| 753 BCE | Rome is founded. |
| ca. 700 BCE | The Etruscan civilization arises in Italy. |
| 509 BCE | The Temple of Jupiter Optimus Maximus is constructed in Rome. |
| 312 BCE | Appius Claudius Caecus becomes censor of Rome and commences building projects such as roads (e.g., the Appian Way) and aqueducts. |
| 264 BCE | Rome commences the First Punic War against Carthage, in North Africa. |
| 218 BCE | In the Second Punic War, Carthaginian general Hannibal leads a force, including elephants, through the Alps to attack Rome. |
| 214 BCE | Rome defeats Macedonia. |
| 197 BCE | Rome conquers Hispania, what is now Portugal and Spain. |
| 146 BCE | Rome defeats Carthage in the Third Punic War. |
| 133 BCE | Reforming leader Tiberius Gracchus is assassinated. He will be succeeded by his brother Gaius, who is also assassinated (123 BCE). |
| 82 BCE | Sulla inaugurates the policy of proscription in which political opponents can be designated as enemies of the state, subject to death and the confiscation of property. |
| 71 BCE | Spartacus leads a rebellion of gladiator slaves. The rebels are defeated, and 6,000 are crucified along the Appian Way. |
| 60 BCE | Julius Caesar, Pompey, and Crassus agree to share power and form the First Triumvirate. |
| 58 BCE | Caesar begins the conquest of Gaul. |
| 49 BCE | Caesar leads his legion, encamped in Gaul, across the Rubicon River in Italy and begins the Roman Civil War. |
| 48 BCE | Caesar establishes an alliance with Egyptian queen Cleopatra. |
| 46 BCE | Caesar promulgates the Julian calendar. - It is 365 days long with a leap year every four years.
- Nevertheless, it was not in synch with the solar year and it moved by three days every 400 years.
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| 44 BCE | - Julius Caesar is named dictator for life.
- Previously, “dictator” had been a temporary office, granting the power to govern only during an emergency.
- Caesar is assassinated in Rome by a cabal of senators led by Brutus and Cassius.
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| 43 BCE | - Octavian, Mark Antony, and Lepidus form the Second Triumvirate.
- Cicero, an opponent of Mark Antony, is proscribed and put to death.
- Rome begins its conquest of Britain.
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| 41 BCE | Mark Antony and Cleopatra establish an alliance in support of Antony’s campaign in Parthia. |
| 31 BCE | Octavian defeats the combined forces of Mark Antony and Cleopatra at the Battle of Actium, near Egypt. |
| 30 BCE | Octavian conquers Egypt. Mark Antony and Cleopatra both commit suicide. |
| 27 BCE | Rome becomes an empire as Octavian ascends to power and receives the title “augustus.” Henceforth, he will be known as Augustus. |
| 19 BCE | Roman poet Vergil completes the Aeneid, an epic poem about the founding of Rome that traces the empire’s roots to the ancient Trojan warrior Aeneas. |
| 14 BCE | - The Pax Romani, a two-century period of relative peace in the Roman world, begins.
- Tiberius succeeds Augustus as emperor.
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| 1 CE | The world population is estimated to have been 300 million. |
| 8 CE | Roman poet Ovid composes Metamorphoses. |
| ca. 30 CE | Jesus of Nazareth is crucified in Jerusalem. The Christian movement begins among his followers. |
| ca. 36 CE | Saul of Tarsus converts to Christianity, becoming the Apostle Paul and a great evangelist of the new Christian movement. |
| 37 CE | Army favorite Caligula becomes Roman emperor when Tiberius dies without naming a successor. |
| 41 CE | Caligula is assassinated and replaced by Claudius. |
| ca. 60–70 CE | The Gospel of Mark is written. The Gospels of Matthew (ca. 70–80), Luke (ca. 80), and John (ca. 90) will follow. |
| 64 CE | Fire devastates Rome. Emperor Nero blames the Christians. |
| 66 CE | The First Jewish-Roman War begins in Palestine. |
| 67 CE | St. Peter, the first pope, is crucified in Rome. |
| 68 CE | Civil war erupts when Nero dies without a successor. |
| 70 CE | Roman troops destroy the Temple of Jerusalem. |
| 77 CE | Pliny the Elder writes Naturalis Historia, an early encyclopedia aiming to assemble all knowledge in one work. |
| 79 CE | The eruption of Mt. Vesuvius buries the Roman city of Pompeii. It ... |