Rome while initially persecuting the Christian faith, would however become its greatest Champion. By the end of the Roman Empire, Rome would make Christianity its state religion and establish the papacy in the Western Roman Empire. However, after 476 A.D. the birthplace of the Roman Empire in the Italian Peninsula would be largely under foreign control. While continuing to leverage its position as the center of the Catholic Christian faith to remain relevant. This period would mark the end of the Roman Empire as a coherent whole. Much of Italy would remain under foreign rule until the modern era. The Eastern Roman Empire, which was more Greek then Roman, however would continue for another 1000 years after the fall of the Western Roman Empire. But it too would fall when it was overcome by Muslim invaders in the 15th Century.

While the Roman Empire had been over for more then fifteen centuries, the vestiges of its empire in the form of religion, and the memories of its glorious past would continue to effect and inspire many great nations that was to follow. It would also experience a period of cultural revival during the Renaissance, and lift Europe out of the Dark Ages. While never regaining its former stature as a superpower, it would still eventually emerge as a center of culture and style in the present day.

Rome was founded in 753 B.C. along the southern banks of the Tiber River, in the Italian Penninsula. The fledgling town grew steadily into a Kingdom and prosperity, aided by its proximity to an important port, and access to natural resources. The Roman system of government was based on a Monarch who held absolute power, but candidates for this position was by the approval of the Senate who were chosen from among clan leaders. The Senate was also responsible for judging whether the Monarch followed established tribal traditions. Society also began to become stratified into two main classes, the Patricians and the Plebians. The wealth and power were mostly concentrated to the Patricians, and the only class allowed to serve on the Senate. The Plebians were mostly responsible for working the lands of the wealthy Patricians. However, they had an assembly who were responsible for casting votes on which candidate would become Monarch, and speaking for the people. Rome's expanding power during this period however also caught the attention of the Etruscans, who would take over the Monarchy of Rome in order to keep them in check. The Romans greatly resented this, so when an Etruscan prince raped the wife of a Patrician. The Romans rose up in revolt.

In 509 B.C. the Etruscan Monarchy was overthrown, ushering in the Republican period of Roman history. This period of Roman history saw great changes in the social and political order. The concept of Roman citizenship was established and ordinary people were able to achieve political power. However, this period was also wrought with conflicts. It began against other Latins and Greek colonists, with the unification of the Italian penninsula under Roman rule. They also had to defend themselves from Gallic invaders, and the Carthaginian Empire.

The Carthaginians would become Rome's greatest enemy as conflicting colonial interests brought them in a series of wars known as the Punic Wars, which eventually saw the annihilation of the Carthaginian Empire and Rome emerging as a world power. It began with the First Punic War (264 B.C. to 241 B.C.) which began as a territorial dispute between Rome and Carthage over Sicily. The Roman's had originally signed a treaty with Carthage to acknowledge their dominion over the Island. However things began to unravel when a band of Mamertines pirates who were of Italian origin had set up a colony in Sicily. The Syracusans, who was of Greek origin, in southeastern Sicily was tired of their raids on the countryside and on shipping and decided to attack them, and use the opportunity to take over the rest of the Island. So these Mamertines, decided to appeal to Rome for help in defending them against the Syracusans. But Rome was hesitant to help them, partly because it felt it improper to support what was virtually a robber-state, and partly because it feared war with a great sea power, and because interference would be a breach of the Carthaginian-Roman treaty. So the Mamertines appealed to the Carthaginians for help, which they did in fact answered, and convinced the Syracusans to back down. However, a faction of the Mamertines, did not want the Carthaginians occupying Sicily and again sent for Roman help but this time to remove the Carthaginians. This time the Romans did come to their aid, since Rome was becoming the de facto guardian of all things Italian as they unified the mainland. This action brought two powerful nations at odds with each other, and resulted in the defeat of the Carthaginian fleet, and Rome getting a foothold on both Sicily and Sardinia.

The legion was the basic unit of Rome's standing army. The legionaires that was part of this army were career soldiers serving for a period of twenty years, and trained constantly in the art of warfare. A legion roughly consisted of 6000 men. The smallest sub-division of men consisted of 8 men accompanied by a pack horse, called a tent-group. Ten tent-groups formed a century,, which each commanded by a non-commission officer called a Centurion. Six of centuries are grouped in three pairs to form a cohort. Ten cohorts would form a legion. Above these were officers of various rank, with a general command one or more legions for a specific campaign. The legionaires fought primarily as infantry. However, a complete legion would also be accompanied by cavalry, seige weapons, logistical and supply personel, and irregular auxilliary troops such as archers and slingers.

The legion was uniquely equiped and for a variety of fighting situations. A legionary's equipment was a short sword called the Gladius, a dagger, two pilums (a special form of a javelin) that could be used to hurl at the enemy or ward off cavalry. For defense, the legionaries wore a metal helmet and carried a large retangular shield that was slighly curved to surround the soldiers body. Behind this he wore either a kind of banded plate armour called the lorica segmentata, a chainmail jacket, or a jacket made of metal scales. The Roman's fought in a group called a maniple, that formed a front that looked like a checker board. Each maniple was capable of rearranging themselves to form a variety of formations, like the tortoise, wedge or refuse (v-shaped) to deal with different situations. This organization allowed the Romans to reinforce tiring troops with the offset maniples, yet presentating a continuous front to the enemy. It also had the advantage of being able to maneuver much more coherently and flexibly on the battlefield.

The Third Punic war (149 B.C. to 146 B.C.), was the killing blow to the Carthaginians. The Numidians were encroaching on Carthaginian territory, so they declared war on the Numidians, who were Roman allies. Using the excuse that the Carthaginians were in material breach of the peace terms of the last war. Scipio returned to Carthage, and raised the city to the ground, and sold the inhabitants into slavery. By the end of the last Punic war, the Romans had also managed to place the Greek territories under Roman control. Roman rule now extended over Spain, northern Africa, Greece, Asia Minor and Egypt.

After Octavius' death, a line of rulers known as the Julio-Claudian Emperors took power. None lived up to the Octavius' level of neither competence nor popularity. In fact two of the most notable despots to ever rule over the Roman Empire came from this line. In that of Caligula, who murdered Senators and seized their property and wives for his own, and Nero, who had blamed a city-wide fire on the Christians bringing in a long period of Christian persecution. Vespasian who ruled from 69 A.D. to 79 A.D. finally ended the rule of the Julio-Claudians to usher in the Flavian dynasty. His rule was marked by his economic thriftiness that restored the fortunes of Rome after the years of Nero's. He was also the Emperor that was responsible for the siege on the Jewish fortress of Masada, where Zealots resorted to suicide rather then to surrender to the Romans.

During the 11th Century A.D. various Italian cities began to assert their autonomy. Milan, Genoa, Venice, Florence, and Pisa, became powerful and independent city-states. In the Southern parts of Italy, the Normans expelled the Saracens and Byzantines, and then in Sicily, establishing the Kingdom of Sicily in 1130 A.D. During the next century, Pope Alexander III and the Northern City-states, formed the Lombard League in order to resists the German Emperor Frederick the First to re-impose Imperial rule over the Italian Peninsula. However, one of his successors, Frederick II, managed to seize Norman Sicily, thus causing the Pope to request help from France to expel the Germans from Sicily. The French managed to do this and imposed feudalism upon Naples, in the south of Italy and in the Island of Sicily. This system of government was highly unpopular, resulting revolts caused the separation of the Island of Sicily to establish its own Kingdom. However by the 15th century both Naples and Sicily became under the rule of the Spanish.

It was also during this time, that the famous Venetian adventurer-merchant turned adviser to an Emperor, Marco Polo made his fabled journey to Mongol China. When he finally returned to Venice from China, he was Captured and jailed by the rival Italian city-state of Genoa. While in prison, he dictated his adventures to his prison mate. His recollections of the wonders and riches of China were so fantastical that there is even controversy today if any of it was true. On his deathbed, he was question about the veracity of his tales to which he replied "I have not told you the half of what I had experienced because I knew that you would not believe me."

This however opened up Italy to great intellectual and cultural revivals. The Italians began to rediscover the writing of the ancient Greeks and Latins. This period would be known as the Italian Renaissance. Prominent families like The Visconti, Sforza, Medici and Easte came to fore to rule the various city-states. While these powerful families subverted the political process, they were instrumental in advancing the cultural and civic life of Renaissance Italy. For example, Florence under the Medici's became the most important center of art in Italy. The Italian Renaissance was felt not only in Italy but also throughout Europe. During the next two centuries, reviving the cultural life in Europe and putting the Dark Ages firmly in the past. Two of the most notable men who were responsible for this revival were Leonardo Da Vinci and Michelangelo. Da Vinci was a painter, sculptor, architect, engineer, and scientist, who envisioned the helicopter and the tank centuries before its time. Michelangelo, was a sculptor, architect, painter, and poet, who painted the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel among his numerous masterpieces.

Spain and Austria would come to control much of the Italian penninsula under the Habsburg Dynasty, until Nationalist movements started by Giuseppe Mazzini during the middle of the 19th century set Italy on the road to independence. Count Camillo di Cavour, prime minister of the Kingdom of Sardinia during this time persuaded Napoleon III of France, to declare war on the Austrians in 1859 A.D. The French forced the Austrian to surrender control of Northern Italy with the exception of Venice to France. They in turn transferred the sovereignty of this captured territory to the Sardinians, in exchange for territory that was closer to France. However the French remained in the Papal States in central Italy at the request of the Pope. The Sardinians would go on to conquer Southern Italy, and the Island of Sicily in 1860 A.D., and then by siding with the Prussians in 1870 A.D. regained Venice from the Austrians. The Papal states had wanted to remain independent from the unification conquests of the Sardinians, but when the French withdrew after the Franco-Prussian war, The Sardinians marched into Rome without opposition. In 1871 A.D. Italy was re-unified under Italian rule with its Capitol once again as Rome.

Their power of gaining two free heavy infantry for every barrack built will be good for an offensive minded player. They should piggyback on this bonus whenever possible, especially in the middle of the game when you have accumulated a lot of resources. So when you have extra timber, plop down a barrack! The Roman gets a unique heavy infantry unit that is superior to others so this power will serve them very well. However, this may open you up to be predictable, and opponents may try to build counters for your heavy infantry. But no worries, just assume that they are, you get your troops free anyway, so just use the saved resources to build counters for their counters. Archers counter heavy infantry, so as soon as you get your free heavy infantry, produce some light infantry to counter their archers. Combined arms and diversity is always good. If you're really rich, of course you can build stables and cavalry units to counter them, but unless necessary, just save it for later. Of course, one should try to keep and eye on their pop cap research to make sure they have room for their free troops.

• Heavy Infantry Line