Editing Classics (section)

==Classical Rome==
{{Main|Ancient Rome|Culture of ancient Rome}}

===Language===
{{main|Latin}}
[[File:Praeneste fibula.JPG|right|thumb|alt=Photograph of a gold brooch|The [[Praeneste fibula]] is believed to bear the oldest known Latin inscription. The inscription means "Manius made me for Numerius".]]
The language of ancient Rome was Latin, a member of the [[Italic languages|Italic family of languages]]. The earliest surviving inscription in Latin comes from the 7th century BC, on a [[Praeneste fibula|brooch from Palestrina]]. Latin from between this point and the early 1st century BC is known as [[Old Latin]]. Most surviving Latin literature is [[Classical Latin]], from the 1st century BC to the 2nd century AD. Latin then evolved into [[Late Latin]], in use during the [[Late antiquity|late antique period]]. Late Latin survived long after the end of classical antiquity, and was finally replaced by written Romance languages around the 9th century AD. Along with literary forms of Latin, there existed various vernacular dialects, generally known as [[Vulgar Latin]], in use throughout antiquity. These are mainly preserved in sources such as graffiti and the [[Vindolanda tablets]].

===Literature===
{{main|Latin literature}}
Latin literature seems to have started in 240 BC, when a Roman audience saw a play adapted from the Greek by Livius Andronicus. Andronicus also translated Homer's ''Odyssey'' into Saturnian verse. The poets Ennius, Accius, and Patruvius followed. Their work survives only in fragments; the earliest Latin authors whose work we have full examples of are the playwrights [[Plautus]] and [[Terence]]. Much of the best known and most highly thought of Latin literature comes from the classical period, with poets such as [[Virgil]], [[Horace]], and [[Ovid]]; historians such as [[Julius Caesar]] and [[Tacitus]]; orators such as [[Cicero]]; and philosophers such as [[Seneca the Younger]] and [[Lucretius]]. Late Latin authors include many Christian writers such as [[Lactantius]], [[Tertullian]] and [[Ambrose]]; non-Christian authors, such as the historian [[Ammianus Marcellinus]], are also preserved.

===History===
{{main|Timeline of ancient Rome}}
According to legend, the city of Rome was founded in 753 BC;<ref>{{harvnb|Grant|1978|p=11}}</ref> in reality, there had been a settlement on the site since around 1000 BC, when the [[Palatine Hill]] was settled.<ref>{{harvnb|Grant|1978|p=10}}</ref> The city was originally ruled by kings, first Roman, and then Etruscan{{Snd}}according to Roman tradition, the first Etruscan king of Rome, Tarquinius Priscus, ruled from 616 BC.<ref>{{harvnb|Grant|1978|pp=21–22}}</ref> Over the course of the 6th century BC, the city expanded its influence over the entirety of [[Latium]].<ref>{{harvnb|Grant|1978|p=28}}</ref> Around the end of the 6th century – traditionally in 510 BC{{Snd}}the kings of Rome were driven out, and the city became a republic.<ref>{{harvnb|Grant|1978|p=31}}</ref>

Around 387 BC, Rome was sacked by the Gauls following the [[Battle of the Allia]].<ref>{{harvnb|Grant|1978|p=44}}</ref> It soon recovered from this humiliating defeat, however, and in 381 the inhabitants of [[Tusculum]] in Latium were made Roman citizens. This was the first time Roman citizenship was extended in this way.<ref>{{harvnb|Grant|1978|p=46}}</ref> Rome went on to expand its area of influence, until by 269 the entirety of the Italian peninsula was under Roman rule.<ref>{{harvnb|Grant|1978|p=79}}</ref> Soon afterwards, in 264, the [[First Punic War]] began; it lasted until 241.<ref>{{harvnb|Grant|1978|pp=83–85}}</ref> The [[Second Punic War]] began in 218, and by the end of that year, the Carthaginian general [[Hannibal]] had invaded Italy.<ref>{{harvnb|Grant|1978|pp=98–99}}</ref> The war saw Rome's worst defeat to that point at [[Battle of Cannae|Cannae]]; the largest army Rome had yet put into the field was wiped out, and one of the two consuls leading it was killed.<ref>{{harvnb|Grant|1978|p=101}}</ref> However, Rome continued to fight, annexing much of Spain<ref>{{harvnb|Grant|1978|p=104}}</ref> and eventually defeating Carthage, ending her position as a major power and securing Roman preeminence in the Western Mediterranean.<ref>{{harvnb|Grant|1978|p=106}}</ref>
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