The
Roman Republic (; ) was the period of
ancient Roman civilization beginning with the
overthrow of the
Roman Kingdom, traditionally dated to 509 BC, and ending in 27 BC with the establishment of the
Roman Empire. It was during this period that Rome's control expanded from the
city's immediate surroundings to
hegemony over the entire
Mediterranean world. During the first two centuries of its existence the Roman Republic expanded through a combination of conquest and alliance, from
central Italy to the entire
Italian peninsula. By the following century it included
North Africa,
Spain, and what is now
southern France. Two centuries after that, towards the end of the 1st century BC, it included the rest of
modern France,
Greece, and much of the
eastern Mediterranean. By this time, internal tensions led to a series of
civil wars, culminating with the
assassination of Julius Caesar, which led to the transition from republic to empire. The exact date of transition can be a matter of interpretation. Historians have variously proposed
Julius Caesar's crossing of the Rubicon River in 49 BC, Caesar's appointment as
dictator for life in 44 BC, and the defeat of
Mark Antony and
Cleopatra at the
Battle of Actium in 31 BC. However, most use the same date as did the ancient Romans themselves, the
Roman Senate's grant of extraordinary powers to
Octavian and his adopting the title
Augustus in 27 BC, as the defining
event ending the Republic.