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By tradition, Rome was founded on April 21, 753 BC, by Romulus, who killed in the process his twin brother named Remus. This date was the basis for the Roman calendar and the Julian calendar (Ab urbe condita) Romulus and Remus were allegedly sons of the god Mars and the priestess Rea Silvia, daughter of Numitor, king of Albalonga. The boys were abandoned to save them from the hate of Amulius, a pretender to Albalonga's throne, and taken care of by a she-wolf, even today one of the symbols of Rome.
Romulus was followed on the throne by six kings. Most of these succeeding kings had Etruscan names, suggesting that members of the mature Etruscan civilization to the north of Rome dominated the city.
The last king was thrown out by the citizens and replaced by a republican government. The expulsion of the king and the founding of theRepublic in 509 BC is sometimes presented as the breaking away of a Latin-speaking population from the control of an Etruscan ruling family.
The RomanRepublic lasted as a representative government of Rome from 509 B.C. until the establishment of the RomanEmpire, which is typically placed at 44 BC or 27 BC. The last Roman emperor in the western half of the empire was deposed in 476. The eastern part of the empire continued without interruption, but with gradually shrinking territory, until 1453 when Constantinople fell to the Ottoman Turks (See Byzantine Empire).
