Ionian settlers founded Elaia, Kyme, Rhegion, Naxos, Zankles, Hymera, and Katane.

Doric colonists
founded Taras, Syrakousai, Megara Hyblaia, Leontinoi, Akragas, Ghelas;
the Syracusans founded Ankón and Adria; the megarese founded Selinunte.
The Achaeans founded Sybaris, Poseidonia, Kroton, Lokroi Epizephyrioi,
and Metapontum; tarantini and thuriots found Herakleia. The Greek colonization placed the Italic
peoples in contact with democratic forms of government and with high artistic and cultural
expressions.[78]

Ancient Rome
Further information: Roman Kingdom, Roman Republic, and Roman Empire

of architecture and engineering of ancient history.

Rome, a settlement around a ford on the river Tiber in central Italy conventionally founded in 753
BC, was ruled for a period of 244 years by a monarchical system, initially with sovereigns
of Latin and Sabine origin, later by Etruscan kings. The tradition handed down seven
kings: Romulus, Numa Pompilius, Tullus Hostilius, Ancus Marcius, Tarquinius Priscus, Servius
Tullius and Tarquinius Superbus. In 509 BC, the Romans expelled the last king from their city,
favouring a government of the Senate and the People (SPQR) and establishing an oligarchic
republic.
The Italian Peninsula, named Italia, was consolidated into a single entity during the
Roman expansion and conquest of new lands at the expense of the other Italic
tribes, Etruscans, Celts, and Greeks. A permanent association with most of the local tribes and cities
was formed, and Rome began the conquest of Western Europe, Northern Africa and the Middle
East. In the wake of Julius Caesar's rise and death in the first century BC, Rome grew over the
course of centuries into a massive empire stretching from Britain to the borders of Persia, and
engulfing the whole Mediterranean basin, in which Greek and Roman and many other cultures
merged into a unique civilisation. The long and triumphant reign of the first emperor, Augustus,
began a golden age of peace and prosperity. Roman Italy remained the metropole of the empire,
and as the homeland of the Romans and the territory of the capital, maintained a special status
which made it Domina Provinciarum ("ruler of the provinces", the latter being all the remaining
territories outside Italy).[79][80][81] More than two centuries of stability followed, during which Italy was
referred to as the Rectrix Mundi ("governor of the world") and Omnium Terrarum Parens ("parent of
all lands").[82]
The Roman Empire was among the most powerful economic, cultural, political and military forces in
the world of its time, and it was one of the largest empires in world history. At its height under Trajan,
it covered 5 million square kilometres.[83][84] The Roman legacy has deeply influenced Western
civilisation, shaping most of the modern world; among the many legacies of Roman dominance are
the widespread use of the Romance languages derived from Latin, the numerical system, the
modern Western alphabet and calendar, and the emergence of Christianity as a major world religion.
[85]
The Indo-Roman trade relations, beginning around the 1st century BCE, testify to extensive
Roman trade in far away regions; many reminders of the commercial trade between the Indian
subcontinent and Italy have been found, such as the ivory statuette Pompeii Lakshmi from the ruins
of Pompeii.
In a slow decline since the third century AD, the Empire split in two in 395 AD. The Western Empire,
under the pressure of the barbarian invasions, eventually dissolved in 476 AD when its last
emperor, Romulus Augustulus, was deposed by the Germanic chief Odoacer. The Eastern half of
the Empire survived for another thousand years.