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# Rome (City)

## Overview
Rome, the "Eternal City," was the capital of the Roman Republic and Empire, growing from Iron Age hilltop villages on the Tiber River into the largest city in the ancient world with a population exceeding one million. Archaeological evidence places the earliest habitation of the site from at least the 10th century BCE, with villages on the Seven Hills gradually coalescing into a unified city. [^3]

## Key Facts
- Location: Central Italy, on the Tiber River
- Earliest settlement: ~1000 BCE (Iron Age hilltop villages) @t[~1000 BCE]
- Traditional founding: 753 BCE (Romulus and Remus legend) @t[=753 BCE]
- Peak population: ~1 million by the 1st–2nd century CE
- Seven Hills: Palatine, Capitoline, Aventine, Viminal, Quirinal, Esquiline, and Caelian

## Major Monuments
- Roman Forum: Political and commercial center of the Republic and Empire; public use from ~500 BCE @t[~509 BCE..]
- Servian Wall: Earliest city fortification, 4th century BCE @t[~378 BCE] [^2]
- Colosseum (Flavian Amphitheatre): Completed ~80 CE, capacity ~50,000 @t[~0080] [^1]
- Pantheon: Rebuilt by Hadrian ~125 CE, largest unreinforced concrete dome @t[~0125] [^2]
- Circus Maximus: Chariot racing venue, capacity ~250,000
- Baths of Caracalla and Diocletian
- Aurelian Walls: ~19 km defensive circuit enclosing the Seven Hills, built 271–275 CE @t[0271..0275] [^2]
- Aqueducts: 11 aqueducts supplied ~1 million cubic meters of water daily [^2]

## Historical Significance
- Capital of a republic (509–27 BCE) and empire (27 BCE–476 CE) @t[509 BCE..27 BCE] @t[27 BCE..0476]
- Center of Roman law, engineering, and administration
- Sacked by Visigoths (410 CE) @t[=0410] and Vandals (455 CE) @t[=0455] [^2]
- Fall of the Western Empire: 476 CE @t[=0476] [^2]

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[^1]: Hopkins, K. & Beard, M. *The Colosseum* (Harvard, 2005)
[^2]: Claridge, A. *Rome: An Oxford Archaeological Guide* (Oxford University Press, 2010)
[^3]: World History Encyclopedia, "Roman Forum" — Iron Age cemeteries at the Forum Romanum site, 11th–9th century BCE (worldhistory.org)