According to legend, Rome was founded by Romulus in 753 BC on Palatine Hill. The valley below then became the city’s epicenter. The Foro Romano, better known as the Roman Forum, continued to expand during the next thousand years into a complex of gorgeous triumphal arches, temples, churches and political buildings. It visually displayed the Romans’ worldly powers until the Western Roman Empire collapsed in 476 AD. It was not until the 19th and 20th centuries that most of these ruins were excavated.
