Fifty Things You Need to Know About World History. Hugh Williams
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Название: Fifty Things You Need to Know About World History

Автор: Hugh Williams

Издательство: HarperCollins

Жанр: Историческая литература

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isbn: 9780007411115

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       Timeline of Roman History

c.753 BC Foundation of Rome according to the legend of Romulus and Remus: a series of hill-top settlements established near the Tiber become the city of Rome.
616–510 BC REGAL PERIOD: Rome ruled by the Etruscans, who dominated northern city-states. Tarquinius Priscinus was the first King of Rome.
510 BC Expulsion of the last Etruscan King, ‘Tarquin the Proud’, from Rome.
510–31 BC REPUBLICAN PERIOD.
451 BC Rome ruled by a council of ten citizens chosen from the Senate. Duodecim Tabulae, the Twelve Tables, is the earliest code of Roman law outlining patrician and plebeian rights.
340–338 BC Final Latin War, fought by Latin league. Rome emerged victorious with control of the Latium region.
264–241 BC First Punic War against the Carthaginians. Sicily became Rome’s first overseas province.
218–202 BC Second Punic War; Scipio Africanus ‘the Roman Hannibal’ defeated Hannibal who had invaded Italy. He reintroduced ‘decimation’ – the killing of every tenth soldier – to enforce discipline.
214–148 BC First, Second, Third and Fourth Macedonian Wars.
174 BC Building of the Circus Maximus, the venue for lavish games.
149 BC Publication of Marcus Porcius Cato’s Origines, the first prose history to be written in Latin.
149–146 BC Third Punic War. Carthage was destroyed and Rome emerged as the dominant Mediterranean power.
73–71 BC Revolt of Spartacus.
60 BC First Triumvirate: Julius Caesar, Pompeius Magnus and Licinius Crassus.
55 BC Julius Caesar’s first expeditions to Britain.
49–30 BC Nineteen years of civil war and division lead to the destruction of the Republic.
44 BC Caesar declared dictator for life and assassinated. ‘Kai su, o teknon?’ translated as ‘Even you lad?’) are the famous final words Caesar is supposed to have spoken to his assassin Brutus.
30 BC Antony and Cleopatra committed suicide after their defeat by Octavian at the Battle of Actium.
27 BC Beginning of the Roman Empire. Octavian was given the title of Augustus, First Emperor of Rome; a period of peace and stability followed. Literary figures such as Virgil, Horace, Ovid and the historian Livy, rose to prominence.
41–54 AD Reign of Emperor Claudius; parts of Britain were conquered.
60–61 AD Revolt of Boudicca, Queen of Iceni.
64 AD Fire of Rome; first persecution of Christians.
98–117 AD Reign of Emperor Trajan, marking the Empire’s high point of territorial expansion and Roman prosperity.
117–138 AD Reign of Emperor Hadrian. Building of seventy-three-mile long defensive ‘Hadrian’s Wall’ in Britain.
212 AD Citizenship granted to all free inhabitants of the Roman Empire.
235–284 AD Empire weakened by a series of crises brought about by weak Emperors, religious conflict and barbarian invasion.
293 AD Tetrarchy established. Empire divided into Eastern and Western halves. Milan replaced Rome as capital of the Western Empire.
313 AD Constantine, the first Christian Roman Emperor, issued the Edict of Milan granting religious toleration throughout the Empire.
324 AD Constantine became sole Emperor and Constantinople the Empire’s new capital city; St Sophia became its first church in 360 AD.
325 AD First Council of Nicaea. The first assembly of the Christian Church to define Christian doctrine.
410 AD Rome sacked by Alaric and the Visigoths.

       The Roman road was straight, ruthless and capable of cutting through any obstacle in its path.

      The Via Egnatia retains its allure as a symbol of prosperity and hope even today. The Via Egnatia Foundation was set up recently with the mission ‘to inspire this old road with new life’ and to stimulate cultural and economic interest in the region by bringing together the different communities through which the road passes. The road, that was once used by ‘by soldiers and later by crusaders, preachers, bandits, merchants and peasant caravans loaded with skins, wines, wood and sulphur’, served ‘economic and social functions for more than two millennia’.

      So this great road is still with us. In the middle of the busy Greek city of Thessalonica the ruined Arch of Galerius, built at the end of the third century AD, stands across its route. Surrounded by cars, shops and the rest of the paraphernalia of modern city life it is a permanent reminder of an ancient empire and one of the great highways that carried its wealth.

       CHAPTER 2

       The City of Chang’an 750 AD

      In the middle of the seventh century AD, the largest city in the world was Chang’an on the Guanzhong Plain in central China. Standing at the end of the Silk Route that brought traders from all over Asia, it was rich, civilised, and home to a population of about a million people.

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