“What we do now echoes in eternity.”

― Marcus Aurelius, Meditations

 

The Founding of Rome
Romans believe they are descended from Aeneas, a Trojan hero and son of the goddess Aphrodite (Venus). When the city of Troy fell, Aeneas and his followers escaped and sailed in search of a new home. Aeneas went on to found the city of Lavinium, in Italy. Aeneas’s son Ascanius later founded the city of Alba Longa in the Alban Hills not far south of Rome’s present location.

All was well for nearly 300 years, until Aeneas’s descendant, King Numitor, was overthrown by his wicked brother Amulius. Numitor’s own life was spared, but his sons were murdered and his daughter Rhea Silvia was forced to become a vestal virgin so she would not bear children to challenge Amulius. But then Rhea was visited by the war-god Mars, they became lovers, and she bore him twin boys.

The angry Amulius ordered that Rhea’s children be condemned to drowning. They were taken to the Tiber in a basket and set afloat, but the basket did not sink. The river spirit Tibernus ensured their safety by lowering the waters, and caused their basket to catch in the roots of a nearby fig tree. Mars then sent a she-wolf and woodpecker to nurse and feed his children. The twins were eventually discovered by a herdsman and his wife and named Romulus and Remus.

As they grew up, the twins had many adventures in which they displayed great strength and courage. By the time they were young men, Romulus and Remus were recognized leaders. On one adventure, they met Numitor and learned their true parentage. They killed Amulius, freed Rhea, and restored their grandfather to the throne.

To celebrate their victory, the twins decided to found their own city. They chose a site farther down the Tiber, near where they had been discovered as babies, on the largest of seven hills. Remus and Romulus quarreled over the name of their city. They chose to settle the dispute by each watching for an omen; the first to spot one could name the city. Remus spotted six vultures, while Romulus spotted even more vultures than that, making his omen better. Remus, however, had seen his omen first. The twins argued again, and to mock Romulus during their argument, Remus committed an act of sacrilege by jumping over the newly built city walls that Romulus had constructed. He was killed by Romulus and his men, and Romulus claimed that a similar fate awaited anyone else that attempted to cross those walls.

Romulus became king, and the city was named after him. To increase the city’s population, Romulus offered asylum to fugitives from other towns, and he found them wives by stealing women from the neighboring Sabine people during a festival. After reigning for 40 years, Romulus vanished in a storm at the place called Goat’s Marsh (on the Campus Martius just outside the city) and was taken into heaven to become the god Quirinus.

Timeline
~500 PA	The Trojan War.
~400 PA	Etruscans reach northern Italy.
~100 PA	Phoenicians establish Carthage on the north coast of Africa.
~50 PA	Greeks begin to establish colonies throughout southern Italy.
0 AUC	Rome is founded by Romulus.
3 AUC	Greeks establish a colony at Cumae.
136 AUC	Tarquinius I becomes an Etruscan king of Rome.
154 AUC	Rome becomes a province of Etruria.
245 AUC	Romans revolt against the Etruscan kings and create the Senate and the Assembly. The last king (Tarquinius Superbus) is expelled and Rome becomes a republic.
260 AUC	Beginning of the Class Wars between patricians (wealthy landowners who controlled the Senate) and plebeians (ordinary citizens).
280 AUC	Greeks lead a host of Minotaurs and Dragonborn to defeat the Etruscans at Cumae.
303 AUC	Law of the Twelve Tables provides written Roman law.
357 AUC	Rome conquers the Etruscan city of Veii.
367 AUC	Gauls, Celts, and Elves sack Rome.
411 AUC	Rome fights the Samnites.
413 AUC	Rome conquers Campania from the Samnites with its capital of Capua.
414 AUC	Rome fights the Latin League, including the Samnites.
416 AUC	Rome dissolves and annexes the Latin League.
428 AUC	The Circus Maximus is built.
433 AUC	Rome is defeated by the Samnites at the Battle of the Caudine Forks.
442 AUC	Construction of the Via Appia begins.
446 AUC	Rome conquers the Etruscan city of Tarquinia.
459 AUC	Rome defeats the Samnites at Sentinum and the Gauls in northern Italy.
471 AUC	Rome establishes Gallia Cisalpina (Cisalpine Gaul) in nothern Italy.
474 AUC	Rome is defeated by Pyrrhus of Epirus at Heraclea.
479 AUC	Rome defeats Pyrrhus and conquers most of southern Italy.
482 AUC	The Greek colony of Tarentum surrenders to Rome and soon all remaining Greek colonies of southern Italy follow suit.
490 AUC	The Romans destroy the last vestiges of the Etruscan civilization. Rome and Carthage fight the first Punic war. The first gladiator games are held.
516 AUC	Rome conquers Sardinia.
522 AUC	Gaius Flaminius enacts an agrarian law ceding land of northern Italy to poorer classes of citizens.
525 AUC	The First Illyrian War. Rome establishes a protectorate over a number of Greek cities and expels the Dragonborn and their queen Teuta.
529 AUC	Gauls invade Rome.
532 AUC	Invading Gauls are defeated.
535 AUC	The Second Illyrian War.
536 AUC	Hannibal of Carthage leads a horde of Orcs and Hobgoblins into Italy. Giants from the Alps and Gauls of northern Italy join as allies.
538 AUC	Hannibal defeats Rome at Cannae.
545 AUC	The Roman general Scipio conquers Nova Carthago.
547 AUC	Rome defeats Hannibal at the Metaurus river.
548 AUC	Scipio defeats Carthaginians at Illipa.
550 AUC	Scipio sails for Carthage.
552 AUC	Scipio defeats Hannibal at Zama. Rome annexes Spain.
557 AUC	Philip V of Greece is defeated by the Romans at Cynoscephalae.
558 AUC	The slaves of Etruria rebel.
559 AUC	Celts of Spain rebel.
562 AUC	The Syrian War.
565 AUC	Antiochus III, king of the Seleucids, is defeated at the battle of Magnesia and surrenders his possessions in Europe and Anatolia.
569 AUC	Slaves of Apulia rebel.
573 AUC	Gauls of northern Italy are subjugated.
579 AUC	Celts of Spain are subjugated.
583 AUC	The Third Macedonian War begins when Perseus attacks Rome.
586 AUC	The Romans defeat Philip V's son Perseus at Pydna and end the Antigonid dynasty.
587 AUC	At the end of the Third Macedonian War the Romans divide Macedonia into four republics.
600 AUC	The tribes of Lusitania rebel against Rome.
603 AUC	Roman troops massacre Celts in Spain.
605 AUC	Rome attacks Carthage. Rome conquers Greece after winning the battle of Corinth and destroying the city.
608 AUC	Rome destroys Carthage. Macedonia becomes a province of Rome.
615 AUC	First Servile War. Slave revolt in Sicily with the crucifixion of 4,500 slaves.
621 AUC	Attalus III of Pergamum wills his kingdom to Rome. The entire Mediterranean Sea (Mare Nostrum) falls under Roman control.
626 AUC	Southern Aquitania becomes a province of Rome.
641 AUC	Dwarven and Germanic tribes Cimbri and Teutones defeat the Romans and invade Gaul and Spain.
643 AUC	Rome declares war on Numidia.
648 AUC	The Romans led by newly elected consul Marius defeat Jugurtha, the Sorcerer-King of Numidia.
649 AUC	Dwarves, Teutones, and Cimbri defeat the Romans at Arausio.
650 AUC	Second Servile War. Slave revolt in Sicily led by the wizard Athenion.
652 AUC	Consul Gaius Marius defeats the Dwarven-Teutonic army at Aquae Sextiae, killing about 100,000 of them.
653 AUC	Consul Gaius Marius defeats the Cimbri at Vercelli, killing most of them. Roman troops massacre Athenion's rebels.
654 AUC	Lucius Saturninus proposes Gracchian reforms but is killed by Marius' troops.
656 AUC	Roman troops massacre Spaniards.
659 AUC	The city of Rome expels all non-Roman citizens (except slaves).
664 AUC	Beginning of the Social War. Central and Southern Italians are granted full citizenship.
666 AUC	Roman civil war. Sulla marches on Rome to seize power from Marius, the first time that a Roman army invades Rome.
667 AUC	Octavius and Cinna are elected consuls. Octavius, defender of the optimates and ally of Sulla, is killed by Marius when he opposes Cinna, defender of the populares, along with many Sulla supporters.
672 AUC	Sulla reconquers Rome with the aid of the Drow, executes thousands of political enemies and becomes dictator, establishing a reign of terror and enacting aristocratic laws.
674 AUC	Sulla returns power to the Senate and retires to private life.
680 AUC	Creation of the new Roman province of Bithynia. Cyrenaica also made a Roman province.
681 AUC	Third Servile War. Spartacus leads the revolt of the gladiators.
683 AUC	Marcus Licinius Crassus puts down Spartacus' revolt and crucifies 6,000 slaves on the Via Appia.
684 AUC	Crassus and Gnaeus Pompeius Magnus (Pompey) are elected consuls.
685 AUC	Rome invades Tigranes' Armenian kingdom and destroys its capital, Tigranocerta. Pirates attack the port of Ostia and later sack Delos.
686 AUC	Pompey launches a campaign against pirates of Cilicia and is given dictatorial powers by the Senate.
690 AUC	Syria becomes a Roman province under general Pompey. Tieflings are granted sanctuary in Rome.
691 AUC	Cicero thwarts Catilina's attempted coup. Pompey captures Jerusalem and annexes Palestine to Rome.
695 AUC	Julius Caesar elected consul. The Triumvirate is formed by Crassus, Pompey, and Caesar.
696 AUC	Caesar's war against the Gauls.

PA = Prioris annorum meaning "previous years"
AUC = Ab urbe condita meaning "from the founding of the City (Rome)