Ancient RomeIn modern historiography, ancient Rome refers to Roman civilisation from the founding of the Italian city of Rome in the 8th century BC to the collapse of the Western Roman Empire in the 5th century AD. It encompasses the Roman Kingdom (753–509 BC), Roman Republic (509–27 BC), and Roman Empire (27 BC–476 AD) until the fall of the western empire. Ancient Rome began as an Italic settlement, traditionally dated to 753 BC, beside the River Tiber in the Italian Peninsula.
Roman armyThe Roman army (Latin: exercitus Romanus) was the armed forces deployed by the Romans throughout the duration of Ancient Rome, from the Roman Kingdom (753 BC–509 BC) to the Roman Republic (509 BC–27 BC) and the Roman Empire (27 BC–476 AD), and its medieval continuation, the Eastern Roman Empire. It is thus a term that may span approximately 2,205 years (753 BC–1453 AD), during which the Roman armed forces underwent numerous permutations in size, composition, organisation, equipment and tactics, while conserving a core of lasting traditions.
Portuguese peopleThe Portuguese people (Portugueses - masculine - or Portuguesas) are a Romance-speaking ethnic group and nation indigenous to Portugal, a country in the west of the Iberian Peninsula in the south-west of Europe, who share a common culture, ancestry and language. The Portuguese people's heritage largely derives from the proto-Celtic/proto-Italic Indo-European (Lusitanians, Conii) and Celtic peoples (Gallaecians, Turduli and Celtici), who were later Romanized after the conquest of the region by the ancient Romans.
Culture of ancient RomeThe culture of ancient Rome existed throughout the almost 1,200-year history of the civilization of Ancient Rome. The term refers to the culture of the Roman Republic, later the Roman Empire, which at its peak covered an area from present-day Lowland Scotland and Morocco to the Euphrates. Life in ancient Rome revolved around the city of Rome, its famed seven hills, and its monumental architecture such as the Colosseum, Trajan's Forum, and the Pantheon. The city also had several theaters and gymnasia, along with many taverns, baths and brothels.
Military of ancient RomeThe military of ancient Rome was one of largest pre-modern professional standing armies that ever existed. At its height, protecting over 7,000 kilometers of border and consisting of over 400,000 legionaries and auxiliaries, the army was the most important institution in the Roman world. According to Titus Livius, one of the more illustrious historians of Rome over the centuries, the military was a key element in the rise of Rome over "above seven hundred years" from a small settlement in Latium to the capital of an empire governing a wide region around the shores of the Mediterranean, or, as the Romans themselves said, mare nostrum, "our sea".
SpaniardsSpaniards, or Spanish people, are an ethnic group native to Spain. Within Spain, there are a number of national and regional ethnic identities that reflect the country's complex history, including a number of different languages, both indigenous and local linguistic descendants of the Roman-imposed Latin language, of which Spanish is the largest and the only one that is official throughout the whole country.
IllyriansThe Illyrians (Ἰλλυριοί, Illyrioi; Illyrii) were a group of Indo-European-speaking peoples who inhabited the western Balkan Peninsula in ancient times. They constituted one of the three main Paleo-Balkan populations, along with the Thracians and Greeks. The territory the Illyrians inhabited came to be known as Illyria to later Greek and Roman authors, who identified a territory that corresponds to most of Albania, Montenegro, Kosovo, much of Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina, western and central Serbia and some parts of Slovenia between the Adriatic Sea in the west, the Drava river in the north, the Morava river in the east and the Ceraunian Mountains in the south.
AquileiaAquileia is an ancient Roman city in Italy, at the head of the Adriatic at the edge of the lagoons, about from the sea, on the river Natiso (modern Natisone), the course of which has changed somewhat since Roman times. Today, the city is small (about 3,500 inhabitants), but it was large and prominent in classical antiquity as one of the world's largest cities with a population of 100,000 in the 2nd century CE and is one of the main archaeological sites of northern Italy.
Historiography of the fall of the Western Roman EmpireThe causes and mechanisms of the fall of the Western Roman Empire are a historical theme that was introduced by historian Edward Gibbon in his 1776 book The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire. Though Gibbon was not the first to speculate on why the empire collapsed, he was the first to give a well-researched and well-referenced account of the event, and started an ongoing historiographical discussion about what caused the fall of the Western Roman Empire.
LusitaniansThe Lusitanians (Lusitani, Portuguese: Lusitanos) were a people living in the far west of the Iberian Peninsula, corresponding roughly to Central Portugal (known as central region nowadays) and some areas of modern-day Extremadura and Castilla y Leon, in Spain. After its conquest by the Roman Republic the land was subsequently incorporated as a Roman province named after them (Lusitania). Frontinus mentions Lusitanian leader Viriathus as the leader of the Celtiberians, in their war against the Romans.
