"Where all roads leads" a Rome Travel Page by traveloturc

According to a legend, Rome was founded by the twins Romulus and Remus on April 21, 753 BC. Archaeological evidence supports the view that Rome grew from pastoral settlements on the Palatine Hill built in the area of the future Roman Forum. The original settlement developed into the capital of the Roman Kingdom ruled by a succession of 7 kings, according to tradition, and then the Roman Republic (from 510 BC, governed by the Senate), and finally the Roman Empire (from 27 BC, ruled by an Emperor). Roman dominance expanded over most of Europe and the shores of the Mediterranean Sea, while its population surpassed one million inhabitants. For almost a thousand years, Rome was the most politically important, richest and largest city in the Western world, and remained so after the Empire started to decline and was split was also surpassed in prestige by the Eastern capital Constantinople (Istanbul).