Siege of Rome (549–50)

Totila, military and political leader of the Ostrogoths, was attempting to re-conquer the whole of Italy from Justinian and his great general, Belisarius. Belisarius, under Justinian, wanted to conquer all of Italy and restore Italy to its former glory. After Belisarius conquered much of Italy, including the Ostrogoths' capital, Ravenna, the Ostrogoths appointed Totila to power and took much of Italy back over as soon as Belisarius returned to Constantinople. The Gothic Wars laid waste to much of Italy.

In 549-550, Totila, the Ostrogothic leader, besieged Rome for the third and final time. With Belisarius' return to Constantinople the summer before, Totila did not run into any of his previous problems. The Ostrogoths had attempted to besiege Rome two different times before, but fell short or were defeated by Belisarius. Totila first attempted to capture Rome by simply storming the walls and overpowering and exhausting the small Roman garrison of 3,000, but to no avail. Totila, seeing that storming the walls was ineffective, then decided to blockade the city and starve out the defenders, rather than losing any more of his own soldiers. Totila understood that a blockade could take months or years, but was in a far better position than the last siege attempt and decided it was the best course of action. The Byzantine commander Diogenes had previously made preparations of food stores, had wheat fields sowed, and made ready the city walls to try and prepare for a long lasting blockade.

Siege of Rome

The city of Rome has been besieged on several occasions:

See also

Sack of Rome (546)

The Sack of Rome in 546 was carried out by the Gothic king Totila during the Gothic War of 535–554 between the Ostrogoths and the Byzantine Empire. Totila was based at Tivoli and, in pursuit of his quest to reconquer the region of Latium, he moved against Rome. The city endured a siege lasting almost a year before falling to the Goths.

Siege

Bessas, the commander of the imperial garrison, had a stock of grain but would only sell it to the civilian population at highly inflated prices. He also refused requests to let civilians leave the city. The contemporary historian Procopius describes the famine during the siege, in which the ordinary Romans, who were not rich enough to buy grain from the military, were reduced to eating bran, nettles, dogs, mice and finally "each other's dung". Some committed suicide. Finally, the imperial commanders "released such of the Romans as desired to depart from the city". He states that many perished on the journey, since they were already enfeebled by famine and many were killed on the road by the enemy.

Roman Republic (19th century)

The Roman Republic was a state declared on February 9, 1849, when the government of Papal States was temporarily replaced by a republican government due to Pope Pius IX's flight to Gaeta. The republic was led by Carlo Armellini, Giuseppe Mazzini and Aurelio Saffi. Together they formed a triumvirate, a reflection of a form of government seen in the ancient Roman Republic.

One of the major innovations the Republic hoped to achieve was enshrined in its constitution: all religions could be practiced freely and the pope was guaranteed the right to govern the Catholic Church. These religious freedoms were quite different from the situation under the preceding government, which allowed only Catholicism and Judaism to be practiced by citizens. The Constitution of the Roman Republic was the first in the world to abolish capital punishment in its constitutional law.

History

Birth of the Republic

On November 15, 1848, Pellegrino Rossi, the Minister of Justice of the Papal government, was assassinated. The following day, the liberals of Rome filled the streets, where various groups demanded a democratic government, social reforms and a declaration of war against the Empire of Austria. On the night of November 24, Pope Pius IX left Rome disguised as an ordinary priest, and went out of the state to Gaeta, a fortress in the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies. Before leaving he had allowed the formation of a government led by Archbishop Carlo Emanuele Muzzarelli, to whom he wrote a note before leaving:

Rome, Georgia

Located in the foothills of the Appalachian Mountains, Rome is the largest city in and the county seat of Floyd County, Georgia, on the western border of the state. It is the principal city of the Rome, Georgia, Metropolitan Statistical Area, population 96,250 (2009), which encompasses all of Floyd County. At the 2010 census, the city alone had a total population of 36,303. It is the largest city in Northwest Georgia and the 19th largest city in the state.

Rome was built at the confluence of the Etowah and the Oostanaula rivers, forming the Coosa River. Because of its strategic advantages, this area was long occupied by the Creek and later the Cherokee people. National leaders such as Major Ridge and John Ross resided here before Indian Removal.

The city has developed on seven hills with the rivers running between them, a feature that inspired the early European-American settlers to name it for Rome, the longtime capital of Italy. It developed in the antebellum period as a market and trading city due to its advantageous location on the rivers, by which it sent the rich regional cotton commodity crop downriver to markets on the Gulf Coast and export overseas.

Rome (TV series)

Rome is a British-American-Italian historical drama television series created by John Milius, William J. MacDonald and Bruno Heller. The show's two seasons were broadcast on HBO, BBC Two, and RaiDue between 2005 and 2007. They were later released on DVD and Blu-ray. Rome is set in the 1st century BC, during Ancient Rome's transition from Republic to Empire.

The series features a sprawling ensemble cast of characters, many of whom are based on real figures from historical records, but the lead protagonists are ultimately two soldiers, Lucius Vorenus and Titus Pullo, who find their lives intertwined with key historical events. Rome was a ratings success for HBO and the BBC. The series received much media attention from the start, and was honored with numerous awards and nominations in its two-series run. Co-creator Heller stated in December 2008 that a Rome movie was in development, but as of early 2015 no further production had been initiated. The series was filmed in various locations, but most notably in the Cinecittà studios in Italy.

Rome station (New York)

Rome is an Neoclassical train station served by Amtrak. It is located on 6599 Martin Street in Rome, New York between the NY 26-49-69 bridge and Mill Road south of the Erie Canal.

The current station was built between 1912 and 1914 by the New York Central Railroad south of the city proper to replace the former structure downtown. Such a move was necessitated by a track realignment.

The one-and-a-half-story brick building was constructed in a Neoclassical style and includes columns flanking the vestibules, decorative grillwork and large arched windows. The waiting room includes a bowed ticket window and a series of delicate triple-globed bronze chandeliers. At the rear of the waiting room are paired symmetrical staircases with ornate openwork iron railings up to the near platform.

In 1988, Amtrak conveyed the station to the city of Rome. Amtrak proposed to close the station in 1996, but the city resisted and instead found federal funds to renovate the station. The $4 million reconstruction was finished in 2004.