

second war of Italian independence and the Expedition of the

Thousand, after which the entire Italian peninsula, with the

exception of Rome and the Veneto, would be unified under the House

of Savoy.

In 1870, with the beginning of the Franco-Prussian War, the French

emperor Napoleon III stopped ensuring the protection of the Papal

States. Shortly afterwards, the Italian government declared war on

the states. The Italian army entered Rome on September 20,

opening a breach in the wall, Porta Pia, after a three-hour

bombardment. Rome and all of Latium would be annexed to the

Kingdom of Italy.

The Italian government then offered Pius IX the possibility of

preserving the "Leonine City", although the offer was rejected as its

acceptance translated into recognition of the legitimacy of the

government of the Kingdom of Italy over its former domains. Pius IX

thus declared himself a "prisoner of the Vatican" although, in truth,

he was never denied the right to travel. Officially, the capital would

not be moved from Florence to Rome until 1871.

Nowadays

Today's Rome not only reflects the stratification of the various eras

throughout its history, but also constitutes a contemporary

metropolis. The vast historic center contains areas dating from

Ancient Rome, medieval times, several palaces and artistic treasures

from the Renaissance, many fountains, churches and palaces from

the Baroque, as well as many other examples of Art Nouveau,

neoclassicism, modernism, rationalism and any others artistic styles

of the 19th and 20th centuries (indeed, the city is considered an

encyclopedia and a living museum of the last 3000 years of Western

art history). The historic center practically coincides with the limits

of the walls of imperial Rome. Some areas were reorganized after

unification (1880–1910 - Roma Umbertina), and some additions and

adaptations were made during the fascist period, such as the muchdiscussed

Via dei Fori Imperiali, from Via della Conciliazione, in front

of the Vatican (for whose construction a large part of the old Borgo

was destroyed), the institution of new Quartieri (of which EUR, San

Basilio, Garbatella, Cinecittà, Trullo, Quarticciolo and, on the coast,

the restructuring of Ostia) and the inclusion of border towns

(Labaro, Osteria del Curato, Quarto Miglio, Capannelle, Pisana,

Torrevecchia, Ottavia, Casalotti). These expansions were necessary

to accommodate the exponential increase in population, a

consequence of the centralization of the Italian State.

During the Second World War, Rome suffered few bombings (with a

greater incidence in San Lorenzo), and was declared an open city.

Rome fell to the Allies on June 4, 1944, and was the first capital of

the Axis nations to fall.

After the war, Rome continued to expand due to the growth of

centralized administration that resulted from unification and

industry, with the creation of new quartieri and suburbs. The

official population currently stands at around 2.5 million; During

working hours, workers increase the value to 3.5 million, which

represents a dramatic increase from previous values: 130,000 in

1825, 244,000 in 1871, 692,000 in 1921 and 1,600,000 in 1931.

Rome hosted the 1960 Olympic Games, for which it used many

ancient sites, such as the Villa Borghese and the Baths of Caracalla,

as sources of income. For the Olympic games, new structures were

created, such as the new Olympic Stadium (later enlarged and

remodeled for the 1990 FIFA World Cup), the Villaggio Olimpico

(Olympic Village, created to welcome athletes and later restructured

as a district residential), etc.

Many of Rome's monuments were restored by the Italian state and

the Vatican for the 2000 Jubilee.

Facade of the Quirinal Palace, official residence of the President of

the Italian Republic

As the capital of Italy, Rome is home to the nation's main

institutions, such as the Presidency of the Republic, the government,

its ministries, the parliament, the main judicial courts, and the

diplomatic representatives in Italy of all other countries, and the

Vatican City ( Interestingly, Rome also houses, within Italian

territory, the Vatican Embassy, the only case of an embassy within

the limits of its own territory). Many institutions are housed in

Rome, namely those of a cultural and scientific nature — such as the

American Institute, the British School, the French Academy, the

Scandinavian Institutes, the German Archaeological Institute — for

the nobility of schooling in the Eternal City - and other humanitarian

ones , such as FAO.

Rome is currently one of the most important tourist destinations in

the world, not only due to the incalculable immensity of

archaeological and artistic treasures, but also due to the charisma

of its unique traditions and the majesty of its magnificent villas

(parks). Among the most significant resources, we highlight the

numerous museums (such as the Capitoline Museums, the Vatican

Museums and the Galleria Borghese), the aqueducts, fountains,

churches, palaces, historic buildings, monuments and ruins of the

Roman Forum, and the catacombs.

Among the hundreds of churches, the five largest basilicas of the

Catholic Church are in Rome: Basilica di San Giovanni in Laterano

("Saint John Lateran", Rome's cathedral), Basilica di San Pietro in

Vaticano ("Saint Peter)" , Basilica di San Paolo fuori le Mura ("Saint

Paul outside the Walls"), Basilica di Santa Maria Maggiore ("Saint

Mary Greater"), and the Basilica di San Lorenzo fuori le Mura

("Saint Lawrence outside the Walls"). The bishop of Rome is the

pope; During pastoral activity in the city, he is assisted by a vicar

(typically a cardinal).

I would like to thank the great people of Rome with great

satisfaction and simply say that I did this work with the

encouragement of showing everyone the great history of Rome and

its cultures because as a writer I feel closer to a path of peace and

love for a great understanding and more than conquered work of all

my qualities.

I want to thank you for this work prescribed here as a very familiar

example of a great people who have always dedicated themselves to

popular culture and I want to say that we are well acquainted with

the finest nature and I see that it makes us look for the true reason

for knowing much better the life and the ancient world and I want to

wish everyone this wonderful story in which it portrays us about

several romantic songs of very deep love about a past that was stuck

in time and that still reveals to us today and shows us the simple

reason why we know much better about close to beautiful old stories

that today we will find an answer to your questions and that can

make us know their unforgettable value up close and I want to say

here at the end with lots of love and affection to all my listeners

wherever they are, be it me, you or whoever it is, the world will

always be the same as always because what changes is our ways of

thinking and that life is an endless resonance and that we must

always go back to the old time that perhaps it can and wants to tell

us that life has always been a simple reaction and revelation that

made us seek, above all the certainties and uncertainties, the pure

and hard notion that made man stop in time when he was undecided

about life and its nature that made him recognize himself through

time and teach him about the emptiness of death to get to know life

better up close and that ancient times had always kept us fuller and

more adapted to a simple notion of facing ourselves and

understanding life better and it is said that science made man on

ancient times and that today man can govern and make life the best

disciplines for living, only by knowing life much better and conserving

over time that he can be in a great relationship with nature that is

limited to a circuit in the life of space and time. Here, with much

deep love, I want to thank all my dear friends who are always

enjoying here, in this climate of peace and love, the best

international romantic songs that make us look for the present, past

and future of a new and unforgettable generation that always will

show us with more affection and dedication the best tests of living

and holding back on the more than dreamed of educations and

lessons that have always been stories in the life of man on earth and

I want to wish here to all my dear friends, from friends to friends a

unforgettable strong hug from writer and radio host Roberto

Barros. Hugs and have a good day!

By: Roberto Barros