Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
The power of the Etruscans in Italy is eclipsed after Greek forces from Syracuse and Cu-
mae join to crush an Etruscan armada of the southern Italian coast in the naval Battle of
Cumae.
264-241 BC
War rages between Rome and the empire of Carthage, stretching across North Africa and
into Spain, Sicily and Sardinia. By war's end Rome is the western Mediterranean's prime
naval power.
218-146 BC
Carthage sends Hannibal to invade Italy overland from the north in the Second Punic War.
Rome invades Spain, Hannibal fails, and Carthage is destroyed in a third war in 149-146
BC.
133 BC
Rome gains control of Sardinia, Sicily, Corsica, mainland Greece, Spain, most of North
Africa and part of Asia Minor.
46 BC
Julius Caesar assumes dictatorial powers.
30 BC
Octavian (later Augustus) invades Egypt, Antony and Cleopatra commit suicide and Egypt
becomes a province of Rome.
AD 79
Mt Vesuvius showers molten rock and ash upon Pompeii and Herculaneum. Pliny the
Younger later describes the eruption in letters and the towns are only rediscovered in the
18th century.
100-138
The Roman Empire reaches its most dominant extent, during the reign of Hadrian.
476
German tribal leader Odovacar proclaims himself king in Rome. The peninsula sinks into
chaos and only the eastern half of the Empire survives intact.
568
