BBC: Ancient Rome - The rise and fall of an empire (each episode = 6 parts)
1. Julius Caesar
2. Nero
3. Jewish Rebellion
4. Revolution
5. Constantine the Great
6. The Fall of Rome
753 BC: Roma (Rome) is founded by Romulus
750 BC: Greeks establish a colony at Cuma
750 BC: first Etruscan inscriptions
616 BC: Tarquinius I becomes an Etruscan king of Roma
600 BC: Etruscans build the colossal tombs of Cerveteri
600 BC: the Forum is built
600 BC: oldest Latin inscriptions
578 BC: Tarquinius Priscus builds the Cloaca Maxima, the first sewer
550 BC: Servius Tullius builds city walls
474 BC: the Greeks defeat the Etruscans at Cuma
509 BC: the last king is expelled and Roma becomes a republic
450 BC: the Twelve Tables of the Roman law
396 BC: Roma conquers the Etruscan city of Veii
390 BC: the Gauls/Celts sack Roma
326 BC: the Circus Maximus is built
313 BC: the Basilica of Maxentius is completed
312 BC: the Via Appia is opened
312 BC: the first aqueduct, the Aqua Appia, is built
308 BC: Roma conquers the Etruscan city of Tarquinia
295 BC: Roma defeats the Gauls/Celts in northern Italy
287 BC: the Lex Hortensia makes plebiscites binding
280 BC: Roma issues coins
275 BC: Roma conquers southern Italy (Greek colonies)
272 BC: a second aqueduct, the Anio Vetus, is built
264 BC: Roma and Carthage fight the first Punic war
264 BC: the Romans destroy the last vestiges of the Etruscan civilization (Volsinies)
222 BC: the Gauls are defeated
221 BC: the Circus Flaminius
218 BC: Hannibal invades Italy
214 BC: war machines designed by Greek mathematician Archimedes save the city of Syracuse, an ally of Carthage, from a Roman naval attack
202 BC: Scipio defeats Hannibal and Roma annexes Spain
196 BC: the Romans defeat the Macedonian king Philip V at Cynoscephalae
189 BC: Antiochus III, king of the Seleucids, is defeated at the battle of Magnesia and surrenders his possessions in Europe and Asia Minor
184 BC: the Basilica Porcia
149 BC: Roma destroys Carthage
149 BC: Roma conquers Greece with the battle of Corinth (and destroys Corinth)
133 BC: Attalus III of Pergamum wills his kingdom to Roma and the whole Mediterranean Sea is under Roman control ("mare nostrum")
106 BC: the Romans defeat Jugurtha, king of Numidia
88 BC: Italians are granted full citizenship
83 BC: Sulla becomes dictator
74 BC: Cicero enters the senate
73 BC: Spartacus leads the revolt of the gladiators
71 BC: Mithridates VI of Pontus is conquered by Roman general Lucius Lucullus
71 BC: Crassus puts down Spartacus' revolt
70 BC: Crassus and Pompey are elected consuls
69 BC: Rome invades Tigranes' Armenian kingdom and edstroys its capital, Tigranocerta
64 BC: Syria becomes a Roman province under general Pompey (Gnaeus Pompeius)
63 BC: Pompeus captures Jerusalem and annexes Palestine to Roma
60 BC: Crassus, Pompey and Caesar form a "triumvirate"
59 BC: Caesar is elected consul
57 BC: Caesar conquers all of Gaul
53 BC: in the first war against Persia, Crassus is defeated and killed by the Parthians at Carrhae (Syria)
51 BC: Caesar crushes revolt of Vercingetorix in Gaul
50 BC: Roma introduces the gold coin "aureus"
49 BC: Ceasar crosses the Rubicon, defeats Pompey and becomes sole dictator of Rome, calling himself "imperator"
47 BC: Ceasar invades Egypt and proclaims Cleopatra queen
45 BC: Julius Caesar employs the Egyptian astronomer Sosigenes to work out a new 12-month calendar (Julian calendar)
44 BC: Ceasar is killed.
36 BC: Rome tries to invade Persia
31 BC: Octavianus (Augustus) becomes the first emperor after defeating Mark Anthony at the battle of Actium
30 BC: Cleopatra commits suicide and Egypt is annexed to Roma
20 BC: a treaty between Roma and Persia (Parthians) fixes the boundary between the two empires along the Euphrates river (Iraq)
17 BC: the theater of Marcellus
13 BC: Augustus expands the borders to the region of the Danube
6 BC: Jesus is born in Palestine
1 AD: Roma has about one million people
2 AD: the Forum of Augustus
5 AD: Roma acknowledges Cymbeline, King of the Catuvellauni, as king of Britain
6 AD: Augustus expands the borders to the Balkans
12 AD: The last Etruscan inscription is carved
14 AD: Augustus dies and Tiberius becomes emperor
14 AD: five million people live in the Roman empire
25 AD: Agrippa builds the Pantheon
37 AD: Tiberius dies and the mad Caligula succeeds him
41 AD: Caligula is assassinated and is succeeded by Claudius
43 AD: Claudius invades Britain
46 AD: Thracia becomes a Roman province
50 AD: the Romans found Londinium in Britain
54 AD: Claudius is succeeded by Nero
58 AD: the Romans conquer Armenia
64 AD: Nero sets fire to Roma and blames the Christians for it
68 AD: Nero commits suicide and is succeeded by Vespasianus
79 AD: Vespasianus is succeeded by Tito
70 AD: Tito destroys Jerusalem and Jews spread in Armenia, Iraq, Iran, Arabia, Egypt, Italy, Spain and Greece
77 AD: the Romans conquer Wales
79 AD: the Vesuvius erupts and Pompeii is buried under ash
79 AD: the Colosseum is completed
80 AD: the Romans invade Caledonia (Scotland)
81 AD: the Arch of Titus
84 AD: British rebels are defeated by the Romans at the battle of Mons Graupius
97 AD: Rome forbids human sacrifice throughout the Roman empire
97 AD: Chinese general Pan Chao sends an embassy to the Roman Empire
98 AD: Trajan becomes emperor
100: the city of Roma has one million inhabitants
106: Trajan defeats Dacia that becomes a Roman province
106: Trajan captures the Nabataean capital Petra (Jordan) and turns Nabataea into the province of Arabia
107: The Roman Empire sends an embassy to India
110: the Basilica of Trajano is completed
112: the Forum of Trajanus
113: Colonna Traiana
116: Trajan conquers Mesopotamia and the Parthian capital Ctesiphon
117: Trajan dies on his way to the Persian Gulf and Hadrian becomes emperor
122: Hadrian's Wall is built along the northern frontier to protect from the Barbarians
132: Jews, led by Bar-Cochba, whom some identify as the Messiah, revolt against Roma
134: Villa Hadriana
136: emperor Hadrian definitely crushes the Jewish resistance, forbids Jews from ever entering Jerusalem, and changes the name of the city to Aelia Capitolina
138: Hadrian is succeeded by Antoninus Pius, who repels Hadrian's anti-Jewish laws
139: Hadrian's mausoleum (Castel Sant'Angelo)
161: Marcus Aurelius becomes Roman emperor
164: the plague spreads throughout the Roman empire
193: Septimius Severus, from Libya, becomes emperor
194: Rome annexes Palmyra to the province of Syria
212: Caracalla grants Roman citizenship on all free people who live in the Roman Empire
214: Caracalla murders King Abgar IX of Edessa and declares Edessa a Roman colony
216: the thermae of Caracalla
217: the Baths of Caracalla are inaugurated
217: Caracalla is murdered in Edessa
218: Marcus Aurelius Antoninus, the last of the Antonines, becomes emperor and promoties the cult of Elegabalus, a Syriac sun god
244: Shapur I becomes king of the Sassanids and attacks Roma
250: emperor Decius orders the first emperor-wide persecution of Christians
256: the Persians/Sassanids defeat the Romans and conquer Dura Europus in Mesopotamia
273: the Romans destroy the rebellious city of Palmyra in Syria
284: Diocletian becomes emperor but rules from Nicomedia in the East
298: Roma captures Nisibis and the Sassanids sign a peace treaty with Roma
300: the population of the Roman Empire is 60 million (about 15 million Christians)
303: Diocletian orders a general persecution of the Christians
303: the thermae of Diocletian
312: Constantine becomes emperor
313: Constantine ends the persecution of the Christians (edict of Milano)
313: Constantine recognizes the Christian church
330: Constantine I builds a new city, Constantinople (Byzantium)
337: after Constantine's death, his sons split the empire: Constantine II (Spain, Britain, Gaul), Constans I (Italy, Africa, Illyricum, Macedon, Achaea) and Constantius II (the East)
356: Roma has 28 libraries, 10 basilicas, 11 public baths, two amphitheaters, three theaters, two circuses, 19 aqueducts, 11 squares, 1,352 fountains, 46,602 insulae (city blocks)
359: Constantinople becomes the capital of the Roman empire
360: pagan (Mithraist) general Julian (the "apostate") defeats an invasion of Barbarians and is declared emperor by his German troops
363: Julian dies attempting to invade the Sassanid kingdom of Persia, which recaptures Nisibis and Armenia, and general Valentinian becomes emperor
363: an earthquake destroys Petra
364: Valentinian delegates Valens as emperor of the East
376: Valens allows Visigoths to settle within the empire
378: the Visigoths defeat the Roman army at Hadrianopolis
380: Theodosius I proclaims Christianity as the sole religion of the Roman Empire
393: Theodosius forbids the Olympic Games because pagans and shuts down the temple of Zeus at Olympia
395: Theodosius divides the Roman empire in the Western and Eastern Empires, with Milano and Constantinople as their capitals
402: the western Roman empire moves the capital from Milano to Ravenna
406: Barbarians invade France from the north
410: the Visigots sack Roma
410: Roma withdraws from Britannia
418: the emperor grants Wallia's Visigoths to settle in Aquitaine (Atlantic coast of France)
425: the eastern emperor Theodosius II installs Valentinian III as emperor of the west
427: Gensenric's Vandals crosses the strait of Gibraltar and lands in Africa
443: the emperor grants Burgundi to settle in Savoy
450: Theodosius II dies and Marcian succeeds him, the first Roman emperor to be crowned by a religious leader (the patriarch of Constantinople)
452: the Huns invade Italy
455: the Vandals sack Roma
476: Odoacer, a mercenary in the service of Roma, leader of the Germanic soldiers in the Roman army, deposes the western Roman emperor and thereby terminates the western Roman empire
488: emperor Zeno sends Theodoric's Ostrogoths (still settled in Pannonia) to conquer Italy
500: Roma's population has declined to less than 100,000 people
526: Antioch in Syria is destroyed by an earthquake
527: Justinian becomes eastern Roman emperor
527: Byzantium enforces anti-Jewish laws and the Jews all but disappear from the eastern Roman Empire
529: Roman emperor Justinian shuts down the Academia of Plato
533: Justinian's code of law ("Corpus Juri Civilis") is published
537: Justinian's general Belisarius deposes pope Silverius and replaces him with pope Vigilius
534: Justinian's general Belisarius destroys the Arian kingdom of the Vandals and reconquers southern Spain and northern Africa
536: the Ostrogoths surrender and Belisarius reconquers Rome (beginning of the Barbar wars)
537: Justinian builds the church of Hagia Sophia in Constantinople
540: Justinian's general Belisarius takes Ravenna from the last Ostrogothic resistance and thus reconquers Italy to the empire
542: the plague decimates the Empire
546: Visigothic rebels led by Totila sack Roma
551: imperial troops reconquer Rome
552: Nestorian monks smuggle silkworm eggs from China to Byzanthium
554: Rome is reduced to a camp of about 30,000 people, while Constantinople has about one million people
554: the new king of the Visigoths, Athanagild, accepts the emperor's sovereignity over Spain
554: the empire reorganizes Italy as an imperial province (end of the Barbar wars)
565: Justinian dies
568: Alboin's Lombards invade northern Italy
600: Constantinople has 500,000 inhabitants
602: the Persians (Sassanids) attack the eastern Roman empire in Asia Minor
610: Heraclius I overthrows the tyrant Phocas and becomes emperor
614: the Persians (Sassanids) capture Jerusalem
614: the Visigoths reconquer all of Spain from the Roman empire
619: the Persians capture Egypt
620: the Visigoths conquer the last Roman possession in Spain
626: the Sassanids besiege Constantinople
627: the Sassanid king Khusrau II is defeated by Roman emperor Heraclius at Niniveh
628: the Romans retake Syria from the Sassanids
636: Arabs capture Syria and Palestine
639: the Arabs invade the southern provinces of the Empire
673: the Arabs besiege Constantinople
714: the Arabs besiege Constantinople
718: Leo III repels the Arabs from Constantinople
726: Emperor Leo III orders the destruction of all icons (iconoclasm)
739: emperor Leo III issues the Ecloga that introduces Christian principles into law
800: Charlemagne, king of the Franks, is crowned emperor by Pope Leo III and founds the Holy Roman Empire
811: the eastern Roman emperor recognized Charlemagne as emperor of Roma
812: a peace treaty between Charlemagne and the Eastern Roman Empire surrenders Venezia to the Eastern empire but grants Venezia the right to trade with the Holy Roman Empire
813: an Armenian general becomes eastern Roman emperor Leo V
840: Basil's fleet retakes Bari from the Muslims
843: Icons are restored
846: the city of Roma has 17,000 inhabitants
860: the Rus attack Constantinople
867: Basil I becomes the Byzantine emperor and founds the Macedonian dynasty
879: Basil I defeats the Arabs and reconquers Cappadocia
896: Symeon of Bulgaria defeats the Byzantine army for the first time
922: Symeon of Bulgaria defeats the Byzantine army for the fourth and last time
934: Magyars raid Constantinople
968: Nicephorus II defeats the Arabs and reconquers Syria
969: Nicephorus II defeats the Bulgars
976: Basil II becomes the Byzantine emperor
1018: Basil II annexes Bulgaria and the Byzantine empire reaches its zenith
1025: Basil II dies
1054: The patriarch of Constantinople and the pope in Roma excommunicate each other (the Great Schism)
1057: end of the Macedonian dynasty
1064: the Seljuks invade Armenia
1071: the Byzantine army of Romanus IV Diogenes is defeated by the Seljuks at Manzikert in Armenia, and establish a sultanate in Anatolia
1071: Normans led by Robert Guiscard conquer southern Italy from the eastern Roman empire
1081: Alexius I Komnenos establishes the Komnenos dynasty
1099: the first Crusade captures Jerusalem
1187: Saladin defeats the crusaders
1204: the Crusaders, led by the Doge of Venezia, sack Constantinople, expel the Greek emperor Alexius III and set up a Latin kingdom, led by Baldwin I of the Flanders, while Venezia acquires territories in the Mediterranean and Black Seas
1204: Theodore I Lascaris, son-in-law od Alexius III, flees from Constantinople to Nicaea (Bithynia), where he founds a the empire, whereas Alexius founds the empire of Trebizond further east
1211: Nicaea emperor Theodore I Lascaris conquers most of Anatolia
1261: Constantinople is liberated by the Nicaean emperor Michael VIII Paleologus and Greek becomes the official language of the ever smaller eastern Roman empire
1291: the Moslems expel the Crusaders from the Middle East
1345: Serbia defeats the eastern Roman empire and annexes Macedonia and Thrace
1347: the plague (Black Death) strikes Constantinople and it will kill half the population of the city
1348: Serbia defeats the eastern Roman empire and annexes Thessaly and Epirus
1453: the Ottoman Turks under Mehmet II capture Constantinople
1461: the Ottomans conquer the empire of Trebizond, the last Greek state
Roman Emperors
27BC-14AD: Augustus/ Octavianus
14-37: Tiberius
37-41: Caligula
41-54: Claudius
54-68: Nero
68-69: Galba
69: Otho
69: Vitellius
69-79: Vespasian
79-81: Titus
81-96: Domitian
96-98: Nerva
98-117: Trajan
117-38: Hadrian
138-61: Antoninus Pius
161-80: Marcus Aurelius
161-69: Lucius Aurelius Verus
180-92: Commodus
193: Pertinax
193: Didius Julian
193-211: Septimius Severus
211-17: Caracalla
209-11: Geta
217-18: Macrinus
218-22: Elagabalus
222-35: Alexander Severus
235-38: Maximin
238: Gordian I
238: Gordian II
238: Pupienus
238: Balbinus
238-44: Gordian III
244-49: Philipp "Arabs"
249-51: Decius
251: Hostilian
251-53: Gallus
253: Aemilian
253-59: Valerian
259-68: Gallienus
268-70: Claudius II
270: Quintillus
270-75: Aurelian
275-76: Tacitus
276: Florian
276-82: Probus
282-83: Carus
283-84: Numerian
283-85: Carinus
284-305: Diocletian
286-305: Maximian
305-306: Constantius I
305-311: Galerius
306-7: Severus
306-8: Maximian
306-12: Maxentius
308-13: Maximinus Daia
311-24: Licinius
311-37: Constantine I
337-40: Constantine II
337-61: Constantius II
337-50: Constans
361-63: Julian
363-64: Jovian
364-75: Valentinian I
364-78: (East) Valens
375-83: (West) Gratian
375-92: (West) Valentinian II
379-95: (West) Theodosius
383-88: Maximus
392-94: Eugenius
395-408: (East) Arcadius
395-423: (West) Honorius
421: Constantius III
423-25: Johannes
408-50: (East) Theodosius II
425-55: (West) Valentinian III
450-57: (East) Marcian
455: (West) Petronius
455-56: (West) Avitus
457-61: (West) Majorian
457-74: (East) Leo I
461-65: (West) Severus
467-72: (West) Anthemius
472: (West) Olybrius
473: (West) Glycerius
473-75: (West) Julius Nepos
473-74: (East) Leo II
474-91: (East) Zeno
475-76: (West) Romulus Augustulus
474-91: (East) Zeno
475-76: (East) Basiliscus
491-518: (East) Anastasius I
518-27: (East) Justin I
527-65: Justinian
565-78: Justin II
578-82: Tiberius II
582-602: Maurice
602-10: Phocas I
610-41: Heraclius I
641: Constantine III
641: Heracleon
641-68: Constans II
668-85: Constantine IV
685-95: Justinian II
695-98: Leontius
698-705: Tiberius II
705-11: Justinian II
711-13: Philippicus
713-15: Anastasius II
715-17: Theodosius III
717-41: Leo III
741-75: Constantine V
775-80: Leo IV
780-97: Constantine VI
797-802: Irene
802-11: Nicephorus I
811: Stauracius
811-13: Michael I
813-20: Leo V
820-29: Michael II
829-42: Theophilus I
842-67: Michael III
867-86: Basil I
886-912: Leo VI
912-13: Alexander II
912-59: Constantine VII
920-44: Romanus I
959-63: Romanus II
963-69: Nicephorus II
969-76: John I
976-1025: Basil II
1025-28: Constantine VIII
1028-50: Zoe
1028-34: Romanus III
1034-41: Michael IV
1041-42: Michael V
1042-55: Constantine IX
1055-56: Theodora
1056-57: Michael VI
1057-59: Isaac I
1059-67: Constantine X
1068-71: Romanus IV
1071-78: Michael VII
1078-81: Nicephorus III
1081-1118: Alexius I
1118-43: John II
1143-80: Manuel I
1180-83: Alexius II
1183-85: Andronicus I
1185-95: Isaac II
1195-1203: Alexius III
1203-4: Isaac II
1203-4: Alexius IV
1204: Alexius V
1204-5: (Latin) Baldwin I
1205-16: (Latin) Henry
1216-17: (Latin) Peter of Courtenay
1217-19: (Latin) Yolande
1219-28: (Latin) Robert of Courtenay
1228-61: (Latin) Baldwin II
1231-37: (Latin) John of Brienne
1204-22: (Nicean) Theodore I
1222-54: (Nicean) John III
1254-58: (Nicean) Theodore II
1258-61: (Nicean) John IV
1259-61: (Nicean) Michael VIII
1261-82: Michael VIII
1282-1328: Andronicus II
1295-1320: Michael IX
1328-41: Andronicus III
1341-47: John V
1347-54: John VI
1355-76: John V
1376-79: Andronicus IV
1379-91: John V
1390: John VII
1391-1425: Manuel II
1425-48: John VIII
1448-53: Constantine XI