Rome wasn’t built in a day, as everyone knows. So how long did it take to build this great city of the ancient world? The truth is nuanced and depends on how you define the question.
According to legend, Rome was founded in the year 753 B.C. Meanwhile, research suggests the city began as a small farming settlement around 600 B.C., give or take a century. Whatever the formal start date, in the centuries that followed, Roman builders would construct some of the most famous architectural feats ever seen in the ancient world.
Yet many of their ideas weren’t their own. From aqueducts and arches to dams and domes, the Romans were masters of improving on and expanding existing ideas. The ill-fated Amphitheater of Pompeii and the iconic Colosseum and Pantheon were a few of the Roman buildings that were unrivaled in their day — and their remains still leave visitors in awe.
Though the city rose in fits and starts, Rome reached the height of its great building period between roughly 40 B.C. and 230 A.D. After that, the nation lost its wealth and saw its central government destabilize. Finally, the collapse of the Roman Empire came in 476 A.D. when Germanic tribes broke through the borders.
So, according to the dates offered by ancient historians, it took 1,229 years to build Rome by counting from its founding until its collapse. However, the ancient city actually saw its population max out at one half to one million people in the second century A.D., depending on which estimate you use. And building largely petered out before the empire’s final days. That means it took roughly 800 years to build ancient Rome to its peak.
