Roman Italy is the period of ancient Italian history going from the founding and rise of Rome to the decline and fall of the Western Roman Empire; the Latin name of the Italian peninsula in this period was Italia. According to Roman mythology and tradition, Rome was founded by Romulus and Remus, descendants of Aeneas, and was initially ruled by seven kings. The Italic city then changed its form of government from monarchy to Republic and grew within the context of a peninsula dominated by the Gauls, Ligures, Veneti, Camunni and Histri in the North, the Etruscans, Latins, Falisci, Picentes, Umbri, Sabines in the Centre, and the Iapygian tribes, the Oscan tribes, and Greek colonies in the South.