Description The civilization of ancient Rome influenced the whole of Western Europe throughout the Middle Ages, the Renaissance, and beyond, in the fields of art and architecture, literature, law and engineering. The ancient civilization, based in Rome, occupied the Italian peninsula, then most of Europe, the Near East and North Africa and lasted for about 800 years. Traditionally founded in 753 B.C., Rome became a kingdom, then a self-ruling republic, free of Etruscan rule, in 501 BC. From then, the history of Rome is one of continual expansion, interrupted only by civil wars in the period 133-27 B.C., until the murder of Julius Caesar and the foundation of the empire under Augustus and his successors. At its peak under Trajan, the Roman Empire stretched from Britain to Mesopotamia and the Caspian Sea. A long train of emperors ruling by virtue of military, rather than civil, power marked the beginning of Rome’s decline. The end of the Roman Empire is generally dated by the sack of Rome by the Goths in 410 A.D. Ancient Rome furniture decoration piece circa 100-200A.D., authenticated by Gerhard Hirsch Associates of Munich, Germany and guaranteed genuine by Walker Christopher Goldsmiths Ltd. This Roman furniture decoration is set into a Walker Christopher Original pendant design, in 14K yellow gold.
