Timeline

Timeline of Roman History (dates especially relevant to this book are bolded)

BCE

753 Legendary foundation of Rome by Romulus, the first king of Rome.

509 Tarquinius Superbus, last king of Rome, expelled; Rome becomes a Republic. Creation of the office of consul

500-450 Creation of the office of Tribune of the Plebs, an office to protect the rights of the plebs

496 Rome defeats Latin League forces and Tarquinius Superbus and sons at the Battle of Lake Regillus

396 Rome sacks and destroys the Etruscan city of Veii

390 Rome sacked by the Gauls

343-341 First Samnite War ends with Rome capturing Capua and northern Campania

326-304 Second Samnite War ends with Rome conquering most of central and southern Italy

298-290 Third Samnite War ends with Rome in control of most of the Pennisula of Italy, with only Greek cities in the extreme south and the Po Valley in the North outside that control

280-275 Pyrrhic War. War against the Greek city of Tarentum and King Pyrrhus of Epirus.

264-241 First Punic War (against Carthage) fought in Sicily and North Africa

229-228 First Illyrian War; ends with the surrender of Queen Teuta of Illyria

220-219 Second Illyrian War ends with the defeat of Demetrius of Pharos and Roman victory

218-202 Second Punic War fought in Italy, Spain, and North Africa

215 Lex Oppia restricts the amount of gold a Roman woman could wear to half an ounce of gold

216 Battle of Cannae. Roman defeat at the hands of Hannibal, the Carthaginian general results in c.50,000 Roman deaths

202 Battle of Zama results in the victory of Scipio Africanus the Younger over the Carthaginian general Hannibal

200-197 Second Macedonian war against Philip V of Macedon

197 Philip V defeated at Battle of Cynoscephalae by Rome and her allies, including the Aetolian League, led by Titus Flamininus

192-188 War with Antiochus the Great of Syria

189 M. Fulvius Nobilior defeats the Aetolians at Ambracia

171-168 Third Macedonian War ends with the defeat of the Perseus, King of Macedon, and the Aetolian League

168 Third Illyrian War

149-146 Third Punic War

107 Gaius Marius elected consul for the first time

91-88 Social War between Rome’s Italian Allies (the Socii) and Rome

90 Lex Julia grants Romans grant citizenship to those Allies who had stayed loyal in the Social War

89 Lex Plautia Papiria grants Roman citizenship to those Allies who had rebelled in the Social War

88 Sulla’s march on Rome

74-66 Third Mithridatic War ends with Pompey the Great’s victory over Mithridates VI of Pontus

73-71 Spartacus revolt (Third Servile War)

72 Lex Gellia Cornelia allows Pompey to give citizenship to his clients and (some) Spaniards

65 Lex Papia de peregrinis allows for challenges against claims of citizenship and deported foreigners from Rome

58-50 Julius Caesar fights a number of campaigns against the Gauls, resulting in Roman occupation of Gaul and the deaths of some million Gauls

49-45 Civil War between Julius Caesar and Pompey the Great, with Pompey leading the senatorial forces

48 Julius Caesar defeats the senatorial forces under Pompey the Great at the Battle of Pharsalus

44 Julius Caesar assassinated

42 Battle of Philippi ends with the defeat of senatorial forces under Brutus and Cassius by the army of Mark Antony and Octavian

31 Battle of Actium and Octavian’s defeat of Mark Antony and Cleopatra makes Octavian the sole ruler of the Roman world

27 Octavian is voted the title of Augustus and becomes the first emperor of Rome

CE

14 Death of Augustus. Tiberius becomes emperor.

41 Caligula assassinated; Claudius becomes emperor

54 Claudius dies; Nero becomes emperor

64 Great Fire of Rome, first persecutions of Christians

66-73 First Jewish War

68 Nero’s suicide means the end of the Julio-Claudian dynasty

69 Year of the four emperors (Galba, Otho, Vitellius, and, finally, Vespasian). Vespasian becomes the first Flavian emperor

79 Death of Vespasian; Titus becomes emperor

80 Titus holds inaugural games at the Colosseum (the construction was completed later under Domitian)

81 Titus dies; Domitian becomes emperor

96 Domitian assassinated; end of the Flavian dynasty. A sixty-five year old senator called Nerva becomes emperor.

97 Nerva adopts Trajan as his heir

98 Nerva dies; Trajan becomes emperor

117 Trajan dies; Hadrian becomes emperor after Trajan appoints him on his death bed.

138 In his dying days Hadrian adopts Antonius Pius; Antonius Pius becomes emperor

192 Assassination of Commodus

193 Septimius Severus becomes emperor, beginning of the Severan Dynasty

211 Caracalla becomes emperor with his brother Geta; Caracalla kills Geta

212 Caracalla extends citizenship to all freeborn residents of the Roman Empire

218 Elagabalus becomes emperor

222 Elagabalus assassinated. Alexander Severus becomes emperor

330 Constantinople becomes the imperial capital