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History of Ancient Rome
The causal chain, 509 BC to AD 476: the oath builds the Republic machine; the machine splits into the legions and the politics; the branches converge on Augustus, and the empire runs on the deal's ghost. Hover or focus a node for its story.
500 BC
400 BC
300 BC
200 BC
100 BC
AD 0
AD 100
AD 200
AD 300
AD 400
AD 500
the legions
− 3 more
the politics
− 5 more
The oath: never again a king
509 BC
start here
The plebs walk out
494 BC
Law, written down
451 BC
The machine completes
287 BC
Rome goes to sea
264 BC
Cannae: the worst day
216 BC
Zama: Hannibal beaten
202 BC
Carthage erased
146 BC
Marius: the poor enlist
107 BC
Caesar takes Gaul
58 BC
The Rubicon
49 BC
Tiberius Gracchus killed
133 BC
Gaius follows
121 BC
Italy demands the deal
91 BC
Sulla marches on Rome
88 BC
The lists go up
82 BC
Cicero vs Catiline
63 BC
The Ides of March
44 BC
The Republic dies at Philippi
42 BC
Actium: the last army standing
31 BC
The restoration™
27 BC
The empire at high tide
AD 117
Everyone becomes Roman
AD 212
The machine sliced in four
AD 284
The West lets go; the East endures
AD 476