Ancient Rome began as an
Italic settlement, traditionally dated to 753 BC, beside the
River Tiber in the
Italian Peninsula. The settlement grew into the city and polity of Rome, and came to control its neighbours through a combination of treaties and military strength. It eventually controlled the Italian Peninsula, assimilating the
Greek culture of southern
Italy (
Magna Grecia) and the
Etruscan culture, and then became the dominant power in the Mediterranean region and parts of Europe. At its height it controlled the
North African coast,
Egypt, Southern Europe, and most of Western Europe, the
Balkans,
Crimea, and much of the Middle East, including
Anatolia,
Levant, and parts of
Mesopotamia and
Arabia. That empire was among the
largest empires in the ancient world, covering around 5 million square kilometres (1.9 million square miles) in AD 117, with an estimated 50 to 90 million inhabitants, roughly 20% of the world's population at the time. The Roman state evolved from an elective monarchy to a
classical republic and then to an increasingly
autocraticmilitary dictatorship during the Empire.
Ancient Rome is often grouped into
classical antiquity together with
ancient Greece, and their similar cultures and societies are known as the
Greco-Roman world. Ancient Roman civilisation has contributed to modern language, religion, society, technology, law, politics, government, warfare, art, literature, architecture, and engineering. Rome professionalised and expanded its military and created a system of government called res publica, the inspiration for modern republics such as the
United States and
France. It achieved impressive
technological and
architectural feats, such as the empire-wide construction of
aqueducts and
roads, as well as more grandiose monuments and facilities. (Full article...)
Latin and
Greek were the dominant languages of the Roman Empire, but other languages were regionally important. Latin was the original language of the Romans and remained the language of imperial administration, legislation, and the military throughout the classical period. In the
West, it became the lingua franca and came to be used for even local administration of the cities including the law courts. After all freeborn inhabitants of the Empire were granted
universal citizenship in 212 AD, a great number of Roman citizens would have lacked Latin, though they were expected to acquire at least a token knowledge, and Latin remained a marker of "
Romanness".
Image 5Bread stall, from a Pompeiian wall painting (from Roman Empire)
Image 6Excavation on the
Palatine Hill has found the foundations of a hut believed to correspond to the
Hut of
Romulus, which the Romans themselves preserved into late antiquity (from Founding of Rome)
Image 22Solidus issued under
Constantine II, and on the reverse
Victoria, one of the last deities to appear on Roman coins, gradually transforming into an
angel under Christian rule (from Roman Empire)
Image 30Landscape resulting from the ruina montium mining technique at
Las Médulas, Spain, one of the most important gold mines in the Roman Empire (from Roman Empire)
Image 31The Roman Empire by 476, noting western and eastern divisions (from Roman Empire)
Image 37Dressing of a priestess or bride, Roman fresco from
Herculaneum, Italy (30–40 AD) (from Roman Empire)
Image 38A teacher with two students, as a third arrives with his loculus, a writing case (from Roman Empire)
Image 39A fresco from
Pompeii depicting the foundation of Rome.
Sol riding in his chariot;
Mars descending from the sky to
Rhea Silvia lying in the grass;
Mercury shows to
Venus the she-wolf suckling the twins; in the lower corners of the picture: river-god
Tiberinus and water-goddess
Juturna. 35–45 AD. (from Founding of Rome)
Image 41Forum of Gerasa (
Jerash in present-day
Jordan), with columns marking a covered walkway (
stoa) for vendor stalls, and a semicircular space for public speaking (from Roman Empire)
Image 66Pride in literacy was displayed through emblems of reading and writing, as in this portrait of
Terentius Neo and his wife (c. 20 AD) (from Roman Empire)
Image 67Recreation of a deer hunt inspired by hunting scenes represented in Roman art. (from Roman Empire)
Image 68Relief panel from
Trajan's Column in Rome, showing the building of a fort and the reception of a
Dacian embassy (from Roman Empire)
His reign was marked by the ambitious but only partly realized renovatio imperii, or "restoration of the Empire". This ambition was expressed by the partial recovery of the territories of the defunct
Western Roman Empire. His general,
Belisarius, swiftly conquered the
Vandal Kingdom in North Africa. Subsequently, Belisarius,
Narses, and other generals conquered the
Ostrogothic kingdom, restoring
Dalmatia,
Sicily,
Italy, and
Rome to the empire after more than half a century of rule by the
Ostrogoths. The
praetorian prefect Liberius reclaimed the south of the
Iberian Peninsula, establishing the province of
Spania. These campaigns re-established Roman control over the western Mediterranean, increasing the Empire's annual revenue by over a million
solidi. During his reign, Justinian also subdued the Tzani, a people on the east coast of the
Black Sea that had never been under Roman rule before. He engaged the
Sasanian Empire in the east during
Kavad I's reign, and later again during
Khosrow I's reign; this second conflict was partially initiated due to his ambitions in the west. (Full article...)
...That according to Suetonius, Caligula "often sent for men whom he had secretly killed, as though they were still alive, and remarked offhandedly a few days later that they must have committed suicide"?
...That Mark Antony, who avenged Julius Caesar, was killed by Julius Caesar's grand nephew (Octavian) Augustus Caesar?
...That Sulla's grave read No friend ever surpassed him in kindness, and no enemy in ill-doing?
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Add relevant quotes about Rome or by a Roman to the Quotes section.
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Quotes
“
[...]
Caesar is a god in his own city. Outstanding in war or peace, it was not so much his wars that ended in great victories, or his actions at home, or his swiftly won fame, that set him among the stars, a fiery comet, as his descendant. There is no greater achievement among Caesar's actions than that he stood father to our emperor. Is it a greater thing to have conquered the sea-going Britons; to have led his victorious ships up the seven-mouthed flood of the papyrus-bearing Nile; to have brought the rebellious Numidians, under Juba of Cinyps, and Pontus, swollen with the name of Mithridates, under the people of
Quirinus; to have earned many triumphs and celebrated few; than to have sponsored such a man, with whom, as ruler of all, you gods have richly favoured the human race? Therefore, in order for the emperor not to have been born of mortal seed, Caesar needed to be made a god. [...]
Augustus, his 'son', will ensure that he ascends to heaven as a god, and is worshipped in the temples. Augustus, as heir to his name, will carry the burden placed upon him alone, and will have us with him, in battle, as the most courageous avenger of his father's murder. Under his command, the conquered walls of besieged Mutina will sue for peace; Pharsalia will know him; Macedonian Philippi twice flow with blood; and the one who holds Pompey's great name, will be defeated in Sicilian waters; and a Roman general's Egyptian consort, trusting, to her cost, in their marriage, will fall, her threat that our
Capitol would bow to her city of Canopus, proved vain.
Why enumerate foreign countries or the nations living on either ocean shore? Wherever earth contains habitable land, it will be his: and even the sea will serve him!