Although the background information did not mention any time information, when Zhang Heng heard the names of the five people, he knew where he was this time.
Ancient Rome.
Or to be more precise, the era of the Roman Empire.
The origin of all glorious stories often came from a legend, and ancient Rome was no exception.
Numitor and Amullus were a pair of brothers, and their father was the king of the Latin people. When the king died, he divided his inheritance into two and let his two sons choose. Numitor chose the throne, and Amullus chose the countless treasures that his ancestors brought back from Troy.
So one of the brothers became a king, and the other became as rich as a country.
However, Amullus, who had a lot of wealth, was obviously not willing to live under his eldest brother's rule. So he used his wealth to secretly bribe the ministers and the army, usurping the throne. He exiled his brother, Numitor, and even killed Numitor's son. After that, because of his daughter's plea, he finally spared his eldest brother's daughter, Silvia. Instead of killing her, he made Silvia a Vesta Virgin.
The Vesta Virgin was a priest who served the goddess Vesta. Due to her sacred duty, she had to be chaste and stay away from men. As a result, Silvia would not have any offspring. However, no one expected Mars, the god of war, to suddenly get involved. He fell in love with Silvia and failed to control his lower body, causing Silvia to become pregnant with twins.
Amullus was furious when he heard the news, but because he did not dare to offend Mars, the god of war, he could only imprison Silvia. After she gave birth, he put the two babies in a basket and threw them into the river. He wanted them to die naturally, but the river eventually brought the basket to the shore. A female wolf came to feed them, and a woodpecker helped them find food. In the end, they survived until a passing shepherd adopted them and named them Romulus and Lemos.
Like all other great legends, before a hero becomes a hero, there will always be a turning point. A force will push him to pull out the Sword in the Stone.
It was the same for Romulus. The two brothers grew up very quickly. Then, an accident happened. Romulus was involved in a conflict between shepherds and was captured by the king. It was also at this time that Romulus learned about his life. He gathered many people who hated Amulius and launched an uprising. In the end, he killed Amulius and saved his brother.
However, when everything was settled, the two of them did not inherit the throne. Instead, they chose to return the kingdom to their exiled grandfather, Numitor. After that, they built a new city where the shepherd found the basket.
However, in the process of building the city, the two brothers had a disagreement, which led to a war. Romulus eventually won the war and killed Lemos.
And this new city was named after him.
This is the origin of the name Rome, the capital of ancient Rome.
…
Of course, this story sounded very cliché and ridiculous to later generations. However, there were many similar stories in China, such as Liu Bang killing the white snake, or Laozi crossing the Hangu Pass, and so on. Basically, the earlier the story, the more mythical elements were mixed into it.
In the words of the author of "The History of Rome," "They are not based on reliable historical data, but I suggest that you don't have to confirm them, nor do you have to deny them."
In short, with the establishment of the city of Rome by Romulus, Rome entered the era of kings. It was about 753 BC, and then Rome embarked on the road of expansion. In 509 BC, with the overthrow of the last king of the Etruscan Dynasty, Tacvan the Younger, by the Senate, Rome officially entered the republican era.
Of course, the process during this period was not smooth sailing. Rome was also isolated by its nearby neighbors, but after three Macedonian Wars, Rome controlled all of Greece, and the subsequent Syrian War allowed it to control West Asia. After that, Caesar made his appearance. After defeating his political enemies and two allies, he gathered power and became the actual emperor. However, he was assassinated after that.
Then, his adopted son, Octavian, appeared. After defeating his political enemies and two allies (yes, you read that right, the pattern was the same), he established the principate, and Rome officially entered the era of the empire.
During the Antonine dynasty, the Roman Empire also entered its heyday, ushering in five wise emperors in a row. They were the five people that Zhang Heng heard about in the background introduction. They were known as the Five Virtuous Emperors, especially during the period from Nerva to Antonine's rule. It was also known as the golden age of Rome.
At this time, Rome had a strong army, stable politics, vast territory, and unprecedented prosperity.
However, when Aurelius was on the throne, Rome actually began to go downhill. The barbarians invaded, frequent wars on the border, and a plague swept the country. Under the dual effects of these two factors, the population decreased, the tax revenue decreased, and the military expenditure increased, causing a financial crisis.
Fortunately, Rome still had Emperor Aurelius. This emperor, who was also a philosopher, was very diligent throughout his life. While dealing with the nobles of the senate, he also fought against the barbarians, and at the same time, he had to fight civil wars to quell rebellions. Even so, he still took the time to write a philosophical masterpiece like "Meditations."
However, with the death of Aurelius, the Roman Empire did indeed decline from prosperity to prosperity, no longer able to return to the prosperity of the Golden Age. His son, Commodus, was also the last emperor of the Antonine dynasty. As for the Eastern and Western Rome, that was another story.
Zhang Heng roughly guessed that he should be at the end of the second century AD.
At this time, Rome had begun to decline. After Commodus's death, the empire would fall into a long period of civil strife. For now, one-fifth of the world's population was still under the rule of the Roman Empire. With a territory spanning thousands of miles, it was a veritable great empire.
In fact, Zhang Heng was quite interested in this trip to Rome. After all, the ancient Roman civilization was an important source of Western civilization, and it had a great impact on later generations. Unfortunately, most people could only learn about it from movies and literature.
Zhang Heng, on the other hand, had the opportunity to travel to this ancient and vast empire through this quest. Of course, this main quest also reminded him that this trip to Rome would probably not be easy.
So far, he had received a total of two survival quests. One was the beginner's quest for survival on a deserted island, and the other was the Soviet-Finnish War quest. Survival quests were easy. Even if he did nothing, all he had to do was survive until the end of the quest. However, it was also troublesome because it often meant that it was not easy to survive.
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