According to Varro, the foundation of the city, was laid by Romulus on the 20th April, in the year 3961 of the Julian period (3251 years after the creation of the world, 753 years before the birth of Christ). The Romans conquered nearly the whole of the then known world. In the time of Julius Caesar, the empire was bounded by the Euphrates, Taurus, and Armenia on the east; by Africa and Ethiopia on the south; by the Danube on the north; and by the Atlantic on the west. It included much of Europe, the Middle East, and North Africa.
On the death of Constantius at York, in Britain, in 306, the troops under his son, Constantine, saluted him as emperor. In 313 he had conquered the West and had established his power in Rome. Licinius remained in the east to oppose him, but was defeated in battle, and put to death by order of Constantine (his brother- in-law) in 324. Constantine then reigned alone. He established Constantinople as the capital of the Empire, and died on 22nd May, 337.
The Empire was divided into Eastern and Western by Diocletian in 296; but was reunited under Constans in 340. It was again divided into Eastern and Western by Valentinian and Valens, the former having made the latter, his brother, emperor of the West in 364.
The Western Empire, with Rome as its capital, came to an end in 476 when Odoacer, king of the Heruli took the city. He assumed the title of King of Italy, and completed the fall of the Western Empire. The Eastern Empire came to an end with the capture of Constantinople, its capital, by the Turks, and the death of Constantine XIII on 29th May, 1453. Thence afterwards, Constantinople formed part of the Ottoman Empire, and its name was changed to Istanbul. It remains the only portion in Europe of the once powerful Turkish Empire today under Turkish control.
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