Rome is also an important fashion and

design centre thanks to renowned

international brands centered in the city.
Rome's Cinecittà Studios have been the set
of many Academy Award–winning movies.
Contents
[hide]
• 1Etymology
• 2History
o 2.1Earliest history

▪ 2.1.1Legend of the founding of Rome

o 2.2Monarchy, republic, empire

o 2.3Middle Ages

o 2.4Early modern

o 2.5Late modern and contemporary

• 3Government
o 3.1Local government

▪ 3.1.1Administrative and historical

subdivisions
o 3.2Metropolitan and regional government

o 3.3National government

• 4Geography
o 4.1Location
 o 4.2Topography
• 5Climate
• 6Demographics
o 6.1Ethnic groups

• 7Religion
o 7.1Vatican City

o 7.2Pilgrimage

• 8Cityscape
o 8.1Architecture

▪ 8.1.1Ancient Rome

▪ 8.1.2Medieval

▪ 8.1.3Renaissance and Baroque

▪ 8.1.4Neoclassicism

▪ 8.1.5Fascist architecture

o 8.2Parks and gardens

o 8.3Fountains and aqueducts

o 8.4Statues

o 8.5Obelisks and columns

o 8.6Bridges

o 8.7Catacombs

• 9Economy
• 10Education
• 11Culture
o 11.1Entertainment and performing arts
 o 11.2Tourism
o 11.3Fashion

o 11.4Cuisine

o 11.5Cinema

o 11.6Language

• 12Sports
• 13Transport
• 14International entities, organisations and
involvement
• 15International relations
o 15.1Twin towns and sister cities

o 15.2Other relationships

• 16Documentaries
• 17See also
• 18References
• 19Bibliography
• 20External links
Etymology[edit]
Roman representation of Tiber as
a god, Capitoline Hill in Rome
According to the founding myth of the city by
the Ancient Romans themselves,[16]the long-
held tradition of the origin of the
name Roma is believed to have come from
the city's founder and first king, Romulus.[17]
However, it is a possibility that the name
Romulus was actually derived from Rome
itself.[18] As early as the 4th century, there
have been alternative theories proposed on
the origin of the name Roma. Several
hypotheses have been advanced focusing on
its linguistic roots which however remain
uncertain:[19]
• from Rumon or Rumen, archaic name of
the Tiber, which in turn has the same root
as the Greek verb ῥέω (rhéō) and the Latin
verb ruo, which both mean "flow";[20]
• from the Etruscan word 𐌓𐌖𐌌𐌀 (ruma),
whose root is *rum- "teat", with possible
reference either to the totem wolf that
adopted and suckled the cognately named
twins Romulus and Remus, or to the shape
of the Palatine and Aventine Hills;
• from the Greek word ῥώμη (rhṓmē), which
means strength.[21]
History[edit]
Main articles: History of Rome and Timeline
of the city of Rome
Historical affiliations
Roman Kingdom c. 753–509 BC

Roman Republic 509–27 BC

Roman Empire 27 BC–285 AD
Western Roman Empire 285–476
Kingdom of Odoacer 476–493
Ostrogothic Kingdom 493–553
Eastern Roman Empire 553–754
Papal States 754–1870
Kingdom of Italy 1870–1946
Italian Republic 1946–present
Vatican City 1929–present
Earliest history[edit]
Main article: Founding of Rome

Palatine Hill
There is archaeological evidence of human
occupation of the Rome area from
approximately 14,000 years ago, but the
dense layer of much younger debris
obscures Palaeolithic and Neolithic
sites.[5]Evidence of stone tools, pottery and
stone weapons attest to about 10,000 years
of human presence. Several excavations
support the view that Rome grew
from pastoral settlements on the Palatine
Hill built above the area of the future Roman
Forum. Between the end of the bronze
age and the beginning of the Iron age, each
hill between the sea and the Capitol was
topped by a village (on the Capitol Hill, a
village is attested since the end of the 14th
century BC).[22] However, none of them had
yet an urban quality.[22] Nowadays, there is a
wide consensus that the city developed
gradually through the aggregation
("synoecism") of several villages around the
largest one, placed above the
Palatine.[22] This aggregation was facilitated
by the increase of agricultural productivity
above the subsistence level, which also
allowed the establishment
of secondary and tertiary activities. These in
turn boosted the development of trade with
the Greek colonies of southern Italy
(mainly Ischia and Cumae).[22] These
developments, which according to
archaeological evidence took place during
the mid-eighth century BC, can be
considered as the "birth" of the
city.[22] Despite recent excavations at the
Palatine hill, the view that Rome was
founded deliberately in the middle of the
eighth century BC, as the legend of Romulus
suggests, remains a fringe hypothesis.[23]
Legend of the founding of Rome[edit]

Capitoline Wolf, sculpture of the mythical

she-wolf suckling the infant twins Romulus
and Remus
Traditional stories handed down by
the ancient Romans themselves explain the
earliest history of their city in terms
of legend and myth. The most familiar of
these myths, and perhaps the most famous
of all Roman myths, is the story of Romulus
and Remus, the twins who were suckled by
a she-wolf.[16] They decided to build a city,
but after an argument, Romulus killed his
brother and the city took his name. According
to the Roman annalists, this happened on 21
April 753 BC.[24] This legend had to be
reconciled with a dual tradition, set earlier in
time, that had the Trojan
refugee Aeneas escape to Italy and found
the line of Romans through his son Iulus, the
namesake of the Julio-Claudian
dynasty.[25] This was accomplished by the
Roman poet Virgil in the first century BC.
Monarchy, republic, empire[edit]
Main articles: Ancient Rome, Roman
Kingdom, Roman Republic, and Roman
Empire
After the legendary foundation by
Romulus,[26] Rome was ruled for a period of
244 years by a monarchical system, initially
with sovereigns of Latin and Sabine origin,
later by Etruscan kings. The tradition handed
down seven kings: Romulus, Numa
Pompilius, Tullus Hostilius, Ancus
Marcius, Tarquinius Priscus, Servius
Tullius and Tarquinius Superbus.[24]

Augustus, the first Emperor

In 509 BC the Romans expelled the last king
from their city and established
an oligarchicrepublic. Rome then began a
period characterized by internal struggles
between patricians(aristocrats)
and plebeians (small landowners), and by
constant warfare against the populations of
central Italy: Etruscans,
Latins, Volsci, Aequi, Marsi.[27] After
becoming master of Latium, Rome led
several wars (against the Gauls, Osci-
Samnites and the Greek colony of Taranto,
allied with Pyrrhus, king of Epirus) whose
result was the conquest of the Italian
peninsula, from the central area up to Magna
Graecia.[28]
The third and second century BC saw the
establishment of Roman hegemony over the
Mediterranean and the East, through the
three Punic Wars (264–146 BC) fought
against the city of Carthage and the
three Macedonian Wars (212–168 BC)
against Macedonia.[29] Then were
established the first Roman
provinces: Sicily, Sardinia and
Corsica, Hispania, Macedonia, Achaea and
Africa.[30]
From the beginning of the 2nd century BC,
power was contested between two groups of
aristocrats: the optimates, representing the
conservative part of the Senate, and
the populares, which relied on the help of
the plebs (urban lower class) to gain power.
In the same period, the bankruptcy of the
small farmers and the establishment of large
slave estates provoked the migration to the
city of a large number of people. The
continuous warfare made necessary a
professional army, which was more loyal to
its generals than to the republic. Because of
this, in the second half of the second century
and during the first century BC there were
conflicts both abroad and internally: after the
failed attempt of social reform of the
populares Tiberius and Gaius
Gracchus,[31] and the war
against Jugurtha,[31] there was a first civil
war between Gaius Marius and Sulla.[31] To
this followed a major slave
revolt under Spartacus,[32] and then the
establishment of the first
Triumvirate with Caesar, Pompey and Crass
us.[32]

Julius Caesar
The conquest of Gaul made Caesar
immensely powerful and popular, which led
to a second civil war against the Senate and
Pompey. After his victory, Caesar
established himself as dictator for life.[32] His
assassination led to a second
Triumvirate among Octavian (Caesar's
grandnephew and heir), Mark
Antony and Lepidus, and to another civil
war between Octavian and Antony.[33] The
former in 27 BC became princeps
civitatis and got the title of Augustus,
founding the principate, a diarchy between
the princeps and the senate.[33] Rome was
established as a de facto empire, which
reached its greatest expansion in the second
century under the Emperor Trajan. Rome
was confirmed as caput Mundi, i.e. the
capital of the world, an expression which had
already been given in the Republican period.
During its first two centuries, the empire saw
as rulers, emperors of the Julio-
Claudian,[34] Flavian (who also built
eponymous amphitheatre, known as
the Colosseum)[34] and Antonine dynasties.[35
]
This time was also characterised by the
spread of the Christian religion, preached
by Jesus Christin Judea in the first half of the
first century (under Tiberius) and popularized
by his apostlesthrough the empire and
beyond.[36] The Antonine age is considered
the apogee of the Empire, whose territory
ranged from the Atlantic Ocean to
the Euphrates and from Britain to Egypt.[35]

The Roman Empire at its greatest extent

controlled approximately 6.5 million square
kilometres (2.5 million square miles)[37] of
land surface.
After the end of the Severan Dynasty in 235
the Empire entered into 50-year period
known as the Crisis of the Third
Century during which there were numerous
putsches by generals who sought to secure
the region of the empire they were entrusted
with due to the weakness of central authority
in Rome. There was the so-called Gallic
Empire from 260-274 and the revolts of
Zenobia and her father from the mid-260s
which sought to fend off Persian incursions.
Some regions - Britain, Spain and North
Africa - were hardly affected. Instability
caused economic deterioration, and there
was a rapid rise in inflation as the
government debased the currency in order to
meet expenses. The Germanic tribes along
the Rhine and north of the Balkans made
serious, uncoordinated incursions from the
250s-280s that were more like giant raiding
parties rather than attempts to settle.
The Persian Empire in the East invaded
several times during the 230s to 260s but
were eventually defeated.[38]
Emperor Diocletian (284) undertook the
restoration of the State. He ended the
Principate and introduced the so-
called dominate which tried to give the
impression of absolute power. The most
marked feature was the unprecedented
intervention of the State down to the city
level: whereas the State had submitted a tax
demand to a city and allowed it to allocate
the charges, from his reign the State did this
down to the village level. In a vain attempt to
control inflation he imposed price
controls which did not last. He or Constantine
regionalized the administration of the empire
which fundamentally changed the way it was
governed by creating regional dioceses (the
consensus seems to have shifted from 297
to 313/14 as the date of creation due to the
argument of Constantin Zuckerman in 2002
"Sur la liste de Verone et la province de
grande armenie, Melanges Gilb