The History of: Italy

[MagPiesRUs]

I haven't had the time to fully complete 5 vignettes for Italy, but I thought I'd might as well take some pictures of the ones I've already done before I forget. I'll be sure to update this thread with the next 3 vignettes as I build them.

Here are the other 3 parts of "The History Of" if you missed them:

Britain

France

Russia

The Rise of Rome

Rome, said to have been originally founded by the brothers Romulus and Remus, was at first governed by seven kings. In 509BC however, the last king, Tarquinius was overthrown, and the Roman Republic was set up, ruled by two consuls and the Senate. By 200BC, the Romans controlled all of Italy, and had even begun to expand into Carthage, Spain and Greece. However, the republic was unfit for ruling such a large empire, and Roman generals started trying to take power. One general, Sulla, became a dictator of Rome, as did Julius Caesar. The Senate, fearing Rome returning to being ruled as a monarchy, stabbed Caesar to death. Caesar's adopted son sought revenge, and with the help of Mark Antony, defeated his murderers. They then turned on each other, Octavian eventually defeating Mark Antony and became the first Emperor of Rome, Augustus. A period of peace followed.

At it's height, the Roman Empire stretched from Britannia to Mesopotamia, and from North Africa to Gaul. Ancient Rome contributed much to the world, including technology, architecture, law, art, war and language, which all continue to have great influence today.

Here, a slave helps to build a road so that the Roman army can continue to march on a long campaign.

The Sack of Rome

The Roman Empire fell into decline. The Crisis of the Third Century almost caused the Empire to collapse, due to economic depression, barbarian invasions, plague and civil war. Although Emperor Aurelian helped Rome to recover, the Empire was simply too large and difficult to manage. Emperor Diocleten thus split the Roman Empire into two parts - the Western Roman Empire, ruled from Rome and the Eastern Roman Empire, ruled from Constantinople. The Western Roman Empire faced more and more barbarian invasions. In 410AD, the Visigoths under Alaric besieged Rome, and after being let in by slaves, sacked the city for three days. Later, in 455, the Vandals sacked Rome for fourteen days.

In 476, having been refused land by the Romans, Odoacer's Germanic mercenary army quickly conquered Italy, becoming King of Italy. The Western Roman Empire had fallen, and soon it would be under the control of various barbarian tribes.

A few more pictures can be found here

Enjoy! Feedback is much appreciated.

Edited October 2, 2009 by TinyPiesRUs

[mautara]

Nice idea and nice works.

If i can say one thing, the 8 x 8 base you chose as the standard for your vignrttes could not give the possibility of inserting deatails that can make the vignettes talk without text.

But i repeat nice works (my favourites are the france ones)

[Captain Blackmoor]

I think it looks quite nice.

Perhaps it's a good idea to make some more vignettes about the history of Italy. The WWII perhaps?

[Sir Dillon]

I'm glad to see you are still working on this project.

The first vignette looks good, but the stone is far too big for one man to be holding up like that.

The second has a great sense of action. I like the fellow jumping out of the window. If you're looking for things to add, perhaps some smoke or dark bricks around the windows to represent scorched stone?

[hewkii9]

First vignette - I really like that little cart, and the Roman guard, although I don't understand why the slave has a tiny fringe of hair. Maybe give him a hairpiece?

Second - The fire and the man jumping out the window look quite nice, but the building could look a bit more damaged.