Rome is much older than people realize. It's history can be traced for over 1,000 years. The first Romans were the Etruscans. The area which the Etruscans lived was called Tuscany. All of this is found in modern day Italy.

According to legend Rome's origins can be traced to the ancient city of Troy. Romulus and Remus who are considered the founders of Rome were the children of Rhea Silvia who was impregnated by the god Mars. Rhea Silvia was the daughter of Aeneas a Prince of Troy. Legend has it that they were born in 771 BC

The first Romans were a collection of rejects and losers from surrounding tribes, namely the Latins, Greeks, and Sabines. The Romans hated the Etruscans and vice versa. The Etruscans were more powerful and stronger than the Romans, and they let them know this whenever possible.

The city of Rome was founded by the brothers Romulus and Remus. These twins were sent to die by their evil uncle, an Etruscan king. This king believed that the twins would kill him and take his power when they grew up. To solve this, he threw them in the Tiber River. However, this did not happen. According to legend, the twins were rescued by a she-wolf. Now to break this bubble, the twins were probably raised by a she-wolf, however, the translation of she-wolf in Latin was basically a prostitute.

The brothers grew up and did exactly what their uncle the king believed they were going to do, kill him and take his power and money. The year was 753 BC Now the new people of Rome had a new problem. Which brother was to be the king? To solve this the augers, which were the priests, told the brothers to each stand on a hill. The first bird to acknowledge one of the brothers would be the king.

The first bird that came flew towards Romulus. Remus was so jealous he killed his brother on the spot. This is just a prediction of things to come all through the history of Rome. Just because the twins killed the king did not mean that the Etruscans were just going to give up on their whipping boys. On the contrary, the Etruscans held the reigns of power tighter for another 200 years.

Besides having the Etruscans as their masters for the lack of a better term, the Romans couldn't get any girls. They came up with a great plan, invite the large body of Sabines to a feast to show no hard feelings and a sense of unity against the Etruscans. Once the party was getting going and the Sabines were really, really drunk, the Romans who were not really drinking turned on their neighbors, killed as many as possible and stole their women.

By 509 BC the Romans had enough of the Etruscans. A situation occurred that couldn't be overlooked. The ruler of the Romans, a man named Servious was killed by another Roman/Etruscan named Tarquin. Servious was really loved and his death was not well received. This is not the situation I am referring to. Tarquin was very well liked by the Etruscans and this made Rome very uneasy.

Tarquin's son raped a woman named Luquesha. Luquesha was young, beautiful, polite, nice. Everybody loved Luquesha. Luquesha was told by Tarquin's son that if she told anybody about the rape, he would kill her. Other sources say he would say that the real culprit was a slave. In Roman society, for a woman to do this with slaves was very scandalous. Instead of dealing with the shame of being raped, Luquesha killed herself.

Romans went mad. They killed every Etruscan they found, especially the ones of the royal family. The war between the Romans and Etruscans lasted over 100 years. The Romans were able to break away from the Etruscans finally in 392 BC

How exactly were the Romans able to defeat the Etruscans? Rome did something better than any other culture in Europe, organize. The Romans organized everything. They took the ideas from others made it their own and perfected them. Very rarely did the Romans invent something themselves. Rather, they took someone else's idea.

One idea that was their own, they created Triumph Arches for every major victory against the Etruscans. This became a tradition all through their history. The type of government that the Romans created was also unique. Rome were influenced by the Etruscans who in turn were influenced by the Greeks and the Carthigineans of Northern Africa. The king was not a hereditary position in Rome, rather the king was elected by the senate. The king did not hold absolute power either.

The Romans had one person who was called a dictator. The first dictator of Rome was a man named Cincinatus. Cincinatus is compared to George Washington. He was a farmer and a simple man, when his country called on him, he served, first as a general, then as a ruler. His rule was only for 6 months. Any dictator would be allowed to serve for another 6 months if a major emergency arrived.

The other unique part of the Roman government is that they created two councils to counter the possible tyranny of the dictator. The two councils were elected by the Senate who in turn was elected by the people. To us in the United States, we are the people, at least if you are over 18 years old. In Rome this was different. At first only the patricians were able to vote.

Patricians were the upper class citizens. Mostly rich men who owned land. Roman citizens had the right to vote, be elected, get married, own land, participate in the priesthood, sue,sit on a jury, and does not have to pay taxes. With these priveleges came responsibility. A citizen must participate in the census, serve as a soldier between the ages of 17 to 46.

In terms of politics, a specific ladder had to climbed to power. At the bottom of this ladder a man must be a Roman citizen and must have money. A politician must have served at least a 10 year military career before holding political office. This is the minimum age of 27. A elected post in a minor part of civic government must be held for at least one year. The next stage is that of Quaestor at age 30. The Quaestor mostly deals with government funds and how to distribute.

At age 37 a Roman moves up to Aedile. Their primary job is to keep up monuments and supervise public works. At age 41 they may become a consul and have the official power to raise an army. With their army they are to go on expeditions for Rome. At 42, the citizen becomes a proconsul and must govern a province for a year.

The next step is a censor. The only way a man can become a censor is to have been a consul. After this, the Senate and dictator is in their grasp depending on their power, military backing, and banking account.

The other major class of people were the Plebeians. Plebeian were members of Rome that were not rich and could not own land. Regardless, women could not become citizens.

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The evolution of Roman government occurred between 509 BC-133 BC. There were two parts. The Assembly of Centuries, which was the entire Roman army. They passed laws and elected councils. The other was the Assembly of Tribes. This consisted of the Plebians. The Plebeians took a note from the Greeks across the way. They demanded more rights. They were the backbone of Rome. So, in 471 BC a Tribune of 10 was elected to represent the interest of the Plebeians against political attacks. Eventually the 12 Tables developed a standardized law in Rome.