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At first sight, the story of Rome seems more the stuff of fantasy or legend than of history. It tells how the inhabitants of a small town and its hinterland--a region with few obvious natural or strategic advantages--manged, by military powers, to make themselves masters first of Italy and then of entire Mediterranean world, including much of Europe, the Middle Eastern area, and North Africa. Only the Han Chinese (206-220BCE), the Romans' contemporaries far away in unknown east, could in any way rival their achievement. yet there was always more to Rome's progress than simple skill in arms. The Romans were also builders and law-makers on a heroic scale, and they left a permanent mark on all the lands that they ruled. The soul of the Romans Anyone seeking to understand the Romans should start with their military background. First and foremost, they were good and valiant soldiers. Initially they fought out of necessity, to ensure the survival of their remote and hilly city. Later, the urge for expansion entered their bloodstream--victory in repeated does turned out to be a heady drug. The history of ancient Rome extends over a period of about a thousand years and divided into six phases. At first a collection of independent city-states, Rome developed into a single monarchy, and then an empire that covered much of Europe and streched into North Africa and the Middle East. For Roman writers, civilized peoples inhabited cities and practiced agriculture; they were well-ordered individuals and societies.