Roman Empire

The Roman Empire was the largest empire of the ancient world. Its capital was Rome. The Empire was round the Mediterranean area.

Roman Empire Senatus Populusque Romanus  (Latin) Imperium Romanum  (Latin) Βασιλεία Ῥωμαίων (Ancient Greek) <span title=" transliteration" class="Unicode" style="white-space:normal; text-decoration: none">Basileía Rhōmaíōn
27 BC – 395 AD (unified) 395 AD – 476/480 AD (Western) 395 AD – 1453 AD (Eastern)
The Roman Empire at its greatest extent, 117 AD, the time of Trajan's death (with its vassals in pink).
Capital	Rome (27 BC to 330 AD) Constantinople (330 AD – 1453 AD)
Common languages	Latin (official until 610 AD) Greek (official after 610 AD) Regional / local languages
Religion	Imperial cult-driven polytheism (Before 380 AD) Nicene Christianity (State Church of the Roman Empire) (From 380 AD)
Demonym(s)	Roman
Government	Semi-elective, functionally absolute monarchy
Some Emperors
• 27 BC – 14 AD	Augustus (first)
• 98 AD – 117 AD	Trajan
• 270 AD – 275 AD	Aurelian
• 284 AD – 305 AD	Diocletian
• 306 AD – 337 AD	Constantine I
• 379 AD – 395 AD	Theodosius I
• 474 AD – 480 AD	Julius Nepos
• 475 AD – 476 AD	Romulus Augustus
• 527 AD – 565 AD	Justinian I
• 780 AD – 797 AD	Constantine VI
• 976 AD – 1025 AD	Basil II
• 1449 AD – 1453 AD	Constantine XI
Legislature	Senate
Historical era	Classical era to Late Middle Ages
• War of Actium	32 BC – 30 BC
•	30 BC – 2 BC
• Constantinople becomes capital	11 May 330 AD
• Final East-West divide	17 January 395 AD
• Fall of the Western Roman Empire	4 September 476 AD
• Murder of Emperor Julius Nepos	25 April 480 AD
• Fourth Crusade	12 April 1204
• Reconquest of Constantinople	25 July 1261
•	29 May 1453
• Fall of Trebizond	15 August 1461
Area
25 BC
117 AD
390 AD
Population
• 25 BC	56,800,000
Currency	Sestertius, Aureus, Solidus, Nomisma
Preceded by Succeeded by Roman Republic Western Roman Empire Eastern Roman Empire

The Empire started in 27 BC, when Octavian became Emperor Augustus after death of Julius Caesar. The fall of Western Roman Empire to the Germanic kings in 476 AD, marked the end of classical antiquity and the beginning of the Middle Ages.

The Empire was the third stage of Ancient Rome. Rome was first ruled by Roman kings, later by the Roman Republic and then by an emperor.

Many modern lands were once part of the Roman Empire such as Britain (not Scotland), Spain, Portugal, France, Italy, Greece, Turkey, Germany, Egypt, Levant, Crimea, Switzerland and the northern coast of Africa. The main language of the Roman Empire was Latin, with Greek as an important secondary language, especially in the Eastern provinces.

The Western half of the Roman Empire lasted for about 500 years until the barbarian general Odoacer defeated its final emperor, Romulus Augustus. On the other hand, the eastern half, consisting of the Balkans, Anatolia, The Levant and Egypt, continued for about 1000 more years. The Levant and Egypt were lost to the Arabs in the 8th century. The eastern part was the Eastern Roman Empire. Its capital was Constantinople, which is now called Istanbul.

Government

In order to control their large empire, the Romans developed ideas about law and government. They developed the best army in the world at the time and ruled by force. They had fine engineering and built roads, cities, and outstanding buildings. The Empire was divided into provinces, each with a governor plus civil and military support. Letters, both official and private, went constantly to and from Rome.

Trade was most important for Rome, a city of more than a million people (which was by far the largest city in the world). It needed and got wheat from Egypt, tin from Britannia, grapes from Gaul and so on. In return, the Romans built provincial capitals into fine cities, protected them from raids by barbarians. They gave education and career opportunities for young people in the provinces, such as jobs in the Roman army.

In principle, Emperors had absolute control and could do as they pleased. In practice, they faced some difficult problems. They had a staff of what would today be called "civil servants" and the advice of the Roman Senate. The emperor had to decide the most important issues facing the empire, and what should be done about them. Most tried to do two things. One was doing things to improve the life of Romans in peacetime. The other was fighting and defeating Rome's enemies, which the wealthy empire always had.

For Roman emperors the succession would often be an adopted son. The Emperor would notice an outstanding young man from one of the best families and would adopt him as his son. Before he died, he would make clear who he thought should succeed him. He could make his adopted son a Roman consul, or state in his will that the younger man should succeed him. Sometimes, that worked well. but not always. Every now and then, a civil war would be fought between claimants to the throne.

An adopted son or two gave the Emperor more choices. Some Emperors had no son, and others had sons who did not survive. Later on, Emperors grew so weak that the Roman army would just pick one of their generals to be the next Emperor, which sometimes led to civil war.

The Romans fought many wars against other countries and against barbarians several times. They enjoyed watching violent sports. They watched chariots races and fights between gladiators (men using weapons). Unlike in modern sports, the fighters were often killed in fights. Romans enjoyed those shows in the Colosseum.

The Romans had great civil engineering. They built many large public buildings and villas, aqueducts to carry water, stone bridges and roads. Some of those things can still be seen today. Many famous writers were Romans, including Cicero and Virgil.

The New Testament of the Bible tells about the Romans in the life of Jesus Christ. During Jesus' life, the Romans, who were pagans, ruled his country. Later, several emperors tried to destroy Christianity but did not succeed. By 312 AD, Emperor Galerius allowed people freedom to follow Christianity, and the next year, a general, Constantine, became Emperor and converted to Christianity.

The city of Rome was taken over several times by barbarians, notably in 410 AD when the Goths sacked the city (looting). The last Western Roman emperor, Romulus Augustus, abdicated in 476 AD. The Roman Empire would last another 1000 years as the Byzantine Empire in the East.

The main coin of the Roman Empire was the silver denarius. Later denarii were smaller.

Various reasons have been given for the fall of Rome. Edward Gibbon wrote The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire in which he investigated various ideas. Chief among them was, in his opinion, the effect of Christianity on the ability of the Empire to defend itself militarily.

Other historians blame the unstable system of leadership. In a later 50-year period, only two of 22 emperors died a natural death. Most of the other emperors were assassinated.

Roman Empire Media

• Animated overview of the Roman territorial history from the Republic until the fall of its last remnant (the Byzantine Empire) in 1453

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  Augustus of Prima Porta

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  The Barbarian invasions consisted of the movement of (mainly) ancient Germanic peoples into Roman territory. Historically, this event marked the transition between classical antiquity and the Middle Ages.

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  The Roman Empire by 476, noting western and eastern divisions

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  The administrative divisions of the Roman Empire in 395 AD

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  A segment of the ruins of Hadrian's Wall in northern England, overlooking Crag Lough

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  A 5th-century papyrus showing a parallel Latin-Greek text of a speech by Cicero

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  A multigenerational banquet depicted on a wall painting from Pompeii (1st century AD)

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  Dressing of a priestess or bride, Roman fresco from Herculaneum, Italy (30–40 AD)

Other websites

• An old map of the Roman Empire in 400 AD
• BBC, Romans for Children Archived 2009-04-24 at the Wayback Machine, website on ancient Rome for children at the level of primary school
• Rome Unleashed Archived 2014-03-28 at the Wayback Machine, interactive educational website on ancient Rome for students