The Roman Empire (Latin: Imperium Rōmānum, Classical Latin: [ɪmˈpɛri.

ũː roːˈmaːnũː]; Koinē Greek:

Βασιλεία τῶν Ῥωμαίων, romanized: Basileía tōn Rhōmaíōn) was the post-Republican period of ancient
Rome. As a polity it included large territorial holdings around the Mediterranean Sea in Europe, North
Africa and West Asia ruled by emperors. From the accession of Caesar Augustus to the military anarchy
of the third century, it was a principate with Italy as metropole of the provinces and the city of Rome as
sole capital (27 BC – 286 AD). Although fragmented briefly during the military crisis, the empire was
forcibly reassembled, then ruled by multiple emperors who shared rule over the Western Roman Empire
(based in Milan and later in Ravenna) and over the Eastern Roman Empire (based in Nicomedia and later
in Constantinople). Rome remained the nominal capital of both parts until 476 AD, when the imperial
insignia were sent to Constantinople (Byzantium - Ancient Greek: Βυζάντιον, Byzántion), following the
capture of Ravenna by the barbarians of Odoacer and the subsequent deposition of Romulus Augustus.
The fall of the Western Roman Empire to Germanic kings, along with the hellenization of the Eastern
Roman Empire into the Byzantine Empire, conventionally marks the end of Ancient Rome and the
beginning of the Middle Ages.

The predecessor state of the Roman Empire, the Roman Republic (which had replaced Rome's monarchy
in the 6th century BC) became severely destabilized in a series of civil wars and political conflicts. In the
mid-1st century BC Julius Caesar was appointed as perpetual dictator and then assassinated in 44 BC.
Civil wars and proscriptions continued, culminating in the victory of Octavian, Caesar's adopted son,
over Mark Antony and Cleopatra at the Battle of Actium in 31 BC. The following year Octavian
conquered Ptolemaic Egypt, ending the Hellenistic period that had begun with the conquests of
Alexander the Great of Macedon in the 4th century BC. Octavian's power then became unassailable, and
in 27 BC the Roman Senate formally granted him overarching power and the new title Augustus,
effectively making him the first Roman emperor.

The first two centuries of the Empire saw a period of unprecedented stability and prosperity known as
the Pax Romana ("Roman Peace"). Rome reached its greatest territorial expanse during the reign of
Trajan (98–117 AD). A period of increasing trouble and decline began with the reign of Commodus (177-
192). In the 3rd century the Empire underwent a crisis that threatened its existence, as the Gallic Empire
and Palmyrene Empire broke away from the Roman state, and a series of short-lived emperors, often
from the legions, led the empire. The empire was reunified under Aurelian (r. 270–275). In an effort to
stabilize it, Diocletian set up two different imperial courts in the Greek East and Latin West in 286.
Christians rose to positions of power in the fourth century following the Edict of Milan of 313. Shortly
after, the Migration Period, involving large invasions by Germanic peoples and by the Huns of Attila, led
to the decline of the Western Roman Empire. With the fall of Ravenna to the Germanic Herulians and
the deposition of Romulus Augustulus in 476 AD by Odoacer, the Western Roman Empire finally
collapsed – the (Eastern Roman) Emperor Zeno formally abolished it in 480 AD. Nonetheless, some
states in the territories of the former Western Roman Empire would later claim to have inherited the
supreme power of the emperors of Rome, most notably the Holy Roman Empire. The Eastern Roman
Empire, usually described by modern historians as the Byzantine Empire, survived for another
millennium until it collapsed when Constantinople fell to the Ottoman Turks of Sultan Mehmed II in
1453.[n 8]
Due to the Roman Empire's vast extent and long endurance, the institutions and culture of Rome had a
profound and lasting influence on the development of language, religion, art, architecture, philosophy,
law, and forms of government in the territory it governed, and far beyond. The Latin language of the
Romans evolved into the Romance languages of the medieval and modern world, while Medieval Greek
became the language of the Eastern Roman Empire. The Empire's adoption of Christianity led to the
formation of medieval Christendom. Greek and Roman art had a profound impact on the Italian
Renaissance. Rome's architectural tradition served as the basis for Romanesque, Renaissance and
Neoclassical architecture, and also had a strong influence on Islamic architecture. The corpus of Roman
law has its descendants in many legal systems of the world today, such as the Napoleonic Code, while
Rome's republican institutions have left an enduring legacy, influencing the Italian city-state republics of
the medieval period, as well as the early United States and other modern democratic republics.

History

Main article: History of the Roman Empire

See also: Campaign history of the Roman military and Roman Kingdom

Transition from Republic to Empire

Main article: Roman Republic

The Augustus of Prima Porta

(early 1st century AD)

Rome had begun expanding shortly after the founding of the republic in the 6th century BC, though it
did not expand outside the Italian peninsula until the 3rd century BC. Then, it was an "empire" long
before it had an emperor.[7][8][9][10] The Roman Republic was not a nation-state in the modern sense,
but a network of towns left to rule themselves (though with varying degrees of independence from the
Roman Senate) and provinces administered by military commanders. It was ruled, not by emperors, but
by annually elected magistrates (Roman Consuls above all) in conjunction with the Senate.[11] For
various reasons, the 1st century BC was a time of political and military upheaval, which ultimately led to
rule by emperors.[8][12][13][14] The consuls' military power rested in the Roman legal concept of
imperium, which literally means "command" (though typically in a military sense).[15] Occasionally,
successful consuls were given the honorary title imperator (commander), and this is the origin of the
word emperor (and empire) since this title (among others) was always bestowed to the early emperors
upon their accession.[16]

Rome suffered a long series of internal conflicts, conspiracies and civil wars from the late second century
BC onward, while greatly extending its power beyond Italy. This was the period of the Crisis of the
Roman Republic. Towards the end of this era, in 44 BC, Julius Caesar was briefly perpetual dictator
before being assassinated. The faction of his assassins was driven from Rome and defeated at the Battle
of Philippi in 42 BC by an army led by Mark Antony and Caesar's adopted son Octavian. Antony and
Octavian's division of the Roman world between themselves did not last and Octavian's forces defeated
those of Mark Antony and Cleopatra at the Battle of Actium in 31 BC, ending the Final War of the Roman
Republic. In 27 BC the Senate and People of Rome made Octavian princeps ("first citizen") with
proconsular imperium, thus beginning the Principate (the first epoch of Roman imperial history, usually
dated from 27 BC to 284 AD),