Rome

Rome grew from a small Latin settlement on the Tiber into the dominant power of the ancient Mediterranean. Founded as a monarchy (753–509 BCE), the expulsion of Tarquinius Superbus inaugurated the Roman Republic, which expanded through Italy, defeated Carthage in the Punic Wars, and conquered the eastern Mediterranean before succumbing to the civil wars of Marius, Sulla, Caesar, and Octavian. Augustus's settlement of 27 BCE transformed the Republic into the Principate while maintaining republican forms; the empire at its height under Trajan (98–117 CE) controlled some 5 million km², from Britain and the Rhine to Mesopotamia and Egypt. Constantine I legalised Christianity (Edict of Milan, 313 CE) and founded Constantinople (330 CE). Diocletian's administrative reforms and Theodosius I's death (395 CE) permanently divided the empire into Western and Eastern halves. The Western Roman Empire fell in 476 CE when Odoacer deposed Romulus Augustulus; the Eastern Empire (Byzantine) survived until 1453 CE.

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