History of Rome

The history of Rome includes the history of the city of Rome as well as the civilisation of ancient Rome.
Roman history has been influential on the modern world, especially in the history of the Catholic Church,
and Roman law has influenced many modern legal systems. Roman history can be divided into the
following periods:

Pre-historical and early Rome, covering Rome's earliest inhabitants and the legend of its founding by
Romulus

The period of Etruscan dominance and the regal period, in which, according to tradition, Romulus was
the first of seven kings

The Roman Republic, which commenced in 509 BC when kings were replaced with rule by elected
magistrates. The period was marked by vast expansion of Roman territory. During the 5th century BC,
Rome gained regional dominance in Latium. With the Punic Wars from 264 to 146 BC, ancient Rome
gained dominance over the Western Mediterranean, displacing Carthage as the dominant regional
power.

The Roman Empire followed the Republic, which waned with the rise of Julius Caesar, and by all
measures concluded after a period of civil war and the victory of Caesar's adopted son, Octavian, in 27
BC over Mark Antony.

The Western Roman Empire collapsed in 476 after the city was conquered by the Ostrogothic Kingdom.
Consequently, Rome's power declined, and it eventually became part of the Eastern Roman Empire, as
the Duchy of Rome, from the 6th to 8th centuries. At this time, the city was reduced to a fraction of its
former size, being sacked several times in the 5th to 6th centuries, even temporarily depopulated
entirely.[1]
Medieval Rome is characterised by a break with Constantinople and the formation of the Papal States.
The Papacy struggled to retain influence in the emerging Holy Roman Empire, and during the saeculum
obscurum, the population of Rome fell to as low as 30,000 inhabitants. Following the East–West Schism
and the limited success in the Investiture Controversy, the Papacy did gain considerable influence in the
High Middle Ages, but with the Avignon Papacy and the Western Schism, the city of Rome was reduced
to irrelevance, its population falling below 20,000. Rome's decline into complete irrelevance during the
medieval period, with the associated lack of construction activity, assured the survival of very significant
ancient Roman material remains in the centre of the city, some abandoned and others continuing in use.

The Roman Renaissance occurred in the 15th century, when Rome replaced Florence as the centre of
artistic and cultural influence. The Roman Renaissance was cut short abruptly with the devastation of the
city in 1527, but the Papacy reasserted itself in the Counter-Reformation, and the city continued to
flourish during the early modern period. Rome was annexed by Napoleon and was part of the First
French Empire from 1809 to 1814.

Modern history, the period from the 19th century to the present. Rome came under siege again after the
Allied invasion of Italy and was bombed several times. It was declared an open city on 14 August 1943.
Rome became the capital of the Italian Republic (established in 1946). With a population of 4.4 million
(as of 2015; 2.9 million within city limits), it is the largest city in Italy. It is among the largest urban areas
of the European Union and classified as a global city.

Name

Attempts have been made to find a linguistic root for the name Rome. Possibilities include derivation
from the Greek Rhṓmē (Ῥώμη), meaning "bravery" or "courage";[2] Compare also Rumon, former name
of the Tiber River. Its further etymology remains unknown, as with most Etruscan words. Thomas G.
Tucker's Concise Etymological Dictionary of Latin (1931) suggests that the name is most probably from
*urobsma (cf. urbs, robur) and otherwise, "but less likely" from *urosma "hill" (cf. Skt. varsman- "height,
point," Old Slavonic врьхъ "top, summit", Russ. верх "top; upward direction", Lith. virsus "upper").

Ancient Rome timeline

Main article: Ancient Rome

Rome timeline

Roman Kingdom and Republic

753 BC According to legend, Romulus founds Rome.

753–509 BC Rule of the seven Kings of Rome.

509 BC Creation of the Republic.

390 BC The Gauls invade Rome. Rome sacked.

264–146 BC Punic Wars.

146–44 BC Social and Civil Wars. Emergence of Marius, Sulla, Pompey and Caesar.

44 BC Julius Caesar assassinated.

Earliest history

Main article: Founding of Rome

Prehistory

There is archaeological evidence of human occupation of the Rome area from at least 5,000 years, but
the dense layer of much younger debris obscures Palaeolithic and Neolithic sites.[3] The evidence
suggesting the city's ancient foundation is also obscured by the legend of Rome's beginning involving
Romulus and Remus.

The traditional date for the founding of Rome is 21 April 753 BC, following M. Terentius Varro,[4] and the
city and surrounding region of Latium has continued to be inhabited with little interruption since around
that time. Excavations made in 2014 have revealed a wall built long before the city's official founding
year. Archaeologists discovered 9th-century BC walls and 8th-century BC pottery. The Palatine Hill may
have been visited and settled around the 10th century BC.[5][6]

The site of Sant'Omobono Area is crucial for understanding the related processes of monumentalisation,
urbanisation, and state formation in Rome in the late Archaic period. The Sant'Omobono temple site
dates to 7th–6th century BC, making these the oldest known temple remains in Rome.[7]

Legendary origin

Main article: Romulus and Remus

Capitoline Wolf, showing the twins Romulus and Remus suckling the she-wolf.

The city's name was long credited to the legendary culture hero Romulus.[8] It was said that Romulus
and his twin brother Remus were the offspring of the rape of an Alban princess by the war god Mars and,
via their mother, were further descended from the Trojan prince Aeneas, supposed son of the Greek love
goddess Aphrodite. Exposed on the Tiber, they were suckled by a she-wolf and raised by a shepherd and
his wife. Avenging themselves on their usurping grand-uncle and restoring their grandfather Numitor to
Alba Longa's throne, they were ordered or decided to settle the hills around Rome's later Forum
Boarium, an important river port connected in Roman myth with Hercules's tenth labour, capturing the
cattle of Geryon.

Disputing some point of the founding or its related auguries, Remus was murdered by Romulus or one of
his supporters. Romulus then established a walled and roughly square settlement, whose sacred
boundary and gates were established by a ploughing ritual. Romulus then declared the town an asylum,
permitted men of all classes to come to Rome as citizens, including criminals, runaway slaves, and
freemen without distinction.[9] To provide his citizens with wives, Romulus invited the neighbouring
tribes to a festival in Rome where the Romans abducted many of their young women. After the ensuing
war with the Sabines, Romulus shared Rome's kingship with the Sabine king Titus Tatius.[10] Romulus
selected 100 of the most noble men to form the Roman Senate, initially serving as his advisory council.
These men he called fathers (Latin: patres), and their descendants became the patricians. He created
three centuries of equites: Ramnes (meaning Romans), Tities (after the Sabine king), and Luceres
(Etruscans). He also divided the general populace into thirty curiae, named after thirty of the Sabine
women who had intervened to end the war between Romulus and Tatius. The curiae formed the voting
units in the Comitia Curiata.[11]

City's formation

Rome grew from pastoral settlements on the Palatine Hill and surrounding hills approximately 30 km (19
mi) from the Tyrrhenian Sea on the south side of the Tiber. The Quirinal Hill was probably an outpost for
the Sabines, another Italic-speaking people. At this location, the Tiber forms a Z-shaped curve that
contains an island where the river can be forded. Because of the river and the ford, Rome was at a
crossroads of traffic following the river valley and of traders travelling north and south on the west side
of the peninsula.

Archaeological finds have confirmed that there were two fortified settlements in the 8th century BC, in
the area of the future Rome: Rumi on the Palatine Hill, and Titientes on the Quirinal Hill, backed by the
Luceres living in the nearby woods.[12] These were simply three of numerous Italic-speaking
communities that existed in Latium, a plain on the Italian peninsula, by the 1st millennium BC. The
origins of the Italic peoples lie in prehistory and are therefore not precisely known, but their Indo-
European languages migrated from the east in the second half of the 2nd millennium BC.[citation
needed]

According to Dionysius of Halicarnassus, many Roman historians—including Cato and Sempronius—

considered the Italian aborigines to have been prehistoric Greek colonists.[13] The Romans then
considered themselves a mix of these people, the Albans, and the other Latins, considered a blend of
Pelasgians, Arcadians, Epeans, and refugee Trojans. Over time, the Etruscans and other ancient Italic
peoples were admitted as citizens as well. The Sabines—considered to be Gaulish along with the other
Umbri peoples of central Italy— were first mentioned in Dionysius's account for having captured the city
of Lista by surprise, which was regarded as the mother-city of the Aborigines.[14]

Rome was especially large for Latial settlements; although the majority of larger Early Iron Age Latial
cities were between 50-80 hectares in size, Rome had—by the same time—grown to a size of around 200
hectares.[15] The archaeologist Francesca Fulminante suggests that Rome was uniquely predisposed to
conquer Latium as it was significantly more powerful than its immediate neighbors. Upon unifying
Latium, according to Fulminante, Rome was now more easily able to compete with the disjointed
Etruscan city-states.[15]

Italic context

The Etruscan François Tomb, IV century BC

The Italic speakers in the area included Latins (in the west), Sabines (in the upper valley of the Tiber),
Umbrians (in the north-east), Samnites (in the South), Oscans, and others. In the 8th century BC, they
shared the peninsula with two other major ethnic groups: the Etruscans in the North and the Greeks in
the south.

The Etruscans (Etrusci or Tusci in Latin) are attested north of Rome in Etruria (modern northern Lazio,
Tuscany and part of Umbria). They founded cities such as Tarquinia, Veii, and Volterra and deeply
influenced Roman culture, as clearly shown by the Etruscan origin of some of the mythical Roman kings.
Historians have no literature, nor texts of religion or philosophy; therefore, much of what is known about
this civilisation is derived from grave goods and tomb findings.[16]

The Greeks had founded many colonies in Southern Italy between 750 and 550 BC (which the Romans
later called Magna Graecia), such as Cumae, Naples, Reggio Calabria, Crotone, Sybaris, and Taranto, as
well as in the eastern two-thirds of Sicily.[17][18]

Etruscan dominance

Further information: Roman Kingdom

Temple of Jupiter Optimus Maximus 526–509 BC[19]

The Servian Wall takes its name from king Servius Tullius and is the first true wall of Rome.

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After 650 BC, the Etruscans became dominant in Italy and expanded into north-central Italy. Roman
tradition claimed that Rome had been under the control of seven kings from 753 to 509 BC beginning
with the mythical Romulus who was said to have founded the city of Rome along with his brother
Remus. The last three kings were said to be Etruscan (at least partially)—namely Tarquinius Priscus,
Servius Tullius and Tarquinius Superbus. (Priscus is said by the ancient literary sources to be the son of a
Greek refugee and an Etruscan mother.) Their names refer to the Etruscan town of Tarquinia.

Livy, Plutarch, Dionysius of Halicarnassus, and others claim that Rome was ruled during its first centuries
by a succession of seven kings. The traditional chronology, as codified by Varro, allots 243 years for their
reigns, an average of almost 35 years, which has been generally discounted by modern scholarship since
the work of Barthold Georg Niebuhr. The Gauls destroyed much of Rome's historical records when they
sacked the city after the Battle of the Allia in 390 BC (according to Polybius, the battle occurred in
387/386) and what was left was eventually lost to time or theft. With no contemporary records of the
kingdom existing, all accounts of the kings must be carefully questioned.[20] The list of kings is also of
dubious historical value, though the last-named kings may be historical figures. It is believed by some
historians (again, this is disputed) that Rome was under the influence of the Etruscans for about a
century. During this period, a bridge was built called the Pons Sublicius to replace the Tiber ford, and the
Cloaca Maxima was also built; the Etruscans are said to have been great engineers of this type of
structure. From a cultural and technical point of view, Etruscans had arguably the second-greatest
impact on Roman development, only surpassed by the Greeks.

Expanding further south, the Etruscans came into direct contact with the Greeks and initially had success
in conflicts with the Greek colonists; after which, Etruria went into a decline. Taking advantage of this,
Rome rebelled and gained independence from the Etruscans around 500 BC. It also abandoned
monarchy in favour of a republican system based on a Senate, composed of the nobles of the city, along
with popular assemblies which ensured political participation for most of the freeborn men and elected
magistrates annually.

The Etruscans left a lasting influence on Rome. The Romans learned to build temples from them, and the
Etruscans may have introduced the worship of a triad of gods—Juno, Minerva, and Jupiter—from the
Etruscan gods: Uni, Menrva, and Tinia. However, the influence of Etruscan people in the development of
Rome is often overstated.[21] Rome was primarily a Latin city. It never became fully Etruscan. Also,
evidence shows that Romans were heavily influenced by the Greek cities in the South, mainly through
trade.[22]

Roman Republic

Further information: Overthrow of the Roman monarchy, Roman Republic, and Crisis of the Roman
Republic
Forum Romanum

The commonly held stories of the early part of the Republic (before roughly 300 BC, when Old Latin
inscriptions and Greek histories about Rome provide more concrete evidence of events) are generally
considered to be legendary, their historicity being a topic of debate among classicists. The Roman
Republic traditionally dates from 509 BC to 27 BC. After 500 BC, Rome is said to have joined with the
Latin cities in defence against incursions by the Sabines. Winning the Battle of Lake Regillus in 493 BC,
Rome established again the supremacy over the Latin countries it had lost after the fall of the monarchy.
After a lengthy series of struggles, this supremacy became fixed in 393, when the Romans finally
subdued the Volsci and Aequi. In 394 BC, they also conquered the menacing Etruscan neighbour of Veii.
The Etruscan power was now limited to Etruria itself, and Rome was the dominant city in Latium.

A formal treaty was agreed with the city-state of Carthage in 509 BC which defined the spheres of
influence of each city and regulated trade between them.[23]

Chart showing the checks and balances of the Roman Constitution

At the same time, Heraclides stated that 4th-century Rome was a Greek city (Plut. Cam. 22).

Rome's early enemies were the neighbouring hill tribes of the Volscians, the Aequi, and of course the
Etruscans. As years passed and military successes increased Roman territory, new adversaries appeared.
The fiercest were the Gauls, a loose collective of peoples who controlled much of Northern Europe
including what is modern North and Central-East Italy.

In 387 BC, Rome was sacked and burned by the Senones coming from eastern Italy and led by Brennus,
who had successfully defeated the Roman army at the Battle of the Allia in Etruria. Multiple
contemporary records suggest that the Senones hoped to punish Rome for violating its diplomatic
neutrality in Etruria. The Senones marched 130 kilometres (81 mi) to Rome without harming the
surrounding countryside; once they had sacked the city, the Senones withdrew from Rome.[24] Brennus
was defeated by the dictator Furius Camillus at Tusculum soon afterwards.[25][26]

After that, Rome hastily rebuilt its buildings and went on the offensive, conquering the Etruscans and
seizing territory from the Gauls in the north. After 345 BC, Rome pushed south against other Latins. Their
main enemy in this quadrant were the fierce Samnites, who outsmarted and trapped the legions in 321
BC at the Battle of Caudine Forks. In spite of these and other temporary setbacks, the Romans advanced
steadily. By 290 BC, Rome controlled over half of the Italian peninsula. In the 3rd century BC, Rome
brought the Greek poleis in the south under its control as well.[citation needed]
Roman expansion in Italy from 500 BC to 218 BC through the Latin War (light red), Samnite Wars
(pink/orange), Pyrrhic War (beige), and First and Second Punic War (yellow and green). Cisalpine Gaul
(238–146 BC) and Alpine valleys (16–7 BC) were later added. The Roman Republic in 500 BC is marked
with dark red.

Amidst the never-ending wars (from the beginning of the Republic up to the Principate, the doors of the
temple of Janus were closed only twice—when they were open it meant that Rome was at war), Rome
had to face a severe major social crisis, the Conflict of the Orders, a political struggle between the
Plebeians (commoners) and Patricians (aristocrats) of the ancient Roman Republic, in which the
Plebeians sought political equality with the Patricians. It played a major role in the development of the
Constitution of the Roman Republic. It began in 494 BC, when, while Rome was at war with two
neighbouring tribes, the Plebeians all left the city (the first Plebeian Secession). The result of this first
secession was the creation of the office of Plebeian Tribune, and with it the first acquisition of real power
by the Plebeians.[27]

According to tradition, Rome became a republic in 509 BC. However, it took a few centuries for Rome to
become the great city of popular imagination. By the 3rd century BC, Rome had become the pre-eminent
city of the Italian peninsula. During the Punic Wars between Rome and the great Mediterranean empire
of Carthage (264–146 BC), Rome's stature increased further as it became the capital of an overseas
empire for the first time. Beginning in the 2nd century BC, Rome went through a significant population
expansion as Italian farmers, driven from their ancestral farmlands by the advent of massive, slave-
operated farms called latifundia, flocked to the city in great numbers. The victory over Carthage in the
First Punic War brought the first two provinces outside the Italian peninsula, Sicily and Sardinia.[28] Parts
of Spain (Hispania) followed, and in the beginning of the 2nd century the Romans got involved in the
affairs of the Greek world. By then all Hellenistic kingdoms and the Greek city-states were in decline,
exhausted from endless civil wars and relying on mercenary troops.

The Romans looked upon the Greek civilisation with great admiration. The Greeks saw Rome as a useful
ally in their civil strifes, and it was not long before the Roman legions were invited to intervene in
Greece. In less than 50 years the whole of mainland Greece was subdued. The Roman legions crushed
the Macedonian phalanx twice, in 197 and 168 BC; in 146 BC the Roman consul Lucius Mummius razed
Corinth, marking the end of free Greece. The same year Cornelius Scipio Aemilianus, the son of Scipio
Africanus, destroyed the city of Carthage, making it a Roman province.

Map of the centre of Rome during the time of the Roman Empire

In the following years, Rome continued its conquests in Spain with Tiberius Gracchus, and it set foot in
Asia, when the last king of Pergamum gave his kingdom to the Roman people. The end of the 2nd
century brought another threat, when a great host of Germanic peoples, namely Cimbri and Teutones,
crossed the river Rhone and moved to Italy. Gaius Marius was consul five consecutive times (seven total),
and won two decisive battles in 102 and 101 BC. He also reformed the Roman army, giving it such a good
reorganisation that it remained unchanged for centuries.

The first thirty years of the last century BC were characterised by serious internal problems that
threatened the existence of the Republic. The Social War, between Rome and its allies, and the Servile
Wars (slave uprisings) were hard conflicts,[29] all within Italy, and forced the Romans to change their
policy with regards to their allies and subjects.[30] By then Rome had become an extensive power, with
great wealth which derived from the conquered people (as tribute, food or manpower, i.e. slaves). The
allies of Rome felt bitter since they had fought by the side of the Romans, and yet they were not citizens
and shared little in the rewards. Although they lost the war, they finally got what they asked, and by the
beginning of the 1st century AD practically all free inhabitants of Italy were Roman citizens.

However, the growth of the Imperium Romanum (Roman power) created new problems, and new
demands, that the old political system of the Republic, with its annually elected magistrates and its
sharing of power, could not solve. Sulla's civil war and his later dictatorship, the extraordinary commands
of Pompey Magnus, and the first triumvirate made that clear. In January 49 BC, Julius Caesar the
conqueror of Gaul, crossed the Rubicon with his legions, occupying Rome and beginning a civil war with
Pompey. In the following years, he vanquished his opponents, and ruled Rome for four years. After his
assassination in 44 BC,[31] the Senate tried to reestablish the Republic, but its champions, Marcus Junius
Brutus (descendant of the founder of the republic) and Gaius Cassius Longinus were defeated by Caesar's
lieutenant Marcus Antonius and Caesar's nephew, Octavian.

The years 44–31 BC mark the struggle for power between Marcus Antonius and Octavian (later known as
Augustus). Finally, on 2 September 31 BC, in the Greek promontory of Actium, the final battle took place
in the sea. Octavian was victorious, and became the sole ruler of Rome (and its empire). That date marks
the end of the Republic and the beginning of the Principate.[32][33]

Roman Empire

Further information: Roman Empire

Development of the Roman empire

Rome timeline

Roman Empire

44 BC – AD 14 Augustus establishes the Empire

AD 64 Great Fire of Rome during Nero's rule

69–96 Flavian dynasty; building of the Colosseum

3rd century Crisis of the Third Century; building of the Baths of Caracalla and the Aurelian Walls

284–337 Diocletian and Constantine; building of the first Christian basilicas; Battle of Milvian
Bridge; Rome is replaced by Constantinople as the capital of the Empire

395 Definitive separation of Western and Eastern Roman Empire

410 The Goths of Alaric sack Rome

455 The Vandals of Gaiseric sack Rome

476 Fall of the west empire and deposition of the final emperor Romulus Augustus

6th century Gothic War (535–554): The Goths cut off the aqueducts in the siege of 537, an act which
historians traditionally regard as the beginning of the Middle Ages in Italy[34]

608 Emperor Phocas donates the Pantheon to Pope Boniface IV, converting it into a Christian church;
Column of Phocas (the last addition made to the Forum Romanum) is erected

630 The Curia Julia (vacant since the disappearance of the Roman Senate) is transformed into the
basilica of Sant'Adriano al Foro

663 Constans II visits Rome for twelve days—the only emperor to set foot in Rome for two centuries.
He strips buildings of their ornaments and bronze to be carried back to Constantinople

751 Lombard conquest of the Exarchate of Ravenna; the Duchy of Rome is now completely cut off
from the empire

754 Alliance with the Franks; Pepin the Younger, King of the Franks, declared Patrician of the
Romans, invades Italy; establishment of the Papal States

Early Empire

Life in Rome; animation in Latin with English subtitles.

By the end of the Republic, the city of Rome had achieved a grandeur befitting the capital of an empire
dominating the whole of the Mediterranean. It was, at the time, the largest city in the world. Estimates
of its peak population range from 450,000 to over 3.5 million people with estimates of 1 to 2 million
being most popular with historians.[35] This grandeur increased under Augustus, who completed
Caesar's projects and added many of his own, such as the Forum of Augustus and the Ara Pacis. He is
said to have remarked that he found Rome a city of brick and left it a city of marble (Urbem latericium
invenit, marmoream reliquit). Augustus's successors sought to emulate his success in part by adding their
own contributions to the city. In AD 64, during the reign of Nero, the Great Fire of Rome left much of the
city destroyed, but in many ways it was used as an excuse for new development.[36][37]

Rome was a subsidised city at the time, with roughly 15 to 25 percent of its grain supply being paid by
the central government. Commerce and industry played a smaller role compared to that of other cities
like Alexandria. This meant that Rome had to depend upon goods and production from other parts of the
Empire to sustain such a large population. This was mostly paid by taxes that were levied by the Roman
government. If it had not been subsidised, Rome would have been significantly smaller.[38]

The Arch of Gallienus is one of the few monuments of ancient Rome from the 3rd century, and was a
gate in the Servian Wall. Two side gates were destroyed in 1447.

Rome's population declined after its apex in the 2nd century. At the end of that century, during the reign
of Marcus Aurelius, the Antonine Plague killed 2,000 people a day.[39] Marcus Aurelius died in 180, his
reign being the last of the "Five Good Emperors" and Pax Romana.[40][41] His son Commodus, who had
been co-emperor since AD 177, assumed full imperial power, which is generally associated with the
beginning of the decline of the Western Roman Empire. Rome's population was only a fraction of its
peak when the Aurelian Wall was completed in AD 273 (in that year its population was only around
500,000).

Crisis of the third century

Starting in the early 3rd century, matters changed. The "Crisis of the Third Century" defines the disasters
and political troubles for the Empire, which nearly collapsed. The new feeling of danger and the menace
of barbarian invasions was clearly shown by the decision of Emperor Aurelian, who at year 273 finished
encircling the capital itself with a massive wall which had a perimeter that measured close to 20 km (12
mi). Rome formally remained capital of the empire, but emperors spent less and less time there. At the
end of 3rd century Diocletian's political reforms, Rome was deprived of its traditional role of
administrative capital of the Empire. Later, western emperors ruled from Milan or Ravenna, or cities in
Gaul. In 330, Constantine I established a second capital at Constantinople.

Christianisation

Further information: Early Christianity, Decline of Greco-Roman polytheism, Constantinian shift, and
State church of the Roman Empire

Christianity reached Rome during the 1st century AD. For the first two centuries of the Christian era,
Imperial authorities largely viewed Christianity simply as a Jewish sect rather than a distinct religion. No
emperor issued general laws against the faith or its Church, and persecutions, such as they were, were
carried out under the authority of local government officials.[42][43][44][45][46] A surviving letter from
Pliny the Younger, governor of Bythinia, to the emperor Trajan describes his persecution and executions
of Christians; Trajan notably responded that Pliny should not seek out Christians nor heed anonymous
denunciations, but only punish open Christians who refused to recant.[47]

Suetonius mentions in passing that during the reign of Nero "punishment was inflicted on the Christians,
a class of men given to a new and mischievous superstition" (superstitionis novae ac maleficae).[48] He
gives no reason for the punishment. Tacitus reports that after the Great Fire of Rome in AD 64, some
among the population held Nero responsible and that the emperor attempted to deflect blame onto the
Christians.[49] The war against the Jews during Nero's reign, which so destabilised the empire that it led
to civil war and Nero's suicide, provided an additional rationale for suppression of this 'Jewish' sect.

Diocletian undertook what was to be the most severe and last major persecution of Christians, lasting
from 303 to 311. Christianity had become too widespread to suppress, and in 313, the Edict of Milan
made tolerance the official policy. Constantine I (sole ruler 324–337) became the first Christian emperor,
and in 380 Theodosius I established Christianity as the official religion.

Under Theodosius, visits to the pagan temples were forbidden,[50] the eternal fire in the Temple of
Vesta in the Roman Forum extinguished, the Vestal Virgins disbanded, auspices and witchcraft punished.
Theodosius refused to restore the Altar of Victory in the Senate House, as asked by remaining pagan
Senators.

The Empire's conversion to Christianity made the Bishop of Rome (later called the Pope) the senior
religious figure in the Western Empire, as officially stated in 380 by the Edict of Thessalonica. In spite of
its increasingly marginal role in the Empire, Rome retained its historic prestige, and this period saw the
last wave of construction activity: Constantine's predecessor Maxentius built buildings such as its basilica
in the Forum, Constantine himself erected the Arch of Constantine to celebrate his victory over
Maxentius, and Diocletian built the greatest baths of all. Constantine was also the first patron of official
Christian buildings in the city. He donated the Lateran Palace to the Pope, and built the first great
basilica, the old St. Peter's Basilica.

Germanic invasions and collapse of the Western Empire

The ancient basilica of St. Lawrence, outside the walls, was built directly over the tomb of the people's
favourite Roman martyr.

Still Rome remained one of the strongholds of paganism, led by the aristocrats and senators. However,
the new walls did not stop the city being sacked first by Alaric on 24 August 410, by Geiseric on 2 June
455, and even by general Ricimer's unpaid Roman troops (largely composed of barbarians) on 11 July
472.[51][52] This was the first time in almost 800 years that Rome had fallen to an enemy. The previous
sack of Rome had been accomplished by the Gauls under their leader Brennus in 387 BC. The sacking of
410 is seen as a major landmark in the decline and fall of the Western Roman Empire. St. Jerome, living
in Bethlehem at the time, wrote that "The City which had taken the whole world was itself taken."[53]
These sackings of the city astonished all the Roman world. In any case, the damage caused by the
sackings may have been overestimated. The population already started to decline from the late 4th
century onward, although around the middle of the fifth century it seems that Rome continued to be the
most populous city of the two parts of the Empire, with a population of no fewer than 650,000
inhabitants.[54] The decline greatly accelerated following the capture of Africa Proconsularis by the
Vandals. Many inhabitants now fled as the city no longer could be supplied with grain from Africa from
the mid-5th century onward.

At the end of the 6th century Rome's population had reduced to around 30,000.[55] Many monuments
were being destroyed by the citizens themselves, who stripped stones from closed temples and other
precious buildings, and even burned statues to make lime for their personal use. In addition, most of the
increasing number of churches were built in this way. For example, the first Saint Peter's Basilica was
erected using spoils from the abandoned Circus of Nero.[56] This architectural cannibalism was a
constant feature of Roman life until the Renaissance. From the 4th century, imperial edicts against
stripping of stones and especially marble were common, but the need for their repetition shows that
they were ineffective. Sometimes new churches were created by simply taking advantage of early Pagan
temples, while sometimes changing the Pagan god or hero to a corresponding Christian saint or martyr.
In this way, the Temple of Romulus and Remus became the basilica of the twin saints Cosmas and
Damian. Later, the Pantheon, Temple of All Gods, became the church of All Martyrs.

Eastern Roman (Byzantine) restoration

Further information: Ostrogothic Kingdom, Duchy of Rome, and Sack of Rome (546)

Porta San Paolo, a gate in the Aurelian Walls, built between AD 271 and AD 275. During the Gothic Wars
of the mid-6th century, Rome was besieged several times by Eastern Roman and Ostrogoth armies.
Ostrogoths of Totila entered through this gate in 549, because of the treason of the Isaurian garrison.

Southeast view of the Pantheon

The Column of Phocas, last imperial monument in the Roman Forum

In 480, the last claimant to the title of Western Roman emperor, Julius Nepos, was murdered and a
Roman general of barbarian origin, Odoacer, declared allegiance to Eastern Roman emperor Zeno.[57]
Despite owing nominal allegiance to Constantinople, Odoacer and later the Ostrogoths continued, like
the last emperors, to rule Italy as a virtually independent realm from Ravenna. Meanwhile, the Senate,
even though long since stripped of wider powers, continued to administer Rome itself, with the Pope
usually coming from a senatorial family. This situation continued until Theodahad murdered
Amalasuntha, a pro-imperial Gothic queen, and usurped the power in 535. The Eastern Roman emperor,
Justinian I (reigned 527–565), used this as a pretext to send forces to Italy under his famed general
Belisarius, recapturing the city next year, on 9 December AD 536. In 537–538, the Eastern Romans
successfully defended the city in a year-long siege against the Ostrogothic army, and eventually took
Ravenna, too.[57]
Gothic resistance revived however, and on 17 December 546, the Ostrogoths under Totila recaptured
and sacked Rome.[58] Belisarius soon recovered the city, but the Ostrogoths retook it in 549. Belisarius
was replaced by Narses, who captured Rome from the Ostrogoths for good in 552, ending the so-called
Gothic Wars which had devastated much of Italy. The continual war around Rome in the 530s and 540s
left it in a state of total disrepair – near-abandoned and desolate with much of its lower-lying parts
turned into unhealthy marshes as the drainage systems were neglected and the Tiber's embankments
fell into disrepair in the course of the latter half of the 6th century.[59] Here, malaria developed. The
aqueducts, except for one, were not repaired. The population, without imports of grain and oil from
Sicily, shrank to less than 50,000 concentrated near the Tiber and around the Campus Martius,
abandoning those districts without water supply. There is a legend, significant though untrue, that there
was a moment where no one remained living in Rome.[citation needed]

Justinian I provided grants for the maintenance of public buildings, aqueducts and bridges—though,
being mostly drawn from an Italy dramatically impoverished by the recent wars, these were not always
sufficient. He also styled himself the patron of its remaining scholars, orators, physicians and lawyers in
the stated hope that eventually more youths would seek a better education. After the wars, the Senate
was theoretically restored, but under the supervision of the urban prefect and other officials appointed
by, and responsible to, the Eastern Roman authorities in Ravenna.

However, the Pope was now one of the leading religious figures in the entire Byzantine Roman Empire
and effectively more powerful locally than either the remaining senators or local Eastern Roman
(Byzantine) officials. In practice, local power in Rome devolved to the Pope and, over the next few
decades, both much of the remaining possessions of the senatorial aristocracy and the local Byzantine
Roman administration in Rome were absorbed by the Church.

The reign of Justinian's nephew and successor Justin II (reigned 565–578) was marked from the Italian
point of view by the invasion of the Lombards under Alboin (568). In capturing the regions of Benevento,
Lombardy, Piedmont, Spoleto and Tuscany, the invaders effectively restricted Imperial authority to small
islands of land surrounding a number of coastal cities, including Ravenna, Naples, Rome and the area of
the future Venice. The one inland city continuing under Eastern Roman control was Perugia, which
provided a repeatedly threatened overland link between Rome and Ravenna. In 578 and again in 580,
the Senate, in some of its last recorded acts, had to ask for the support of Tiberius II Constantine
(reigned 578–582) against the approaching Dukes, Faroald I of Spoleto and Zotto of Benevento.

Maurice (reigned 582–602) added a new factor in the continuing conflict by creating an alliance with
Childebert II of Austrasia (reigned 575–595). The armies of the Frankish King invaded the Lombard
territories in 584, 585, 588 and 590. Rome had suffered badly from a disastrous flood of the Tiber in 589,
described by Paul the Deacon as a "swarm of snakes."[60] This was followed by a plague in 590, which
was notable for the legend of the angel seen, while the newly elected Pope Gregory I (term 590–604)
was passing in procession by Hadrian's Tomb, to hover over the building and to sheathe his flaming
sword as a sign that the pestilence was about to cease.[61] The city was safe from capture at least.

Agilulf, however, the new Lombard King (reigned 591 to c. 616), managed to secure peace with
Childebert, reorganised his territories and resumed activities against both Naples and Rome by 592. With
the Emperor preoccupied with wars in the eastern borders and the various succeeding Exarchs unable to
secure Rome from invasion, Gregory took personal initiative in starting negotiations for a peace treaty.
This was completed in the autumn of 598—later recognised by Maurice—lasting until the end of his
reign.

The position of the Bishop of Rome was further strengthened under the usurper Phocas (reigned 602–
610). Phocas recognised his primacy over that of the Patriarch of Constantinople and even decreed Pope
Boniface III (607) to be "the head of all the Churches". Phocas's reign saw the erection of the last
imperial monument in the Roman Forum, the column bearing his name. He also gave the Pope the
Pantheon, at the time closed for centuries, and thus probably saved it from destruction.

During the 7th century, an influx of both Byzantine Roman officials and churchmen from elsewhere in
the empire made both the local lay aristocracy and Church leadership largely Greek speaking. The
population of Rome, a magnet for pilgrims, may have increased to 90,000.[62] Eleven of thirteen popes
between 678 and 752 were of Greek or Syrian descent.[63] However, the strong Byzantine Roman
cultural influence did not always lead to political harmony between Rome and Constantinople. In the
controversy over Monothelitism, popes found themselves under severe pressure (sometimes amounting
to physical force) when they failed to keep in step with Constantinople's shifting theological positions. In
653, Pope Martin I was deported to Constantinople and, after a show trial, exiled to the Crimea, where
he died.[64][65]

Then, in 663, Rome had its first imperial visit for two centuries, by Constans II—its worst disaster since
the Gothic Wars when the Emperor proceeded to strip Rome of metal, including that from buildings and
statues, to provide armament materials for use against the Saracens. However, for the next half century,
despite further tensions, Rome and the Papacy continued to prefer continued Byzantine Roman rule: in
part because the alternative was Lombard rule, and in part because Rome's food was largely coming
from Papal estates elsewhere in the Empire, particularly Sicily.

Medieval Rome

Rome timeline

Medieval Rome
772 The Lombards briefly conquer Rome but Charlemagne liberates the city a year later.

800 Charlemagne is crowned Holy Roman Emperor in St. Peter's Basilica.

846 The Saracens sack St. Peter.

852 Building of the Leonine Walls.

962 Otto I crowned Emperor by Pope John XII

1000 Emperor Otto III and Pope Sylvester II.

1084 The Normans sack Rome.

1144 Creation of the commune of Rome.

1300 First Jubilee proclaimed by Pope Boniface VIII.

1303 Foundation of the Roman University.

1309 Pope Clement V moves the Holy Seat to Avignon.

1347 Cola di Rienzo proclaims himself tribune.

1377 Pope Gregory XI moves the Holy Seat back to Rome.

Break with Constantinople and formation of the Papal States

Further information: Duchy of Rome and Papal States

In 727, Pope Gregory II refused to accept the decrees of Emperor Leo III, which promoted the Emperor's
iconoclasm.[66] Leo reacted first by trying in vain to abduct the Pontiff, and then by sending a force of
Ravennate troops under the command of the Exarch Paulus, but they were pushed back by the Lombards
of Tuscia and Benevento. Byzantine general Eutychius sent west by the Emperor successfully captured
Rome and restored it as a part of the empire in 728.

On 1 November 731, a council was called in St. Peter's by Gregory III to excommunicate the iconoclasts.
The Emperor responded by confiscating large Papal estates in Sicily and Calabria and transferring areas
previously ecclesiastically under the Pope to the Patriarch of Constantinople. Despite the tensions
Gregory III never discontinued his support to the imperial efforts against external threats.

In this period the Lombard kingdom revived under the leadership of King Liutprand. In 730, he razed the
countryside of Rome to punish the Pope, who had supported Duke Transamund II of Spoleto.[67] Though
still protected by his massive walls, the Pope could do little against the Lombard king, who managed to
ally himself with the Byzantines.[68] Other protectors were now needed. Gregory III was the first Pope to
ask for concrete help from the Frankish Kingdom, then under the command of Charles Martel (739).[69]
Liutprand's successor Aistulf was even more aggressive. He conquered Ferrara and Ravenna, ending the
Exarchate of Ravenna. Rome seemed to be his next victim. In 754, Pope Stephen II went to France to
name Pippin the Younger, king of the Franks, as patricius Romanorum, i.e. protector of Rome. In August
that year, the King and Pope together crossed back the Alps and defeated Aistulf at Pavia. When Pippin
went back to St. Denis however, Aistulf did not keep his promises, and in 756 besieged Rome for 56 days.
The Lombards returned north when they heard news of Pippin again moving to Italy. This time he agreed
to give the Pope the promised territories, and the Papal States were born.

In 771 the new King of the Lombards, Desiderius, devised a plot to conquer Rome and seize Pope
Stephen III during a feigned pilgrimage within its walls. His main ally was one Paulus Afiarta, chief of the
Lombard party within the city. He conquered Rome in 772 but angered Charlemagne. However the plan
failed, and Stephen's successor, Pope Hadrian I called Charlemagne against Desiderius, who was finally
defeated in 773.[70] The Lombard Kingdom was no more, and now Rome entered into the orbit of a
new, greater political institution.

Numerous remains from this period, along with a museum devoted to Medieval Rome, can be seen at
Crypta Balbi in Rome.

Formation of the Holy Roman Empire

Further information: Papal States and Kingdom of Italy (Holy Roman Empire)

A 13th-century fresco of Sylvester and Constantine, showing the Donation of Constantine, Santi Quattro
Coronati, Rome

19th-century drawing of Old St. Peter's Basilica as it is thought to have looked around AD 1450

From the Forum, the medieval and Renaissance Senate House stands directly upon the Tabularium,
ancient Rome's repository of archives.

On 25 April 799 the new Pope, Leo III, led the traditional procession from the Lateran to the Church of
San Lorenzo in Lucina along the Via Flaminia (now Via del Corso). Two nobles (followers of his
predecessor Hadrian) who disliked the weakness of the Pope with regards to Charlemagne, attacked the
processional train and delivered a life-threatening wound to the Pope. Leo fled to the King of the Franks,
and in November, 800, the King entered Rome with a strong army and a number of French bishops. He
declared a judicial trial to decide if Leo III were to remain Pope, or if the deposers' claims had reasons to
be upheld. This trial, however, was only a part of a well thought out chain of events which ultimately
surprised the world. The Pope was declared legitimate and the attempters subsequently exiled. On 25
December 800, Pope Leo III crowned Charlemagne Holy Roman Emperor in St. Peter's Basilica.
This act forever severed the loyalty of Rome from its imperial progenitor, Constantinople. It created
instead a rival empire which, after a long series of conquests by Charlemagne, now encompassed most of
the Christian Western territories.

Following the death of Charlemagne, the lack of a figure with equal prestige led the new institution into
disagreement. At the same time the universal church of Rome had to face emergence of the lay interests
of the City itself, spurred on by the conviction that the Roman people, though impoverished and abased,
had again the right to elect the Western Emperor. The famous counterfeit document called the Donation
of Constantine, prepared by the Papal notaries, guaranteed to the Pope a dominion[71][72] stretching
from Ravenna to Gaeta. This nominally included the suzerainty over Rome, but this was often highly
disputed, and as the centuries passed, only the strongest Popes were to be able to assert it. The main
element of weakness of the Papacy within the walls of the city was the continued necessity of the
election of new popes, in which the emerging noble families soon managed to insert a leading role for
themselves. The neighbouring powers, namely the Duchy of Spoleto and Toscana, and later the
Emperors, learned how to take their own advantage of this internal weakness, playing the role of
arbiters among the contestants.

Rome was indeed prey of anarchy in this age. The lowest point was touched in 897, when a raging crowd
exhumed the corpse of a dead pope, Formosus, and put it on trial.[73][74][75][76]

Roman Commune

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See also: Commune of Rome and 14 regions of Medieval Rome

From 1048 to 1257, the papacy experienced increasing conflict with the leaders and churches of the Holy
Roman Empire and the Byzantine (Eastern Roman) Empire. The latter culminated in the East-West
Schism, dividing the Catholic Church and Eastern Orthodox Church. From 1257 to 1377, the pope, though
the bishop of Rome, resided in Viterbo, Orvieto, and Perugia, and then Avignon. The return of the popes
to Rome after the Avignon Papacy was followed by the Western Schism: the division of the western
church between two, and for a time three, competing papal claimants.

In this period the renovated Church was again attracting pilgrims and prelates from all the Christian
world, and money with them: even with a population of only 30,000, Rome was again becoming a city of
consumers dependent upon the presence of a governmental bureaucracy. In the meantime, Italian cities
were acquiring increasing autonomy, mainly led by new families which were replacing the old aristocracy
with a new class formed by entrepreneurs, traders and merchants. After the sack of Rome by the
Normans in 1084, the rebuilding of the city was supported by powerful families such as the Frangipane
family and the Pierleoni family, whose wealth came from commerce and banking rather than
landholdings. Inspired by neighbouring cities like Tivoli and Viterbo, Rome's people began to consider
adopting a communal status and gaining a substantial amount of freedom from papal authority.

Led by Giordano Pierleoni, the Romans rebelled against the aristocracy and Church rule in 1143. The
Senate and the Roman Republic, the Commune of Rome, were born again. Through the inflammatory
words of preacher Arnaldo da Brescia, an idealistic, fierce opponent of ecclesiastical property and church
interference in temporal affairs, the revolt that led to the creation of the Commune of Rome continued
until it was put down in 1155, though it left its mark on the civil government of the Eternal City for
centuries. 12th-century Rome, however, had little in common with the empire which had ruled over the
Mediterranean some 700 years before, and soon the new Senate had to work hard to survive, choosing
an ambiguous policy of shifting its support from the Pope to the Holy Roman Empire and vice versa as
the political situation required. At Monteporzio, in 1167, during one of these shifts, in the war with
Tusculum, Roman troops were defeated by the imperial forces of Frederick Barbarossa. Luckily, the
winning enemies were soon dispersed by a plague and Rome was saved.

Interior of the basilica of Santa Maria in Trastevere, one of the most beautiful Roman churches built or
re-built in the Middle Ages

In 1188 the new communal government was finally recognised by Pope Clement III. The Pope had to
make large cash payments to the communal officials, while the 56 senators became papal vassals. The
Senate always had problems in the accomplishment of its function, and various changes were tried.
Often a single Senator was in charge. This sometimes led to tyrannies, which did not help the stability of
the newborn organism.

Guelphs and Ghibellines

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Further information: Guelphs and Ghibellines

In 1204 the streets of Rome were again in flames when the struggle between Pope Innocent III's family
and its rivals, the powerful Orsini family, led to riots in the city. Many ancient buildings were then
destroyed by machines used by the rival bands to besiege their enemies in the innumerable towers and
strongholds which were a hallmark of the Middle Age Italian towns.
The Torre dei Conti was one of the many towers built by the noble families of Rome to mark their power
and defend themselves in the several feuds that marked the city in the Middle Ages. Only the lower third
part of Torre dei Conti can be seen today.

The struggle between the Popes and the emperor Frederick II, also king of Naples and Sicily, saw Rome
support the Ghibellines. To repay his loyalty, Frederick sent to the commune the Carroccio he had won
from the Lombards at the battle of Cortenuova in 1234, and which was exposed in the Campidoglio.

In that year, during another revolt against the Pope, the Romans headed by senator Luca Savelli sacked
the Lateran. Savelli was the father of Honorius IV, but in that age family ties often did not determine
one's allegiance.

Rome was never to evolve into an autonomous, stable reign, as happened to other communes like
Florence, Siena or Milan. The endless struggles between noble families (Savelli, Orsini, Colonna,
Annibaldi), the ambiguous position of the Popes, the haughtiness of a population which never
abandoned the dreams of their splendid past but, at the same time, thought only of immediate
advantage, and the weakness of the republican institutions always deprived the city of this possibility.

In an attempt to imitate more successful communes, in 1252 the people elected a foreign Senator, the
Bolognese Brancaleone degli Andalò. In order to bring peace in the city he suppressed the most powerful
nobles (destroying some 140 towers), reorganised the working classes and issued a code of laws inspired
by those of northern Italy. Brancaleone was a tough figure, but died in 1258 with almost nothing of his
reforms turned into reality. Five years later Charles I of Anjou, then king of Naples, was elected Senator.
He entered the city only in 1265, but soon his presence was needed to face Conradin, the
Hohenstaufen's heir who was coming to claim his family's rights over southern Italy, and left the city.
After June 1265 Rome was again a democratic republic, electing Henry of Castile as senator. But
Conradin and the Ghibelline party were crushed in the Battle of Tagliacozzo (1268), and therefore Rome
fell again in the hands of Charles.

Nicholas III, a member of Orsini family, was elected in 1277 and moved the seat of the Popes from the
Lateran to the more defensible Vatican. He also ordered that no foreigner could become senator of
Rome. Being a Roman himself, he had himself elected senator by the people. With this move, the city
began again to side for the papal party. In 1285 Charles was again Senator, but the Sicilian Vespers
reduced his charisma, and the city was thenceforth free from his authority. The next senator was again a
Roman, and again a pope, Honorius IV of the Savelli.
Boniface VIII and the Avignon captivity

The successor to Celestine V was a Roman of the Caetani family, Boniface VIII. Entangled in a local feud
against the traditional rivals of his family, the Colonna, at the same time he struggled to assure the
universal supremacy of the Holy See. In 1300 he launched the first Jubilee and in 1303 founded the first
University of Rome.[77][78] The Jubilee was an important move for Rome, as it further increased its
international prestige and, most of all, the city's economy was boosted by the flow of pilgrims.[78]
Boniface died in 1303 after the humiliation of the Schiaffo di Anagni ("Slap of Anagni"), which signalled
instead the rule of the King of France over the Papacy and marked another period of decline for Rome.
[78][79]

Boniface's successor, Clement V, never entered the city, starting the so-called "Avignon captivity", the
absence of the Popes from their Roman seat in favour of Avignon, which would last for more than 70
years.[79][80] This situation brought the independence of the local powers, but these were revealed to
be largely unstable; and the lack of the holy revenues caused a deep decay of Rome.[79][80] For more
than a century Rome had no new major buildings. Furthermore, many of the monuments of the city,
including the main churches, began to fall into ruin.[79]

Cola di Rienzo and the Pope's return to Rome

Cola di Rienzo stormed the Capitoline Hill in 1347 to create a new Roman Republic. Though short-lived,
his attempt is recorded by a 19th-century statue near the ramped Cordonata leading to Michelangelo's
Piazza del Campidoglio.

In spite of its decline and the absence of the Pope, Rome had not lost its spiritual prestige: in 1341 the
famous poet Petrarca came to the city to be crowned as Poet laureate in Capitoline Hill. Noblemen and
poor people at one time demanded with one voice the return of the Pope. Among the many
ambassadors that in this period took their way to Avignon, emerged the bizarre but eloquent figure of
Cola di Rienzo. As his personal power among the people increased by time, on 20 May 1347 he
conquered the Capitoline at the head of an enthusiastic crowd. The period of his power, though very
short-lived, aspired to the prestige of Ancient Rome. Now in possession of dictatorial powers, he took
the title of "tribune", referring to the pleb's magistracy of the Roman Republic. Cola also considered
himself at an equal status of that of the Holy Roman Emperor. On 1 August, he conferred Roman
citizenship on all the Italian cities, and even prepared for the election of a Roman emperor of Italy. It was
too much: the Pope denounced him as heretic, criminal and pagan, the populace had begun to be
disenchanted with him, while the nobles had always hated him. On 15 December, he was forced to flee.

The so-called Casa di Rienzi still in its urban context before the opening of the Via del Mare in a
watercolour by Ettore Roesler Franz (about 1880)
In August 1354, Cola was again a protagonist, when Cardinal Gil Alvarez De Albornoz entrusted him with
the role of "senator of Rome" in his programme of reassuring the Pope's rule in the Papal States. In
October the tyrannical Cola, who had become again very unpopular for his delirious behaviour and heavy
bills, was killed in a riot provoked by the powerful family of the Colonna. In April 1355, Charles IV of
Bohemia entered the city for the ritual coronation as Emperor. His visit was very disappointing for the
citizens. He had little money, received the crown not from the Pope but from a Cardinal, and moved
away after a few days.

With the emperor back in his lands, Albornoz could regain a certain control over the city, while remaining
in his safe citadel in Montefiascone, in the Northern Lazio. The senators were chosen directly by the
Pope from several cities of Italy, but the city was in fact independent. The Senate council included six
judges, five notaries, six marshals, several familiars, twenty knights and twenty armed men. Albornoz
had heavily suppressed the traditional aristocratic families, and the "democratic" party felt confident
enough to start an aggressive policy. In 1362 Rome declared war on Velletri. This move, however,
provoked a civil war. The countryside party hired a condottieri band called "Del Cappello" ("Hat"), while
the Romans bought the services of German and Hungarian troops, plus a citizen levy of 600 knights and
even 22,000 infantry. This was the period in which condottieri bands were active in Italy. Many of the
Savelli, Orsini and Annibaldi expelled from Rome became leaders of such military units. The war with
Velletri languished, and Rome again gave itself to the new Pope, Urban V, provided Albornoz did not
enter the walls.

On 16 October 1367, in reply to the prayers of St Brigid and Petrarca, Urban finally visited for the city.
During his presence, Charles IV was again crowned in the city (October 1368). In addition, the Byzantine
emperor John V Palaeologus came in Rome to beg for a crusade against the Ottoman Empire, but in vain.
However, Urban did not like the unhealthy air of the city, and on 5 September 1370 he sailed again to
Avignon. His successor, Gregory XI, officially set the date of his return to Rome at May 1372, but again
the French cardinals and the King stopped him.

Only on 17 January 1377, Gregory XI could finally reinstate the Holy See in Rome.

Western schism and conflict with Milan

The incoherent behaviour of his successor, the Italian Urban VI, provoked in 1378 the Western Schism,
which impeded any true attempt of improving the conditions of the decaying Rome. The 14th century,
with the absence of the popes during the Avignon Papacy, had been a century of neglect and misery for
the city of Rome, which dropped to its lowest level of population. With the return of the papacy to Rome
repeatedly postponed because of the bad conditions of the city and the lack of control and security, it
was first necessary to strengthen the political and doctrinal aspects of the pontiff.
When in 1377 Gregory XI was in fact returned to Rome, he found a city in anarchy because of the
struggles between the nobility and the popular faction, and in which his power was now more formal
than real. There followed four decades of instability, characterised by the local power struggle between
the commune and the papacy, and internationally by the great Western Schism, at the end of which was
elected Pope, Martin V. He restored order, laying the foundations of its rebirth.[81]

Michelangelo's ceiling in the Sistine Chapel

In 1433 the Duke of Milan, Filippo Maria Visconti signed a peace treaty with Florence and Venice. He
then sent the condottieri Niccolò Fortebraccio and Francesco Sforza to harass the Papal States, in
vengeance for Eugene IV's support to the two former republics.

Fortebraccio, supported by the Colonna, occupied Tivoli in October 1433 and ravaged Rome's
countryside. Despite the concessions made by Eugene to the Visconti, the Milanese soldiers did not stop
their destruction. This led the Romans, on 29 May 1434 to institute a Republican government under the
Banderesi. Eugene left the city a few days later, during the night of 4 June.

However, the Banderesi proved incapable of governing the city, and their inadequacies and violence
soon deprived them of popular support. The city was therefore returned to Eugene by the army of
Giovanni Vitelleschi on 26 October 1434. After the death in mysterious circumstances of Vitelleschi, the
city came under the control of Ludovico Scarampo, Patriarch of Aquileia. Eugene returned to Rome on 28
September 1443.

Renaissance Rome

Rome timeline

Renaissance and early modern Rome

c. 1420s–1519 Rome becomes a centre of the Renaissance. Founding of the new St. Peter's Basilica.
Sistine Chapel.

1527 The Landsknechts sack Rome.

1555 Creation of the Ghetto.

1585–1590 Urban reforms under Pope Sixtus V.

1592–1606 Caravaggio working in Rome.

1600 Giordano Bruno is burned.

1626 The new St. Peter's Basilica is consecrated.

1638–1667 Baroque era. Bernini and Borromini. Rome has 120,000 inhabitants.

1703 Building of the Port of Ripetta.

1732–1762 Building of the Fontana di Trevi.

Main article: Roman Renaissance

The latter half of the 15th century saw the seat of the Italian Renaissance move to Rome from Florence.
The Papacy wanted to surpass the grandeur of other Italian cities. To this end the popes created
increasingly extravagant churches, bridges, town squares and public spaces, including a new Saint Peter's
Basilica, the Sistine Chapel, Ponte Sisto (the first bridge to be built across the Tiber since antiquity), and
Piazza Navona. The Popes were also patrons of the arts engaging such artists as Michelangelo, Perugino,
Raphael, Ghirlandaio, Luca Signorelli, Botticelli, and Cosimo Rosselli.

Under Pope Nicholas V, who became Pontiff on 19 March 1447, the Renaissance can be said to have
begun in Rome, heralding a period in which the city became the centre of Humanism. He was the first
Pope to embellish the Roman court with scholars and artists, including Lorenzo Valla and Vespasiano da
Bisticci.

On 4 September 1449 Nicholas proclaimed a Jubilee for the following year, which saw a great influx of
pilgrims from all Europe. The crowd was so large that in December, on Ponte Sant'Angelo, some 200
people died, crushed underfoot or drowned in the River Tiber. Later that year the Plague reappeared in
the city, and Nicholas fled.

View of Rome in 1493

However Nicholas brought stability to the temporal power of the Papacy, a power in which the Emperor
was to have no part at all. In this way, the coronation and the marriage of Frederick III, Holy Roman
Emperor on 16 March 1452, was more a civil ceremony. The Papacy now controlled Rome with a strong
hand. A plot by Stefano Porcari, whose aim was the restoration of the Republic, was ruthlessly
suppressed in January 1453. Porcari was hanged together with the other plotters, Francesco Gabadeo,
Pietro de Monterotondo, Battista Sciarra and Angiolo Ronconi, but the Pope gained a treacherous
reputation, as when the execution was beginning he was too drunk to confirm the grace he had
previously given to Sciarra and Ronconi.

Nicholas was also actively involved in Rome's urban renewal, in collaboration with Leon Battista Alberti,
including the construction of a new St Peter's Basilica.
A painting from the Roman Renaissance

Nicholas' successor Calixtus III neglected Nicholas's cultural policies, instead devoting himself to his
greatest passion, his nephews. The Tuscan Pius II, who took the reins after his death in 1458, was a great
Humanist, but did little for Rome. During his reign Lorenzo Valla demonstrated that the Donation of
Constantine was a forgery. Pius was the first Pope to use guns, in campaign against the rebel barons
Savelli in the neighbourhood of Rome, in 1461. One year later the bringing to Rome of the head of the
Apostle St. Andrew produced a great number of pilgrims. The reign of Pope Paul II (1464–1471) was
notable only for the reintroduction of the Carnival, which was to become a very popular feast in Rome in
the following centuries. In the same year (1468) a plot against the Pope was uncovered, organised by the
intellectuals of the Roman Academy founded by Pomponio Leto. The conspirators were sent to Castel
Sant'Angelo.

The Tempietto (San Pietro in Montorio), an excellent example of Italian Renaissance architecture

More important by far was the Pontificate of Sixtus IV, considered the first Pope-King of Rome. In order
to favour his relative Girolamo Riario, he promoted the unsuccessful Congiura dei Pazzi against the
Medici of Florence (26 April 1478) and in Rome fought the Colonna and the Orsini. The personal politics
of intrigue and war required much money, but in spite of this Sixtus was a true patron of art in the
manner of Nicholas V. He reopened the academy and reorganised the Collegio degli Abbreviatori, and in
1471 began the construction of the Vatican Library, whose first curator was Platina. The Library was
officially founded on 15 June 1475 by Pope Sixtus IV with the issuance of the papal bull Ad decorem
militantis ecclesiae.[82] He restored several churches, including Santa Maria del Popolo, the Aqua Virgo
and the Hospital of the Holy Spirit; paved several streets and also built a famous bridge over the Tiber
river, which still bears his name. His main building project was the Sistine Chapel in the Vatican Palace.
Its decoration called on some of the most renowned artists of the age, including Mino da Fiesole, Sandro
Botticelli, Domenico Ghirlandaio, Pietro Perugino, Luca Signorelli and Pinturicchio, and in the 16th
century Michelangelo decorated the ceiling with his famous masterpiece, contributing to what became
one of the most famous monuments of the world. Sixtus died on 12 August 1484.

Chaos, corruption and nepotism appeared in Rome under the reign of his successors, Innocent VIII and
Pope Alexander VI (1492–1503). During the vacation period between the death of the former and the
election of the latter there were 220 murders in the city. Alexander had to face Charles VIII of France,
who invaded Italy in 1494 and entered Rome on 31 December of that year. The Pope could only
barricade himself into Castel Sant'Angelo, which had been turned into a true fortress by Antonio da
Sangallo the Younger. In the end, the skilful Alexander was able to gain the support of the king, assigning
his son Cesare Borgia as military counsellor for the subsequent invasion of the Kingdom of Naples. Rome
was safe and, as the King directed himself southwards, the Pope again changed his position, joining the
anti-French League of the Italian States which finally compelled Charles to flee to France.
The most nepotist Pope of all, Alexander, favoured his ruthless son Cesare, creating for him a personal
Duchy out of territories of the Papal States, and banning from Rome Cesare's most relentless enemy, the
Orsini family. In 1500 the city hosted a new Jubilee, but grew ever more unsafe as, especially at night,
the streets were controlled by bands of lawless "bravi". Cesare himself assassinated Alfonso of Bisceglie;
as well as, presumably, the Pope's son, Giovanni of Gandia.

The Renaissance had a great impact on Rome's appearance, with works like the Pietà by Michelangelo
and the frescoes of the Borgia Apartment, all made during Innocent's reign. Rome reached the highest
point of splendour under Pope Julius II (1503–1513) and his successors Leo X and Clement VII, both
members of the Medici family. During this twenty-year period Rome became the greatest centre of art in
the world. The old St. Peter's Basilica was demolished and a new one begun. The city hosted artists like
Bramante, who built the Temple of San Pietro in Montorio and planned a great project to renovate the
Vatican; Raphael, who in Rome became the most famous painter in Italy, creating frescos in the Cappella
Niccolina, the Villa Farnesina, the Raphael's Rooms, and many other famous paintings. Michelangelo
began the decoration of the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel and executed the famous statue of Moses for
the tomb of Julius. Rome lost in part its religious character, becoming increasingly a true Renaissance
city, with a great number of popular feasts, horse races, parties, intrigues and licentious episodes. Its
economy was prosperous, with the presence of several Tuscan bankers, including Agostino Chigi, a friend
of Raphael and a patron of the arts. Despite his premature death, and to his eternal credit, Raphael also
promoted for the first time the preservation of the ancient ruins.

Sack of Rome (1527)

The sack of Rome in 1527, by Johannes Lingelbach, 17th century

In 1527 the ambiguous policy followed by the second Medici Pope, Pope Clement VII, resulted in the
dramatic sack of the city by the unruly Imperial troops of Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor. After the
execution of some 1,000 defenders, the pillage began.[83][84] The city was devastated for several days,
many of the citizens were killed or took shelter outside the walls. Of 189 Swiss Guards on duty only 42
survived.[83][85] The Pope himself was imprisoned for months in Castel Sant'Angelo. The sack marked
the end of one of the most splendid eras of modern Rome.[83][86]

The 1525's Jubilee resulted in a farce, as Martin Luther's claims had spread criticism and even hatred
against the Pope's greed throughout Europe. The prestige of Rome was then challenged by the
defections of the churches of Germany and England. Pope Paul III (1534–1549) tried to recover the
situation by summoning the Council of Trent, although being, at the same time, the most nepotist Pope
of all. He even separated Parma and Piacenza from the Papal States to create an independent duchy for
his son Pier Luigi.[83] He continued the patronage of art supporting the Michelangelo's Last Judgment,
asking him to renovate the Campidoglio and the ongoing construction of St. Peter's. After the shock of
the sack, he also called the brilliant architect Giuliano da Sangallo the Younger to strengthen the walls of
the Leonine City.[83]

The need for renovation in the religious customs became evident in the vacancy period after Paulus'
death, when the streets of Rome became seat of masked carousels which satirised the Cardinals
attending the conclave. His two immediate successors were feeble figures who did nothing to escape the
actual Spanish suzerainty over Rome.[83]

Counter-Reformation

Pope Paul IV, elected in 1555, was a member of the anti-Spanish party in the Italian War of 1551–59, but
his policy resulted in the Neapolitan troops of the viceroy again besieging Rome in 1556. Paul sued for
peace, but had to accept the supremacy of Philip II of Spain.[83] He was one of the most hated Popes of
all, and, after his death the raging populace burned the Holy Inquisition's palace and destroyed his
marble statue on the Campidoglio.[87][88]

Pope Paul's Counter-Reformation views are well shown by his order that a central area of Rome, around
the Porticus Octaviae, be delimited, creating the famous Roman Ghetto, the very constricted area in
which the city's Jews were forced to live in seclusion. They had to remain in the rione Sant'Angelo and
locked in at night. The Pope decreed that Jews should wear a distinctive sign, yellow hats for men[89]
and veils or shawls for women. Jewish ghettos existed in Europe for the next 315 years.

The Counter-Reformation gained pace under his successors, the milder Pope Pius IV and the severe Pope
Pius V. The former was a nepotist lover of court splendours, but more severe customs arrived anyway
through the ideas of his advisor, the prelate Charles Borromeo, who was to become one of the most
popular figures among Rome's people. Pius V and Borromeo gave Rome a true Counter-Reformation
character. All pomp was removed from the court, the jokers were expelled, and cardinals and bishops
were obliged to live in the city. Blasphemy and concubinage were severely punished. Prostitutes were
expelled or confined in a reserved district. The Inquisition's power in the city was reasserted, and its
palace rebuilt with an increased space for prisons. During this period Michelangelo opened the Porta Pia
and turned the Baths of Diocletian into the spectacular basilica of Santa Maria degli Angeli e dei Martiri,
where Pius IV was buried. The expression of mannerism was meticulously widespread with Vignola, for
civil and religious buildings in Rome and throughout the Papal States, his masterpieces, even before the
Church of the Gesù (1568), became villas such as Villa Giulia and Villa Farnese.[90]

The pontificate of his successor, Gregory XIII, was considered a failure. As he tried to use milder
measures than those of St. Pius, the worst element of the Roman population felt free to scourge again
the streets. The French writer and philosopher Montaigne maintained that "life and goods were never as
unsure as at the time of Gregorius XIII, perhaps", and that a confraternity even held same-sex marriage
in the church of San Giovanni a Porta Latina. The courtesans repressed by Pius had now returned.

Sixtus V was of very different temper. Although short (1585–1590), his reign however is remembered as
one of the most effective in the modern Rome's history. He was even tougher than Pius V, and was
variously nicknamed castigamatti ("punisher of the mad"), papa di ferro ("Iron Pope"), dictator and even,
ironically, demon, since no other Pope before him pursued with such a determination the reform of the
church and the customs. Sixtus profoundly reorganised the Papal States' administration, and cleaned the
streets of Rome of thugs, procurers, duelling and so on. Even the nobles and Cardinals could not consider
themselves free from the arms of Sixtus' police. The money from taxes, which were not now wasted in
corruption, permitted an ambitious building programme. Some ancient aqueducts were restored, and a
new one, the Acquedotto Felice (from Sixtus' name, Felice Peretti) was constructed. New houses were
built in the desolate district of Esquilino, Viminale and Quirinale, while old houses in the centre of the
city were destroyed to open new, larger streets. Sixtus's principal aim was to make Rome a better
destination for pilgrimages, and the new streets were intended to permit a better access to the major
Basilicas. Old obelisks were moved or erected to embellish St. John in Lateran, Santa Maria Maggiore and
St. Peter, as well as Piazza del Popolo, in front of Santa Maria del Popolo.

Baroque period

Piazza Navona (17th century)

Map of Rome from Topographia Italiae, published by Matthaeus Merian's heirs in 1688

In the 18th century, the Papacy reached the peak of its temporal power, the Papal States including most
of Central Italy, including Latium, Umbria, Marche and the Legations of Ravenna, Ferrara and Bologna
extending north into the Romagna, as well as the small enclaves of Benevento and Pontecorvo in
southern Italy and the larger Comtat Venaissin around Avignon in southern France.

Baroque and Rococo architecture flourished in Rome, with several famous works being completed. Work
on the Trevi Fountain began in 1732 and was completed in 1762. The Spanish Steps were designed in
1735. Pope Clement XIII's tomb by Canova was completed in 1792.

The arts also flourished throughout this period. Palazzo Nuovo became the world's first public museum
in 1734 and some of the most famous views of Rome in the 18th century were etched by Giovanni
Battista Piranesi. His grand vision of classic Rome inspired many to visit the city and examine the ruins
themselves.