ABSTRACT
The history of the Roman Empire officially starts in 27 bc, but the history of Rome begins much earlier, in 753 bc. In that year, according to tradition, the twin brothers Romulus and Remus established a small settlement on the left bank of the Tiber. In seven centuries Rome grew from a city-state in central Italy to the dazzling centre of an immense empire. This growth began shortly after the city was founded. In the Regal Period (753-509 bc) the small community on the Tiber developed into a real city, which would become the political, economic and cultural centre of the region. The long rule of the Etruscan kings unquestionably stimulated the urbanisation of Rome. It was they who drained and paved the low-lying, centrally located plain between the Capitol in the west, the Palatine in the south and the Quirinal in the north, thus creating the Forum Romanum, the political heart of Rome.
