Roman Empire

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Not to be confused with Latin Empire or Holy Roman Empire.

For other uses, see Roman Empire (disambiguation).

Roman Empire

Senatus Populusque Romanus (Latin)

Imperium Romanum[n 1] (Latin)

Βασιλεία Ῥωμαίων (Ancient Greek)

Basileía Rhōmaíōn

27 BC – 476 AD (traditional dates)[1][2]

395 AD – 480 AD (Western)

395 AD – 1453 AD (Eastern)

Flag of Roman Empire

Vexillum

with the imperial aquila

Imperial aquila of Roman Empire

Imperial aquila

The Roman Empire at its greatest extent, 117 AD, the time of Trajan's death (with its vassals in pink)[3]

The Roman Empire at its greatest extent, 117 AD, the time of Trajan's death (with its vassals in pink)[3]

Capital
 Rome

(de facto and de jure from 27 BC to 286 AD, only de jure from 286 to 476)

Mediolanum

(286–402, Western)

Ravenna

(402–476, Western)

Nicomedia

(286–330, Eastern)

Constantinople

(330–1453, Eastern)[n 2]

Common languages

Latin

(official until 610)

Greek

(official after 610)

Regional / local languages

Religion

Imperial cult-driven polytheism

(Before 274 AD)

Joined by the henotheistic solar cult of Sol Invictus

 (Before 380 AD)

Nicene Christianity

(State Church of the Roman Empire)

(From 380 AD)

Government Semi-elective, functionally absolute monarchy

Emperor

• 27 BC  – 14 AD

Augustus (first)

• 98–117

Trajan

• 270–275

Aurelian

• 284–305

Diocletian

• 306–337

Constantine I

• 379–395

Theodosius I[n 3]

• 474–480

Julius Nepos[n 4]

• 475–476

Romulus Augustus

• 527–565

Justinian I
• 610–641

Heraclius

• 780–797

Constantine VI[n 5]

• 976–1025

Basil II

• 1449–1453

Constantine XI[n 6]

Legislature Senate

Historical era Classical era to Late Middle Ages

• Final War of the

Roman Republic

32–30 BC

• Empire established

30–2 BC

• Constantinople

becomes capital

11 May 330

• Final East-West divide

17 Jan 395

• Deposition of Romulus Augustus

4 Sep 476

• Murder of Julius Nepos

25 Apr 480

• Fourth Crusade
 12 Apr 1204

• Reconquest of Constantinople

25 Jul 1261

• Fall of Constantinople

29 May 1453

• Fall of Trebizond

15 August 1461

Area

25 BC[4] 2,750,000 km2 (1,060,000 sq mi)

117 AD[4][5] 5,000,000 km2 (1,900,000 sq mi)

390 AD[4] 4,400,000 km2 (1,700,000 sq mi)

Population

• 25 BC[6]

56,800,000

Currency sestertius,[n 7] aureus, solidus, nomisma

Preceded by Succeeded by

Roman Republic

Western Roman Empire

Eastern Roman Empire

The Roman Empire (Latin: Imperium Romanum, 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,
Northern Africa, and Western 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.