Ancient Rome was founded about 750 BC. At this time, the most powerful people in this part of the world were the ancient Greeks. Greece lies to the east of Italy and the Greeks took over the south of Italy as part of their empire.

Another powerful people were the Etruscans and they ruled over northern Italy.

In between, and on the southern banks of the River Tiber was the small kingdom ruled by king Romulus.

The myth of the founding of Rome is shown in this sculpture. It shows the she-wolf who brought up the babies Romulus and Remus after they had been abandoned by their father. The myth is untrue, but the city of Rome is named after its first king – Romulus.

There is plenty of fertile land near Rome and so Romans grew up as farmers. They stayed farmers at heart even when they had an empire and the most powerful people lived on country estates they called villas.

But the Romans always felt threatened by their powerful neighbours, and so they decided to make themselves a bigger land by conquering the areas around them.

Their neighbours also lived in fine cities and this is what the Romans wanted to do as well.

The weakest of their neighbours were the Etruscans, so the Romans defeated them first. Then Greece also became weak, and this allowed the Romans to take their lands in Italy. Rome now controlled all of Italy.

The Romans then began to conquer more lands around the coasts of the Mediterranean Sea, including Greece and Egypt. Their hardest battle was with the people of Carthage (now Tunisia, North Africa) and their leader, Hannibal, nearly beat the Romans.

The Roman empire was vast. It needed strong rulers to hold it together.

The 'barbarians' to the north were also able warriors. So when there was trouble back in Rome, the barbarians were quick to attack and capture the lands of the empire. They even burned Rome to the ground in 410.

Within a century, most of the huge empire had been lost. Rome would never be great again.

When tourists visit the ancient centre of Rome they mostly find themselves surrounded with piles of rubble. But in the past this was the heart of Rome. It had many temples, but much of the space was also taken up with great open squares enclosed with colonnaded buildings where business was done.

The whole space was called a forum. It was a mixture of temples, basilicas (shops and offices) and open spaces, or plazas.

The Roman Senate was keen to show gratitude to its most successful emperor-generals and it did this by building triumphal arches in the forum.

There are three arches in the Roman Forum. Each one is made of two main pillars connected by a large arch, and on top of it all is an 'attic' where a statue used to be placed. It is also where the reason for the arch is written for all to see.

The Palatine Hill, which overlooks the side of the Roman Forum, was the most important place for living in Roman times. Not surprisingly, therefore, this was where the emperors lived. They called a palace a 'domus' meaning home. These great buildings had enclosed courtyards surrounded by buildings of many stories where servants lived, too.