In the year of 509 BC the people of Rome expelled the last of their kings and Rome became a republic which it’s citizens believed they had the right and duty to run. Each year the people of Rome elected two officials from the senate to act as consuls, their job was to run the city’s affairs and act as generals in time of war. When the year was over the old consuls would become life members of the senate - the parliament of the Roman Empire. As senators were not paid most would have come from the nobility and would have aquired great wealth and large estates before taking on the role.

In the first century BC however things started to go wrong with the republic. Politicians were corrupt and many had built up a large number of supporters known as clients by giving them money and doing them favours. There was cut-throat competition for jobs in the government. As a result, the number of senators rose rapidly - by 44 BC there was over a thousand.

The senate began to lose control of the empire. The cities of Italy rebelled and two army generals - Marius and Cornelius Sulla - became involved in a struggle for power. In 87 BC Marius’ men marched through the streets of Rome killing anyone that he pointed out. Four years later Sulla entered Rome , drew up lists of Marius’ supporters and set out to slaughter them. Hundreds of citizens were beheaded and their heads were nailed up in the centre of Rome.

In 73 BC there was a slave revolt led by Spartacus, a gladiator. For two years, seventy thousand slaves rampaged through southern Italy and it eventually took eight legions to defeat them (two legions were decimated for cowardice). Six thousand slaves were crucified and left to rot along the main road from Rome to the South.

Then in 49 BC Julius Caesar seized control of the empire. Caesar was a successful general who in the years 58-51 BC had conquered Gaul (France) and attempted to invade Britain. He brought his army from France and led his forces across the Rubicon, the river that seperated Italy from Gaul and marched into Rome. Caesar had to think very carefully before he crossed the river because in doing so he was committing his army and himself to the conquest of Rome and even to this day when people have to make an irrevocable decision they are said to have "crossed the Rubicon".

Julius Caesar was the most successful of the warring generals and he defeated all his rivals to eventually rule Rome as a permanent dictator. He was too much like a king for the senators however and on the ides of March 44 BC, a group of assassins led by the senator Cassius murdered Caesar in the senate building. One of the attackers was Brutus, one of Caesar’s oldest friends. Seeing Brutus amongst his attackers Caesar is said to have cried out "Et tu, Brute!" (you too, Brutus!").

After Julius Caesar’s death his friend and ally, Mark Antony, gained control over the senate by killing more than three hundred senators. Caesar was declared a god and thus was set a precedent for many of the Roman emperors were declared gods after their deaths. Brutus and Cassius meanwhile fled Rome with an army of loyal supporters to Greece.

Antony was supported by Caesars great-nephew, Octavian a young general. According to Suetonius, an historian who loved to include gory details even if they were only gossip and hearsay, Octavian tracked down Brutus and defeated his army. Octavian sent the head of Brutus to Rome and left the bodies of the rebels to rot in the fields. On the 15th March 41 BC he sacrificed three hundred prisoners to the god Julius.

For a while the Roman empire was ruled jointly by both Mark Antony in Egypt and Octavian in Western Europe. At that time Egypt was the richest country in the empire and while Octavian was making friends with the senate and was made into a consul, Antony fell in love with Cleopatra, the queen of Egypt.

Details about Cleopatra are sketchy because the one thing that we do know is that the Roman historians hated her. Even long afterwards, the writer Plutarch presented her as a beautiful and wicked enchantress, who lay under a golden canopy, fanned by handsome young boys, her maids dressed as nymphs. She believed she was destined to rule the world.

Rapidly Ocatvian and Mark Antony became rivals and in 31 BC Ocatvian’s navy destroyed Antony’s forces at the sea battle of Actium. Antony committed suicide by falling on his sword and although Cleopatra was captured she later killed herself using a poisonous snake which her maids had smuggled into her room.

After he had defeated Antony and Cleopatra, Ocatavian secured his power over the empire with a series of masterful decisions. In 27 BC, Octavian refused all offers to become King and instead would only accept the title of "Augustus" - meaning dignified. The senate he said would rule Italy and those parts of the empire which were "peaceful and easy to govern". He offered to take the imperium (supreme power) in Egypt and in the provinces "that are restless and rebellious" ie Spain, Gaul and Syria.

The result of this very generous offer from Augustus was that he could claim to have not only saved the senate and the republic from the rebels he was also willing to take on all the problem areas as well. A plan which the senate were only too happy to agree on.

The result of this plan though was that Augustus had gained control over the territories where there was trouble and where there was trouble the Roman army could be found stationed nearby. So in reality the senate had just given away control of 22 of the 25 Roman Legions in the empire. Also although there were no official legions stationed in Italy Augustus made sure that he had an armed force near to Rome at all times. For instance, he enlarged his bodyguard (the praetorian) to over 4,500 men and he took control of three units of soldiers who acted as the city watch or police force and the Vigiles, the soldiers who acted as the Fire Brigade. In total there were more than thirteen thousand soldiers in the city of Rome and all of these were under the direct control of Augustus.

Augustus never had to use these men though as Augustus had built up such a huge number of clients that he could be sure that the senate voted his way every time. In fact the new republic was a fraud - it kept the appearance of the old republic but one man had total control. Augustus was an autocrat (sole ruler) but because of his deviousness he had accomplished this with no-one really knowing.

Just before his death in AD 14, at the remarkable age of 76, Augustus wrote the Res Gestae - an account of his reign and achievements "whereby he brought the whole world under the rule of the Roman people". He claimed that he had "raised an army and set the republic free". He had provided Rome with grain and had made gifts of money to the people and the soldiers. He had built many fine buildings in Rome and he had organised many public events - including eight contests of gladiators (involving a total of ten thousand men), 27 public games and 26 public spectacles of wild beasts in which 3,500 animals died.

Augustus is sometimes refferred to as the "second founder of Rome" for he introduced the idea of using auxiliaries in the Roman army - in each province he enlisted native soldiers who were paid less than the Roman legionairies, but were made into a citizen of Rome after their term of service was completed. He attacked the barbarians in the north of Europe and reached the easily defendable frontiers of the river Danube and the Rhine. At the same time, disbanded many of the Roman legions and instead concentrated on giving the empire a stable government. This resulted in the trade increasing and the prosperity of the people rose accordingly.

For the next five centuries the empire was controlled by emperors starting with Augustus’ adopted son Tiberius - Augustus’ reign was the start of the Pax Romana, the "Roman Peace". Looking back in AD 38 the jewish Egyptian Scholar Philo commented that "the whole human race would have been destroyed had it not been for one man, Augustus...who ended wars...set every city at liberty...civilized all the unfriendly, savage tribes...and safe guarded peace..."

The historian Tacitus was slightly less enthusiastic however when he wrote in AD 110 of how Augustus had tricked the army by giving them gifts and tricked the people by giving them food and everyone by giving them peace "then little by little he began to increase his powers to steal the authority of the senate, the magistrates and the laws...so the state had been changed, and the old free Roman people no longer existed".

Tiberius Claudius Nero was nominated by Augustus to be his successor and he ruled from AD 14 to AD 37. The historian Suetonius tells us that he was a large man with pimples and that he could push his forefinger through a ripe apple! Tiberius alledgedly hated crowds and was scared of thunder - in private Romans called him "Biberius Caldius Mero" which means "drunk, wine drowned boozer" when he died people jumped for joy and many shouted "Throw Tiberius in the Tiber!".

Tiberius did however continue Augustus’ policies and he carried on with the disguised autocracy although he did add a couple of new twists. Tiberius refused the title of imperator, saying that he wanted senators to be able to speek and vote freely. At the same time he made it treason to say or write anything hostile about him. So none of the senators dared to let their true feelings known in fact one senator was so worried that he might vote against Tiberius in an "open" vote that he refused to do so until Tiberius had voted saying "Then I can follow your lead; otherwise I fear that I may vote against you." Tacitus our astute Roman historian said of Tiberius’ rule "This was a rotten , pitiful age of yes-men". It was during the reign of Tiberius that a Jewish preacher known as Joshua ben Joseph, or Jesus the Christ was put to death in Jerusalem by the Roman governor, Pontius Pilate.

The death of Tiberius in AD 37 ushered in the reign of emperor Gaius or Caligula as he was nicknamed after the tiny soldier’s boots caligae he wore as a child. Upon being made emperor he held a huge banquet for all the wealthiest citizens, gave three gold coins to all the citizens of Rome and added a fifth day of rest to the Saturnalia holiday. Suetonius wrote that the people of Rome thought their dreams had come true. To thank the gods for their good fortune the people sacrificed 160,000 animals in three months.

The good times didn’t last long though and Gaius ruled openly as an autocrat - at one stage he even claimed to be a living god. Dozens were murdered or executed for treason. Roman historians hated him and so we will never know how "mad" Gaius really was but many strange tales are attributed to "Caligula" for instance the legions were ordered to collect seashells and he proposed his horse as a senator.

On 24th January AD 41, Caligula was murdered by the Praetorian guards - and even upon hearing of his death the people of Rome refused to celebrate openly lest it be a trick so that Caligula could see who was the happiest to see him dead.

The Praetorian guards had simply had enough of Caligula and had killed him without really considering the results of their actions and when they realised that without an emperor they had no jobs a search was carried throughout the palace for likely heir.

Claudius was found hiding behind a curtain and was immediately proclaimed as the emperor. Claudius was tall and handsome but it is said that he stammered, dribbled and twitched. Suetonius wrote that his own mother called him a monster and a letter written by Augustus orders that Claudius not be allowed outside for fear that people would laugh at him. Instead Claudius spent most of his time indoors studying and writing books.

Claudius was a popular and clever emperor who ruled from AD 41 to AD 54. Claudius decreed that slaves should not be put to death or abandoned by their owners when they became old and sick. Claudius created a council of ministers to help him rule and he encouraged senators to speak out against him if they disagreed with his actions, he even invited citizens from the provinces to become senators.

It was during Claudius’ reign that Britain was conquered in AD 43 and it is said that Claudius himself came to Britain to accept the surrender of the eleven Kings. Claudius was eventually betrayed by his fourth wife (his neice Aggripina)who killed him because she wanted her son (Nero) to become the next emperor.

Reports from Tacitus and Suetonius suggest that the only things that Nero was interested in were music, riding and orgies. He performed in public as an actor and singer wearing nothing but his dressing gown and slippers. During his many appearances the doors to the venue would be locked and guards patrolled the crowd threatening anyone who failed to cheer. Some members of the audience even feigned heart attacks to get carried out of the theatre. For two years AD 68-69 Nero toured Greece and he won many prizes at the Olympics for his acting and chariot racing. The Greeks must have genuinely liked him or had a good sense of humour as they called him "the new Apollo". In Rome though all of his travelling and his friendship with the Greeks would result in many plots against him being hatched. There were so many plots to get rid of Nero that he started to become more than a little paranoid and the number of executions and forced suicides increased dramatically. Nero even had his wife and mother murdered and one man was exciled because he was called Cassius, which was also one of the names of Caesars’ assassins. When half of Rome burnt to the ground he blamed it on the christians and then rebuilt half the city as his palace - leading many to suspect that he himself was the arsonist.

Nero began to lose control of the empire through a combination of slack government or because he was trying to to reduce the powers of the provincial governers. The result was a series of revolutions - Boudicca rose in Britain while the jews of Palestina (Judaea) rebelled and the German legions grew mutinous.

It was not until AD 68 though that the governor of Gaul, Vindex revolted and although he had no army he had the support of the governor of Spain - Sulpicius Galba. Upon hearing of the revolution in Gaul and support from Spain, Nero panicked and tried to get to Egypt. His "loyal" guard however deserted and he was declared public enemy of the state No 1. Nero committed suicide by stabbing himself in the throat with a dagger.

AD 69 was the "year of four emperors" when four separate army commanders attempted to take control of the empire. First was Galba who refused to pay the traditional gift of money to the Praetorian guard and was assassinated in the Forum. After Galba came Otho who committed suicide when his army was defeated by Vitellius. Finally Vitellius himself was defeated by Vespasian’s army and dragged to the Forum to be murdered. The civil war had cost a fortune and had left the empire in chaos. Not only that but the senate, who had supported each of the claimants in turn had become a laughing stock.

Titus Flavius Vespasian became emperor in December AD 69 and he turned the empire into a military dictatorship. He was a hard working man who put a stop to the wild parties and excesses of the previous emperors and managed to conquer new lands in Germany and Northern Britain. The Jewish revolt was defeated and the last Jewish stronghold Masada was taken in AD 73. When the Roman army entered the fortress however they found that all the defenders with the exception of two women and five children had committed suicide.

In AD 79 Vespasian fell ill with a fever and after a period of illness he died. He was said to have tried to get up off his deathbed saying "An emperor should die on his feet".

Vespasian left the empire in the hands of his son Titus whose declared ambition was to help someone everyday. During his short reign though Mount Vesuvius erupted and destroyed the small town of Pompeii. Which because it had been covered by the volcano meant that it was perfectly preserved for archaeologists to investigate several hundred years later. Titus is reported as saying "I have only done one thing wrong" the trouble is that he didn’t say and nobody could think what it might have been.

Titus’ brother Domitian took over control of the empir in AD 81 and was possibly the cruelest and most brutal emperor of them all. Domitian did manage to conquer more of Scotland after the battle of Mons Graupius led by Agricola but he was soon to withdraw his troops from the area and in AD 86 two or three years after that victory at Mons Graupius a huge period of demolition was undertaken. Domitian was murdered by an ex slave in AD 96 he was the last of the emperors from the Flavian family.

The next seven emperors of Rome all came from the Antonine family and among those were two of the most important in Rome’s history - namely Trajan and after him Hadrian. Trajan came to power after the short two year reign of Nerva in AD98. Trajan was the first emperor to come from a provincial family and during his leadership the empire reached its greatest extent. In AD 105-106 Trajan conquered Dacia with an army of 120,000 legionaries. A monument over 100 feet in diameter and dedicated to Mars the Avenger still stands in Romania commemorating the campaign. On his return to Rome Trajan organised 117 days of games to celebrate his victory. He built a new forum which included two libraries and more than 150 shops and offices and Trajan’s column. He constructed a new bathhouse and to please the plebeians he increased the annona and added a new welfare benefit to support the poor children.

AD 114 saw Trajan invade Armenia and in the following year he conquered the Persian empire. He was the first Roman general to see the Persian Gulf and he was also the last since it was impossible for him to hold together such a huge empire. In AD 116 there were rebellions in Persia and Jews revolted throughout Europe. Trajan set out to return to Rome but he died from a stroke on the way.

After Trajan’s death Emperor Hadrian came to the inevitable conclusion that if the empire became any larger it would become ungovernable. So he decided to spend his time defending the empire and he ordered a number of walls to be built around Europe for this purpose. He travelled constantly to ensure that the empire was well defended and secure.

Once the empire had stopped growing though it became much more introvert and started to decline. Corruption in the government was rife and it wasn’t long after Hadrian’s death in AD 138 that it became paralysed completely. Between AD 138 and AD 362 there were a total of 42 emperors and of those 30 were either murdered or were killed in battle.

Given that the life expectancy of the average Roman emperor was not that long is it any wonder that a lot of them tried to live life to the fullest and many lived scandalous lives or became vicious tyrants in an attempt to hold onto power. The death of the emperor was usually followed by a power struggle between several generals.

There were constant clashes with the "barbarians" to the north and the Persians were still causing a lot of trouble to the East. There was economic chaos and civil wars were frequent.

Finally there came a time of semi order when Diocletian and three other "co-emperors" called tetrachs managed to restore peace to the empire. The price of peace however was an administration that was corrupt and an army that grew increasingly worried about losing it’s power. Diocletian decided that the only way to control the civil unrest rampant throughout the city was to divide the empire into two with himself ruling the Eastern half and Maximian controlling the West. Later two other "emperors joined Diocletian and Maximian. Constantinius and Galerius were given the title of Caesar and a smaller section of the empire to control while Diocletian and Maximian were given the title of Augustus. Diocletian retired in AD 305 "to grow cabbages" he sadi in his native Croatia.

Diocletian was succeeded by two of the Tetrachs - Constantinius and Galerius. Constantinius soon died and Constantine took over the whole of the Roman empire in AD 324.

In AD 330 the emperor Constantine moved the capital of the empire to Byzantium (later re-named Constantinople). This Eastern capital was the start of the byzntine empire which lasted till 1453. His belief in Christianity helped make it the state religion by the time he died in AD 337.

Finally in AD 395 the empire became two very different states and the East and Western empires were to have very different paths in history. In the new capital of Constantinople the Roman laws and culture were kept safe for more than a thousand years. Rome itself however and the Western empire was unable to stop the invasion of the "Barbarian hordes".

The Rhine frontier was overrun in AD 406 and the German peoples marched into the empire heading towards Rome.

In the year of AD 410 the Visigoths from Germany led by Alaric sacked the city of Rome and the Western Roman Empire started to collapse. It was not until AD 476 however that the last Western Roman Emperor - Romulus Augustus, was deposed and Western Europe entered the dark ages when law, learning and city life all but disappeared.

When the "barbarians" marched through the Roman empire, many of the tribes settled in the newly conquered lands and thus founded many of the states of modern Europe. The Franks for example turned Gaul into France and the Angles, Jutes and Saxons turned Roman Britain into Saxon England.