inception ludovisi battle sarcophagus
Porta Tiburtina or Porta San Lorenzo is a gate in the Aurelian Walls of Rome , Italy , through which the Via Tiburtina exits the city . Aurelian ( ___MASK37___ September 214 or 215  September or October 275 ) was Roman Emperor from 270 to 275 . Born in humble circumstances , he rose through the military ranks to become emperor . During his reign , he defeated the Alamanni after a devastating war . He also defeated the Goths , Vandals , Juthungi , Sarmatians , and Carpi . Aurelian restored the Empire ' s eastern provinces after his conquest of the Palmyrene Empire in 273 . The following year he conquered the Gallic Empire in the west , reuniting the Empire in its entirety . He was also responsible for the construction of the Aurelian Walls in Rome , and the abandonment of the province of Dacia . The European Union ( EU ) is a political and economic union of member states that are located primarily in Europe . It has an area of , and an estimated population of over 510 million . The EU has developed an internal single market through a standardised system of laws that apply in all member states . EU policies aim to ensure the free movement of people , goods , services , and capital within the internal market , enact legislation in justice and home affairs , and maintain common policies on trade , agriculture , fisheries , and regional development . Within the Schengen Area , passport controls have been abolished . A monetary union was established in ___MASK6___ and came into full force in 2002 , and is composed of 19 EU member states which use the euro currency . The Baltic Sea ( ; ) is a sea of the Atlantic Ocean , enclosed by Scandinavia , Finland , the Baltic countries , and the North European Plain . It includes the Gulf of Bothnia , the Bay of Bothnia , the Gulf of Finland , the Gulf of Riga , and the Bay of Gdask . The sea stretches from 53 ° N to ___MASK74___ ° N latitude and from 10 ° E to 30 ° E longitude . A mediterranean sea of the Atlantic , with limited water exchange between the two bodies , the Baltic Sea drains through the Danish islands into the Kattegat by way of the straits of Øresund , the Great Belt , and the Little Belt . Lazio (; ) is one of the ___MASK88___ administrative regions of Italy , situated in the central peninsular section of the country . With almost ___MASK96___ . 9 million residents and a GDP of more than 170 billion euros , Lazio is the second most populated region of Italy ( having approximately the same in population as Campania ), and has the second largest economy of the nation . Its capital is Rome , capital and largest city of Italy . The Roman Empire ( Koine and Medieval Greek :    , tr . ) was the post - Roman Republic period of the ancient Roman civilization , characterized by government headed by emperors and large territorial holdings around the Mediterranean Sea in Europe , Africa and Asia . The city of Rome was the largest city in the world BC AD , with Constantinople ( New Rome ) becoming the largest around ___MASK73___ AD , and the Empire ' s populace grew to an estimated 50 to 90 million inhabitants ( roughly ___MASK88___ % of the world ' s population at the time ). The ___MASK73___ - year - old republic which preceded it was severely destabilized in a series of civil wars and political conflict , during which Julius Caesar was appointed as perpetual dictator and then assassinated in 44 BC . Civil wars and executions continued , culminating in the victory of Octavian , Caesar ' s adopted son , over Mark Antony and Cleopatra at the Battle of Actium in 31 BC and the annexation of Egypt . Octavian ' s power was then unassailable and in 27 BC the Roman Senate formally granted him overarching power and the new title " Augustus ", effectively marking the end of the Roman Republic . The Ludovisi Battle sarcophagus or `` Great '' Ludovisi sarcophagus is an ancient Roman sarcophagus dating to around 250 -- 260 AD from a tomb near the Porta Tiburtina . It is also known as the Via Tiburtina Sarcophagus , though other sarcophagi have been found there . It is known for its densely populated , anti - classical composition of `` writhing and highly emotive '' Romans and Goths , and is an example of the battle scenes favored in Roman art during the Crisis of the Third Century . Discovered in 1621 and named for its first modern owner , Ludovico Ludovisi , the sarcophagus is now displayed at the Palazzo Altemps in Rome , part of the National Museum of Rome . The sarcophagus is a late outlier in a group of about twenty - five late Roman battle sarcophagi , the others all apparently dating to 170 - 210 , made in Rome or in some cases Athens . These derive from Hellenistic monuments from Pergamon in Asia Minor showing Pergamene victories over the Gauls , and were all presumably commissioned for military commanders . The Portonaccio sarcophagus is the best known and most elaborate of the main Antonine group , and shows both considerable similarities to the Great Ludovisi sarcophagus , and a considerable contrast in style and mood . The Visigoths were the western branches of the nomadic tribes of Germanic peoples referred to collectively as the Goths . These tribes flourished and spread during the late Roman Empire in Late Antiquity , or the Migration Period . The Visigoths emerged from earlier Gothic groups ( possibly the Thervingi ) who had invaded the Roman Empire beginning in 376 and had defeated the Romans at the Battle of Adrianople in 378 . Relations between the Romans and the Visigoths were variable , alternately warring with one another and making treaties when convenient . The Visigoths invaded Italy under Alaric I and sacked Rome in ___MASK83___ . After the Visigoths sacked Rome , they began settling down , first in southern Gaul and eventually in Spain and Portugal , where they founded the Visigothic Kingdom and maintained a presence from the 5th to the 8th centuries AD . The Roman army ( Latin : ) is a term that can in general be applied to the terrestrial armed forces deployed by the Romans throughout the duration of Ancient Rome , from the Roman Kingdom ( to c . ___MASK73___ BC ) to the Roman Republic ( ___MASK73___  31 BC ) and the Roman Empire ( 31 BC  395 / 476 AD ), and its successor the East Roman or Byzantine Empire . It is thus a term that may span approximately 2 , 000 years , during which the Roman armed forces underwent numerous permutations in composition , organisation , equipment and tactics , while conserving a core of lasting traditions . The Goths were an East Germanic people , two of whose branches , the Visigoths and the Ostrogoths , played an important role in the fall of the Western Roman Empire and the emergence of Medieval Europe . The Goths dominated a vast area , which at its peak under the Germanic king Ermanaric and his sub - king Athanaric possibly extended all the way from the Danube to the Don , and from the Black Sea to the Baltic Sea . The Crisis of the Third Century , also known as Military Anarchy or the Imperial Crisis ( AD 235  284 ), was a period in which the Roman Empire nearly collapsed under the combined pressures of invasion , civil war , plague , and economic depression . The Crisis began with the assassination of Emperor Severus Alexander by his own troops in 235 , initiating a ___MASK27___ - year period in which there were at least 26 claimants to the title of Emperor , mostly prominent Roman army generals , who assumed imperial power over all or part of the Empire . The same number of men became accepted by the Roman Senate as emperor during this period and so became legitimate emperors . The Roman Senate was a political institution in ancient Rome . It was one of the most enduring institutions in Roman history , being established in the first days of the city ( traditionally founded in ___MASK65___ BC ). It survived the overthrow of the kings in 509 BC , the fall of the Roman Republic in the 1st century BC , the division of the Roman Empire in 395 AD , the fall of the Western Roman Empire in 476 AD , and the barbarian rule of Rome in the 5th , 6th , and 7th centuries . Roman art refers to the visual arts made in Ancient Rome and in the territories of the Roman Empire . Roman art includes architecture , painting , sculpture and mosaic work . Luxury objects in metal - work , gem engraving , ivory carvings , and glass are sometimes considered in modern terms to be minor forms of Roman art , although this would not necessarily have been the case for contemporaries . Sculpture was perhaps considered as the highest form of art by Romans , but figure painting was also very highly regarded . The two forms have had very contrasting rates of survival , with a very large body of sculpture surviving from about the 1st century BC on wards , though very little from before , but very little painting at all remains , and probably nothing that a contemporary would have considered to be of the highest quality . Ludovico Ludovisi ( ___MASK99___ or 27 October 1595  ___MASK79___ November ___MASK63___ ) was an Italian cardinal and statesman of the Roman Catholic Church . He was an art connoisseur who formed a famous collection of antiquities , housed at the Villa Ludovisi in Rome . Rome is a city and special " comune " ( named " Roma Capitale ") in Italy . Rome is the capital of Italy and of the Lazio region . With ___MASK20___ , 870 , 336 residents in , it is also the country ' s largest and most populated " comune " and fourth - most populous city in the European Union by population within city limits . The Metropolitan City of Rome has a population of ___MASK26___ . 3 million residents . The city is located in the central - western portion of the Italian Peninsula , within Lazio ( Latium ), along the shores of Tiber river . The Vatican City is an independent country geographically located within the city boundaries of Rome , the only existing example of a country within a city : for this reason Rome has been often defined as capital of two states . Via Tiburtina is an ancient road in Italy leading east - northeast from Rome to Tivoli ( Latin , Tibur ) and then on to Pescara ( Latin , Aternum ). Historical road . It was built by the Roman consul Marcus Valerius Maximus around ___MASK18___ BC and later lengthened to the territories of the Marsi and the Aequi , in the Abruzzo , as Via Valeria . Its total length was approximately ___MASK78___ km from Rome to Aternum ( the modern Pescara ). It exited Rome through the Aurelian Wall at the Porta Tiburtina , and through the Servian Wall at the Porta Esquilina . Historians assert that the Via Tiburtina must have come into existence as a trail during the establishment of the Latin League . Though afterward it became an important thoroughfare , the first portion of the Via Tiburtina always retained its original name of Via Valeria , which applied only to the portion of the road beyond Tibur . It is difficult to determine the last portion of the course of the Via Tiburtina from the Albulae Aquae to Tibur . The Villa Ludovisi was a suburban villa in Rome , built in the 17th century on the area once occupied by the Gardens of Sallust (" Horti Sallustiani ") near the Porta Salaria . On an assemblage of vineyards purchased from Giovanni Antonio Orsini , Cardinal Francesco Maria Del Monte and others , Cardinal Ludovico Ludovisi erected in the 1620s the main villa building to designs by Domenichino ; it was completed within thirty months , in part to house his , additions to which were unearthed during construction at the site , which had figured among the great patrician pleasure grounds of Roman times . Modern works , most famously Gian Lorenzo Bernini ' s " Pluto and Persephone ", were also represented . The engraving of the grounds by Giovanni Battista Falda ( ___MASK59___ ) shows a short access avenue from a tree - lined exedra in via di Porta Pinciana and cypress - lined avenues centered on each of the facades of the main villa , laid out through open fields , the main approaches to both the villa and the Casino dell ' Aurora converging on gates in the Aurelian Walls , which formed the northern bounds of the park ; symmetrical parterres of conventional form including bosquets peopled with statuary flanked the main avenue of the Casina , and there was an isolated sunken parterre , though these features were not integrated in a unified overall plan . The overgrown avenues contrasting with the dramatic Roman walls inspired Stendhal to declare in ___MASK16___ that the Villa Ludovisi ' s gardens were among the most beautiful in the world . Severus Alexander ( ___MASK68___ October 208  ___MASK86___ March 235 ) was Roman Emperor from 222 to 235 and the last emperor of the Severan dynasty . He succeeded his cousin Elagabalus , upon the latter ' s assassination in 222 , and was ultimately assassinated himself , marking the epoch event for the Crisis of the Third Century  nearly ___MASK27___ years of civil wars , foreign invasion , and collapse of the monetary economy , though this last part is now disputed . Ancient Rome was an Italic civilization that began on the Italian Peninsula as early as the 8th century BC . Located along the Mediterranean Sea and centered on the city of Rome , it expanded to become one of the largest empires in the ancient world with an estimated ___MASK27___ to 90 million inhabitants ( roughly ___MASK88___ % of the world ' s population ) and covering ___MASK96___ . 0 million square kilometers at its height in AD 117 .