what was the roman empire essay

Roman Empire

The Roman Empire , at its height (c. 117), was the most extensive political and social structure in western civilization . Building upon the foundation laid by the Roman Republic , the empire became the largest and most powerful political and military entity in the world up to its time and expanded steadily until its fall, in the west, in 476.

By 285, the empire had grown too vast to be ruled from the central government at Rome and so was divided by Emperor Diocletian (r. 284-305) into a Western and an Eastern Empire. The empire began when Augustus Caesar (r. 27 BCE-14 CE) became the first emperor of Rome and ended, in the west, when the last Roman emperor , Romulus Augustulus (r. 475-476), was deposed by the Germanic King Odoacer (r. 476-493). In the east, it continued as the Byzantine Empire until the death of Constantine XI (r. 1449-1453) and the fall of Constantinople to the Ottoman Turks in 1453. The influence of the Roman Empire on western civilization was profound in its lasting contributions to virtually every aspect of western culture .

The Early Dynasties

Following the Battle of Actium in 31 BCE, Gaius Octavian Thurinus, Julius Caesar 's nephew and heir, became the first emperor of Rome and took the name Augustus Caesar. Although Julius Caesar is often regarded as the first emperor of Rome, this is incorrect; he never held the title `Emperor' but, rather, `Dictator', a title the Senate could not help but grant him, as Caesar held supreme military and political power at the time. In contrast, the Senate willingly granted Augustus the title of emperor, lavishing praise and power on him because he had destroyed Rome's enemies and brought much-needed stability.

Augustus ruled the empire from 27 BCE until 14 CE when he died. In that time, as he said himself, he "found Rome a city of clay but left it a city of marble." Augustus reformed the laws of the city and, by extension, the empire's, secured Rome's borders, initiated vast building projects (carried out largely by his faithful general Agrippa (l. 63-12 BCE), who built the first Pantheon ), and secured the empire a lasting name as one of the greatest, if not the greatest, political and cultural powers in history. The Pax Romana (Roman Peace), also known as the Pax Augusta, which he initiated, was a time of peace and prosperity hitherto unknown and would last over 200 years.

Following Augustus' death, power passed to his heir, Tiberius (r. 14-37), who continued many of the emperor's policies but lacked the strength of character and vision which so defined Augustus. This trend would continue, more or less steadily, with the emperors who followed: Caligula (r. 37-41), Claudius (r. 41-54), and Nero (r. 54-68). These first five rulers of the empire are referred to as the Julio-Claudian Dynasty for the two family names they descended from (either by birth or through adoption), Julius and Claudius.

Although Caligula has become notorious for his depravity and apparent insanity, his early rule was commendable as was that of his successor, Claudius, who expanded Rome's power and territory in Britain ; less so was that of Nero. Caligula and Claudius were both assassinated in office (Caligula by his Praetorian Guard and Claudius, apparently, by his wife). Nero's suicide ended the Julio-Claudian Dynasty and initiated the period of social unrest known as The Year of the Four Emperors.

These four rulers were Galba , Otho , Vitellius , and Vespasian . Following Nero's suicide in 68 , Galba assumed rule (69) and almost instantly proved unfit for the responsibility. He was assassinated by the Praetorian Guard. Otho succeeded him swiftly on the very day of his death, and ancient records indicate he was expected to make a good emperor. General Vitellius, however, sought power for himself and so initiated the brief civil war which ended in Otho's suicide and Vitellius' ascent to the throne.

Vitellius proved no more fit to rule than Galba had been, as he almost instantly engaged in luxurious entertainments and feasts at the expense of his duties. The legions declared for General Vespasian as emperor and marched on Rome. Vitellius was murdered by Vespasian's men, and Vespasian (r. 69-79) took power exactly one year from the day Galba had first ascended to the throne.

Vespasian founded the Flavian Dynasty which was characterized by massive building projects, economic prosperity, and expansion of the empire. Vespasian's reign was prosperous as evidenced by his building projects which included initial construction of the Flavian Amphitheatre (the famous Coliseum of Rome) which his son Titus (r. 79-81) would complete. Titus' early reign saw the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 which buried the cities of Pompeii and Herculaneum .

Ancient sources are universal in their praise for his handling of this disaster as well as the great fire of Rome in 80. Titus died of a fever in 81 and was succeeded by his brother Domitian (r. 81-96). Domitian expanded and secured the boundaries of Rome, repaired the damage to the city caused by the great fire, continued the building projects initiated by his brother, and improved the economy of the empire. Even so, his autocratic methods and policies made him unpopular with the Roman Senate , and he was assassinated in 96.

The Five Good Emperors

Domitian's successor was his advisor Nerva who founded the Nervan-Antonin Dynasty which ruled Rome 96-192. This period is marked by increased prosperity owing to the rulers known as The Five Good Emperors of Rome. Between 96 and 180, five exceptional men ruled in sequence and brought the Roman Empire to its height:

• Nerva (r. 96-98)
• Trajan (r. 98-117)
• Hadrian (r. 117-138)
• Antoninus Pius (r. 138-161)
• Marcus Aurelius (r. 161-180)

Under their leadership, the Roman Empire grew stronger, more stable, and expanded in size and scope. Lucius Verus and Commodus are the last two of the Nervan-Antonin Dynasty. Verus was co-emperor with Marcus Aurelius until his death in 169 and seems to have been fairly ineffective. Commodus (r. 180-192), Aurelius' son and successor, was one of the most disgraceful emperors Rome ever saw and is universally depicted as indulging himself and his whims at the expense of the empire. He was strangled by his wrestling partner in his bath in 192, ending the Nervan-Antonin Dynasty and raising the prefect Pertinax (who most likely engineered Commodus' assassination) to power.

The Severan Dynasty

Pertinax governed for only three months before he was assassinated. He was followed, in rapid succession, by four others in the period known as The Year of the Five Emperors, which culminated in the rise of Septimus Severus to power. Severus (r. 193-211), founded the Severan Dynasty, defeated the Parthians, and expanded the empire. His campaigns in Africa and Britain were extensive and costly and would contribute to Rome's later financial difficulties. He was succeeded by his sons Caracalla and Geta, until Caracalla had his brother murdered.

Caracalla ruled until 217, when he was assassinated by his bodyguard. It was under Caracalla's reign that Roman citizenship was expanded to include all free men within the empire. This law was said to have been enacted as a means of raising tax revenue, simply because, after its passage, there were more people the central government could tax. The Severan Dynasty continued, largely under the guidance and manipulation of Julia Maesa (referred to as "empress"), until the assassination of Alexander Severus (r. 222-235) in 235 which plunged the empire into the chaos known as The Crisis of the Third Century (lasting from 235-284).

Two Empires: East & West

This period, also known as The Imperial Crisis, was characterized by constant civil war, as various military leaders fought for control of the empire. The crisis has been further noted by historians for widespread social unrest, economic instability (fostered, in part, by the devaluation of Roman currency by the Severans), and, finally, the dissolution of the empire which broke into three separate regions. The empire was reunited by Aurelian (270-275) whose policies were further developed and improved upon by Diocletian who established the Tetrarchy (the rule of four) to maintain order throughout the empire.

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Even so, the empire was still so vast that Diocletian divided it in half in c. 285 to facilitate more efficient administration by elevating one of his officers, Maximian (r. 286-305) to the position of co-emperor. In so doing, he created the Western Roman Empire and the Eastern Roman Empire (also known as the Byzantine Empire). Since a leading cause of the Imperial Crisis was a lack of clarity in succession, Diocletian decreed that successors must be chosen and approved from the outset of an individual's reign. Two of these successors were the generals Maxentius and Constantine. Diocletian voluntarily retired from rule in 305, and the tetrarchy dissolved as rival regions of the empire vied with each other for dominance. Following Diocletian's death in 311, Maxentius and Constantine plunged the empire again into civil war.

Constantine & Christianity

In 312, Constantine defeated Maxentius at the Battle of the Milvian Bridge and became sole emperor of both the Western and Eastern Empires (ruling from 306-337 but holding supreme power 324-307). Believing that Jesus Christ was responsible for his victory, Constantine initiated a series of laws such as the Edict of Milan (313) which mandated religious tolerance throughout the empire and, specifically, tolerance for the faith which came to known as Christianity.

In the same way that earlier Roman emperors had claimed a special relationship with a deity to augment their authority and standing (Caracalla with Serapis , for example, or Diocletian with Jupiter ), Constantine chose the figure of Jesus Christ. At the First Council of Nicea (325), he presided over the gathering to codify the faith and decide on important issues such as the divinity of Jesus and which manuscripts would be collected to form the book known today as The Bible . He stabilized the empire, revalued the currency, and reformed the military, as well as founding the city he called New Rome on the site of the former city of Byzantium (modern-day Istanbul) which came to be known as Constantinople.

He is known as Constantine the Great owing to later Christian writers who saw him as a mighty champion of their faith but, as has been noted by many historians, the honorific could as easily be attributed to his religious, cultural, and political reforms, as well as his skill in battle and his large-scale building projects. After his death, his sons inherited the empire and, fairly quickly, embarked on a series of conflicts with each other which threatened to undo all that Constantine had accomplished.

His three sons, Constantine II, Constantius II , and Constans divided the Roman Empire between them but soon fell to fighting over which of them deserved more. In these conflicts, Constantine II and Constans were killed. Constantius II died later after naming his cousin Julian his successor and heir. Emperor Julian ruled for only two years (361-363) and, in that time, tried to return Rome to her former glory through a series of reforms aimed at increasing efficiency in government.

As a Neo-Platonic philosopher, Julian rejected Christianity and blamed the faith, and Constantine's advocacy for it, for the decline of the empire. While officially proclaiming a policy of religious tolerance, Julian systematically removed Christians from influential government positions, banned the teaching and spread of the religion , and barred Christians from military service. His death, while on campaign against the Persians, ended the dynasty Constantine had begun. He was the last pagan emperor of Rome and came to be known as `Julian the Apostate' for his opposition to Christianity.

After the brief rule of Jovian, who re-established Christianity as the dominant faith of the empire and repealed Julian's various edicts, the responsibility of emperor fell to Theodosius I. Theodosius I (r. 379-395) took Constantine's and Jovian's religious reforms to their natural ends, outlawed pagan worship throughout the empire, closed the schools and universities, and converted pagan temples into Christian churches after proclaiming Christianity Rome's state religion in 380.

It was during this time that Plato 's famous Academy was closed by Theodosius' decree. Many of his reforms were unpopular with both the Roman aristocracy and the common people who held to the traditional values of pagan practice. The unity of social duties and religious belief which paganism provided was severed by the institution of a religion which removed the gods from the earth and human society and proclaimed only one God who ruled from the heavens.

This new god, unlike the gods of old, had no special interest in Rome - he was the god of all people - and this distanced the religion of Rome from the state of Rome. Previously, Roman religious belief was state-sponsored and the rituals and festivals went to enhancing the status of the government. Theodosius I devoted so much effort to promoting Christianity that he seems to have neglected other duties as emperor and would be the last to rule both Eastern and Western Empires.

The Fall of the Roman Empire

From 376-382, Rome fought a series of battles against invading Goths known today as the Gothic Wars. At the Battle of Adrianople , 9 August 378, the Roman Emperor Valens (r. 364-378) was defeated, and historians mark this event as pivotal in the decline of the Western Roman Empire. Various theories have been suggested as to the cause of the empire's fall but, even today, there is no universal agreement on what those specific factors were. Edward Gibbon has famously argued in his The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire that Christianity played a pivotal role, in that the new religion undermined the social mores of the empire which paganism provided.

The theory that Christianity was a root cause in the empire's fall was debated long before Gibbon, however, as the theologian Orosius (l. c. 5th century) argued Christianity's innocence in Rome's decline as early as 418. Orosius claimed it was primarily paganism itself and pagan practices which brought about the fall of Rome. Other contributing factors to Rome's fall include:

• Political instability due to size of empire
• The self-interest of the two halves of the empire
• Invasion of barbarian tribes
• Government corruption
• Mercenary armies
• Over-reliance on slave labor
• Massive unemployment and inflation

The ungovernable vastness of the empire, even divided in two, made it difficult to manage. The Eastern Empire flourished while the Western Empire struggled and neither gave much thought to helping the other. Eastern and Western Rome saw each other more as competitors than teammates and worked primarily in their own self-interest. The growing strength of the Germanic tribes and their constant incursions into Rome could have been dealt with more effectively if not for government corruption, especially among provincial governors, and fair treatment of the Goths by the Romans overall.

The Roman military , manned largely with barbarian mercenaries who had no ethnic ties to Rome, could no longer safeguard the borders as efficiently as they once had nor could the government as easily collect taxes in the provinces. Further, the debasement of the currency, begun under the Severan Dynasty, had steadily encouraged inflation while widespread slave labor deprived lower-class citizens of jobs and increased unemployment levels. The arrival of the Visigoths in the empire in the third century, fleeing from the invading Huns , and their subsequent rebellions has also been cited as a contributing factor in the decline.

The Western Roman Empire officially ended 4 September 476, when Emperor Romulus Augustulus was deposed by the Germanic King Odoacer (though some historians date the end as 480 with the death of Julius Nepos). The Eastern Roman Empire continued on as the Byzantine Empire until 1453, and though known early on as simply "the Roman Empire", it did not much resemble that entity at all. The Western Roman Empire would become re-invented later as The Holy Roman Empire (962-1806), but that construct, also, was far removed from the Roman Empire of antiquity and was an "empire" in name only.

Legacy of the Roman Empire

The inventions and innovations which were generated by the Roman Empire profoundly altered the lives of the ancient people and continue to be used in cultures around the world today. Advancements in the construction of roads and buildings, indoor plumbing, aqueducts , and even fast-drying cement were either invented or improved upon by the Romans.

The calendar used in the West derives from the one created by Julius Caesar, and the names of the days of the week (in the romance languages) and months of the year also come from Rome. Even the practice of returning some purchase one finds one does not want comes from Rome whose laws made it legal for a consumer to bring back some defective or unwanted merchandise to the seller.

Apartment complexes (known as insula ), public toilets, locks and keys, newspapers, even socks all were developed by the Romans as were shoes, a postal system (modeled after the Persians), cosmetics, the magnifying glass, and the concept of satire in literature . During the time of the empire, significant developments were also advanced in the fields of medicine , law, religion, government, and warfare .

The Romans were adept at borrowing from, and improving upon, those inventions or concepts they found among the indigenous populace of the regions they conquered. It is therefore difficult to say what is an "original" Roman invention and what is an innovation on a pre-existing concept, technique, or tool. It can safely be said, however, that the Roman Empire left an enduring legacy which continues to affect the way in which people live in the present day.

Ancient Rome in 8 Infographics

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Bibliography

• Adkins, L. & Adkins, R. A. Handbook to Life in Ancient Rome. Oxford University Press, 1998.
• Durant, W. Caesar and Christ. Simon & Schuster, 1980.
• Gibbon, E. The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire. Penguin, 2000.
• Grant, M. Readings in the Classical Historians. Scribner, 1993.
• Grant, M. The Climax of Rome. Weidenfeld, London, 1993.
• Harvey, B. K. Daily Life in Ancient Rome. Focus, 2016.
• Herwig, W. History of the Goths. University of California Press, 1988.
• Kelly, C. The Roman Empire. Oxford University Press, 2006.
• Lewis, J. E. The Mammoth Book of Eyewitness Ancient Rome. Running Press, 2003.
• Mellor, R. The Historians of Ancient Rome. Routledge, 2012.
• Polybius. The Rise of the Roman Empire. Penguin Classics, 1980.
• Tacitus. Annals of Tacitus. Cambridge University Press, 2001.
• The Roman Empire Accessed 1 Dec 2016.
• Titus Livy. Livy's Histories. Penguin Classics, 2002.

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Ancient Rome

By: History.com Editors

Updated: September 22, 2023 | Original: October 14, 2009

Beginning in the eighth century B.C., Ancient Rome grew from a small town on central Italy’s Tiber River into an empire that at its peak encompassed most of continental Europe, Britain, much of western Asia, northern Africa and the Mediterranean islands. Among the many legacies of Roman dominance are the widespread use of the Romance languages (Italian, French, Spanish, Portuguese and Romanian) derived from Latin, the modern Western alphabet and calendar and the emergence of Christianity as a major world religion.

After 450 years as a republic, Rome became an empire in the wake of Julius Caesar’s rise and fall in the first century B.C. The long and triumphant reign of its first emperor, Augustus, began a golden age of peace and prosperity; by contrast, the Roman Empire’s decline and fall by the fifth century A.D. was one of the most dramatic implosions in the history of human civilization.

Origins of Rome

As legend has it, Rome was founded in 753 B.C. by Romulus and Remus, twin sons of Mars, the god of war. Left to drown in a basket on the Tiber by a king of nearby Alba Longa and rescued by a she-wolf, the twins lived to defeat that king and found their own city on the river’s banks in 753 B.C. After killing his brother, Romulus became the first king of Rome, which is named for him.

A line of Sabine, Latin and Etruscan (earlier Italian civilizations) kings followed in a non-hereditary succession. There are seven legendary kings of Rome: Romulus, Numa Pompilius, Tullus Hostilius, Ancus Martius, Lucius Tarquinius Priscus (Tarquin the Elder), Servius Tullius and Tarquinius Superbus, or Tarquin the Proud (534-510 B.C.). While they were referred to as “Rex,” or “King” in Latin, all the kings after Romulus were elected by the senate.

Did you know? Four decades after Constantine made Christianity Rome's official religion, Emperor Julian—known as the Apostate—tried to revive the pagan cults and temples of the past, but the process was reversed after his death, and Julian was the last pagan emperor of Rome.

Rome’s era as a monarchy ended in 509 B.C. with the overthrow of its seventh king, Lucius Tarquinius Superbus, whom ancient historians portrayed as cruel and tyrannical, compared to his benevolent predecessors. A popular uprising was said to have arisen over the rape of a virtuous noblewoman, Lucretia, by the king’s son. Whatever the cause, Rome turned from a monarchy into a republic, a world derived from res publica , or “property of the people.”

Rome was built on seven hills, known as “the seven hills of Rome”—Esquiline Hill, Palatine Hill, Aventine Hill, Capitoline Hill, Quirinal Hill, Viminal Hill and Caelian Hill. 

The Early Republic

The power of the monarch passed to two annually elected magistrates called consuls. They also served as commanders in chief of the army. The magistrates, though elected by the people, were drawn largely from the Senate, which was dominated by the patricians, or the descendants of the original senators from the time of Romulus. Politics in the early republic was marked by the long struggle between patricians and plebeians (the common people), who eventually attained some political power through years of concessions from patricians, including their own political bodies, the tribunes, which could initiate or veto legislation.

In 450 B.C., the first Roman law code was inscribed on 12 bronze tablets–known as the Twelve Tables–and publicly displayed in the Roman Forum . These laws included issues of legal procedure, civil rights and property rights and provided the basis for all future Roman civil law. By around 300 B.C., real political power in Rome was centered in the Senate, which at the time included only members of patrician and wealthy plebeian families.

Military Expansion

During the early republic, the Roman state grew exponentially in both size and power. Though the Gauls sacked and burned Rome in 390 B.C., the Romans rebounded under the leadership of the military hero Camillus, eventually gaining control of the entire Italian peninsula by 264 B.C. Rome then fought a series of wars known as the Punic Wars with Carthage, a powerful city-state in northern Africa.

The first two Punic Wars ended with Rome in full control of Sicily, the western Mediterranean and much of Spain. In the Third Punic War (149–146 B.C.), the Romans captured and destroyed the city of Carthage and sold its surviving inhabitants into slavery, making a section of northern Africa a Roman province. At the same time, Rome also spread its influence east, defeating King Philip V of Macedonia in the Macedonian Wars and turning his kingdom into another Roman province.

Rome’s military conquests led directly to its cultural growth as a society, as the Romans benefited greatly from contact with such advanced cultures as the Greeks. The first Roman literature appeared around 240 B.C., with translations of Greek classics into Latin; Romans would eventually adopt much of Greek art, philosophy and religion.

Internal Struggles in the Late Republic

Rome’s complex political institutions began to crumble under the weight of the growing empire, ushering in an era of internal turmoil and violence. The gap between rich and poor widened as wealthy landowners drove small farmers from public land, while access to government was increasingly limited to the more privileged classes. Attempts to address these social problems, such as the reform movements of Tiberius and Gaius Gracchus (in 133 B.C. and 123-22 B.C., respectively) ended in the reformers’ deaths at the hands of their opponents.

Gaius Marius, a commoner whose military prowess elevated him to the position of consul (for the first of six terms) in 107 B.C., was the first of a series of warlords who would dominate Rome during the late republic. By 91 B.C., Marius was struggling against attacks by his opponents, including his fellow general Sulla, who emerged as military dictator around 82 B.C. After Sulla retired, one of his former supporters, Pompey, briefly served as consul before waging successful military campaigns against pirates in the Mediterranean and the forces of Mithridates in Asia. During this same period, Marcus Tullius Cicero , elected consul in 63 B.C., famously defeated the conspiracy of the patrician Cataline and won a reputation as one of Rome’s greatest orators.

Julius Caesar’s Rise

When the victorious Pompey returned to Rome, he formed an uneasy alliance known as the First Triumvirate with the wealthy Marcus Licinius Crassus (who suppressed a slave rebellion led by Spartacus in 71 B.C.) and another rising star in Roman politics: Gaius Julius Caesar . After earning military glory in Spain, Caesar returned to Rome to vie for the consulship in 59 B.C. From his alliance with Pompey and Crassus, Caesar received the governorship of three wealthy provinces in Gaul beginning in 58 B.C.; he then set about conquering the rest of the region for Rome.

After Pompey’s wife Julia (Caesar’s daughter) died in 54 B.C. and Crassus was killed in battle against Parthia (present-day Iran) the following year, the triumvirate was broken. With old-style Roman politics in disorder, Pompey stepped in as sole consul in 53 B.C. Caesar’s military glory in Gaul and his increasing wealth had eclipsed Pompey’s, and the latter teamed with his Senate allies to steadily undermine Caesar. In 49 B.C., Caesar and one of his legions crossed the Rubicon, a river on the border between Italy from Cisalpine Gaul. Caesar’s invasion of Italy ignited a civil war from which he emerged as dictator of Rome for life in 45 B.C.

From Caesar to Augustus

Less than a year later, Julius Caesar was murdered on the ides of March (March 15, 44 B.C.) by a group of his enemies (led by the republican nobles Marcus Junius Brutus and Gaius Cassius). Consul Mark Antony and Caesar’s great-nephew and adopted heir, Octavian, joined forces to crush Brutus and Cassius and divided power in Rome with ex-consul Lepidus in what was known as the Second Triumvirate. With Octavian leading the western provinces, Antony the east, and Lepidus Africa, tensions developed by 36 B.C. and the triumvirate soon dissolved. In 31 B.C., Octavian triumped over the forces of Antony and Queen Cleopatra of Egypt (also rumored to be the onetime lover of Julius Caesar) in the Battle of Actium. In the wake of this devastating defeat, Antony and Cleopatra committed suicide.

By 29 B.C., Octavian was the sole leader of Rome and all its provinces. To avoid meeting Caesar’s fate, he made sure to make his position as absolute ruler acceptable to the public by apparently restoring the political institutions of the Roman republic while in reality retaining all real power for himself. In 27 B.C., Octavian assumed the title of Augustus , becoming the first emperor of Rome.

Age of the Roman Emperors

Augustus’ rule restored morale in Rome after a century of discord and corruption and ushered in the famous pax Romana –two full centuries of peace and prosperity. He instituted various social reforms, won numerous military victories and allowed Roman literature, art, architecture and religion to flourish. Augustus ruled for 56 years, supported by his great army and by a growing cult of devotion to the emperor. When he died, the Senate elevated Augustus to the status of a god, beginning a long-running tradition of deification for popular emperors.

Augustus’ dynasty included the unpopular Tiberius (A.D. 14-37), the bloodthirsty and unstable Caligula (37-41) and Claudius (41-54), who was best remembered for his army’s conquest of Britain. The line ended with Nero (54-68), whose excesses drained the Roman treasury and led to his downfall and eventual suicide.

Four emperors took the throne in the tumultuous year after Nero’s death; the fourth, Vespasian (69-79), and his successors, Titus and Domitian, were known as the Flavians; they attempted to temper the excesses of the Roman court, restore Senate authority and promote public welfare. Titus (79-81) earned his people’s devotion with his handling of recovery efforts after the infamous eruption of Vesuvius, which destroyed the towns of Herculaneum and Pompeii .

The reign of Nerva (96-98), who was selected by the Senate to succeed Domitian, began another golden age in Roman history, during which four emperors–Trajan, Hadrian, Antoninus Pius, and Marcus Aurelius–took the throne peacefully, succeeding one another by adoption, as opposed to hereditary succession. Trajan (98-117) expanded Rome’s borders to the greatest extent in history with victories over the kingdoms of Dacia (now northwestern Romania) and Parthia. His successor Hadrian (117-138) solidified the empire’s frontiers (famously building Hadrian's Wall in present-day England) and continued his predecessor’s work of establishing internal stability and instituting administrative reforms.

Under Antoninus Pius (138-161), Rome continued in peace and prosperity, but the reign of Marcus Aurelius (161–180) was dominated by conflict, including war against Parthia and Armenia and the invasion of Germanic tribes from the north. When Marcus fell ill and died near the battlefield at Vindobona (Vienna), he broke with the tradition of non-hereditary succession and named his 19-year-old son Commodus as his successor.

Decline and Disintegration

The decadence and incompetence of Commodus (180-192) brought the golden age of the Roman emperors to a disappointing end. His death at the hands of his own ministers sparked another period of civil war , from which Lucius Septimius Severus (193-211) emerged victorious. During the third century Rome suffered from a cycle of near-constant conflict. A total of 22 emperors took the throne, many of them meeting violent ends at the hands of the same soldiers who had propelled them to power. Meanwhile, threats from outside plagued the empire and depleted its riches, including continuing aggression from Germans and Parthians and raids by the Goths over the Aegean Sea.

The reign of Diocletian (284-305) temporarily restored peace and prosperity in Rome, but at a high cost to the unity of the empire. Diocletian divided power into the so-called tetrarchy (rule of four), sharing his title of Augustus (emperor) with Maximian. A pair of generals, Galerius and Constantius, were appointed as the assistants and chosen successors of Diocletian and Maximian; Diocletian and Galerius ruled the eastern Roman Empire, while Maximian and Constantius took power in the west.

The stability of this system suffered greatly after Diocletian and Maximian retired from office. Constantine (the son of Constantius) emerged from the ensuing power struggles as sole emperor of a reunified Rome in 324. He moved the Roman capital to the Greek city of Byzantium, which he renamed Constantinople . At the Council of Nicaea in 325, Constantine made Christianity (once an obscure Jewish sect) Rome’s official religion.

Roman unity under Constantine proved illusory, and 30 years after his death the eastern and western empires were again divided. Despite its continuing battle against Persian forces, the eastern Roman Empire–later known as the Byzantine Empire –would remain largely intact for centuries to come. An entirely different story played out in the west, where the empire was wracked by internal conflict as well as threats from abroad–particularly from the Germanic tribes now established within the empire’s frontiers like the Vandals (their sack of Rome originated the phrase “vandalism”)–and was steadily losing money due to constant warfare.

Rome eventually collapsed under the weight of its own bloated empire, losing its provinces one by one: Britain around 410; Spain and northern Africa by 430. Attila and his brutal Huns invaded Gaul and Italy around 450, further shaking the foundations of the empire. In September 476, a Germanic prince named Odovacar won control of the Roman army in Italy. After deposing the last western emperor, Romulus Augustus, Odovacar’s troops proclaimed him king of Italy, bringing an ignoble end to the long, tumultuous history of ancient Rome. The fall of the Roman Empire was complete.

Roman Architecture

Roman architecture and engineering innovations have had a lasting impact on the modern world. Roman aqueducts, first developed in 312 B.C., enabled the rise of cities by transporting water to urban areas, improving public health and sanitation. Some Roman aqueducts transported water up to 60 miles from its source and the Fountain of Trevi in Rome still relies on an updated version of an original Roman aqueduct.

Roman cement and concrete are part of the reason ancient buildings like the Colosseum and Roman Forum are still standing strong today. Roman arches, or segmented arches, improved upon earlier arches to build strong bridges and buildings, evenly distributing weight throughout the structure.

Roman roads, the most advanced roads in the ancient world, enabled the Roman Empire—which was over 1.7 million square miles at the pinnacle of its power—to stay connected. They included such modern-seeming innovations as mile markers and drainage. Over 50,000 miles of road were built by 200 B.C. and several are still in use today.

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The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire

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• World History Encyclopedia - Gibbon's Decline & Fall of the Roman Empire
• Christian Classics Ethereal Library - The History of The Decline And Fall Of The Roman Empire
• Internet Archive - The decline and fall of the Roman Empire

The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire , historical work by Edward Gibbon , published in six volumes between 1776 and 1788. A continuous narrative from the 2nd century ce to the fall of Constantinople in 1453, it is distinguished by its rigorous scholarship, its historical perspective, and its incomparable literary style.

The Decline and Fall is divided into two parts, equal in bulk but different in treatment. The first half covers about 300 years to the end of the empire in the West, about 480 ce ; in the second half nearly 1,000 years are compressed. Gibbon viewed the Roman Empire as a single entity in undeviating decline from the ideals of political and intellectual freedom that characterized the classical literature he had read. For him, the material decay of Rome was the effect and symbol of moral decadence.

Rome’s Transition from Republic to Empire

Rome transitioned from a republic to an empire after power shifted away from a representative democracy to a centralized imperial authority, with the emperor holding the most power.

Anthropology, Archaeology, Social Studies, World History

The Roman Forum Arch of San Severus

Though the Roman Republic stood for several centuries, tensions within the government began to tear it apart. Civil wars started between groups with different loyalties, which brought about the transformation of the republic into an empire.

Photograph by Peter Phipp/Travelshots.com

The Roman Republic was founded in 509 B.C.E. after the last Etruscan king that ruled Rome was overthrown . Rome’s next government served as a representative democracy in the form of a republic. Initially, Rome’s wealthiest families, the patricians , held power and only they could hold political or religious offices. Everyone else was considered plebeian , and no member of this group could hold office. Over a period of nearly 200 years, however, the plebeians fought for and gained power within the government. At the heart of the Roman Republic was the Senate. The Senate advised on matters pertaining to rules governing the city and population. In the republic, members of the patrician class served as advisers to the other governing bodies of the republic. Although the Senate did not formally make laws, the prestige of its members gave the Senate great influence over Rome’s law-making bodies. The Senate lasted as a sole governing body for the republic for only a brief time, lasting from the republic’s founding in 509 B.C.E. until 494 B.C.E., when a strike orchestrated by the plebeians resulted in the establishment of the Concilium Plebis , or the Councilof the Plebs. This gave the plebeians a voice in the government. As a result, new legislative, or law-making, bodies of the Roman Republic were formed. Called assemblies, these legislative bodies shared power in the following ways:

• Comitia Centuriata  — This body decided about war, passed laws, elected magistrates ( consuls , praetors, and censors ), considered appeals of capital convictions, and conducted foreign relations.
• Concilium Plebis  — This body elected its own officials and formulated decrees for observance by the plebeian class; in 287 B.C.E., it gained the power to make all decrees binding for the entire Roman community.
• Comitia Tributa  — The tribal assemblies, open to all citizens (who only could be free, adult males), elected minor officials, approved legislative decisions often on local matters, and could wield judicial powers but could only levy fines rather than administer punishment.

Leading the republic were two consuls who were elected by legislative assemblies. They served for one year, presided over the Roman Senate, and commanded the Roman military . Though their power was somewhat limited by the establishment of other magistrate positions, the consuls were effectively the heads of state. The republic stood strong for several centuries. However, as Rome’s power and territory expanded, internal conflicts began to emerge as citizens and families struggled for power. For example, in the 1st century B.C.E., the famous Roman orator Marcus Cicero uncovered a plot by a Roman senator, Lucius Catiline, to overthrow the Roman government. Some citizens, such as the Gracchus brothers, attempted to institute government reforms and social reforms to help the poor. Ultimately, factions emerged (loyal to either the patrician or plebeian classes or to a specific military general), hostilities erupted, and a series of civil wars plagued the republic. During these civil wars, a prominent general and statesmen named Julius Caesar began gaining significant power. He commanded the loyalty of the soldiers in his army and enjoyed access to substantial wealth after conquering the province of Gaul . The Senate, fearful of Caesar’s power, demanded he give up command of his army and return to Rome as a citizen. Caesar refused, instead marching his army south directly into Rome. As a result, another civil war erupted between Caesar and his chief political rival, Pompey. Caesar emerged victorious and was named dictator for life. Previously, the title dictator was given to an appointed, and temporary, leader in times of military emergency. Other leaders within the republic feared Caesar would become a tyrant with this new title. To prevent this, a group of senators conspired and assassinated him. In response to Caesar’s death, his nephew and heir Augustus defeated the conspirators. He then established himself as the first Roman emperor . The Roman Empire dramatically shifted power away from representative democracy to centralized imperial authority, with the emperor holding the most power. For example, under Augustus’s reign, emperors gained the ability to introduce and veto laws, as well as command the army. Furthermore, the emperor wielded significant authority over those who served in lower-level executive positions. No citizen could hold office without the emperor’s consent. As a result of this redistribution of power, the popular assemblies that functioned during the republican period became less important and lost power. While the assembly became virtually ceremonial , the Senate survived. Primarily, the Senate survived during the early period of the empire as a legitimizer of an emperor’s rule. The powers given to the emperor still came from the Senate. Since the Senate was composed of Rome’s elite and intellectual citizens, they impacted public opinion. With this power, the Senate could declare an emperor to be an enemy of the state, or following an emperor’s removal or death, the Senate could officially wipe the record of his reign from official history. At the time of Augustus’s reign, the Roman Empire had solidified control over the Italian peninsula , established North African colonies following its victory over Carthage during the Punic Wars and controlled large swaths of territory in Spain and Gaul. Under the emperors, Roman territory expanded farther, dominating most of the European continent, including Britain and major areas of modern-day Eastern Europe. This expansion, while bringing to Rome great wealth, power, and prestige, ultimately helped bring about its downfall. Even with the Roman road system contributing to the mobility of the military and trade, the cost of maintaining the vast empire weighed heavily on Rome’s treasury and its political administration. Added to this burden were increasing raids and attacks by foreign tribes and communities. Emperors attempted to solve these problems through internal reforms. For example, the emperor Diocletian split control of the Roman Empire into two halves, a western and an eastern portion. Diocletian believed the territories throughout the empire would be easier to control and support if they were overseen by two administrations. Future emperors attempted similar reforms, but ultimately internal conflict between the eastern and western halves, external pressure by foreign tribes, and the ongoing depletion of Rome’s wealth and infrastructure finally rendered the empire vulnerable to collapse . In C.E 476, the last of the western Roman emperors, Romulus Augustulus, was dethroned. Nevertheless, the eastern half of the Roman Empire, identified in history as the Byzantine Empire, would last another thousand years until falling to the Ottoman Turks in C.E. 1453.

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Home — Essay Samples — History — Ancient Rome — The Fall of the Roman Empire

The Fall of The Roman Empire

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Published: Dec 5, 2018

Words: 732 | Pages: 2 | 4 min read

Works Cited

• Fall of the Roman Empire. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.rome.info/history/empire/fall/
• Gibbon, E. (n.d.). The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire (Vol. 2).
• Wasson, D. (2014). Diocletian. Ancient History Encyclopedia. Retrieved from https://www.ancient.eu/Diocletian/
• Theodosius I. (n.d.). Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved from https://www.britannica.com/biography/Theodosius-I-Roman-emperor
• Cameron, A. (2013). The Last Pagans of Rome. Oxford University Press.
• Ward-Perkins, B. (2006). The Fall of Rome: And the End of Civilization. Oxford University Press.
• Heather, P. (2006). The Fall of the Roman Empire: A New History. Pan Books.
• Goldsworthy, A. (2009). How Rome Fell: Death of a Superpower. Yale University Press.
• Bury, J. B. (2011). History of the Later Roman Empire : From the Death of Theodosius I to the Death of Justinian. Dover Publications.
• Ward, J. (2018). Rome's Last Citizen: The Life and Legacy of Cato, Mortal Enemy of Caesar. St. Martin's Griffin.

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The History of Roman Empire Essay (Critical Writing)

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Introduction

Works cited.

To begin with, I should mention, that the history of ancient world is versatile and still deceitful in some questions. The contemporary scholars are discussing the controversy of ancient writers’ opinions. The Roman Empire is known to be the grandest in its structure and way of reigning throughout the history of mankind. We mention Caesar when speaking about great abilities to work and self-consistency, Konstantin when celebrating the adoption and spreading of Christianity in the Empire and abroad, and we surely remember the person of Nero, whose cruelty and ominous deeds, like Fire in Rome, stay disapprobative.

According to the question of his role in setting Rome on fire we are to appeal to the writings of three ancient philosophers and eyewitnesses, namely: Tacitus, Cassius Dio and Suetonius. Their works stay significant to analyze and explore Nero’s guilt or innocence.

First, let us realize the material losses that the fire damaged. As we know, it started in the year 64 A.D. in Circus Maximus and was spreading in the districts of Rome. Was the fire accidental or Nero made an effort? We know that the closeness of buildings and unawareness of people in the question of how to prevent people’s houses from fire is the basic reason, I think, in cases of every fire hazard in Rome. In times of Tiberius there was the greatest one. Also in times of Augustus reigning there was “a regular fire department (the vigiles)” (Malitz 67), thus, the reasons of the Great Fire in Rome are still of a mere enigmatic character.

“At the time the fire broke out, Nero was in Antium, about forty miles out from Rome. He did not return immediately, but only when the flames started to threaten his palace, the Domus Transitoria.” (J. Malitz 68). Here is the example of Nero’s egocentrism, on the one hand, and the case of his juridical innocence, on the other. Was it a willful action or he tried to weep his steps in this? Still it does not make him guilty. Six day long fire brought a great destruction for Rome. The old part of the city was commonly demolished, the number of homeless, whom Nero patronized, grew up. The opinions of the cause of the fire were separated within ancient philosophers. Some thought that it was accidental and Nero became a victim of the situation, others considered him to be the instigator of the disaster. One of the ideas tells about Nero’s need of money. He needed them to create his ambitious design of palace building and other things, as following:

Suetonius hints that Nero intended to loot the ruins; Dio asserts that he removed the free grain distribution. But there were other, darker chargers, far more damaging because they ran directly counter to his laudable actions, and taken together they suggested nor merely callous indifference to the misery of his people but active hostility to their welfare: that had intentionally started the fire, through his agents; that he sang while the city burned; that he built the fabulous Golden House amid the sufferings of the citizens; and that he extorted vast sums from them to pay for the recovery. (Champlin 180)

These unanswered questions bear in my mind the logically accepted truth and the idea of his madness at all. I suppose that his irresponsibility attacked his mind and covered him with vanity in thoughts and deeds. It is clear through discourse of ancient philosophers that he proved his will by saying the words “forte an dolo principis incertum”. Nero’s dishonesty and greed for money are the reasons, as for me, to tell about his inability to rule. Inspite of all his good intentions he always was intended to do more harm than good. He thought it to be the destiny of the strong people of the Roman Empire. His cruel denunciation of Christians to be participating in setting the fire on was just the result of their teaching about Rage of God, embodied in fire. That was metaphoric explanation, but Nero used this as another jive excuse of his innocence.

Edward Champlin, therefore, tells us about the response of Nero to the fire, when he decided to start rebuilding company, because out of fourteen districts four were saved, so there were too many homeless. Notwithstanding that the Emperor told many times about his wish to burn either city or the empire, the deeds of his vary in its magnificence. I mean the buildings, which renewed burnt city and gave it previous wealth and blossom.

As far as I am inclined to think, the plan of buildings in Rome and their location is the background for Nero’s plan. It does not matter whether Nero set the city on fire or somebody else. The structure of it was prepared to be destructed by fire, and the rebuilding reform (change of building materials of flame-proof features) would, without any doubt, be the solution for the further time of Rome’s existence and safety.

Looking briefly on works of ancient philosophers through the analysis of their writings by contemporary scholars, we admit the following standpoints on the problem of The Great Fire in Rome: 1) the Emperor Nero, having indisputable and endless power, was inclined to do good things by means of the cruel ones; 2) the fire tends to be planned; 3) the gains touched not only material things on, but also people’s lives. Summing up, I think that this was the greatest mistake of Nero. The example of his “endeavor” overgrew in philosophic treatments of different epochs, namely: in Makiavelly’s works as well as in Nizshe’s ones, but this will never brings the pragmatic solution for those who take care about motherland and people needing their help. Even if you keep in mind the idea of your miserable role within society, remember what Romans said: Mala Herba cito crescit!

John Bishop, Nero. The Man and the Legend , London 1963, pp. 71-78.

Jürgen Malitz, Nero , transl. by A. Brown, Malden (MA) – Oxford 2005 (orig. publ. Munich 1999), pp. 66-76.

Edward Champlin, Nero, The Belknap Press of Harward University Press, Cambridge Massachusetts, London, England, 2003.

Griffin, Miriam T. Nero: The End of a Dynasty. London: Routledge, 2000.

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IvyPanda. (2021, November 13). The History of Roman Empire. https://ivypanda.com/essays/the-history-of-roman-empire/

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IvyPanda . "The History of Roman Empire." November 13, 2021. https://ivypanda.com/essays/the-history-of-roman-empire/.

The Fall of the Roman Empire

Rome was not built in one day; so too, the mighty Roman Empire did not fall in a day – it covered hundreds of years. Why did Rome fall? Just like the human body is inevitably subject to growth, decay, and death it is the same with nations. History is replete with such examples without a single exception. The fall of an empire or nation is a natural phenomenon. The other causes are incidental like the disease that brings about the death of a human body.

One of the causes of the fall of Rome was the Barbarian invasions – they marched through the very roads Rome had built to reach and subjugate them. But Rome since the time of Augustus had been battling the German tribes. Why should they suddenly overpower Rome in the 6 th century? The barbarian invasions during the 3 rd and 4 th centuries were far fiercer but they were pushed back leaving behind scant traces of their marauding. The fact is that the Barbarians were no match to the Roman army. Thus it can be said that the Barbarians won in the 6 th century not because of their superior strength but because of the weakness of the Romans 1 .

The second cause is the decay in the structure of Roman society. Three distinct tribes divided into ten clans each made up Roman society in the early stages. This tribal character continued during the days of the Republic. The system allowed for stability and self-government. Self-government entails self-discipline by subordinating self-interest for the welfare of the family and then of the society as a whole. Without discipline self-government is impossible.

Originally the plebeians were not part of the government because they did not belong to the tribes that originated in Rome; neither could they take part in the religion of the state that comprised of family gods. The king was a sort of high priest. This led to the voluntary exile of the plebeians for a short time to the Sacred Mountain because “ no hereditary religion attaches us to this sit ” 2 . But later after many years of struggle, they became part of the Roman administration but at the cost of Rome no longer being tribal-based. It became more wealth-based.

Things took a turn for the worse with Rome following expansionist policies. Foreign influence gnawed into Roman society. When Sulla conquered Greece it was followed by a reverse invasion of Greek literature, philosophy, and manners. But Greece of those days had become degenerate. More destructive was the influence from the east – the Babylonian, Assyrian and Persian Empires with their proletariat demoralized culture that attracted the urban elite of Rome.

The third vital cause was the change in the Roman army too had changed. The conquests led to Rome setting up garrisons in distant places where the soldiers were posted for many years. Consequently, they forgot their loyalties towards Rome and directed it more towards the local garrison commander 3 .

At home, the army became degenerate with the introduction of public games. The worst damage was done to slavery that swelled into an institution. Roman administration could not manage the slaves it took in. Society became dependent on slaves. The administration became too much occupied with huge bands of slaves, extremely dissatisfied, living in squalid conditions. Corn came to be freely distributed leading to transforming the self-respecting working class into beggars. The land came to be neglected and the condition of the soil worsened. Farmers were overtaxed while others were overindulged. The granaries of Rome became the deserts of Africa today.

Bibliography

• Bowersock, David. 1996. “The Vanishing Paradigm of the Fall of Rome.” Bulletin of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences 49: 31-42.
• Ferrill, Arther. 2009. The Fall of the Roman Empire: The Military Explanation . New York: Thames and Hudson Ltd.
• Tainter, Joseph. 1988. The Collapse of Complex Societies . NY: Princeton Uni Press.

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Visiting Sleeping Beauties: Reawakening Fashion?

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Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History Essays

The roman republic.

Limestone funerary relief

Torso of a Ptolemaic King, inscribed with cartouches of a late Ptolemy

Marble bust of a man

Marble statue of a draped seated man

Signed by Zeuxis as sculptor

Tableware from the Tivoli Hoard

Sword and Scabbard

Cubiculum (bedroom) from the Villa of P. Fannius Synistor at Boscoreale

Department of Greek and Roman Art , The Metropolitan Museum of Art

October 2000

From its inauspicious beginnings as a small cluster of huts in the tenth century B.C., Rome developed into a city-state, first ruled by kings, then, from 509 B.C. onward, by a new form of government—the Republic. During the early Republic, power rested in the hands of the patricians, a privileged class of Roman citizens whose status was a birthright. The patricians had exclusive control over all religious offices and issued final assent ( patrum auctoritas ) to decisions made by the Roman popular assemblies. However, debts and an unfair distribution of public land prompted the poorer Roman citizens, known as the plebians, to withdraw from the city-state and form their own assembly, elect their own officers, and set up their own cults . Their principal demands were debt relief and a more equitable distribution of newly conquered territory in allotments to Roman citizens. Eventually, in 287 B.C., with the so-called Conflict of the Orders, wealthier, land-rich plebians achieved political equality with the patricians. The main political result was the birth of a noble ruling class consisting of both patricians and plebians, a unique power-sharing partnership that continued into the late first century B.C.

During the last three centuries of the Republic, Rome became a metropolis and the capital city of a vast expanse of territory acquired piecemeal through conquest and diplomacy. Administered territories ( provinciae ) outside Italy included: Sicily, Sardinia, Spain, Africa, Macedon, Achaea, Asia, Cilicia, Gaul, Cyrene, Bithynia, Crete, Pontus, Syria, and Cyprus. The strains of governing an ever-expanding empire involving a major military commitment, and the widening gulf between those citizens who profited from Rome’s new wealth and those who were impoverished, generated social breakdown, political turmoil, and the eventual collapse of the Republic. Rome experienced a long and bloody series of civil wars, political crises, and civil disturbances that culminated with the dictatorship of Julius Caesar and his assassination on March 15, 44 B.C. After Caesar’s death, the task of reforming the Roman state and restoring peace and stability fell to his grandnephew, Gaius Julius Caesar Octavianus, only eighteen years old, who purged all opposition to his complete control of the Roman empire and was granted the honorific title of Augustus in 27 B.C.

Department of Greek and Roman Art. “The Roman Republic.” In Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History . New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2000–. http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/romr/hd_romr.htm (October 2000)

Further Reading

Gruen, Erich S. Culture and National Identity in Republican Rome . Ithaca, N.Y.: Cornell University Press, 1992.

Kleiner, Diana E. E. Roman Sculpture . New Haven: Yale University Press, 1992.

Matyszak, Philip. Chronicle of the Roman Republic: The Rulers of Ancient Rome from Romulus to Augustus . London: Thames & Hudson, 2003.

Milleker, Elizabeth J., ed. The Year One: Art of the Ancient World East and West . Exhibition catalogue. New York: Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2000. See on MetPublications

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• Department of Greek and Roman Art. “ Athenian Vase Painting: Black- and Red-Figure Techniques .” (October 2002)
• Department of Greek and Roman Art. “ Boscoreale: Frescoes from the Villa of P. Fannius Synistor .” (October 2004)
• Department of Greek and Roman Art. “ Early Cycladic Art and Culture .” (October 2004)
• Department of Greek and Roman Art. “ Geometric and Archaic Cyprus .” (October 2004)
• Department of Greek and Roman Art. “ Hellenistic and Roman Cyprus .” (October 2004)
• Department of Greek and Roman Art. “ Scenes of Everyday Life in Ancient Greece .” (October 2002)
• Department of Greek and Roman Art. “ Greek Art in the Archaic Period .” (October 2003)
• Department of Greek and Roman Art. “ The Symposium in Ancient Greece .” (October 2002)
• Department of Greek and Roman Art. “ Roman Painting .” (October 2004)
• Department of Greek and Roman Art. “ Tanagra Figurines .” (October 2004)
• Department of Greek and Roman Art. “ The Augustan Villa at Boscotrecase .” (October 2004)
• Department of Greek and Roman Art. “ The Cesnola Collection at The Metropolitan Museum of Art .” (October 2004)
• Department of Greek and Roman Art. “ Warfare in Ancient Greece .” (October 2000)

Related Essays

• Art of the Hellenistic Age and the Hellenistic Tradition
• Art of the Roman Provinces, 1–500 A.D.
• Augustan Rule (27 B.C.–14 A.D.)
• The Julio-Claudian Dynasty (27 B.C.–68 A.D.)
• The Roman Empire (27 B.C.–393 A.D.)
• Ancient Greek Colonization and Trade and their Influence on Greek Art
• Barbarians and Romans
• Boscoreale: Frescoes from the Villa of P. Fannius Synistor
• The Byzantine City of Amorium
• Contexts for the Display of Statues in Classical Antiquity
• Eastern Religions in the Roman World
• Egypt in the Ptolemaic Period
• Hellenistic and Roman Cyprus
• Hellenistic Jewelry
• Intellectual Pursuits of the Hellenistic Age
• Mystery Cults in the Greek and Roman World
• The Nude in Western Art and Its Beginnings in Antiquity
• Retrospective Styles in Greek and Roman Sculpture
• The Rise of Macedon and the Conquests of Alexander the Great
• Roman Glass
• Roman Housing
• Roman Inscriptions
• Roman Painting
• Roman Portrait Sculpture: Republican through Constantinian
• Roman Portrait Sculpture: The Stylistic Cycle
• Anatolia and the Caucasus (Asia Minor), 1000 B.C.–1 A.D.
• Ancient Greece, 1000 B.C.–1 A.D.
• Eastern Europe and Scandinavia, 1000 B.C.–1 A.D.
• Italian Peninsula, 1000 B.C.–1 A.D.
• Western and Central Europe, 1000 B.C.–1 A.D.
• Western North Africa, 1000 B.C.–1 A.D.
• The Roman Republic (ca. 44 B.C.)
• Ancient Egyptian Art
• Ancient Roman Art
• Archaeology
• Architecture
• Augustan Period
• Balkan Peninsula
• Funerary Art
• Musical Instrument
• Period Room
• Ptolemaic Period in Egypt
• Roman Republican Period
• Sculpture in the Round
• String Instrument
• Wall Painting
• Western North Africa (The Maghrib)

Artist or Maker

Online features.

• The Artist Project: “Diana Al-Hadid on the cubiculum from the villa of P. Fannius Synistor at Boscoreale”