After the expulsion of Lucius Tarqunius Superbus in 509 BC (conveniently one year before democracy was invented in Athens), the Romans founded a Republic.
The most powerful political body in the Republic was the Senate, an exclusive assembly of Rome's most influential families. Two consuls with a wide range of legal powers were elected for one-year terms. (The first two consuls, naturally enough, were the husband of Lucretia, Lucius Tarqunius Collatinus and Lucius Junius Brutus, the two men who had overthrown the king.) Day-to-day running of the Republic was in the hands of popular assemblies such as the Comita Tributa, Comita Centuriata, Comita Plebis, as well as various magistrates (censors, aediles, praetors, tribunes, etc.) Together, these institutions formed a unique blend of monarchy (rule by one person), aristocracy (rule by an elite class), and democracy (rule by the masses), with some form of checks and balances at each level. In times of crisis, the Senate could appoint a dictator, investing him with all legal authority for a six-month period.
Roman citizens were divided into two main classes: patricians (wealthy landowners) and plebians (everyone else).
The Republic soon ran into conflicts with its neighbors, but always won due to superior tactics, discipline, and sheer tenacity. After the Social Wars against several other Italian city-states, Rome found itself in control of the entire Italian peninsula. This led it into competition with the other dominant power in the eastern Mediterranean, Carthage (in modern-day Tunisia.) The first Punic War (Punic was the language of the Carthaginians) left Rome in control of Sicily. The second Punic War began with Hannibal ravaging Italy, but ended with Publius Cornelius Scipio Africanus defeating Hannibal and conquering all Carthaginian territory in the Mediterranean. Although defeated, Carthage began to build up its military again (famously leading the Roman senator Cato the Elder began to end all his speeches, no matter the subject, by adding "ceterum censeo Carthaginem esse delendam.") In the third and final Punic War, Carthage was indeed completely destroyed.
While this was happening, Rome was simultaneously fighting, and winning, a war against a union of Greek city-states. The Greek city of Corinth was destroyed the same day as Carthage, leaving Rome in control of Italy, Spain, northern Africa, and Greece.
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