-1 101 Z Rome was built on seven hills. During the 9th and 8th centuries BC the first villages of small wattle and daub huts emerged. The first hills to be occupied were the Palatine, Quirinal and Esquiline, on which settlement evidence of the 9th century BC was found.
#Seven Hills
1 101 X Whereas the hills were used to built settlements, the slopes and the valleys were occupied by cemeteries. Substantial burial evidence was found in the Forum and Esquiline cemeteries. These burials can be classified as 'Villanovan', the dominant culture in central Italy at the time.
#Hut urn from Forum cemetery, Villanovan cemetery
2 101 X Romulus, according to the legend, founded the first city of Rome, on the Palatine Hill in 753 BC. He and his brother Remus came to blows over the location of the new city and Romulus won. In his memory ancient Romans preserved an Archaic hut on the Palatine.
#Romulus
3 101 X It remains uncertain when the settlements on the seven hills started to function as one city. It is likely that their first form of collaboration took place in the form of communal religious festivals, initiated during the 7th century BC.
#Festivals
4 101 X The period from the end of the 7th century BC until 500 BC marked an era of dramatic changes in Rome. The small mud huts of the previous period were replaced by houses made with sun-dried brick and tiles and the city acquired a civic centre with public and religious buildings.
#Roman denarius depicting temple, Civic Centre
5 101 X The Etruscan king Tarquinius Priscus is thought to have started drainage works in marshy areas. Floors were laid and the Forum Romanum was made into a political and financial centre. The Forum Boarium became a market place on which also two temples were founded: those of Fortuna and Mater Matuta.
#Tarquin
6 101 X The oldest bridge to span the river Tiber was the Pons Sublicius (Sublician Bridge), built during the 6th century BC. One of the most important roads was built shortly after 575 BC: the Via Sacra. It led through the Forum Romanum to the religious centre on the Capitoline Hill.
#Sulpician Bridge
8 101 X The religious centre of Rome was undoubtedly the Capitoline Hill, on which the temple of Jupiter Capitolinus was founded. On the north-west corner of the same hill an empty space was found. This was the Arx, the place where the public auspices were taken - an ancient Etruscan custom.
#Capitoline Hill
9 101 X According to tradition Rome's defence works go back to the period when Servius Tullius ruled. Although it is unlikely that the so-called 'Servian Wall' goes back to the 6th century BC, the 'Agger' probably does. This was an earthen defence work, consisting of ditches and ramparts, designed to block the valleys.
#Agger
10 101 X Since the 5th century BC the Gauls, a Celtic tribe from central Europe, had caused havoc in Italy. In 387 they marched through Italy and captured Rome, except, according to legend, the Capitol. There the Romans held out for seven months.
#Bronze Relief showing Celtic warriors, Gauls
11 101 X Soon after Romulus had founded the city of Rome, he invited the neighbouring Sabine people to a festival. During the games the Romans abducted the Sabine women and a fierce war followed. Legends such as this reflect the turbulent relations which existed between Rome and her neighbours.
#The rape of the Sabine
12 101 X When the Etruscan king Lars Porsenna marched on Rome in an attempt to restore Rome's deposed king, Tarquinius Superbus, to power, a small Roman contingent held out on the Sublician bridge. While the bridge was being cut from behind, the hero Horatius fought off the Etruscans until it collapsed and he then swam back to the city.
#Horatius
13 101 X After a fierce civil war against Marius and the democratic party, Sulla was elected dictator in 81 BC. He set out to restore the powers of the senate and exterminated all influential democrats.
