The Romans did not always have their games. And once the games had been instituted, their nature and scope changed over the course of time, a commodity that Rome possessed in abundance. Indeed, ancient Roman civilization existed for perhaps fifteen centuries or more. Archaeologists believe that the first villages appeared on one or more of Rome's famed seven hills as early as 1000 B. C. (The city's traditional founding date of 753 B. C. may represent a dim recollection of the unification of these villages into one central town.) And the inhabitants of Italy still thought of themselves as Romans for almost a century after the last emperor was forced to vacate the throne in A. D. 476.

Modern historians divide this long timespan into three general eras (or kinds of government) —the Kingship, the Republic...