Rome — From Republic to Fall of Constantinople (509 BC – 1453 AD)

Timeline

Layers

Roman Republic · Roman Empire · Gallic Empire · Palmyrene Empire · Western Roman Empire · Domain of Soissons · Eastern Roman Empire (Byzantium) · Despotate of Epirus · Empire of Trebizond

Events

• 509 BC, Roman Republic founded: By tradition the Romans expel their last king, Tarquinius Superbus, after the rape of Lucretia and replace him with two annually elected consuls. The story is largely legendary, but the Republic it founded lasted nearly five centuries.
• 496 BC, Battle of Lake Regillus: Near Frascati, Rome defeats the Latin League fighting for the exiled Tarquins; legend has Castor and Pollux riding for Rome. It ended the kings' hopes of return and led to the Foedus Cassianum alliance with the Latins.
• 449 BC, Twelve Tables promulgated: Under plebeian pressure a board of ten men drafts Rome's first written law code, set up in the Forum in 449 BC. For centuries schoolboys memorised it; it was the foundation of all later Roman law.
• 406 BC, Siege and fall of Veii: After a traditionally ten-year siege, the dictator Camillus takes Etruscan Veii, Rome's great rival 16 km to the north, reputedly by tunnelling under its walls. Its lands were annexed, greatly enlarging Roman territory.
• 18 Jul 390 BC, Battle of the Allia; Gauls sack Rome: Brennus' Senones rout the Roman army at the Allia brook and sack Rome; 18 July became the ill-omened dies Alliensis. Traditionally dated 390 BC, probably 387 BC. Rome later rebuilt its defences with the Servian Wall.
• 367 BC, Licinian-Sextian laws: After a decade-long struggle the tribunes Licinius and Sextius force through laws on debt and public land and open the consulship to plebeians, easing the Conflict of the Orders that had divided Rome since 494 BC.
• 338 BC, Latin League dissolved: Victory in the Latin War (340-338 BC) lets Rome dissolve the Latin League, annex some cities and bind the rest by separate treaties with graded citizenship rights: the template for Rome's alliance system across Italy.
• 321 BC, Battle of the Caudine Forks: Trapped in a narrow mountain pass, two consular armies surrender to the Samnites without a fight and are sent under the yoke, Rome's most humiliating moment of the Samnite Wars.
• 295 BC, Battle of Sentinum: Rome crushes a coalition of Samnites, Senone Gauls, Etruscans and Umbrians; the consul Decius Mus ritually devotes himself to death to win the day. The victory sealed Roman dominance of central Italy.
• 264 BC, Rome crosses to Messana: Answering an appeal from the Mamertine mercenaries holding Messana, Rome sends an army into Sicily for the first time, starting the First Punic War against Carthage (264-241 BC).
• 10 Mar 241 BC, Battle of the Aegates: Off the Aegates Islands a new Roman fleet under Lutatius Catulus sinks Carthage's relief convoy. The Treaty of Lutatius ends the First Punic War and Sicily becomes Rome's first overseas territory.
• 2 Aug 216 BC, Battle of Cannae: Hannibal's double envelopment annihilates a far larger Roman army under Paullus and Varro in Apulia, one of the worst defeats in Roman history. Capua and much of southern Italy defect, yet Rome refuses to make peace.
• 19 Oct 202 BC, Battle of Zama: Scipio, with Numidian cavalry under Masinissa, defeats Hannibal south-west of Carthage. The peace of 201 BC strips Carthage of its fleet and Spain, leaving Rome master of the western Mediterranean.
• 22 Jun 168 BC, Battle of Pydna: Aemilius Paullus' legions break the Macedonian phalanx of King Perseus. The Antigonid monarchy of Alexander's successors ends; Macedonia is carved up and annexed as a province two decades later.
• 146 BC, Carthage destroyed: After a three-year siege Scipio Aemilianus storms Carthage, razes the city and enslaves its survivors; its territory becomes the province of Africa. The same year Rome sacks Corinth, bringing Greece under its rule.
• 133 BC, Fall of Numantia: Starved by Scipio Aemilianus' 9 km ring of siege works, many Numantines kill themselves and burn their hill town before the rest surrender. Its fall ended two decades of Celtiberian resistance in central Hispania.
• 118 BC, Narbo Martius founded: Rome plants a citizen colony at Narbo on the new Via Domitia linking Italy to Spain. It became capital of Gallia Narbonensis, the Transalpine province that gave Provence its name.
• 30 Jul 101 BC, Battle of Vercellae: Gaius Marius and Lutatius Catulus annihilate the Cimbri on the Raudine Plain, a year after Marius destroyed the Teutones at Aquae Sextiae. The Germanic invasions that had shaken Rome for a decade are over.
• 88 BC, Asiatic Vespers: On Mithridates VI of Pontus' orders, some 80,000 Romans and Italians are massacred across the province of Asia. Rome lost Asia and much of Greece for a time, and the quarrel over the command against him drove Sulla to march on Rome.
• 63 BC, Pompey takes Jerusalem: Ending his eastern campaigns, Pompey storms the Temple Mount after a three-month siege. Judea becomes a Roman client state and Syria a province, carrying Rome's frontier to the Euphrates.
• 52 BC, Siege of Alesia: Caesar rings Vercingetorix's hilltop fortress with two lines of siege works and beats off a vast Gallic relief army. Vercingetorix surrenders, and all of Gaul to the Rhine becomes Roman.
• 15 Mar 44 BC, Assassination of Julius Caesar: On the Ides of March senators led by Brutus and Cassius stab the dictator for life 23 times in the Curia of Pompey. Meant to save the Republic, the murder unleashed the civil wars that ended it.
• 2 Sep 31 BC, Battle of Actium: Agrippa's fleet defeats Mark Antony and Cleopatra at the mouth of the Ambracian Gulf. Octavian becomes sole master of the Roman world, and Egypt is annexed after their suicides in 30 BC.
• 16 Jan 27 BC, Octavian becomes Augustus: Having 'restored' the Republic, Octavian is granted the name Augustus by the Senate. Behind republican forms he rules as princeps: the Roman Empire and two centuries of Pax Romana begin.
• 8 Sep 9, Battle of the Teutoburg Forest: Arminius, a Roman-trained Cheruscan chief, ambushes Varus' three legions (XVII, XVIII, XIX) over four days and destroys them. Rome gives up conquering Germany between Rhine and Elbe; the Rhine becomes the frontier.
• 43, Claudian invasion of Britain: Aulus Plautius lands four legions, most likely at Richborough, and Claudius arrives to accept the surrender of Camulodunum. Britannia becomes a province; the conquest of England and Wales takes four decades.
• 80, Colosseum inaugurated: Titus opens the Flavian Amphitheatre, begun by Vespasian around 72, with 100 days of games. Seating some 50,000, it is the largest amphitheatre ever built.
• 83, Battle of Mons Graupius: Agricola defeats the Caledonians under Calgacus in north-east Scotland, possibly below Bennachie; Tacitus gives Calgacus the line 'they make a desert and call it peace'. It marked Rome's deepest advance into Scotland.
• 101, Trajan conquers Dacia: In two wars Trajan bridges the Danube, storms King Decebalus' capital Sarmizegetusa and annexes Dacia with its gold mines, events carved on Trajan's Column in Rome.
• 122, Hadrian's Wall begun: Hadrian, having given up Trajan's short-lived conquests in Mesopotamia, fixes the empire's frontiers. In Britain he builds a stone wall 80 Roman miles from the Tyne to the Solway.
• 126, Pantheon completed: Hadrian rebuilds Agrippa's temple to all the gods and probably dedicates it around 126. Its coffered concrete dome, 43 m across, is still the largest unreinforced concrete dome in the world.
• 165, Antonine Plague: An epidemic, perhaps smallpox, spreads through the empire, possibly carried by troops returning from the east. Described by Galen, it recurred until 180 and may have killed millions.
• 9 Apr 193, Septimius Severus proclaimed: In the Year of the Five Emperors the Danube legions at Carnuntum hail their governor Septimius Severus emperor. He defeats his rivals, founds the Severan dynasty and annexes northern Mesopotamia.
• 212, Constitutio Antoniniana: Caracalla's edict grants full Roman citizenship to all free men of the empire, erasing the old line between Romans and provincials.
• 249, Plague of Cyprian: A pandemic described by Bishop Cyprian of Carthage ravages the empire for over a decade, draining the army and the tax base at the height of the Crisis of the Third Century.
• 260, Valerian captured at Edessa: The Persian king Shapur I destroys a Roman army near Edessa and takes Emperor Valerian prisoner, the first emperor ever captured. The empire splinters into the Gallic and Palmyrene breakaway states.
• 272, Aurelian takes Palmyra: Aurelian defeats Queen Zenobia, captures Palmyra and restores the Roman East; he razes the city after a revolt in 273 and recovers the Gallic Empire in 274, reuniting the empire.
• 20 Nov 284, Diocletian proclaimed emperor: Near Nicomedia the eastern army hails Diocletian emperor. His reforms, the Tetrarchy of two Augusti and two Caesars, smaller provinces and a larger army, end the Crisis of the Third Century.
• 28 Oct 312, Battle of the Milvian Bridge: Constantine defeats Maxentius at the Tiber crossing north of Rome; Maxentius drowns. Constantine's vision of a Christian sign before the battle began his path to sole rule and a Christian empire.
• 13 Feb 313, Edict of Milan: Meeting at Milan, Constantine and Licinius agree to tolerate all religions and restore confiscated property to Christians, ending the persecutions.
• 20 May 325, First Council of Nicaea: Constantine convenes at least 200 bishops at Nicaea, the first ecumenical council. It condemns Arius, drafts the first Nicene Creed and settles a common date for Easter.
• 11 May 330, Constantinople dedicated: Constantine inaugurates his 'New Rome' on the site of Byzantium. The city on the Bosporus would be capital of the Roman Empire for over 1,100 years.
• 26 Jun 363, Death of Julian in Persia: Emperor Julian is mortally wounded in a skirmish near Samarra during his invasion of Persia. To extract the stranded army, Jovian cedes Nisibis and five border regions to Shapur II.
• 9 Aug 378, Battle of Adrianople: Gothic refugees turned rebels under Fritigern destroy the eastern field army and kill Emperor Valens. The Goths remain inside the empire as a semi-autonomous people, a milestone on the road to the West's fall.
• 17 Jan 395, Theodosius dies; empire divided: Theodosius I, who made Nicene Christianity the state religion in 380, dies at Milan, the last emperor to rule both halves. His sons split the empire: Arcadius in the East, Honorius in the West. It was never reunited.
• 31 Dec 406, Vandals, Alans, Suebi cross the Rhine: On the last day of 406, traditionally, a host of Vandals, Alans and Suebi crosses the Rhine near Mainz and overruns Gaul. The Rhine frontier never recovered; the invaders went on to Spain and Africa.
• 24 Aug 410, Alaric's Visigoths sack Rome: For three days Alaric's Visigoths plunder Rome, the first fall of the city to a foreign enemy in nearly 800 years. 'The city which had taken the whole world was itself taken,' wrote Jerome.
• 413, Theodosian Walls completed: The regent Anthemius completes the new land wall of Constantinople, doubling the city's area; after 447 it became a triple line of wall, outer wall and moat. It was not breached by land assault until 1453.
• 19 Oct 439, Vandals seize Carthage: In peacetime and without warning, Gaiseric's Vandals take Carthage, the West's greatest city after Rome and hub of its grain supply. The loss of Africa's taxes and grain crippled the Western Empire.
• 20 Jun 451, Battle of the Catalaunian Plains: Aetius and the Visigoth king Theodoric I, who dies in the battle, fight Attila's Huns to a standstill in Champagne. Attila withdraws from Gaul, one of the Western Empire's last great military operations.
• 4 Sep 476, Romulus Augustulus deposed: Odoacer, leader of the Germanic troops in Italy, deposes the boy emperor Romulus Augustulus and sends the imperial regalia to Constantinople. The traditional end of the Western Roman Empire.
• 9 May 480, Julius Nepos murdered: Nepos, the last western emperor recognised by Constantinople, is killed at his villa near Salona in Dalmatia, where he had ruled since his ouster in 475. With him the western imperial line ends.
• 15 Mar 493, Theoderic kills Odoacer at Ravenna: Sent by Emperor Zeno to recover Italy, the Ostrogoth Theoderic ends a three-year siege of Ravenna by murdering Odoacer at a banquet. He rules Italy as a Gothic kingdom under nominal imperial authority.
• 7 Apr 529, Corpus Juris Civilis: Justinian's commission under Tribonian codifies a millennium of Roman law: the Code (529, revised 534), the Digest and the Institutes (533). It became the basis of civil law across Europe.
• 15 Dec 533, Battle of Tricamarum: Belisarius routs the Vandal king Gelimer about 27 km west of Carthage. The Vandal kingdom collapses and North Africa returns to the empire after almost a century.
• 27 Dec 537, Hagia Sophia consecrated: Rebuilt in under six years after the Nika riots burned its predecessor, Justinian's cathedral by Anthemius and Isidore is dedicated. Its vast pendentive dome made it the largest interior space in the world.
• 541, Justinianic Plague: The first recorded pandemic of bubonic plague reaches Egypt at Pelusium in 541 and Constantinople in 542, where Justinian himself falls ill. It kills a large share of the empire's people just as its wars peak.
• 552, Battle of Taginae: The eunuch general Narses crushes the Ostrogoths in the Apennines; King Totila is killed. The victory decided the Gothic War, which ended with all Italy back under Roman rule.
• 568, Lombards invade Italy: Alboin leads the Lombards over the Julian Alps and takes Forum Iulii first. Within a few years most of Italy is lost; the empire keeps Ravenna, Rome, Naples and the far south.
• 23 Nov 602, Phocas seizes the throne: Raised by a mutinous Danube army, the officer Phocas is crowned at the Hebdomon outside Constantinople; Emperor Maurice and his sons are executed. Khosrow II uses the murder as pretext for a war in which Persia overruns Syria and Egypt.
• 15 Aug 636, Battle of the Yarmuk: Over six days an Arab army under Khalid ibn al-Walid destroys Heraclius' field army by the Yarmuk River. Byzantine rule in Syria and Palestine collapses.
• 17 Sep 642, Egypt lost: Romans quit Alexandria: Under the treaty agreed with Amr ibn al-As, the last Roman troops sail from Alexandria. The empire loses Egypt, its richest province and Constantinople's grain supply.
• 680, Battle of Ongal: Asparukh's Bulgars rout the army of Constantine IV near the Danube delta and cross into Moesia. The treaty of 681 recognises the First Bulgarian Empire south of the Danube, permanently on imperial soil.
• 698, Carthage falls to the Umayyads: Hassan ibn al-Nu'man's Umayyad army drives out a Byzantine expedition that had briefly retaken Carthage. Roman rule in Africa, restored by Belisarius in 533, is over.
• 15 Aug 717, Second Arab siege of Constantinople: Maslama's huge Umayyad army and fleet besiege the capital for a year. Greek fire, the Theodosian Walls, a brutal winter and Bulgar attacks break the siege, ending the Umayyads' hopes of taking the city.
• 726, Leo III launches Iconoclasm: Emperor Leo III turns against religious images, traditionally beginning with the removal of the Christ icon over the Chalke Gate. The image struggle divided Byzantium for a century and alienated the papacy.
• 751, Lombards take Ravenna: King Aistulf captures Ravenna and the exarchate falls, ending Byzantine rule in northern and central Italy. The pope turned to the Franks for protection.
• 24 Sep 787, Second Council of Nicaea: Convened by Empress Irene, the seventh ecumenical council restores the veneration of icons, ruling that honour paid to an image passes to its subject.
• 26 Jul 811, Battle of Pliska: After burning the Bulgar capital Pliska, Emperor Nikephoros I is trapped in a Balkan pass and killed with most of his army; Khan Krum turns his skull into a drinking cup.
• 827, Aghlabids land at Mazara: Invited by the rebel admiral Euphemius, an Aghlabid army lands at Mazara and begins the Muslim conquest of Sicily, completed with the fall of Taormina in 902.
• 11 Mar 843, Triumph of Orthodoxy: Regent Theodora's council restores icons and deposes the iconoclast patriarch; on 11 March a procession carries icons into Hagia Sophia. Iconoclasm ends for good, still celebrated each Lent.
• 21 May 878, Fall of Syracuse: After a nine-month siege, the Aghlabids storm Syracuse, Byzantine Sicily's capital, while the imperial fleet was delayed elsewhere. The city is sacked and its population massacred or enslaved.
• 20 Aug 917, Battle of Achelous: Tsar Simeon I of Bulgaria destroys a great Byzantine army near Anchialus on the Black Sea, one of the worst disasters in Byzantine history. Bulgaria dominates the Balkans; its rulers' imperial title is recognised.
• 19 May 934, John Kourkouas takes Melitene: After a long blockade the emirate of Melitene surrenders to the general John Kourkouas, the first Arab state annexed outright. It opens a century of Byzantine reconquest in the east.
• 6 Mar 961, Crete recovered: Chandax falls: Nikephoros Phokas storms Chandax (Heraklion) after a winter siege, retaking Crete from its Arab emirate after more than 130 years and ending its pirate raids on the Aegean.
• 28 Oct 969, Antioch recaptured: Byzantine troops scale the walls of Antioch, lost to the Arabs in 637. The great Syrian city is again Roman, the high point of Nikephoros II Phokas' eastern conquests.
• 988, Vladimir baptised at Chersonesos: Prince Vladimir of Kiev is baptised, by tradition at Byzantine Chersonesos in Crimea, and marries Basil II's sister Anna. Rus' enters Orthodox Christendom; his 6,000 warriors seed the Varangian Guard.
• 29 Jul 1014, Battle of Kleidion: Basil II traps Tsar Samuel's army in the Belasitsa pass and, per Skylitzes, blinds 15,000 prisoners, leaving one eye to every hundredth man. Samuel dies of shock; Bulgaria is annexed by 1018.
• 16 Jul 1054, Great Schism of 1054: Cardinal Humbert lays a bull excommunicating Patriarch Michael Cerularius on the altar of Hagia Sophia; the patriarch excommunicates the legates in return. A symbolic breach between the Catholic and Orthodox churches.
• 26 Aug 1071, Battle of Manzikert: Seljuk sultan Alp Arslan defeats and captures Emperor Romanos IV Diogenes. Civil war follows and Turkish tribes pour into Anatolia, the empire's heartland; Bari, the last Italian outpost, fell the same year.
• 19 Jun 1097, Nicaea returns to Byzantium: Besieged by the First Crusade, the Seljuk capital Nicaea secretly surrenders to Alexios I's envoy Boutoumites. It begins the Komnenian recovery of western Anatolia.
• 1137, John II brings Antioch to heel: John II Komnenos reconquers Cilicia, takes Anazarbus and besieges Antioch until Prince Raymond of Poitiers swears homage. Byzantine power in the Levant reaches its Komnenian peak.
• 8 Jul 1167, Battle of Sirmium: Andronikos Kontostephanos routs the Hungarians near Sirmium. Hungary recognises Byzantine rule over Syrmia, Bosnia, Dalmatia and Croatia south of the Krka, Manuel I's greatest western gain.
• 17 Sep 1176, Battle of Myriokephalon: Marching on Konya, Manuel I is ambushed in the Tzivritze pass by Kilij Arslan II and loses his siege train. Manuel likened it to Manzikert; the hope of retaking inner Anatolia died.
• 26 Oct 1185, Revolt of Asen and Peter: Provoked by new taxes, the brothers Asen and Peter raise Bulgarians and Vlachs at Tarnovo on St Demetrius' day. By 1187 the Second Bulgarian Empire is free of Byzantine rule.
• 12 Apr 1204, Fourth Crusade sacks Constantinople: Diverted crusaders and Venetians storm the city from the Golden Horn and pillage it for three days. A Latin Empire is set up; Greek successor states survive at Nicaea, Epirus and Trebizond.
• 9 Mar 1230, Battle of Klokotnitsa: Tsar Ivan Asen II defeats and captures Theodore Komnenos Doukas, ruler of Epirus and Thessalonica, ending his bid to retake Constantinople. Bulgaria becomes the leading Balkan power.
• 1259, Battle of Pelagonia: Nicaean forces under John Palaiologos shatter the coalition of Epirus, Achaea and Sicily; Prince William of Achaea is captured. The road to Constantinople lies open.
• 25 Jul 1261, Constantinople recaptured: A small Nicaean force under Alexios Strategopoulos slips into the lightly defended city. Michael VIII Palaiologos enters in August and restores the Byzantine Empire after 57 years of Latin rule.
• 6 Jul 1274, Union proclaimed at Lyon: To stop Charles of Anjou's crusade against him, Michael VIII has his envoys accept papal primacy at the Second Council of Lyon. The union was bitterly opposed at home and repudiated by his son Andronikos II.
• 27 Jul 1302, Battle of Bapheus: Osman I routs a Byzantine force under George Mouzalon near Nicomedia, the first major Ottoman victory. Bithynia's countryside falls to the Turks and the Ottoman beylik rises.
• 6 Apr 1326, Ottomans take Bursa: Starved by years of blockade, Prusa surrenders to Orhan. As Bursa it becomes the first Ottoman capital; Nicaea and Nicomedia fall within a decade.
• 1347, Black Death reaches Constantinople: Ships fleeing Genoese Caffa bring plague to Constantinople in 1347; Emperor John VI Kantakouzenos, who lost his youngest son, describes the symptoms. It ravaged an empire already exhausted by civil war.
• 2 Mar 1354, Ottomans occupy Gallipoli: An earthquake on 2 March 1354 levels Gallipoli's walls; the Greeks flee and within weeks Orhan's son Suleyman Pasha occupies the town. It became the first Ottoman base in Europe.
• 26 Sep 1371, Battle of Maritsa: Ottoman forces annihilate the Serbian army of King Vukasin and Despot Uglješa near Chernomen; both brothers die. Macedonia opens to the Ottomans, and Byzantium soon becomes an Ottoman vassal.
• 28 Jul 1402, Battle of Ankara: Timur defeats and captures Sultan Bayezid I, who had been blockading Constantinople since 1394. The Ottoman state falls into civil war, giving Byzantium a half-century reprieve and Thessalonica back.
• 29 Mar 1430, Ottomans storm Thessalonica: Murad II takes the empire's second city, handed to Venice in 1423, after an eight-year siege. It stays Ottoman until 1912.
• 10 Nov 1444, Battle of Varna: Murad II crushes the crusade of Wladyslaw III of Poland and Hungary, who is killed, and John Hunyadi on the Black Sea coast. The last Western attempt to save Byzantium fails.
• 6 Apr 1453, Fall of Constantinople: After a 53-day siege by Mehmed II, whose great cannon batter the Theodosian Walls, Ottoman troops break in on 29 May; Constantine XI dies fighting. Constantinople becomes the Ottoman capital.
• 15 Aug 1461, Fall of Trebizond: A year after Mystras fell, David Megas Komnenos surrenders Trebizond to Mehmed II. The last Byzantine successor state is gone, nearly two millennia after the Republic's founding.