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Ancient Rome

From Romulus and Remus to the fall of the West: the emperors, battles, buildings and words of ancient Rome.

42 cards · History

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Checked by the Brain Zap team · reviewed 10 Oct 2026

Source: Ancient Rome (Wikipedia)

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  • Legendary year Rome was founded

    Show answer: Legendary year Rome was founded

    753 BC

    Learn more: The scholar Varro dated the founding to 21 April 753 BC. Romans counted years 'from the founding of the city'.

  • Legendary twin founders of Rome

    Show answer: Legendary twin founders of Rome

    Romulus and Remus

    Learn more: In the legend one twin killed the other in a quarrel over the city walls, and the new city took the winner's name.

  • Animal said to have nursed the twin founders

    Show answer: Animal said to have nursed the twin founders

    A she-wolf

    Learn more: The legend says a she-wolf suckled the twins by the Tiber. The bronze Capitoline Wolf shows the scene.

  • River on which Rome stands

    Show answer: River on which Rome stands

    The Tiber

    Learn more: Rome grew at an easy crossing of this river, by Tiber Island. Ostia, at its mouth, was Rome's port.

  • Number of hills at the heart of ancient Rome

    Show answer: Number of hills at the heart of ancient Rome

    7

    Learn more: Palatine, Capitoline, Aventine, Caelian, Esquiline, Viminal and Quirinal: hence 'the city of seven hills'.

About this topic

Ancient Rome grew from a cluster of villages on the Tiber into an empire that ruled the Mediterranean for centuries. Its story runs through three ages: the kings of legend, the Republic with its elected consuls and Senate, and the emperors from Augustus onward, until the western half fell in AD 476 and the eastern half lasted until 1453.

It is worth knowing because so much of our world still carries its mark: the alphabet, many of our words, the calendar with July and August, law, roads, and the idea of a republic itself.

The easiest way to learn it is to hang every fact on a few anchor dates: 753 BC for the founding, 509 BC for the Republic, 44 BC for Caesar's death, 27 BC for the first emperor and AD 476 for the fall in the west. Each new name then finds its place on that line.

All 42 cards

  1. Legendary year Rome was founded

    753 BC

    Learn more: The scholar Varro dated the founding to 21 April 753 BC. Romans counted years 'from the founding of the city'.

  2. Legendary twin founders of Rome

    Romulus and Remus

    Learn more: In the legend one twin killed the other in a quarrel over the city walls, and the new city took the winner's name.

  3. Animal said to have nursed the twin founders

    A she-wolf

    Learn more: The legend says a she-wolf suckled the twins by the Tiber. The bronze Capitoline Wolf shows the scene.

  4. River on which Rome stands

    The Tiber

    Learn more: Rome grew at an easy crossing of this river, by Tiber Island. Ostia, at its mouth, was Rome's port.

  5. Number of hills at the heart of ancient Rome

    7

    Learn more: Palatine, Capitoline, Aventine, Caelian, Esquiline, Viminal and Quirinal: hence 'the city of seven hills'.

  6. Traditional year the Roman Republic began

    509 BC

    Learn more: Tradition says the Romans drove out their last king in 509 BC and chose elected magistrates instead.

  7. Last king of Rome, deposed in 509 BC

    Tarquin the Proud

    Learn more: Lucius Tarquinius Superbus was driven out after his son's crime against Lucretia. Romans then hated the word king.

  8. Number of consuls who led the Republic each year

    2

    Learn more: Two consuls, elected for one year, shared power so that neither could rule alone like a king.

  9. First Roman emperor

    Augustus

    Learn more: Octavian took the title Augustus, 'revered one', in 27 BC and ruled until AD 14, ending the civil wars.

  10. Augustus's name before he took the title

    Octavian

    Learn more: Born Gaius Octavius, he became Gaius Julius Caesar Octavianus when Caesar's will adopted him.

  11. Year Julius Caesar was assassinated

    44 BC

    Learn more: Senators led by Brutus and Cassius stabbed Caesar, weeks after he was named dictator for life.

  12. Day Caesar was killed, in Roman terms

    The Ides of March (15 March)

    Learn more: The Ides fell on the 15th in March, May, July and October and the 13th in other months. A seer had warned Caesar.

  13. River Caesar crossed in 49 BC, starting a civil war

    The Rubicon

    Learn more: Crossing it with an army broke Roman law. 'Crossing the Rubicon' now means a step with no way back.

  14. Battle where Octavian beat Antony and Cleopatra

    The Battle of Actium

    Learn more: Octavian's fleet, led by Agrippa, beat Antony and Cleopatra there. Both lovers later took their own lives.

  15. Alliance of Caesar, Pompey and Crassus

    The First Triumvirate

    Learn more: From 60 BC Caesar, Pompey and Crassus pooled power without any legal title. It broke down after Crassus died in 53 BC.

  16. Land Caesar conquered in 58 to 50 BC

    Gaul

    Learn more: Caesar's Gallic Wars ended with Vercingetorix's surrender at Alesia in 52 BC. Caesar told the story himself.

  17. Wars between Rome and Carthage

    The Punic Wars

    Learn more: Punic comes from the Latin for Phoenician, Carthage's origin. Rome won all three, between 264 and 146 BC.

  18. Carthaginian general who crossed the Alps with elephants

    Hannibal

    Learn more: In 218 BC he crossed the Alps with an army and war elephants, then crushed Rome at Cannae in 216 BC.

  19. Year Rome destroyed Carthage

    146 BC

    Learn more: After a three-year siege, Rome razed Carthage in 146 BC. The tale of salting its earth came much later.

  20. Gladiator who led a slave revolt in 73 BC

    Spartacus

    Learn more: His revolt grew to tens of thousands of slaves before Crassus crushed it in 71 BC.

  21. Orator who attacked Mark Antony in the Philippics

    Cicero

    Learn more: Marcus Tullius Cicero named those speeches after Demosthenes's attacks on Philip. Antony had him killed in 43 BC.

  22. Year Vesuvius erupted and buried Pompeii

    AD 79

    Learn more: Pliny the Younger described the eruption in letters; his uncle, Pliny the Elder, died trying to rescue people.

  23. Rome's great amphitheatre, completed in AD 80

    The Colosseum

    Learn more: Its real name is the Flavian Amphitheatre. It held about 50,000 people for gladiator fights and animal hunts.

  24. Emperor during the Great Fire of Rome in AD 64

    Nero

    Learn more: The fire burned for days in AD 64. He blamed the Christians; the story that he fiddled is a legend.

  25. Emperor who built a wall across northern Britain

    Hadrian

    Learn more: The wall, begun in AD 122, ran about 117 km from coast to coast. Long stretches still stand.

  26. Emperor under whom the empire was largest

    Trajan

    Learn more: The empire reached its largest in AD 117, at his death. His column in Rome shows his wars in Dacia.

  27. Emperor who wrote the Meditations

    Marcus Aurelius

    Learn more: He wrote the Meditations in Greek as private notes to himself, often on campaign. He ruled from AD 161 to 180.

  28. Roman temple with a concrete dome and an oculus

    The Pantheon

    Learn more: Rebuilt under Hadrian around AD 125, it is still used as a church. The oculus is its only light.

  29. First Roman emperor to convert to Christianity

    Constantine the Great

    Learn more: After winning at the Milvian Bridge in AD 312 he backed Christianity; the Edict of Milan in 313 allowed it.

  30. Capital Constantine founded on Byzantium

    Constantinople

    Learn more: Founded in AD 330 on the Greek town of Byzantium. It was the eastern empire's capital for over 1,000 years.

  31. Traditional year the Western Roman Empire fell

    AD 476

    Learn more: That year the Germanic leader Odoacer deposed the last western emperor and did not take the title himself.

  32. Emperor deposed by Odoacer in AD 476

    Romulus Augustulus

    Learn more: His names join Rome's founder and its first emperor; 'Augustulus' means 'little Augustus'.

  33. Year Constantinople fell to the Ottomans

    1453

    Learn more: Sultan Mehmed II took the city on 29 May 1453, ending the eastern Roman, or Byzantine, Empire.

  34. What the letters SPQR stand for

    The Senate and People of Rome

    Learn more: SPQR stands for the Latin Senatus Populusque Romanus. It is still on the city's manhole covers.

  35. Language of the ancient Romans

    Latin

    Learn more: It spread with the empire and grew into the Romance languages. The Catholic Church still uses it.

  36. Channels that brought water into Roman cities

    Aqueducts

    Learn more: They worked by gravity alone, on a slight steady slope. Rome's eleven brought water from up to 90 km away.

  37. Roman road that ran from Rome to Brindisi

    The Appian Way

    Learn more: Begun by the censor Appius Claudius Caecus, it was called the queen of roads. Stretches of its paving survive.

  38. Rome's great chariot-racing stadium

    The Circus Maximus

    Learn more: It held around 150,000 people for chariot races. Today it is a long grassy park used for concerts.

  39. Formal garment of male Roman citizens

    The toga

    Learn more: Only citizens could wear it. Senators had a broad purple stripe on their tunic, and boys a purple border.

  40. Month named after Julius Caesar

    July

    Learn more: It was called Quintilis, the fifth month of the old year, until it was renamed in 44 BC for Julius Caesar.

  41. Month named after Augustus

    August

    Learn more: Sextilis was renamed in 8 BC for Augustus, who won key victories in that month, including taking Egypt.

  42. Poet who wrote the Aeneid

    Virgil

    Learn more: Virgil wrote the Aeneid under Augustus, telling how the Trojan Aeneas reached Italy. He died in 19 BC, before finishing it.

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