Ancient Rome began as a small city-state, but by force established itself as the dominant power of the Mediterranean. Rome was founded by Romulus on April 21, 753 BC and reached its peak in the lands he controlled around 120 AD, then slowly fell. During Rome's heyday, the Roman Empire controlled all of Gaul, parts of Germany and Brittany, and much of the Mediterranean. Because the Romans controlled so much territory, its important rulers, events, and religion impacted much of the world. For starters, there were many important people in Rome. An important Roman general born around 157 BC was named Gaius Marius. He improved the Roman army, turning it into a deadly force. He was the leading general in a great battle called Aqnae Sextiae. Aqnae Sextiae was against two Germanic tribes, the Teutons and the Ambrones, who invaded parts of the Roman Empire in 102 BC. After him, born in July 100 BC, was a Roman general named Gaius Julius Caesar, who later became the first dictator of Rome. In 58 BC Julius invaded Gaul and in 50 BC he conquered Gaul. The Roman Senate named July after him in his honor. On March 15, 44 BC the senators assassinated Julius. Roman generals and others tried to seize power, but ultimately, Julius' adopted nephew Octavian, later known as Augustus, took power. He established himself as emperor. According to many, Augustus was the best emperor. He improved Roman cities by building aqueducts and roads, which led to improved Roman trade. August took its name from him. Another great emperor was Trajan. He was very wise and improved the daily lives of Roman citizens. One generous thing he did was create funds for the poor. Trajan conquered Dacia, a town......middle of paper......which held food. Christianity was not a popular religion around 50 AD; since Nero had begun to persecute the Christians. However, around 300 AD, Constantine had a vision from Christ. Constantine continued and defeated his rival in battle and became a Christian emperor. He granted money and support to the Christian church and with his support Christianity became the dominant religion and the traditional Roman religion was gradually forgotten. The Roman Empire, although perhaps the largest empire, still began as a small city-state. Ancient Rome was an interesting and large empire. Rome had many rulers and important events and Rome had a strange religion. Since the Roman Empire was created by a city-state and in turn that city-state was created only by Romulus, Rome is supposed to represent that even one person can have a great effect on the world..