21 April 753 B.C. Roman Annalist, Titus Livius, gives this date as the founding of Rome.

21 April 753 B.C.  Roman Annalist, Titus Livius, gives this date as the founding of Rome.

The oldest settlement was 17 miles from the mouth of the Tiber River on a cluster of 7 hills.

Initially, Rome was ruled by Latin kings. By 600 BC, Etruscans from northwestern Italy took control.  By 509 BC, the Romans revolted and broke Etruscan hegemony.  They established a Roman republic with two elected Consuls, elected annually, and assisted by elected administrators.  The election process kept accountability close to the people.  In 387 BC, Gauls invaded Rome.  As a result, the Romans determined they would never allow that to happen again and they took up the sword. They united into a confederation.  As a result, they stood inviolate for 8 centuries.

The Republic ended in 27 BC when Caesar Augustus fleeted up (after internal transformations).  There were 1 million people in Rome by the time of St. Paul.

For the first 200 years, the Pax Romana prevailed and the Roman Empire extended from Spain to the upper headwaters of the Tigris-Euphrates (west to east) and from the sub-Saharan deserts of Africa to the northern islands of England (south to north).

The church at Rome started without apostolic involvement insofar as can be known.  Paul and Peter did not found the church.

By 58ish AD, perhaps 57 AD, Paul wrote his infamous Epistle to the Romans.  He would ultimately travel there, under adverse conditions, and would be imprisoned there 60-62ish AD.  Upon release, Paul engaged in further missionary activity, was later imprisoned in Rome, and died there c.67-68 AD.

Several Caesar oppressed Christian Churchmen until Constantine the Great issued his Edict of Milan in 313, legitimated the Christian religion. Before Constantine, during the persecutions, Christians in Rome frequented the catacombs.  There were about 40 churches in Rome in 313. 

Constantine moved the capital from Rome to Constantinople, rather weakening the city and taking talent with him.

In 410, Visigoths raided the city.

In 476, the Ostrogoths raided the city.

By Gregory the Great’s time (590-600ish), the great city was a backwater and desolate.  He stepped into the leadership vacuum, earning praise for his work.

In 847, Pope Leo IV built a defensive wall around St. Peter’s.  About this time, the term “Pope” began to be reserved for just the bishop of Rome.  Previously, other bishops were called “Papa.”  (They still are in the East).