5: The Roman World

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The foundation of the city of Rome to the fall of the Roman Empire in the West is a tale of two different transformations. One involves cultural values and beliefs, and the other reflects geography. The transformation of a small village on the Tiber into one of the largest empires in all of world history was followed by a collapse of a part of that Empire. It was from those ashes that arose what we now know as Europe.

5.1: Chronology
5.2: Basic Chronology and Periods of Roman History
According to Roman tradition, Rome was founded as a monarchy. That monarchy, however, was not long-lived, and its history is overshadowed by myth and legend. Historians of Rome have most often divided its history into two major periods, based on the type of government that Rome had at the time: the Republic (from the late sixth century BCE to the late first century BCE) and the Empire (from the late first century BCE to the fall of the Western half of the empire in the late fifth century CE).
5.3: Early and Middle Republic
The period from the founding of Rome to the end of the Punic Wars is less documented than subsequent Roman history. Nevertheless, this period was the formative time during which Rome grew from a village on the Tiber to a pan-Mediterranean empire.
5.4: Fall of the Roman Republic
The victory over Carthage in the Second Punic War allowed Rome to “close” the circle of the Mediterranean almost completely, acquiring control over all territories that had previously belonged to Carthage. The destruction of Carthage in the Third Punic War, while largely a symbolic gesture, further cemented Rome’s control over the entire Mediterranean. The late Republican historian Sallust, though, grimly saw the Roman victory in the Punic Wars as the beginning of the end of the Republic.
5.5: The Early Empire
The period from the consolidation of power by Augustus in 27 BCE to the death of the emperor Marcus Aurelius in 180 CE was one of relative peace and prosperity throughout the Roman Empire. For this reason, the Romans themselves referred to this time as the Pax Romana, or Roman peace. During this period, the Empire became increasingly more of a smoothly run bureaucratic machine when commerce prospered, and the overall territory grew to its largest extent in the early second century CE.
5.6: The Third-Century Crisis, and Late Antiquity
While the second century CE was a time when the Empire flourished, the third century was a time of crisis, defined by political instability and civil wars, which ultimately demonstrated that the Empire had become too large to be effectively controlled by one ruler. Furthermore, the increasing pressures on the frontiers, which required emperors to spend much of their time on campaigns, resulted in the decline of the importance of the city of Rome.

Thumbnail: The extent of the Roman Republic in 40 BC after Caesar's conquests. (Public Domain; Tataryn77 via Wikipedia).