By the century the historian Ammianus Marcellinus wrote those words, Rome had ruled the world for over half a thousand years and had existed for a millennium. Until the fall of the West, it stood as the greatest city on earth.

Welcome to Rome! Founding city of the ancient world (and AncientSites), oldest of all virtual cities! Rome's greatness grew out of its imperial program of conquering others and establishing colonies that then grew to want the benefits of Rome's world. This military expansion at once brought great material benefit to the Roman state and guaranteed a pipeline of wealth for Rome, the imperial city. And Rome became a cosmopolitan capital where high-living and material wealth become synonymous with personal importance and success.

Explore our neighborhoods set on our famous seven hills ("collis"). Explore the dangerous excitements of the Subura, visit an artist's house on the Aventine, mix with the rich and famous on the Palatine or Esquiline, spend a day at the Forum with its Senators, judges, Consuls, advocates, and the mobs who love to people-watch. Stroll along the Tiber, visit the cattle market at the Forum Boarium, view Augustus' monuments on the Campus Martius or the many great gates of Rome enclosed within its mighty walls.