Almost everything modern democracies use — senates, vetoes, checks and balances, citizenship rights — was invented by the Roman Republic.
Plan a history trip →509 BC: Tarquin the Proud expelled, Republic founded. 494 BC: first secession of the plebs (the working class literally left the city until they got political rights). 390 BC: Gauls sack Rome (the only time before 410 AD). 264–146 BC: Punic Wars. Hannibal crosses the Alps with elephants (218 BC). Rome destroys Carthage (146 BC). 133–31 BC: Republic collapses. Gracchi reforms, Sulla’s dictatorship, Spartacus revolt (73 BC), Caesar conquers Gaul, crosses the Rubicon (49 BC), is assassinated (44 BC). Octavian defeats Antony+Cleopatra at Actium (31 BC).
Roman Forum: where the Senate met, where Caesar was cremated. Largo di Torre Argentina, Rome (free, viewable from street): where Caesar was actually stabbed. Via Appia Antica: built 312 BC, where Spartacus’s 6,000 followers were crucified.
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