1. The roman empire begins in 27 bc with the victory of octavian over mark anthony 2. Rome falls to germanic tribes in 476 ad 3. The christian church splits onto roman catholic and eastern orthodox in 1054 4. The babylonian captivity was a 70 year period, beginning in 1307, where the popes chose to rule the church from avignon, france 5. The black plague resulted in the deaths of one-third of italy’s population.
