Kids learning zone

Timeline 

According to legend Rome was founded by Romulus, he was the first king after killing his brother Remus in an argument. They were supposedly suckled by a she wolf after been abandoned on the banks of the River Tiber when they were babies.
It is so old, it is today known as 'the eternal city'. The Romans believed that their city was founded in the year 753 BC. Modern historians though believe it was the year 625 BC. The land was occupied by tribes like the Etruscans and Sabines who were later conquered.

Early Rome was governed by kings, but after only seven of them had ruled, the Romans took power over their own city and ruled themselves.
They then instead had a council known as the 'senate' which ruled over them. From this point forward we speak of the 'Roman Republic'.

The word 'Republic' itself comes from the Latin (the language of the Romans) words 'res publica' which means 'public matters' or 'matters of state'.

Romulus and Remus with the she wolf statue showing the origins of Rome

Below you can see some of the major events in it's history with the things that affected 'Britannia' Britain and 'Caledonia' Scotland highlighted in BOLD text
The history is vast & very complex but for you to understand the Romans in this country you must be able to understand them in their own & other countries. The history continues to this day but I have stopped when the Romans left Britain.
In 284 AD Diocletian set up the 'Tetrarchy' dividing the empire into east and west each with it's own emperor, Diocletian assisted by Galerius ruled the east and Maximus ruled the west reorganising coinage, tax, and the military. He also was responsible for the most fierce persecution of Christians. In 330 AD Constantine moved the imperial capital from Rome to Constantinople ruling a divided empire, by 476 the empire as we know it ends in the west but continues successfully using the same laws and culture of Rome in the east until 1453.

There were 3 main periods of ancient Rome

753 BC: Roma (Rome) is founded by Romulus after killing his twin Remus

600 BC: The Forum is built

550 BC: Servius Tullius builds city walls

509 BC: The last king is expelled and Roma becomes a republic

387 BC: The Gauls/Celts sack Roma

326 BC: The Circus Maximus is built

312 BC: The Via Appia is opened the main road from Rome

308 BC: Roma conquers the Etruscan city of Tarquinia

295 BC: Roma defeats the Gauls/Celts in northern Italy

280 BC: Roma issues coins

275 BC: Roma conquers southern Italy (Greek colonies)

264 BC: The Romans destroy the last vestiges of the Etruscan civilization (Volsinies)

222 BC: The Gauls are defeated

218 BC: Hannibal invades Italy

149 BC: Roma destroys Carthage

133 BC: Attalus III of Pergamum wills his kingdom to Roma and the whole Mediterranean Sea is under Roman control ("mare nostrum")

88 BC: Italians are granted full citizenship

73 BC: Spartacus leads the revolt of the gladiators

71 BC: Crassus puts down Spartacus' revolt

59 BC: Caesar is elected consul

57 BC: Caesar conquers all of Gaul

55 BC: Caesar first visits Britannia

54 BC: Caesar second visit to Britannia

51 BC: Caesar crushes revolt of Vercingetorix in Gaul

50 BC: Roma introduces the gold coin "aureus"

49 BC: Caesar crosses the Rubicon, defeats Pompey and becomes sole dictator of Rome, calling himself "imperator"

47 BC: Caesar invades Egypt and proclaims Cleopatra queen

45 BC: Julius Caesar employs the Egyptian astronomer Sosigenes to work out a new 12-month calendar (Julian calendar)

44 BC: Caesar is killed.

30 BC: Cleopatra commits suicide and Egypt is annexed to Roma

6 BC: Jesus is born in Palestine

1 AD: Roma has about one million people

5 AD: Roma acknowledges Cymbeline, King of the Catuvellauni, as king of Britain

14 AD: five million people live in the Roman Empire

43 AD: Claudius invades Britain

50 AD: The Romans found Londinium (London) in Britain

60-61 AD: Boudica revolts with the Iceni tribe against the Romans

77-78 AD: the Romans conquer Wales

79 AD: The Vesuvius erupts and Pompeii is buried under ash

79 AD: The Colosseum is completed

80 AD: The Romans invade Caledonia (Scotland)

84 AD: Agricola campaigns in Scotland & scores victory at the battle of Mons Graupius

86 AD: Romans withdraw from Scotland north of the Forth

95-105 AD: Romans withdraw from Scotland to northern England

97 AD: Roma forbids human sacrifice throughout the Roman Empire

100: The city of Roma has one million inhabitants

122: Hadrian's Wall is built along the northern frontier to protect from the Barbarians

140: Antoninus Pius orders the building of the Antonine wall in Scotland

164: The plague spreads throughout the Roman Empire

180: Britain divided into to provinces with London (Londinium) as the southern capital & York (Eboracum) as the Northern capital

208: Septimius Severus campaigns in Scotland re-occupying some of the Agricolan forts & Antonine wall

212: Caracalla grants Roman citizenship on all free people who live in the Roman Empire

300: The population of the Roman Empire is 60 million (about 15 million Christians)

303: Diocletian orders a general persecution of the Christians

313: Constantine ends the persecution of the Christians (edict of Milano)

313: Constantine recognizes the Christian church

330: Constantine I builds a new city, Constantinople (Byzantium)

356: Roma has 28 libraries, 10 basilicas, 11 public baths, two amphitheaters, three theaters, two circuses, 19 aqueducts, 11 squares, 1,352 fountains, 46,602 insulae (city blocks)

359: Constantinople becomes the capital of the Roman Empire

406: Barbarians invade France from the north

410: The Visigoths sack Roma

410: Romans withdraw from Britannia to defend Rome & the Dark ages begin for Britannia