When you imagine the city Rome, what comes to mind?
Maybe the Colosseum, the Vatican, one of the largest empires in history, or delicious pasta? Rome isnโt just Italyโs capital; itโs also one of the most influential cities in human history.
In todayโs Thinking in English episode, we are going to take a journey through time, from the mythical founding of the city by Romulus and Remus, through the Roman Republic and Empire, the Middle Ages, the Renaissance, and finally to modern Rome. Iโm not an expert on Italian history, but I loved researching this episode and I think this is such an interesting topic.
Youโll discover its myths, politics, art, and language, and of course learn plenty of useful English vocabulary along the way.
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Vocabulary
- Republic (n): A system of government where the country is ruled by representatives rather than a king or queen.
- Ancient Rome became a republic after the people removed their last king.
- Emperor (n): The ruler of an empire
- Augustus was the first Roman emperor.
- Conquer (v): To take control of a place or people using military force.
- The Romans conquered many regions of Europe, including modern-day France and Spain.
- Decline (n): A gradual loss of strength, power, or importance.
- The decline of the Roman Empire took several centuries and was caused by many problems.
- Renaissance (n): A period in European history marked by a renewed interest in art, science, and learning, beginning in the 15th century.
- During the Renaissance, artists like Michelangelo and Raphael worked in Rome.
- Influence (n/v): The power to affect or change people or situations.
- Roman law has had a strong influence on modern legal systems.
- Modernisation (n): The process of improving or updating something to make it modern.
- Rome faces challenges in balancing modernisation with preserving its ancient history.
The Founding of Rome
Like many ancient civilizations, Rome’s story begins with a legend.
According to Roman mythology, the city was founded by twin brothers called Romulus and Remus. The brothers were said to be the sons of the God Mars,but were abandoned as babies, put in a basket which was then released into a river and left to die.
However, they were famously rescued and saved by a she-wolf. A she-wolf is a female wolf.
As adults, the brothers decided to build a city, but [00:04:00] after an argument over where they should build the city, Romulus killed his brother Remus and named the new city after himself: Rome.
The traditional founding date of Rome is the year 753 BCE.
Interestingly, the legend of Romulus and Remus is relatively similar to many other kings and leaders in the ancient world. It seems quite common for a legend to describe a child being put into a basket, released into a river before being rescued and becoming a great leader.
Before Rome became the great empire we know today, it was influenced by its neighbors, especially the Etruscans to the north and the Greek settlers in southern Italy.
Roman Kingdom
In its earliest centuries, Rome was a kingdom. Actually, the early years of Rome are the years we know the least [00:05:00] about. We don’t have many surviving documents from the period, and the Greeks who were writing a lot at the time didn’t really pay attention to Rome until much later.
According to Legend, Rome was ruled by a series of seven Kings, beginning with its founder Romulus.While historians don’t believe Romulus really existed, it’s thought he was invented to explain the name “Rome”, they do believe that the other six kings of the Roman Kingdom were real.
These kings of Rome were powerful, but were apparently elected by the people of Rome. There are many stories describing how these kings contributed to Roman culture, religion, and traditions.
However, the truth is we know very little about the early kings of Rome, apart from their names. But under these kings, Rome developed from a small settlement on the River [00:06:00] Tiber into a growing and organized city.
The last three kings of the Roman Kingdom are thought to be Etruscan in origin. The Etruscans were the civilization that was north of Rome, and they introduced important innovations that transformed Rome into a city-state.
However, by the late 6th century BCE, there was a dramatic change. The last King Lucius Tarquinius Superbus was apparently overthrown after a revolt led by aristocrats who resented his tyranny. In 509 BCE, Rome abolished its monarchy and established a new system of government, now known as the Roman Republic.
Of course, as with much of the information so far, this story is probably a legend or myth. The fall of the Roman Kings is quite a similar [00:07:00] story to an ancient Greek story about Athens.
Modern historians have suggested a few different theories about the end of the Roman Kingdom, including a suggestion that Rome may have been involved in a war, losing its king in the process, and then creating the opportunity for a new form of government.
The Roman Republic (509โ27 BCE)
The Romans created a new political system called the Roman Republic. This government was designed to prevent any single person from gaining too much power. Instead, power was divided among different places.
The Senate, made up of the wealthy and influential citizens. Two consuls, who served as elected leaders for one year. And also various assemblies, which represented the Roman people.
This structure was supposed to balance power between the elite and the [00:08:00] public, at least in theory.
During the Republic, Rome expanded rapidly. It conquered nearby nearby italian territories, then spread across the Mediterranean, defeating rivals like Carthage in the Punic wars. By the 1st century BCE, Rome controlled parts of Europe, North Africa, and the Middle East.
Society in the Roman Republic was divided between Patricians (the aristocratic ruling class) and Plebeians (normal citizens). In times of crisis, the Republic could also choose a dictator to help solve any problems.
You have probably heard of some of the powerful and ambitious figures from the late Roman Republic, including Cicero and Julius Caesar.
Caesar was a great military leader. He conquered the territory of Gaul, which spread across modern day France, Belgium, and [00:09:00] Switzerland. And he began preparing for a full invasion of Britain.
His military conquests made him immensely popular, but his power and popularity threatened the traditional Republican system.
In the year 44 BCE, Caesar was assassinated by senators who believed they were saving the Republic. Instead, his death pushed Rome further into chaos.
The Roman Empire (27 BCE โ 476 CE in the West)
This chaos, the chaos of the late Roman Republic, ended when Octavian, the adopted son of Julius Caesar, became Rome’s first emperor. He took the new name Augustus in 27 BCE, and established the Roman Empire.
This was a new system where one man held ultimate authority or power, but kept some Republican traditions, or I guess, pretended to keep some traditions.
Over the next [00:10:00] few centuries, the Roman Empire reached its greatest extent and prosperity. Trade boomed. Cities grew. And Roman culture spread across Europe, North Africa, and the Middle East.
The Romans became famous for their engineering. They built roads, aqueducts, and monumental architecture like the Coliseum. Roman law and language, Latin, became the basis of western civilization and still influences modern legal systems, governments, and European languages.
However, managing such a large empire was increasingly difficult. In the year 285, the Empire was split into Eastern and Western halves to make running everything easier.
The Eastern Roman Empire, later known as the Byzantine Empire, would survive for nearly a thousand more years.
If you want to know [00:11:00] more, I have an episode on the history of Istanbul from a few months ago. Istanbul was the capital of the Byzantine Empire.
The Western Roman Empire, however, had major problems. In 476, the last Western Roman emperor was overthrown by a Germanic general. Historians mark this event as the fall of the Western Roman Empire and the end of ancient Rome’s dominance.
Rome in the Middle Ages
After the fall of the Western Roman Empire, Rome, the city, entered a new era.
On the one hand, the city’s political power quickly declined. But on the other hand, it became an incredibly influential religious city.
Rome became the center of the Christian world. It was no longer ruled by emperors, but by Popes.
The Catholic Church played a crucial role in keeping Rome powerful. Much of Western [00:12:00] Europe spent the Middle Ages fighting each other and forming new kingdoms and alliances and city states. But the Catholic church kept Rome as influential across the continent.
Despite this, Rome was repeatedly invaded, most notably by various tribes and later by foreign powers too. Many of its monuments, its buildings, fell into ruin and its population decreased.
Yet, due to the presence of Popes and the presence of the Catholic church, Rome did experience periods of renewal.
The Renaissance and Baroque Rome
After centuries of decline, Rome experienced a spectacular rebirth during the Renaissance. The Renaissance was a period of interest in art, science and the classical world, the ancient world.
Beginning in the 15th century, magnificent buildings were constructed in Rome. And [00:13:00] artists created incredible paintings and sculptures.
Some of the greatest artists in history worked in Renaissance Rome. For example, Michelangelo designed the dome of St. Peter’s Basilica and painted the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel. And Raphael decorated the papal apartments with his frescoes.
In the Baroque period of the 17th century, Rome became even more impressive. Artists and architects, such as Gian Lorenzo Bernini and Francesco Borromini reshaped the city with fountains, piazzas, and churches.
By the end of this period, Rome had once again become one of Europe’s most magnificent cities.
Rome in the Modern Era
In the early 19th century, during the Napoleonic era, Rome was shaken. Napoleon invaded Italy and temporarily weakened the power of the Pope.
Throughout the [00:14:00] mid-1800s, revolution and nationalism spread across Italy. Actually, it’s probably important to point out Italy didn’t exist as a country yet. Instead, there were many different states and kingdoms across the area of modern day Italy.
A movement in the 1800s aimed to unite the separate states and kingdoms of Italy into one nation. And finally, in 1871, after centuries of control by the Catholic Church, Rome became the capital of the new country, the unified Italy.
In the 20th century, the ancient Roman Empire took on a new meaning, a new symbolism in Italy, under Benito Mussolini’s fascist regime. Mussolini used Roman imagery and architecture to connect his dictatorship with the glory of the ancient empire.
However, the fall of fascism during [00:15:00] World War II left Rome politically unstable and very damaged.
After the war, Rome had to change again. For example, in the 1950s and 60s, we saw the rise of Italian cinema and Rome became deeply connected to fashion and culture.
Rome Today
Today, Rome is the capital of modern Italy.
Like many of Europe’s capitals, Rome is both a modern city and an incredibly historic location. Ancient ruins, Renaissance palaces and Baroque fountains exist alongside busy streets, modern apartments, and businesses.
Inside Rome, there is actually an independent city-state, an independent country. Vatican City is not part of Italy and is considered to be an independent state, but it is completely inside the city of Rome. It’s the home of the Catholic Church and the [00:16:00] Pope, and attracts millions of pilgrims and tourists each year.
Yet Rome faces challenges like all modern cities. For example, balancing history and modernization is a constant struggle.
How can you update and develop Rome for the 21st century while preserving ancient monuments and architecture? That’s not easy.
Rome is also a major tourist attraction. Tourism brings economic benefits, but also strains public spaces and transportation and local life.
Over 2000 years ago, a Roman poet described Rome as the “Eternal City“. The idea was that Rome was going to exist forever.
I guess we will have to wait to see if this is the case, but so far the city has survived nearly 3000 years of revolutions, empires, kingdoms, [00:17:00] republics, wars, decline and growth.โ
Final Thought
So here is today’s final thought. Rome’s story is extraordinary. The influence of the city of Rome has shaped the history, politics, art, religion, and language of much of the world.
From the legend of Romulus and Remus, through to the power of the Republic and the Empire, the art of the Renaissance, and then the challenges of the modern era. Rome has continuously reinvented itself while never losing its Roman identity.
It has survived invasions, revolutions, and centuries of change, and it still today stands as one of the most influential cities in the world.
But what do you think? Have you ever visited Rome or are you from Rome? And what city or civilization should I explore next on Thinking in English?
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