RIP Roman (Byzantine) Empire
May 29, 2010 marks the 557th year since the fall of Constantinople, and with it the final vestiges of the Roman Empire (or “Byzantine Empire”, for you Philistines out there 
).
Tradition has it that Rome was founded on April 21, 753 BC by Romulus and Remus, a pair of half-divine twin brothers. It seems that father Mars started off as an agricultural god but became something of a God-of-War, when the Roman Republic started on its multi-century project of conquering the known world… and then defending those conquests.
While the Rome in the West enjoyed 12 centuries of existence (ending on September 4, 476 when Romulus Augustulus abdicated to Odoacer) Rome in the East lasted another millenium. As such, if one dates the magnificent Roman civil experiment to 753 BC, it survived in a myriad of evolving forms for well over two millenia! And even then, Muslim conqueror Mehmed II declared himself Caesar of Rome upon his conquest!
Rome/Constantinople, April 21 753 BC - May 29 1453. Passed away from invasion after a 2,206 year run. RIP.