After occupying North Africa, Spain and southern Gaul (modern France), the Romans attack and conquer the Macedonian kingdom in Greece (battle of Cynoscephalae in 197 BC), and the Seleucid empire in Asia Minor and Syria ( battle of Magnesia, 190 BC). Rome now controlled almost all of the Mediterranean.

The Ides of March: the Roman republic breaks down in a series of very bloody civil wars started by consul Julius Caesar. He was opposed by most of the senate. Caesar defeated the armies raised by the senate, but was then assassinated on March 15, 44 BC. (In the Roman calendar, the middle of the month was called the "ides".) The wars end with the victory of Octavian (Caesar's adopted son) over Cleopatra, the queen of Egypt, and Mark Anthony at the naval battle Actium in 31 BC. Egypt became a Roman province the next year. Octavian then becomes the first Roman emperor under the name Augustus.

Jesus Christ preaches in Palestine. After his execution around 30 AD, his followers called apostles continue to spread his doctrine--which was the beginning of the Christian religion.

The poets Horace, Ovid and Virgil, and the historians Livy and Tacitus mark the highpoint of Roman literature.

Roman Recipes