BEIJING, June 12
(Xinhuanet) -- A thousand years ago Rome was one of the most important cities in
the world. A legend tells of the city being formed by twin brothers, Romulus and
Remus, who were abandoned at birth and raised by a wolf. When the twins grew up,
they decided to build a city where they had been abandoned. Remus and Romulus
argued over the boundaries of this city. Romulus, in a rage, killed Remus. After
Remus's death the city was named Rome after Romulus who ruled the city.
The city of Rome began as a small village around 753
BC. The early settlers made a living by farming. Gradually the village grew into
a city. It was ruled by kings. In 509 BC the citizens decided the city would no
longer be ruled by kings. They elected two consuls to rule. The villagers began
to conquer the surrounding territory and the city grew. By 250 BC the Romans
ruled all of Italy.
Rome became a very powerful city by 100 BC.
Government officials became greedy and corrupt. Some demanded huge taxes from
the Romans. Civil war broke out when two generals tried to take the power. In 73
BC a slave named Spartacus led a revolt. He escaped to Mount Vesuvius and
gathered an army of 90,000 slaves. He fought the Roman army until he was killed
in 71 BC.
Caesar and Pompey struggled to control the
government. Caesar defeated Pompey's army and Pompey escaped to Egypt. He was
murdered there. Caesar went to Egypt to help Queen Cleopatra keep her throne.
After several conquests he returned to Rome.
In 45 BC. Caesar became the sole ruler of Rome. He
planned improvements for Rome. Before he could carry out these plans Caesar was
murdered in 44 BC. After this there was struggle for power between Mark Antony
and Octavian, Caesar's heir. Octavian became Rome's first emperor of Rome when
Mark Antony and his wife, Cleopatra, killed themselves rather than be defeated.
Octavian changed his name to Augustus. Augustus built up the Roman army. With
this force, he was able to conquer surrounding territories increasing the Roman
Empire.
In 117 AD. Hadrian became emperor. He strengthened
the frontiers and built a stone wall across northern Britain to keep out
intruders. In Judea the Roman army stopped a revolt led by the Jews. They killed
thousands of people.
The Roman Empire began to rule over the entire
Mediterranean world including most of Europe and parts of East and North Africa
by the second century A. D. Barbarians attacked northern Italy, but were
defeated.
In the third century the army controlled the
government. Generals were often chosen as emperors. The empire was too big to
control. This led to many civil wars. With the weakened state, the Persians
began to regain the land they had earlier lost.
Soldiers posted across the empire learned of new
religions. One was Christianity. The emperors blamed the Christians for the
troubles the empire was having. The Romans killed many Christians because of
this.
In 284 A. D. Diocletian was elected emperor by his
troops. He divided the empire into the eastern and western halves. This helped
the empire to be easier to control. Still the empire did not have enough funds
to build the army they needed to protect their immense boundaries.
In 320 A. D. Emperor Constantine made Christianity
the state religion. He moved the capital, and named it Constantinople after
himself. There he ruled the eastern half of the empire.
Barbarians attacked the western empire. In 410 A. D.
they destroyed Rome. In 476 a barbarian became the ruler of Italy.
Constantinople was able to hold off the barbarians until it was captured by the
Turks in 1453. This empire was so great that the influence of the Romans can
still be seen today.
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