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Ancient Rome

This article is about the history of Roman civilisation in antiquity. For the history of the city of Rome, see History of Rome. For other uses, see Ancient Rome (disambiguation).

Roma
753 BC–476/4801 AD
Motto: Senatus Populusque Romanus
Territories of the Roman civilisation:
  Roman Republic
  Roman Empire
  Western Roman Empire
  Eastern Roman Empire
Status
CapitalRome (and others during the late Empire, notably Constantinople and Ravenna)
Common languagesLatin
Government
Historical eraAncient history
753 BC
509 BC
• Octavian proclaimed Augustus
27 BC
476/4801 AD
  1. ^ Whilst the deposition of Emperor Romulus Augustulus in 476 is the most commonly cited end date for the Western Roman Empire, the last Western Roman emperor Julius Nepos, was assassinated in 480, when the title and notion of a separate Western Empire were abolished. Another suggested end date is the reorganization of the Italian peninsula and abolition of separate Western Roman administrative institutions under Emperor Justinian during the latter half of the 6th century.

In modern historiography, ancient Rome encompasses the founding of the Italian city of Rome in the 8th century BC, the Roman Kingdom (753–509 BC), Roman Republic (509–27 BC), Roman Empire (27 BC– 395 AD), and the collapse of the Western Roman Empire in the 5th century AD.[1][a]

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, assimilated the Greek culture of southern Italy (Magna Grecia) and the Etruscan culture, becoming a dominant power in the Mediterranean region and parts of Europe. It was among the largest empires in the ancient world, with an estimated 50 to 90 million inhabitants, roughly 20% of the world's population at the time.[b] It covered around 5 million square kilometres (1.9 million square miles) at its height in AD 117.[2]

The Roman state evolved from an elective monarchy to a classical republic and then to an increasingly autocratic semi-elective military dictatorship during the Empire. Through conquest, cultural, and linguistic assimilation, 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. It 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.[3] 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.

  1. ^ "ancient Rome | Facts, Maps, & History". Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved 5 September 2017.
  2. ^ Taagepera, Rein (1979). "Size and Duration of Empires: Growth-Decline Curves, 600 B.C. to 600 A.D.". Social Science History. 3 (3/4): 125. doi:10.2307/1170959. JSTOR 1170959.
    Turchin, Peter; Adams, Jonathan M.; Hall, Thomas D (December 2006). "East-West Orientation of Historical Empires". Journal of World-Systems Research. 12 (2): 222. doi:10.5195/JWSR.2006.369. ISSN 1076-156X.
  3. ^ Furet, François; Ozouf, Mona, eds. (1989). A Critical Dictionary of the French Revolution. Harvard University Press. p. 793. ISBN 978-0674177284.; Luckham, Robin; White, Gordon (1996). Democratization in the South: The Jagged Wave. Manchester University Press. p. 11. ISBN 978-0719049422.; Sellers, Mortimer N. (1994). American Republicanism: Roman Ideology in the United States Constitution. NYU Press. p. 90. ISBN 978-0814780053.


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