Doric temple at Paestum, Italy Conquering southern Italy Once they had established their Republic, the Romans began to conquer southern Italy. They used another good idea to help them. The Early Republic Greek [...]
Villanovan cremation urn with helmet on top (ca. 900 BC) Italy's history in antiquity mostly followed the changes that were happening in West Asia a little earlier. The first modern people arrived in Italy [...]
Bust of a man (Rome, ca. 300 BC) Around 500 BC, just as democracy was getting started in Athens, the Roman aristocrats (the rich people) decided they didn't want to be ruled by Etruscan kings anymore. [...]
The Roman Empire in the Late Republic Rome rules the Mediterranean Sea By 146 BC, after the Third Punic War, the Romans were the only important power left in the Mediterranean Sea, and [...]
Niccolo Machiavelli When did Machiavelli live? Around 1500 AD, Machiavelli was working for the government in the city-state of Florence. Florence was smack in the middle of the Renaissance, which meant that everybody [...]
James I of England James I of England When Queen Elizabeth died in 1603 AD, she left England in very good shape. Because Elizabeth had no children, she left power to her nephew [...]
Lorenzo de' Medici In the early 1400s AD, a few rich families ruled the city-state of Florence in northern Italy. With the Holy Roman Empire very weak, these families ran Florence as an independent country. But most people in [...]
St. Mark's Cathedral in Venice, Italy (about 1100 AD) During the fall of the Roman Empire, in the 400s AD, people who lived along the north-east coast of Italy didn't feel safe. Central [...]
Republic of Genoa: Medieval drawing of the city of Genoa, Italy (1493) Genoa in the Early Middle Ages Around 900 AD, the Holy Roman Empire began to lose control of Italy, and Genoa was [...]
Romanesque baptistery in the Republic of Florence, Italy Florence ruled by Matilda of Canossa The last of the Carolingian Holy Roman Emperors died in 924 AD. Then northern Italy - including Florence and nearby Genoa [...]
