Rome

Rome was traditionally founded in 753 BCE. It became a republic after the last king was expelled in 509 BCE and an empire when Octavian took the name Augustus in 27 BCE. The western empire is usually said to have ended in 476 CE, when the last emperor was deposed. Rome later became the seat of the popes and is now the capital of Italy.

Roman religion treated strange events, or prodigies, as signs of the gods' anger. They were reported to the Senate, which ordered rites to appease the gods. Historians such as Livy drew on these reports. In Book 21 of his History of Rome, Livy describes the winter of 218 BCE, after Hannibal's victory at the Trebia, when Rome heard of 'ships' shining in the sky and figures in white seen around Amiternum.

Modern historians read these lists as evidence of Roman anxiety and religious practice, not as reliable observations. Rome also appears in church history: a synod held there in 745 CE condemned prayers to angels outside the approved names.