- Roman Kingdom, 753–509 BC
- Roman Republic, 509–44 BC
- Roman Empire, 27 BC – AD 395
- Western Roman Empire, 286–476
- Kingdom of Italy, 476–493
- Ostrogothic Kingdom, 493–536
Eastern Roman Empire, 536–546
- Ostrogothic Kingdom, 546–547
- Ostrogothic Kingdom, 549–552
- Kingdom of the Lombards, 751–756
Papal States, 756–1798
Roman Republic, 1798–1799
Papal States, 1799–1809
French Empire, 1809–1814
Papal States, 1814–1849
Roman Republic, 1849
Kingdom of Italy, 1870–1943
Italian Social Republic, 1943–1944
Thehistory of Rome includes the history of thecity of Rome as well as thecivilisation of ancient Rome. Roman history has been influential on the modern world, especially in thehistory of the Catholic Church, andRoman law has influenced many modernlegal systems. Roman history can be divided into the following periods:
Attempts have been made to find a linguistic root for the name Rome. Possibilities include derivation from theGreekRhṓmē (Ῥώμη), meaning "bravery" or "courage";[2] Compare alsoRumon, former name of the Tiber River. Its further etymology remains unknown, as with most Etruscan words.Thomas G. Tucker'sConcise 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").
| Rome timeline | |
|---|---|
| Roman Kingdom and Republic | |
| 753 BC | According to legend,Romulusfounds Rome. |
| 753–509 BC | Rule of the sevenKings of Rome. |
| 509 BC | Creation of theRepublic. |
| 390 BC | TheGauls invade Rome. Rome sacked. |
| 264–146 BC | Punic Wars. |
| 146–44 BC | Social and Civil Wars. Emergence ofMarius,Sulla,Pompey andCaesar. |
| 44 BC | Julius Caesar assassinated. |
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 involvingRomulus and Remus.
The traditional date for thefounding of Rome is21 April 753 BC,following M. Terentius Varro,[4] and the city and surrounding region ofLatium 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. ThePalatine Hill may have been visited and settled around the 10th century BC.[5][6]
The site ofSant'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]
The city's name was long credited to the legendaryculture heroRomulus.[8] It was said that Romulus and his twin brotherRemus were the offspring of therape of anAlban princess by thewar godMars and, via their mother, were further descended from theTrojan princeAeneas, supposed son of the Greeklove goddessAphrodite.Exposed on theTiber, they weresuckled by ashe-wolf and raised by ashepherd andhis wife. Avenging themselves ontheir usurping grand-uncle and restoring their grandfatherNumitor toAlba Longa'sthrone, they were ordered or decided to settle the hills around Rome's laterForum Boarium, an important river port connected in Roman myth withHercules'stenth labour, capturing the cattle ofGeryon.
Disputing some point of the founding or its relatedauguries, Remus was murdered by Romulus or one of his supporters. Romulus then established awalled androughly square settlement, whosesacred boundary and gates were established by aploughing ritual. Romulus then declared the town an asylum, permitted men of all classes to come to Rome ascitizens, including criminals, runawayslaves, and freemen without distinction.[9] To provide his citizens with wives, Romulus invited the neighbouring tribes to a festival in Rome where the Romansabducted many of their young women. After the ensuing war with theSabines, Romulus shared Rome's kingship with the Sabine kingTitus Tatius.[10] Romulus selected 100 of the most noble men to form theRoman Senate, initially serving as his advisory council. These men he called fathers (Latin:patres), and their descendants became thepatricians. He created threecenturies ofequites: Ramnes (meaning Romans), Tities (after the Sabine king), and Luceres (Etruscans). He also divided the general populace into thirtycuriae, 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 theComitia Curiata.[11]
Rome grew from pastoral settlements on thePalatine Hill andsurrounding hills approximately 30 km (19 mi) from theTyrrhenian Sea on the south side of theTiber. TheQuirinal Hill was probably an outpost for theSabines, anotherItalic-speaking people. At this location, the Tiber forms a Z-shaped curve that contains anisland 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 thepeninsula.
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 inLatium, aplain on theItalian peninsula, by the 1st millennium BC. The origins of theItalic peoples lie in prehistory and are therefore not precisely known, but theirIndo-European languages migrated from the east in the second half of the 2nd millennium BC.[citation needed]
According toDionysius of Halicarnassus, many Roman historians—includingCato andSempronius—considered theItalian aborigines to have been prehistoricGreekcolonists.[13] The Romans then considered themselves a mix of these people, theAlbans, and the otherLatins, considered a blend ofPelasgians,Arcadians,Epeans, and refugeeTrojans. Over time, theEtruscans and otherancient Italic peoples were admitted as citizens as well. The Sabines—considered to beGaulish along with the otherUmbri 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 forLatial settlements; although the majority of largerEarly 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]
The Italic speakers in the area includedLatins (in the west),Sabines (in the upper valley of theTiber),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: theEtruscans in the North and theGreeks in the south.
TheEtruscans (Etrusci orTusci inLatin) are attested north of Rome inEtruria (modern northern Lazio,Tuscany and part ofUmbria). They founded cities such asTarquinia,Veii, andVolterra 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 SouthernItaly between 750 and 550 BC (which the Romans later calledMagna Graecia), such asCumae,Naples,Reggio Calabria,Crotone,Sybaris, andTaranto, as well as in the eastern two-thirds ofSicily.[17][18]
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After 650 BC, theEtruscans became dominant in Italy and expanded into north-central Italy. Roman tradition claimed that Rome had been under the control ofseven kings from 753 to509 BC beginning with the mythicalRomulus who was said to havefounded the city of Rome along with his brotherRemus. The last three kings were said to be Etruscan (at least partially)—namelyTarquinius Priscus,Servius Tullius andTarquinius 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 ofTarquinia.
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 byVarro, allots 243 years for their reigns, an average of almost 35 years, which has been generally discounted by modern scholarship since the work ofBarthold Georg Niebuhr. TheGauls destroyed much of Rome's historical records when they sacked the city after theBattle 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 thePons Sublicius to replace theTiber ford, and theCloaca 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 aSenate, 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, andJupiter—from theEtruscan gods:Uni,Menrva, andTinia. 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]
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 theSabines. Winning theBattle 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 theVolsci andAequi. In 394 BC, they also conquered the menacing Etruscan neighbour ofVeii. 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 ofCarthage in 509 BC which defined the spheres of influence of each city and regulated trade between them.[23]
At the same time,Heraclides stated that 4th-century Rome was aGreek 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 theGauls, 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 theSenones coming from eastern Italy and led byBrennus, who had successfully defeated the Roman army at theBattle of the Allia inEtruria. 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 dictatorFurius Camillus atTusculum 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 fierceSamnites, who outsmarted and trapped the legions in 321 BC at theBattle 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 Greekpoleis in the south under its control as well.[citation needed]
Amidst the never-ending wars (from the beginning of the Republic up to the Principate, the doors of the temple ofJanus were closed only twice—when they were open it meant that Rome was at war), Rome had to face a severe major social crisis, theConflict of the Orders, a political struggle between thePlebeians (commoners) andPatricians (aristocrats) of the ancientRoman Republic, in which the Plebeians sought political equality with the Patricians. It played a major role in the development of theConstitution 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 firstPlebeian Secession). The result of this first secession was the creation of the office ofPlebeian Tribune, and with it the first acquisition of real power by the Plebeians.[27]
According to tradition, Rome became arepublic 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 thePunic 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 calledlatifundia, flocked to the city in great numbers. The victory over Carthage in theFirst Punic War brought the first two provinces outside the Italian peninsula,Sicily andSardinia.[28] Parts ofSpain (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 consulLucius Mummius razedCorinth, marking the end of free Greece. The same yearCornelius Scipio Aemilianus, the son ofScipio Africanus, destroyed the city ofCarthage, making it a Roman province.
In the following years, Rome continued its conquests in Spain withTiberius Gracchus, and it set foot in Asia, when the last king ofPergamum gave his kingdom to the Roman people. The end of the 2nd century brought another threat, when a great host ofGermanic peoples, namelyCimbri andTeutones, 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. TheSocial War, between Rome and its allies, and theServile 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 ofPompey Magnus, and the firsttriumvirate made that clear. In January 49 BC,Julius Caesar the conqueror of Gaul,crossed the Rubicon with his legions, occupying Rome and beginning acivil 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) andGaius Cassius Longinus were defeated by Caesar's lieutenantMarcus 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 ofActium, 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 thePrincipate.[32][33]
| Rome timeline | |
|---|---|
| Roman Empire | |
| 44 BC – AD 14 | Augustus establishes theEmpire |
| AD 64 | Great Fire of Rome duringNero's rule |
| 69–96 | Flavian dynasty; building of theColosseum |
| 3rd century | Crisis of the Third Century; building of theBaths of Caracalla and theAurelian Walls |
| 284–337 | Diocletian andConstantine; building of the first Christian basilicas;Battle of Milvian Bridge; Rome is replaced byConstantinople as the capital of the Empire |
| 395 | Definitive separation ofWestern andEastern Roman Empire |
| 410 | TheGoths ofAlaric sack Rome |
| 455 | TheVandals ofGaiseric sack Rome |
| 476 | Fall of thewest empire and deposition of the final emperorRomulus 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 | EmperorPhocas donates thePantheon toPope Boniface IV, converting it into a Christian church;Column of Phocas (the last addition made to theForum Romanum) is erected |
| 630 | TheCuria Julia (vacant since the disappearance of theRoman Senate) is transformed into the basilica ofSant'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 theExarchate 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, declaredPatrician of the Romans, invades Italy; establishment of thePapal States |
By the end of the Republic, the city of Rome had achieved a grandeur befitting the capital of an empire dominating the whole of theMediterranean. 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 underAugustus, who completed Caesar's projects and added many of his own, such as theForum of Augustus and theAra 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 ofNero, theGreat 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 likeAlexandria. 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]
Rome's population declined after its apex in the 2nd century. At the end of that century, during the reign ofMarcus Aurelius, theAntonine Plague killed 2,000 people a day.[39] Marcus Aurelius died in 180, his reign being the last of the "Five Good Emperors" andPax Romana.[40][41] His sonCommodus, 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 theAurelian Wall was completed in AD 273 (in that year its population was only around 500,000).
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 EmperorAurelian, who at year 273 finished encircling the capital itself with a massivewall which had a perimeter that measured close to 20 km (12 mi). Rome formally remained capital of theempire, but emperors spent less and less time there. At the end of 3rd centuryDiocletian's political reforms, Rome was deprived of its traditional role of administrative capital of the Empire. Later,western emperors ruled fromMilan orRavenna, or cities inGaul. In 330,Constantine I established a second capital atConstantinople.
Christianity reached Rome during the 1st century AD. For the first two centuries of theChristian 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 fromPliny the Younger, governor of Bythinia, to the emperorTrajan 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 ofNero "punishment was inflicted on the Christians, a class of men given to a new and mischievoussuperstition" (superstitionis novae ac maleficae).[48] He gives no reason for the punishment.Tacitus reports that after theGreat 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 themost severe and last major persecution of Christians, lasting from 303 to 311. Christianity had become too widespread to suppress, and in 313, theEdict of Milan made tolerance the official policy.Constantine I (sole ruler 324–337) became the first Christian emperor, and in 380Theodosius I established Christianity as the official religion.
Under Theodosius, visits to the pagan temples were forbidden,[50] theeternal fire in the Temple ofVesta in theRoman Forum extinguished, theVestal Virgins disbanded,auspices andwitchcraft punished. Theodosius refused to restore theAltar of Victory in the Senate House, as asked by remaining pagan Senators.
The Empire's conversion to Christianity made theBishop of Rome (later called the Pope) the senior religious figure in the Western Empire, as officially stated in 380 by theEdict 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 predecessorMaxentius built buildings such as its basilica in theForum, Constantine himself erected theArch of Constantine to celebrate his victory over Maxentius, andDiocletian built the greatestbaths of all. Constantine was also the first patron of official Christian buildings in the city. He donated theLateran Palace to the Pope, and built the first great basilica, theold St. Peter's Basilica.
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 byAlaric on 24 August 410, byGeiseric on 2 June 455, and even by generalRicimer'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 previoussack of Rome had been accomplished by theGauls under their leaderBrennus in 387 BC. The sacking of 410 is seen as a major landmark in thedecline 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 ofAfrica Proconsularis by theVandals. 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, thefirst Saint Peter's Basilica was erected using spoils from the abandonedCircus of Nero.[56] This architectural cannibalism was a constant feature of Roman life until theRenaissance. 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 saintsCosmas and Damian. Later, thePantheon, Temple of All Gods, became the church of All Martyrs.
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 emperorZeno.[57] Despite owing nominal allegiance toConstantinople, Odoacer and later theOstrogoths continued, like the last emperors, to rule Italy as a virtually independent realm fromRavenna. 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 untilTheodahad murderedAmalasuntha, a pro-imperial Gothic queen, and usurped the power in 535. TheEastern Roman emperor,Justinian I (reigned 527–565), used this as a pretext to send forces to Italy under his famed generalBelisarius, recapturing the city next year, on 9 December AD 536. In 537–538, the Eastern Romans successfully defended the city in ayear-long siege against the Ostrogothic army, and eventually took Ravenna, too.[57]
Gothic resistance revived however, and on 17 December 546, the Ostrogoths underTotila recaptured andsacked Rome.[58] Belisarius soon recovered the city, but the Ostrogoths retook it in 549. Belisarius was replaced byNarses, who captured Rome from the Ostrogoths for good in 552, ending the so-calledGothic 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. Theaqueducts, except for one, were not repaired. The population, without imports of grain and oil from Sicily, shrank to less than 50,000 concentrated near theTiber and around theCampus 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 anItaly dramatically impoverished by the recent wars, these were not always sufficient. He also styled himself the patron of its remainingscholars,orators,physicians andlawyers in the stated hope that eventually more youths would seek a bettereducation. After the wars, the Senate was theoretically restored, but under the supervision of theurban prefect and other officials appointed by, and responsible to, the Eastern Roman authorities inRavenna.
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 theChurch.
The reign of Justinian's nephew and successorJustin II (reigned 565–578) was marked from theItalian point of view by the invasion of theLombards underAlboin (568). In capturing the regions ofBenevento,Lombardy,Piedmont,Spoleto andTuscany, the invaders effectively restricted Imperial authority to small islands of land surrounding a number of coastal cities, includingRavenna,Naples,Rome and the area of the futureVenice. The one inland city continuing under Eastern Roman control wasPerugia, 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 ofTiberius II Constantine (reigned 578–582) against the approaching Dukes,Faroald I of Spoleto andZotto ofBenevento.
Maurice (reigned 582–602) added a new factor in the continuing conflict by creating an alliance withChildebert II of Austrasia (reigned 575–595). The armies of theFrankish 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 thelegend of theangel seen, while the newly electedPope Gregory I (term 590–604) was passing in procession byHadrian'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 withChildebert, 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 succeedingExarchs unable to secure Rome from invasion, Gregory took personal initiative in starting negotiations for apeace treaty. This was completed in the autumn of 598—later recognised by Maurice—lasting until the end of his reign.
The position of theBishop of Rome was further strengthened under the usurperPhocas (reigned 602–610). Phocas recognised his primacy over that of thePatriarch of Constantinople and even decreedPope Boniface III (607) to be "the head of all theChurches". Phocas's reign saw the erection of the last imperial monument in theRoman Forum, thecolumn bearing his name. He also gave the Pope thePantheon, 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 overMonothelitism, 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, byConstans 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 theSaracens. 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, particularlySicily.
| Rome Timeline | |
|---|---|
| Medieval Rome | |
| 772 | TheLombards briefly conquer Rome butCharlemagne liberates the city a year later. |
| 800 | Charlemagne is crownedHoly Roman Emperor inSt. Peter's Basilica. |
| 846 | TheSaracens sackSt. Peter. |
| 852 | Building of theLeonine Walls. |
| 962 | Otto I crownedEmperor byPope John XII |
| 1000 | EmperorOtto III andPope Sylvester II. |
| 1084 | TheNormans sack Rome. |
| 1144 | Creation of thecommune of Rome. |
| 1300 | FirstJubilee proclaimed byPope Boniface VIII. |
| 1303 | Foundation of theRoman University. |
| 1309 | Pope Clement V moves theHoly Seat toAvignon. |
| 1347 | Cola di Rienzo proclaims himselftribune. |
| 1377 | Pope Gregory XI moves theHoly Seat back to Rome. |
In 727,Pope Gregory II refused to accept the decrees of EmperorLeo III, which promoted the Emperor'siconoclasm.[66] Leo reacted first by trying in vain to abduct the Pontiff, and then by sending a force ofRavennate troops under the command of theExarch Paulus, but they were pushed back by the Lombards of Tuscia and Benevento. Byzantine generalEutychius 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 inSt. Peter's byGregory III to excommunicate the iconoclasts. The Emperor responded by confiscating large Papal estates inSicily andCalabria and transferring areas previously ecclesiastically under the Pope to thePatriarch 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 KingLiutprand. In 730, he razed the countryside of Rome to punish the Pope, who had supported DukeTransamund 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 ofCharles Martel (739).[69]
Liutprand's successorAistulf was even more aggressive. He conqueredFerrara andRavenna, ending the Exarchate of Ravenna. Rome seemed his next victim. In 754,Pope Stephen II went to France to namePippin the Younger, king of theFranks, aspatricius Romanorum, i.e. protector of Rome. In the August of that year the King and Pope together crossed back the Alps and defeated Aistulf atPavia. 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 thePapal States were born.
In 771 the new King of the Lombards,Desiderius, devised a plot to conquer Rome and seizePope 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 calledCharlemagne 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 atCrypta Balbi in Rome.
On 25 April 799 the new Pope,Leo III, led the traditional procession from theLateran to the Church ofSan Lorenzo in Lucina along theVia Flaminia (nowVia 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 CharlemagneHoly Roman Emperor inSt. Peter's Basilica.
This act forever severed the loyalty ofRome from its imperial progenitor,Constantinople. It created instead a rival empire which, after a long series of conquests byCharlemagne, 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 universalchurch 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 theDonation of Constantine, prepared by the Papal notaries, guaranteed to the Pope a dominion[71][72] stretching fromRavenna toGaeta. 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 theDuchy of Spoleto andToscana, 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 crowdexhumed the corpse of a dead pope,Formosus, andput it on trial.[73][74][75][76]
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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 renovatedChurch was again attracting pilgrims andprelates 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 theNormans in 1084, the rebuilding of the city was supported by powerful families such as theFrangipane family and thePierleoni family, whose wealth came from commerce and banking rather than landholdings. Inspired by neighbouring cities likeTivoli andViterbo, Rome's people began to consider adopting a communal status and gaining a substantial amount of freedom from papal authority.
Led byGiordano Pierleoni, the Romans rebelled against the aristocracy and Church rule in 1143. The Senate and the Roman Republic, theCommune of Rome, were born again. Through the inflammatory words of preacherArnaldo da Brescia, an idealistic, fierce opponent of ecclesiastical property and church interference in temporal affairs, the revolt that led to the creation of theCommune 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 theHoly Roman Empire and vice versa as the political situation required. AtMonteporzio, in 1167, during one of these shifts, in the war with Tusculum, Roman troops were defeated by the imperial forces ofFrederick Barbarossa. Luckily, the winning enemies were soon dispersed by a plague and Rome was saved.
In 1188 the new communal government was finally recognised byPope 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.
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In 1204 the streets of Rome were again in flames when the struggle betweenPope Innocent III's family and its rivals, the powerfulOrsini 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 struggle between the Popes and the emperorFrederick II, also king ofNaples andSicily, saw Rome support theGhibellines. To repay his loyalty, Frederick sent to the commune theCarroccio he had won from theLombards at thebattle of Cortenuova in 1234, and which was exposed in theCampidoglio.
In that year, during another revolt against the Pope, the Romans headed by senatorLuca Savelli sacked theLateran. Savelli was the father ofHonorius 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 likeFlorence,Siena orMilan. 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, theBologneseBrancaleone 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 laterCharles I of Anjou, then king ofNaples, was elected Senator. He entered the city only in 1265, but soon his presence was needed to faceConradin, theHohenstaufen'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, electingHenry of Castile as senator. But Conradin and the Ghibelline party were crushed in theBattle of Tagliacozzo (1268), and therefore Rome fell again in the hands of Charles.
Nicholas III, a member ofOrsini family, was elected in 1277 and moved the seat of thePopes from theLateran to the more defensibleVatican. 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 theSicilian 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.
The successor toCelestine V was a Roman of the Caetani family,Boniface VIII. Entangled in a local feud against the traditional rivals of his family, theColonna, at the same time he struggled to assure the universal supremacy of theHoly See. In 1300 he launched the firstJubilee and in 1303 founded thefirst 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 theSchiaffo di Anagni ("Slap of Anagni"), which signalled instead the rule of theKing of France over thePapacy 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 ofAvignon, 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]
In spite of its decline and the absence of the Pope, Rome had not lost its spiritual prestige: in 1341 the famous poetPetrarca came to the city to be crowned asPoet laureate inCapitoline 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 toAvignon, emerged the bizarre but eloquent figure ofCola 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 thepleb'smagistracy of theRoman 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.
In August 1354, Cola was again a protagonist, when CardinalGil Alvarez De Albornoz entrusted him with the role of "senator of Rome" in his programme of reassuring the Pope's rule in thePapal 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 theColonna. In April 1355,Charles IV ofBohemia 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 inMontefiascone, 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 onVelletri. This move, however, provoked a civil war. The countryside party hired acondottieri band called "Del Cappello" ("Hat"), while the Romans bought the services ofGerman andHungarian 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 ofSt Brigid andPetrarca, Urban finally visited for the city. During his presence,Charles IV was again crowned in the city (October 1368). In addition, theByzantine emperorJohn V Palaeologus came in Rome to beg for a crusade against theOttoman Empire, but in vain. However, Urban did not like the unhealthy air of the city, and on 5 September 1370 he sailed again toAvignon. His successor,Gregory XI, officially set the date of his return to Rome at May 1372, but again theFrench cardinals and the King stopped him.
Only on 17 January 1377, Gregory XI could finally reinstate theHoly See in Rome.
The incoherent behaviour of his successor, the ItalianUrban VI, provoked in 1378 theWestern Schism, which impeded any true attempt of improving the conditions of the decaying Rome.The 14th century, with the absence of the popes during theAvignon 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 1377Gregory 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 greatWestern Schism, at the end of which was elected Pope,Martin V. He restored order, laying the foundations of its rebirth.[81]
In 1433 theDuke of Milan,Filippo Maria Visconti signed a peace treaty withFlorence andVenice. He then sent thecondottieriNiccolò Fortebraccio andFrancesco Sforza to harass thePapal States, in vengeance forEugene IV's support to the two former republics.
Fortebraccio, supported by theColonna, 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 theBanderesi. Eugene left the city a few days later, during the night of 4 June.
However, theBanderesi 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 ofGiovanni Vitelleschi on 26 October 1434. After the death in mysterious circumstances of Vitelleschi, the city came under the control ofLudovico Scarampo,Patriarch of Aquileia. Eugene returned to Rome on 28 September 1443.
| Rome Timeline | |
|---|---|
| Renaissance and early modern Rome | |
| c. 1420s–1519 | Rome becomes a centre of theRenaissance. Founding of the newSt. Peter's Basilica.Sistine Chapel. |
| 1527 | TheLandsknechtssack Rome. |
| 1555 | Creation of theGhetto. |
| 1585–1590 | Urban reforms underPope Sixtus V. |
| 1592–1606 | Caravaggio working in Rome. |
| 1600 | Giordano Bruno is burned. |
| 1626 | The newSt. Peter's Basilica is consecrated. |
| 1638–1667 | Baroque era.Bernini andBorromini. Rome has 120,000 inhabitants. |
| 1703 | Building of the Port of Ripetta. |
| 1732–1762 | Building of theFontana di Trevi. |
The latter half of the 15th century saw the seat of theItalian Renaissance move to Rome fromFlorence. 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 newSaint Peter's Basilica, theSistine Chapel,Ponte Sisto (the first bridge to be built across theTiber since antiquity), andPiazza Navona. The Popes were also patrons of the arts engaging such artists asMichelangelo,Perugino,Raphael,Ghirlandaio,Luca Signorelli,Botticelli, andCosimo Rosselli.
UnderPope Nicholas V, who became Pontiff on 19 March 1447, theRenaissance can be said to have begun in Rome, heralding a period in which the city became the centre ofHumanism. He was the first Pope to embellish the Roman court with scholars and artists, includingLorenzo Valla andVespasiano da Bisticci.
On 4 September 1449 Nicholas proclaimed aJubilee for the following year, which saw a great influx of pilgrims from all Europe. The crowd was so large that in December, onPonte Sant'Angelo, some 200 people died, crushed underfoot or drowned in theRiver Tiber. Later that year thePlague reappeared in the city, and Nicholas fled.
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 ofFrederick III, Holy Roman Emperor on 16 March 1452, was more a civil ceremony. The Papacy now controlled Rome with a strong hand. A plot byStefano 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 withLeon Battista Alberti, including the construction of a newSt Peter's Basilica.
Nicholas' successorCalixtus III neglected Nicholas's cultural policies, instead devoting himself to his greatest passion, his nephews. TheTuscanPius II, who took the reins after his death in 1458, was a great Humanist, but did little for Rome. During his reignLorenzo Valla demonstrated that theDonation 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 theApostleSt. Andrew produced a great number of pilgrims. The reign ofPope Paul II (1464–1471) was notable only for the reintroduction of theCarnival, 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 theRoman Academy founded byPomponio Leto. The conspirators were sent to Castel Sant'Angelo.
More important by far was the Pontificate ofSixtus IV, considered the first Pope-King of Rome. In order to favour his relativeGirolamo Riario, he promoted the unsuccessfulCongiura dei Pazzi against theMedici of Florence (26 April 1478) and in Rome fought theColonna and theOrsini. 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 ofNicholas V. He reopened the academy and reorganised the Collegio degli Abbreviatori, and in 1471 began the construction of theVatican Library, whose first curator was Platina. The Library was officially founded on 15 June 1475 byPope Sixtus IV with the issuance of thepapal bullAd decorem militantis ecclesiae.[82] He restored several churches, includingSanta Maria del Popolo, theAqua Virgo and the Hospital of the Holy Spirit; paved several streets and also built a famous bridge over theTiber river, which still bears his name. His main building project was theSistine Chapel in theVatican Palace. Its decoration called on some of the most renowned artists of the age, includingMino da Fiesole,Sandro Botticelli,Domenico Ghirlandaio,Pietro Perugino,Luca Signorelli andPinturicchio, and in the 16th centuryMichelangelo 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 andPope 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 faceCharles VIII of France, who invaded Italy in 1494 and entered Rome on 31 December of that year. The Pope could only barricade himself intoCastel Sant'Angelo, which had been turned into a true fortress byAntonio da Sangallo the Younger. In the end, the skilful Alexander was able to gain the support of the king, assigning his sonCesare Borgia as military counsellor for the subsequent invasion of theKingdom 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 personalDuchy out of territories of thePapal 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 assassinatedAlfonso 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 thePietà by Michelangelo and the frescoes of theBorgia Apartment, all made during Innocent's reign. Rome reached the highest point of splendour underPope Julius II (1503–1513) and his successorsLeo X andClement VII, both members of the Medici family. During this twenty-year period Rome became the greatest centre of art in the world. The oldSt. Peter's Basilica was demolished and a new one begun. The city hosted artists likeBramante, who built the Temple ofSan 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 theCappella Niccolina, theVilla Farnesina, theRaphael's Rooms, and many other famous paintings. Michelangelo began the decoration of the ceiling of theSistine Chapel and executed the famous statue ofMoses 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, includingAgostino 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.
In 1527 the ambiguous policy followed by the secondMedici Pope,Pope Clement VII, resulted in the dramaticsack of the city by the unrulyImperial troops ofCharles 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 189Swiss Guards on duty only 42 survived.[83][85] The Pope himself was imprisoned for months inCastel 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, asMartin 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 theCouncil of Trent, although being, at the same time, the most nepotist Pope of all. He even separatedParma andPiacenza from thePapal States to create an independentduchy for his sonPier Luigi.[83] He continued the patronage of art supporting the Michelangelo'sLast Judgment, asking him to renovate theCampidoglio and the ongoing construction ofSt. Peter's. After the shock of the sack, he also called the brilliant architectGiuliano da Sangallo the Younger to strengthen the walls of theLeonine 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 theconclave. His two immediate successors were feeble figures who did nothing to escape the actual Spanish suzerainty over Rome.[83]
Pope Paul IV, elected in 1555, was a member of the anti-Spanish party in theItalian War of 1551–59, but his policy resulted in theNeapolitan troops of the viceroy again besieging Rome in 1556. Paul sued for peace, but had to accept the supremacy ofPhilip II of Spain.[83] He was one of the most hated Popes of all, and, after his death the raging populace burned theHoly Inquisition's palace and destroyed his marble statue on the Campidoglio.[87][88]
Pope Paul'sCounter-Reformation views are well shown by his order that a central area of Rome, around thePorticus Octaviae, be delimited, creating the famousRoman Ghetto, the very constricted area in which the city'sJews were forced to live in seclusion. They had to remain in therioneSant'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. Jewishghettos existed in Europe for the next 315 years.
TheCounter-Reformation gained pace under his successors, the milderPope Pius IV and the severePope Pius V. The former was a nepotist lover of court splendours, but more severe customs arrived anyway through the ideas of his advisor, the prelateCharles 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 thePorta Pia and turned theBaths of Diocletian into the spectacular basilica ofSanta Maria degli Angeli e dei Martiri, where Pius IV was buried. The expression ofmannerism was meticulously widespread withVignola, for civil and religious buildings in Rome and throughout thePapal States, his masterpieces, even before theChurch of the Gesù (1568), became villas such asVilla Giulia andVilla 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 philosopherMontaigne maintained that "life and goods were never as unsure as at the time of Gregorius XIII, perhaps", and that a confraternity even heldsame-sex marriage in the church ofSan 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 nicknamedcastigamatti ("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, theAcquedotto Felice (from Sixtus' name, Felice Peretti) was constructed. New houses were built in the desolate district ofEsquilino,Viminale andQuirinale, 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 forpilgrimages, 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.
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 andRococo architecture flourished in Rome, with several famous works being completed. Work on theTrevi Fountain began in 1732 and was completed in 1762. TheSpanish Steps were designed in 1735.Pope Clement XIII's tomb byCanova 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 byGiovanni Battista Piranesi. His grand vision of classic Rome inspired many to visit the city and examine theruins themselves.
| Rome Timeline | |
|---|---|
| Modern Rome | |
| 1798–1799 | Roman Republic under French control. |
| 1809–1814 | Annexed by Napoleon. |
| 1848–1849 | Roman Republic withMazzini andGaribaldi. |
| 1870 | Rome conquered byItalian troops. |
| 1874–1885 | Building of theTermini Station and founding of theVittoriano. |
| 1922 | March on Rome. |
| 1929 | Lateran Pacts. |
| 1932–1939 | Building ofCinecittà. |
| 1943 | Bombing of Rome. |
| 1960 | Rome is site of theSummer Olympics. |
| 1975–1985 | Years of terrorism. Death ofAldo Moro.Pope John Paul II is shot. |
| 1990 | Rome is one of the locations for the 1990FIFA World Cup |
| 2000 | Rome hosts theJubilee. |
In 1870, the Pope's holdings were left in an uncertain situation when Rome itself was annexed by thePiedmont-led forces which had united the rest of Italy, after a nominal resistance by the papal forces. Between 1861 and 1929 the status of the Pope was referred to as the "Roman Question". The successive Popes were undisturbed in their palace, and certain prerogatives recognised by theLaw of Guarantees, including the right to send and receive ambassadors. But the Popes did not recognise the Italian king's right to rule in Rome, and theyrefused to leave the Vatican compound until the dispute was resolved in 1929. Other states continued to maintain international recognition of the Holy See as a sovereign entity.
The rule of the Popes was interrupted by the short-livedRoman Republic (1798–1799), which was under the influence of theFrench Revolution. DuringNapoleon's reign, Rome was annexed into theFrench Empire as the capital of thedepartment ofRome. After the fall of Napoleon's Empire, the Papal States were restored by theCongress of Vienna, with the exception ofAvignon and theComtat Venaissin, which remained part of France.
AnotherRoman Republic arose in 1849, within the framework ofrevolutions of 1848. Two of the most influential figures of theItalian unification,Giuseppe Mazzini andGiuseppe Garibaldi, fought for the short-lived republic. However, the actions of these two great men would not have resulted in unification without the sly leadership ofCamillo Benso di Cavour, Prime Minister ofPiedmont-Sardinia.
Even among those who wanted to see the peninsula unified into one country, different groups could not agree on what form a unified state would take.Vincenzo Gioberti, a Piedmontese priest, had suggested a confederation of Italian states under rulership of the Pope. His book,Of the Moral and Civil Primacy of the Italians, was published in 1843 and created a link between the Papacy and the Risorgimento. Many leadingrevolutionaries wanted a republic, but eventually it was aking and hischief minister who had the power to unite the Italian states as a monarchy.
In his attempt to unify Northern Italy under theKingdom of Piedmont-Sardinia, Cavour enacted major industrialisation of the country in order to become the economic leader of Italy. In doing so, he believed that the other states would naturally come under his rule. Next, he sent the army of Piedmont to theCrimean War to join the French and British. Making minor successes in the war against Russia, cordial relations were established between Piedmont-Sardinia and France; a relationship to be exploited in the future.
The return ofPope Pius IX in Rome, with help of French troops, marked the exclusion of Rome from the unification process that was embodied in theSecond Italian Independence War and theMille expedition, after which all the Italian peninsula, except Rome andVenetia, would be unified under theHouse of Savoy. Garibaldi first attacked Sicily, luckily under the guise of passing British ships and landing with little resistance.
Taking the island, Garibaldi's actions were publicly denounced by Cavour but secretly encouraged via weapons supplements. This policy or real-politik, where the ends justified the means of unification, was continued as Garibaldi faced crossing the Strait of Messina. Cavour privately asked the British navy to allow Garibaldi's troops across the sea, while publicly he again, denounced Garibaldi's actions. The manoeuvre was a success and Garibaldi's military genius carried him on to take the entire kingdom.
Cavour then moved to take Venetia and Lombardy via an alliance with France. The Italians and French together would attack the two states with France getting the city of Nice and the region of Savoy in return. However, the French pulled out of their agreement soon after, enraging Cavour who subsequently resigned. Only Lombardy had been captured at the time.
With French units still stationed at Rome however, Cavour, being called back to office, foresaw a possibility of Garibaldi attacking the Papal States and accidentally disrupting French-Italian relations. The army of Sardinia was therefore mobilised to attack the Papal States but remain outside Rome.
In the Austro-Prussian war however, a deal was made between the new Italy and Prussia, where Italy would attack Austria in return for the region of Venetia. The war was a major success for the Prussians (though the Italians did not win a single battle), and the northern front of Italy was complete.
In July 1870, theFranco-Prussian War started, and French EmperorNapoleon III could no longer protect the Papal States. Soon after, the Italian army under generalRaffaele Cadorna entered Rome on 20 September, after a cannonade of three hours, throughPorta Pia (seecapture of Rome). TheLeonine City was occupied the following day, a provisional Government Joint created by Cadorna out of local noblemen to avoid the rise of the radical factions. Rome andLatium were annexed to the Kingdom of Italy after aplebiscite held on 2 October. 133,681 voted for annexation, 1,507 opposed (in Rome itself, there were 40,785 "Yes" and 57 "No").
When Rome was eventually taken, the Italian government reportedly intended to let Pope Pius IX keep the part of Rome, west of theTiber, known as theLeonine City as a small remaining Papal State, but Pius IX rejected the offer because acceptance would have been an implied endorsement of the legitimacy of the Italian kingdom's rule over his former domain.[91] One week after entering Rome, the Italian troops had taken the entire city save for theApostolic Palace; the inhabitants of the city then voted to join Italy.[92] On 1 July 1871, Rome became the official capital of united Italy and from then until June 1929 the popes had no temporal power.
The pope referred to himself during this time as the "prisoner of the Vatican", although he was not actually restrained from coming and going. Pius IX took steps to ensure self-sufficiency, such as the construction of theVatican Pharmacy. Italian nobility who owed their titles to the pope rather than the royal family became known as theBlack Nobility during this period because of their purported mourning.
Rome became the focus of hopes of Italian reunification when the rest of Italy was reunited under theKingdom of Italy with a temporary capital atFlorence. In 1861, Rome was declared the capital of Italy even though it was still under the control of the Pope. During the 1860s, the last vestiges of thePapal States were under the French protection ofNapoleon III. And it was only when this was lifted in 1870, owing to the outbreak of theFranco-Prussian War, that Italian troops were able tocapture Rome entering the city through a breach nearPorta Pia. Afterwards,Pope Pius IX declared himself asprisoner in the Vatican, and in 1871 the capital of Italy was moved from Florence to Rome.[93]
Soon afterWorld War I, Rome witnessed the rise to power ofItalian Fascism guided byBenito Mussolini, who, at the request ofKing Victor Emmanuel III,marched on the city in 1922, eventually declaring a newEmpire and allying Italy withNazi Germany.[94]
Theinterwar period saw a rapid growth in the city's population, that surpassed 1,000,000 inhabitants.[95]
ThisRoman Question was finally resolved on 11 February 1929 between the Holy See and the Kingdom of Italy. TheLateran Treaty was signed by Benito Mussolini on behalf of KingVictor Emmanuel III and byCardinal Secretary of StatePietro Gasparri forPope Pius XI. The treaty, which became effective on 7 June 1929, and the Concordat established the independent State of the Vatican City and granted Roman Catholicism special status in Italy.
DuringWorld War II, Rome suffered few bombings (notably atSan Lorenzo) and relatively little damage because none of the nations involved wanted to endanger the life ofPope Pius XII inVatican City. There were some bitter fights between Italian and German troops in the south of the city and even in sight of the Colosseum, shortly after thearmistice between Italy and Allied armed forces.[citation needed] On 4 June 1944 Rome became the first capital city of anAxis nation to fall to theAllies, but was relatively undamaged because on 14 August 1943, a day afterthe last allied bombing, the Germans declared it an "open city" and withdrew, meaning that the Allies did not have to fight their way in.[96][97]
In practice Italy made no attempt to interfere with the Holy See within the Vatican walls. However, they confiscated church property in many other places, including theQuirinal Palace, formerly the pope'sofficial residence.Pope Pius IX (1846–78), the last ruler of the Papal States, claimed that after Rome was annexed he was a "Prisoner in the Vatican".
Vatican City officially pursued a policy of neutrality duringWorld War II, under the leadership ofPope Pius XII. Although the city of Rome was occupied by Germany from 1943 and the Allies from 1944, Vatican City itself was not occupied. One of Pius XII's main diplomatic priorities was to prevent the bombing of Rome; so sensitive was the pontiff that he protested even the British air dropping of pamphlets over Rome, claiming that the few landing within the city-state violated the Vatican's neutrality.[98] Before the American entry into the war, there was little impetus for such a bombing, as the British saw little strategic value in it.[99]
After the American entry, the US opposed such a bombing, fearful of offending Catholic members of its military forces, while the British then supported it.[100] Pius XII similarly advocated for the declaration of Rome as an "open city", but this occurred only on 14 August 1943, after Rome had already been bombed twice.[101] Although the Italians consulted the Vatican on the wording of the open city declaration, the impetus for the change had little to do with the Vatican.[102]
Rome grew substantially after the war, as one of the driving forces behind the "Italian economic miracle" of post-war reconstruction and modernisation. It became a fashionable city in the 1950s and early 1960s, the years of "la dolce vita" ("the sweet life"), with popular classic films such asBen Hur,Quo Vadis,Roman Holiday andLa Dolce Vita[103] being filmed in the city's iconicCinecittà Studios.
A new rising trend in population continued until the mid-1980s, when the commune had more than 2.8 million residents; after that, population started to slowly decline as more residents moved to nearby suburbs. TheRome metropolitan area has about 4.4 million inhabitants as of 2015[update].
Being the capital city of Italy, all the principal institutions of the nation are located there, including the President; the seat of government with its single Ministeri; the Parliament; the main judicial Courts, and the diplomatic representatives for both Italy and the Vatican City. A number of notable international cultural, scientific and humanitarian institutions are located in Rome, including theGerman Archaeological Institute, and theFAO.
Rome hosted the1960 Summer Olympics, using many ancient sites such as theVilla Borghese and theThermae of Caracalla as venues.[104] For the Olympic Games new structures were created: the Olympic Stadium (which was itself enlarged and renovated to host qualifying rounds and the final match of the 1990FIFA football World Cup); the Villaggio Olimpico (Olympic Village), created to house the athletes, was later redeveloped as a residential district.
Rome'sLeonardo da Vinci–Fiumicino Airport opened in 1961.Tourism brings an average of 7–10 million visitors a year. Rome is the 2nd most visited city in theEuropean Union, afterParis.TheColosseum (4 million tourists) and theVatican Museums (4.2 million tourists) are the 39th and 37th (respectively) most visited places in the world, according to a 2009 study.[105] Many of the ancient monuments of Rome were restored by the Italian state and by theVatican for the2000 Jubilee.
Today's Rome is a modernmetropolis, yet it reflects the stratification of the epochs of its long history. The historical centre, identified as those parts within the limits of the ancient Imperial walls, contains archaeological remains from Ancient Rome. These are continuously being excavated and opened to the public, such as theColosseum; theRoman Forum, and theCatacombs. There are areas with remains fromMedieval times. There are palaces and artistic treasures from theRenaissance; fountains, churches and palaces fromBaroque times. There is art and architecture from theArt Nouveau,Neoclassic,Modernist andRationalist periods. There are museums, such as theMusei Capitolini, theVatican Museums,Galleria Borghese.[citation needed]
Parts of the historical centre were reorganised after the 19th-centuryItalian Unification (1880–1910 –Roma Umbertina). The increase of population caused by the centralisation of the Italian state necessitated new infrastructure and accommodation. There were also substantial alterations and adaptations made during theFascist period, for example, the creation of theVia dei Fori Imperiali; and theVia della Conciliazione in front of the Vatican. These projects involved the destruction of a large part of the oldBorgo neighbourhood. Newquartieri were founded, such as EUR (Esposizione Universale Roma), San Basilio, Garbatella, Cinecittà, Trullo and Quarticciolo. So great was the influx of people that on the coast, there was restructuring ofOstia and the inclusion of bordering villages such as Labaro, Osteria del Curato, Quarto Miglio, Capannelle, Pisana, Torrevecchia, Ottavia, Casalotti.[citation needed]
But the most learned of the Roman historians, among whom is Porcius Cato, who compiled with the greatest care the 'origins' of the Italian cities, Sempronius and a great many others, say that they [Aborigines] were Greeks, part of those who once dwelt in Achaia, and that they migrated many generations before the Trojan war. But they do not go on to indicate either the Greek tribe to which they belonged or the city from which they removed, or the date or the leader of the colony, or as the result of what turns of fortune they left their mother country; and although they are following a Greek legend, they have cited no Greek historian as their authority. It is uncertain, therefore, what the truth of the matter is.
Twenty-four stades from the afore-mentioned city stood Lista, the mother-city of the Aborigines, which at a still earlier time the Sabines had captured by a surprise attack, having set out against it from Amiternum by night.
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