With references to current day sites and buildings.
Roman Monarchy
753 bc - Legendary foundation of Rome by Romulus, a descendent of the mythical Trojan hero, Aeneas.
615 to 510 bc - Period of Etruscan Monarchy; the last King, Lucius Tarquinius Superbus (Tarquin the Proud), over thrown by Romans led by Lucius Junius Brutus.
Roman Republic
509 bc - The republic is established under two annually elected consuls, beginning with Brutus and Lucius Tarquinius Collatinus.
490 to 443 - bc Struggle for political position between patricians and plebeians.
390 bc - The Guals capture Rome, but quickly withdraw.
389 - 366 bc - The Reconciliation of the orders.
366 - 341 bc - Frontier Wars
343 - 290 bc - The Samnite wars; Rome gains dominance over central Italy.
First Saminte war and settlement of Latium (341-321 bc)
Second Samnite war (321-304 bc)
Third Samnite war (303-293 bc)
280 - 275 bc - War with the King of Epirus: Pyrvhus and Greek cities in southern Italy; Rome controls most of Italy.
264 - 241 bc - First Punic War against Carthage; Sicily and Sardinia become a Roman Provinces.
218 - 201 bc - Second Punic War; Romans repel Hannibal's invasion of Italy and conquer much of Spain. The Battle of Cannae 216 bc. Hannibal is defeated at the Battle of Zama 202 bc.
149 - 146 bc - Third Punic War; Rome destroys Carthage and takes control of Western Mediterranean; Part of North Africa becomes a Roman Province.
Late Republic
133 - 121 bc - Tiberius Gracchus and Gaius Gracchus (brothers) propose populist land reforms; Rome conquers Southern Gaul.
133 bc - Tiberius Gracchus, leader of a reform movement, is murdered
123 - 121 bc - Gaius Gracchus is also murdered.
107 - 100 bc - Gaius Marius elected Consul (head of the Roman army) seven times; reforms Roman army. Gaius Marius is victorious over Jugurtha of Numidia, he saves Rome from the Cimbri and Teutones.
106 bc - Gaius Marius Begins his military reforms.
88 - 79 bc - Civil war between supports of Marius and Lucius Cornelius Sulla; Sulla prevails and remains sole ruler for three years before abdicating. The Po Valley (Cisalpine Gaul) is organized into communities of Roman citizens.
82 - 79 bc - Sulla, as Consul, institutes a series of constitutional reforms.
73 - 71 bc - Spartacus leads slave revolt.
70 bc - Consulate of Pompey the Great (Pompeius Magnus) and Marcus Crassus (M. Licinius Crassus).
63 bc - Cataline's Conspiracy.
60 bc - Formation of informal alliance known as the First Triumvirate of Pompey, Crassus, and Julius Caesar. Triumvirate is a Triple dictatorship.
58 - 51 bc - Caesar conducts a series of campaigns to conquer all of Gaul; takes troops to Britain in 55 and 54 bc; Crassus is killed by Parthians in 53 bc.
49 bc - Defying Senate orders to disband his army, Caesar crosses the Rubicon River and invades Italy, starting a civil war.
48 - 44 bc - Caesar defeats Pompey at battle of Pharsalus; Pompey flees to Egypt and is killed upon arival; sole rule of Julius Caesar.
44 bc - Caesar assassinated on March 15, 44 bc (The Ides of March); his Grandnephew Octavian (Gaius Julius Caesar Octavianus), designated as legal heir at 18 years old; civil war breaks out between Caesar's assassin and his successors.
43 - 42 bc Octavian forms Second Triumvirate (Triple dictatorship) with Mark Antony and Marcus Aemilius Lepidus; Octavian and Antony defeat Caesar's assissins at battle of Philippi.
43 bc - Marcus Tullius Cicero (106-43bc) a Roman Politician is murdered on the instructions of Marcus Antonius.
40 bc - Maecenas and Asinius Pollio draft the "Treaty of Brundisium" in Oct. 40 bc. Antony marries Octavian's sister Octavia.
36 bc - Lepidus is ousted from Triumvirate by Octavian.
31 bc - Octavian defeats Antony and Cleopatra at The Battle of Actium (they are driven to sucide), giving Octavian mastery of entire Roman world; Egypt becomes a Roman province.
19 bc - Publius Virgilius Maro (Virgil), a literary writer dies in 19 bc.
Early Empire
27 bc - Octavian assumes honorific title of Augustus "Live Tenure" of Tribunician Power to his death in 14ad., becoming Rome's first emperor; Octavian surrenders his supremacy to the Senate and the People of Rome in 1n 27 bc; he is succeeded by his stepson Tiberius, in 14 AD.
12 bc - Lepidus dies, Augustus is elected to succed Lipidus as Rome's Chief Pontiff (Pontifex Maximus) head of the National Church.
6 bc - Tiberius becomes Emperor. He marries the widowed Julia (daughter of Augustus). Rome reaches one million inhabitants.
2 bc - Julia is expelled to the tiny island of Pandateria for her scandalous liaisons.
26 ad - Tiberius withdraws from Rome to Capri.
37 ad - Tiberius dies.
37 - 68 ad Reigns of:
Caligula (37-41 ad), Great nephew of Tiberius Gaius (Referred to as Gaius).
Claudius (41-54 ad), he is Caligula's 50 year old uncle, (Claudius is referred to as Tiberius Claudius Nero Germanicus).
Nero (54-68 ad), last ruler of the Julio - Claudian dynasty.
64 ad - The fire of Rome under Nero, 9 days. Nero builds his "Golden House" on the ruins of much of the capital. Rumors that he started the fire to clear the site.
69 ad - After Nero's suicide June 9, 68 ad, troubled year of the Four Emperors: Galba, Otho (Marcus Salvius Otho), Vitellius (Aulus Vitellius), and Vespasian (Flavius Vespasian).
69 - 96 ad Flavian dynasty: Reigns of:
Vespasian (69-79 ad), started to build the Colosseum.
Titus (79-81 ad), Vespasians first son. The Colosseum was inaugurated by Titus, 80 ad.
Domitian (81-96 ad), Vespasians second son.
70 ad - The Conquest of Jerusalem by Titus.
79 ad - Eruption of Mount Vesuvius buries Pompeii and nearby Herclianeum
96 - 180 ad - The Reign of Five Good Emperors.
96 - 117 ad - Brief reign of:
Nerva (96 - 98ad) followed by,
Trajan (98 - 117 ad), under whom the Roman Empire reaches its greatest geographical extent. Population of Rome was approximately one and a half million inhabitants.
117 - 138 - ad Reign of Hadrian of Spanish decent; 122 ad he orders construction of wall in northern Britain
138 - 192 ad Reigns of:
Antoninus Pius (138 - 161 ad) , "The Golden Age" = International peace.
Marcus Aurelius (161 - 180 ad)
Chaos in the Empire Begins
Commodus (180 - 192 ad), he was assassinated.
Pertinax (192 ad)
Didius Julianus (192 ad), incompetent, executed.
Septimius Severus (193 - 211 ad), he was from Pannonia, he forms a military dictatorship.
Caracalla (212-217 ad), he is the son of Severus, he is murdered by Marinus.
Macrinus (217-218 ad)
Elagabalus (218-222 ad), Relative of Caracalla. Ascended to the throne at
the age of fifteen and as hereditary high priest of the Syrian sun god Elah
Gabal, from whom he took his name. The aristocracy was enraged by his
religious practices, and before his twentieth birthday, he was murdered by
members of his imperial Guard and his body dumped in the Tiber river.
Alexander (222-235 ad), he is a 13 year old nephew of Elagabalus. His mother Julia Mamaea really guides him and she is actually said to rule Rome during his reign.
193 - 235 ad - Severan Dynasty
235 - 284 ad - Nearly 50 years of military unrest and political disorder; many emporors rise and fall from power.
250 ad - Emperor Decius begins a period of persecution of Christians.
272 ad - Aurelianus starts the construction of the defense wall.
284 - 305 ad - Reign of Diocletian; divides empire into eastern and western halves in 286 ad; resigns throne in 305 ad. In 325 ad The Council of Nicea.
306-337 ad - Reign of Constantine; grants freedom of worship to Christians in 313 ad; assumes power over empire by 324 ad; The council of Nicea 325 ad; transfers seat (capital) of the Roman Empire to Constantionople (Bizantium) in 330 ad; he is baptized as a Christian in 337 ad.
361 - 363 ad - Julian the Apostate (deserter).
378 ad - The Battle of Adrianople.
379 - 395 ad Reign of Theodosius, last great emperor of east and west makes Christianity the official religion of the empire.
354 - 430 ad - St Augustine of Hippo.
410 ad - Vesigoths, led by Alaric the Goth, capture and sack Rome.
455 ad - Sack of Rome by Vandals, led by their King, Gaiseric
476 ad - Romulus Augustulus deposed; fall of the Western Roman Empire
493 - 553 ad - Government of the Goths in Italy
553 ad - Rome is again under the Bizantine emperors rule.
568 ad - Beginning of the temporal power of the Popes.
800 ad - Charlemagne crowned Emperor of the Western Empire in St. Peter's.
1300 ad - The first Jubilee Year, under Pope Boniface VIII.
1308 - 1377 ad The captivity of Avignon. Roman population is approximately 20,000 inhabitants.
1447 ad - With Pope Nicholas V begins a series of Popes who beautified Rome.
1453 ad Conquest of Constaninople by the Ottoman Turks, ending Byzantine (Eastern Roman) Empire.
1506 ad - Pope Julius II laid the foundation stones of the new St. Peter's.
1626 ad - Pope Urban VII inaugurated the new St. Peter's, the greatest work of the rebirth of Roman and of the Renaissance.
Great artists were employed by the Popes:
Bramante (1444 - 1514)
Michelangelo (1475 - 1564)
Raphael (1483 - 1520)
Bernini (1598 - 1680)
1870 ad - Rome becomes the Capital of United Italy and is developed into a modern city.