Classics 301B
Basic Roman Chronological Outline

Luca Graverini's History and Literature of Rome Interactive Chronology, 550 BCE - 400 CE

753 BCE: traditional founding date of Rome under Romulus; Iron Age settlement on the Palatine Hill

509 BCE: expulsion of L. Tarquinius Superbus by L. Iunius Brutus; end of the regal period & establishment of the Republic

451-450 BCE: publication of the Twelve Tables

264-41 BCE: First Punic War (Rome vs. Carthage)

240 BCE: first play based on Greek model performed in Rome by Livius Andronicus

218-201 BCE: Second Punic War

202 BCE: Scipio Africanus defeats Carthaginians at Zama

184 BCE: Cato the Elder's censorship; death of Plautus

168 BCE: Battle of Pydna

159 BCE: death of Terence

149-146 BCE: Third Punic War

146 BCE: Mummius sacks Corinth; Carthage defeated

106 BCE: birth of Cicero

94-54 BCE: life of Lucretius

91-87 BCE: Social War (Rome vs. Italian allies)

84-54 BCE: life of Catullus

82 BCE: Sulla victorious at the Colline Gate, proscriptions follow

70 BCE: birth of Vergil

63 BCE: birth of Octavian; Cicero consul; conspiracy of Catiline

60 BCE: so-called First Triumvirate (Caesar, Pompey, Crassus)

55 BCE: Pompey dedicates first permanent theater at Rome; Caesar invades England

54 BCE: death of Catullus

54-47 BCE: birth of Propertius some time here

49 BCE: Caesar crosses the Rubicon, civil war with Pompey

48 BCE: Pompey defeated at Pharsalus and killed in Egypt

46 BCE: Victory of Caesar at Thapsus, suicide of Cato the Younger, Caesar triumphs in Rome

45 BCE: Caesar adopts Octavian and makes him his heir; last of Pompeians defeated at Munda

44 BCE: Caesar named Dictator for life, assassinated on Ides of March; Octavian returns from Greece; Cicero delivers first of his Philippics

43 BCE: defeat of Antony at Mutina; Triumvirate of Antony, Octavian, and Lepidus; murder of Cicero

43 BCE-CE 17: life of Ovid

42 BCE: Julius Caesar deified; Brutus & Cassius defeated at Philippi; proscriptions and settling of veterans on confiscated land begin

41 BCE: Perusine War

37 BCE: Pact of Tarentum; Antony marries Cleopatra

31 BCE: Octavian with aid of Agrippa defeats Antony at Actium

30 BCE: suicides of Antony & Cleopatra

c. 30-19 BCE: Vergil composing Aeneid

29 BCE: Octavian's triple triumph; temple of Janus closed

28 BCE: restitution of temples and religious ceremonies by Octavian

27 BCE: Octavian hailed as Augustus; magistrates and constitution formally restored

23 BCE: publication of Books I-III of Horace's Odes; death of Marcellus (Augustus' heir)

19 BCE: death of Vergil and Tibullus

14 BCE: death of Sulpicia

9 BCE: dedication of the Ara Pacis

2 BCE: Augustus named pater patriae

14 CE: death of Augustus

17 CE: death of the historian Livy

56 CE: birth of the historian Tacitus

64 CE: great fire at Rome (during reign of Nero)

65 CE: Seneca forced to commit suicide

66 CE: Petronius forced to commit suicide

70 CE: birth of the imperial biographer Suetonius

80 CE: inauguration of the Flavian Amphitheater (i.e. "Colosseum")

98-117 CE: reign of Trajan; beginnings of the so-called Pax Romana

117-38 CE: reign of Hadrian

120-130 CE: Juvenal working on first five books of his satires

125 CE: birth of Apuleius

161-180 CE: reign of Marcus Aurelius

312 CE: Constantine defeats Maxentius at the Mulvian Bridge

360-3 CE: Julian emperor

395 CE: death of the emperor Theodosius, division of empire

410 CE: Visogoths capture Rome

430 CE: Death of Augustine of Hippo

453 CE: death of Atilla, king of the Huns

455 CE: Vandals sack Rome

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Classics 301B
Maps

Guide to Maps

Map A: Italy & Sicily
Map B: Topography of Rome
Map C: Topography of Rome
Map D: Peoples of Italy (c. 500 BCE)
Map E: Languages of Italy
Map F: Growth of Empire (Julius Caesar to Marcus Aurelius)
Map G: the Empire under Hadrian
Map H: the Roman Empire at its Greatest Extent
Map I: Greece and its Environs

 

Map A: Italy & Sicily

Map B: Rome and its Environs

Map C: Topography of Rome

Map D: Peoples of Italy (c. 500 BCE)

Map E: Languages of Italy

Map F: Growth of Empire (Julius Caesar to Marcus Aurelius)

Map G: the Empire under Hadrian

Map H: the Roman Empire at its Greatest Extent

Map I: Greece and its Environs

Pleiades (Database of Ancient Places)

Ancient World Mapping Center

 

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