Roman Empire | Can’t Sleep? Discover the Ancient World

The Roman Empire was one of the largest in history, with contiguous territories throughout Europe, North Africa, and the Middle East. The Latin phrase Imperium Sine Fine—empire without end—expressed the ideology that neither time nor space limited the empire; in Virgil’s Aeneid, limitless empire is said to be granted to the Romans by Jupiter. This claim of universal dominion was renewed when the empire came under Christian rule in the fourth century. In addition to annexing large regions, the Romans directly altered their geography, for example by cutting down entire forests.

From Republic to Principate

By 100 BC, the city of Rome had expanded its rule from the Italian peninsula to most of the Mediterranean and beyond. However, it was severely destabilized by civil wars and political conflicts, which culminated in the victory of Octavian over Marc Antony and Cleopatra at the Battle of Actium in 31 BC, followed by Rome’s conquest of the Ptolemaic Kingdom in Egypt. In 27 BC, the Roman Senate granted Octavian overarching military power (imperium) and the new title of Augustus, marking his accession as the first Roman emperor.