Rome was a civilization that started in Central Italy and eventually went on to conquer the entire Mediterranean and much of Europe. A complete history of the Romans is too complex and extensive to give here. Basically, Rome was founded as a small city-state in 753 BCE. Until 509 BCE they were ruled by kings. In that year, the kings were overthrown and Rome became a republic ruled by elected senators and counsels. It was during its time as a republic that Rome began expanding its borders by conquering its neighbors, including Greece. In 27 BCE, the Roman Empire was established by Augustus. Rome remained an empire until it was conquered by barbarians in the 5th Century CE.

The Romans themselves were a mix of ethnicities. They started off as members of the Latin tribe in Central Italy. As they spread across Italy and then across the Mediterranean and Europe, the Romans absorbed many more ethnicities. Many of these other groups became Romanized, meaning they adopted the culture and customs of the Romans and essentially became Roman themselves.

The Roman conquest of Greece began in 146 BCE after the Battle of Corinth when the Romans took control of Macedonia. The rest of Greece was added piecemeal to Rome over the next century. The province of Pergamon came to Rome through peaceful means in 133 BCE when its king left it to Rome in his will. The revolt of Athens in 88 BCE led the Romans to directly conquer the city and its region and place it under direct Roman administration. The Roman Civil Wars were fought largely on Greek soil, leaving the region in ruins. After the wars, Emperor Augustus placed southern Greece under the administration of the governors of the Achaea Province.

Interestingly, although it was the Romans who conquered Greece, Greek culture survived and was readily appropriated by the Romans. Many Roman aristocrats began adopting Greek customs and patronizing Greek-inspired arts. Many consider the conquest of Greece to be the catalyst for bringing civilization to Rome. As Horace, the 1st Century Roman poet, wrote "Captive Greece took captive her savage conqueror and brought the arts to rustic Latium."