Amaging Facts of Rome ( 500 B.C. - A.D. 500 )..... ( ENGLISH )

                  Rome ( 500 B.C. - A.D. 500 )

Built on hills above the tiber River, Rome began its phenomenal ascent to power in 509 B.C. when it won independence from the Etruscans, who had long dominated the area. after ousting their etruscan king, Romans created a republic in which aristocrats called patricians elected two consuls to lead them for a year

consuls were guided by aristocrats in the senate, leaving the common people, called plebeians eventually won the right to elect tribunes and one of the two consuls, Although social teasions persisted, plebeians now had a stake in Rome's success, and so they served dutifully in Roman legions, often receiving land in areas they conquered.

By 265 B.C., Romans had gained control of the italian peninsula and were eyeing sicily. opponents who submitted to their authority were treated generously, and some became Roman citizens. those who remained defiant were crushed.

No rival proved more deflant than carthage, a north african city of phoenician origin that controlled spain and other lands around the western mediterranean and clashed with Rome over Sicily in the first of three punic wars. Despite heroic efforts by the general Hannibal, carthage was ultimately defeated. After burning the city to the ground in 146 B.C.,Romans reportedly plowed its ashes under with salt so that nothing would grow there again. By 100 B.C.,the romans had conquered greece and were masters of the mediterranean.

The wealth and prestige Roman generals gained through conquest allowed them to defy the senate and impose their will politically. after defeating the gauls in france, julius caesar returned to Rome in 49 B.C.,seized power, and ruled as dictator. His assassination in 44 B.C., by conspirators who hoped to preserve the republic triggered abloody civil war. this struggle ended in 31 B.C., when caesar's nephew Gaius octavius defeated mark antony and his ally,Queen Cleopatra of Egpt, and took the tittle Augustus (''revered one''). As Rome's first emperor, he wielded absouute power. His successors likewise expanded the empire, which by thesecond century A.D. stretched from mesopotamia to britain.

This huge realm came under stress in the third century as invaders began pouring across Roman frontiers. As the crisis deepened, christianity-whose adherents rejected the cult of the divine emperor and worshipped a higher authority-won greater acceptance. when the emperor Constantine embraced Christianity and moved his capital in A.D. 330 to constantinople a more defensible place, Rome last its aura of invincibility. in the fifth century, Huns advancing from central Asia into eastern Europe displaced Italy. Rome fell in 476, leaving what remained of the Roman World to Constantinople and the Byzantine Empire.

• Jews,Christians, and Rome

During the first century A.D., Jews in judea, a Roman province, chafed under Roman rule. The emperor was hailed as a god. but jews, who worshipped one supreme God, were forbidden to serve idols. some hoped for a messiah, or savior, to free them from Roman rule. jesus of  Nazareth offered no resistance to Rome but foretold a kingdom of God surpassing any empire on earth. After his death, both Christians, who believed he was the Messiah, and Jews faced persecution. after a Jewish revolt, Romans sacked jerusalem in A.D. 70 and destroyed its temple.

• JULIUS CAESAR / Roman General & Dictator

Julius Caesar (100 B.C.-44B.C) rose to power by subduing the gauls, a celtic people living on either side of  the Alps. Celtic culture originated around 1000 B.C. along the upper Danube River and spread across France to northern Italy and spain and the British Isles. celts mastered iron working and were formidable warriors but laked unity. Caesar recruited Gauls in northern Italy to bolster his legions, and then he crushed defiant Gauls in france led by vercingetorix, who was hauled off to Rome in chains and eventually executed. Caeser captured an eastimated one million Gauls and sold them as slaves, amassing a huge for tune, which he used to purchase the loyalty of  troops and maintain power. from Gaul, he went on to millitary victories in Britain and Egypt. He became dictator in 46 B.C. but was assassinated two years later.