Roman Empire

State · 31 BCE – 394 CE · at its largest around 117 CE

Augustus' empire brought two centuries of Roman peace, linking the Mediterranean through roads, aqueducts, cities and Latin law. It gave the world Virgil, the Colosseum and the Pantheon, and its eventual adoption of Christianity shaped European civilization for millennia.

Its battles, in Battle View

Battle of the Teutoburg Forest (9 CE)

In the guided tours

The rise and fall of Rome: From a small town on the Tiber to master of the Mediterranean, and the long break-up of its western half.

On its lands while it lasted

Uruk (c. 5,000 BCE – c. 700 CE): Sumerian city on the Euphrates that by about 3100 BCE was probably the largest city in the world, centre of the first urban civilization.
Cleopatra (69 BCE – 30 BCE): The last active ruler of Ptolemaic Egypt, she allied with Julius Caesar and Mark Antony; her death after defeat by Octavian ended the dynasty and Egypt became a Roman province.
Augustus (63 BCE – 14 CE): First Roman emperor, who ended the civil wars and ushered in the Pax Romana, a long period of relative peace.
Battle of Actium (31 BCE): Octavian's fleet under Agrippa defeated Mark Antony and Cleopatra off western Greece, leaving Octavian sole master of the Roman world.
Beginning of the Roman Empire (27 BCE): The Senate granted Octavian the title Augustus, conventionally marking the start of the Roman Empire, which came to rule the whole Mediterranean.
Jesus (c. 4 BCE – 30 CE): A Jewish preacher from Galilee whose teachings and crucifixion in Jerusalem under Pontius Pilate became the foundation of Christianity.
Paul the Apostle (c. 5 CE – 64 CE): A Jewish-born missionary from Tarsus whose journeys and letters spread Christianity among non-Jews across the eastern Roman Empire.
Battle of the Teutoburg Forest (9 CE): Germanic tribes led by Arminius destroyed three Roman legions under Varus, halting Roman expansion east of the Rhine.
Crucifixion of Jesus (c. 30 CE): Jesus was executed by the Roman authorities in Jerusalem; belief in his resurrection became the central tenet of the Christian faith.
Siege of Jerusalem (70 CE) (70 CE): Roman forces under Titus captured Jerusalem and destroyed the Second Temple, a defining event in Jewish history.
Eruption of Mount Vesuvius (79 CE): Eruption that buried the Roman towns of Pompeii and Herculaneum under ash, preserving them; described by Pliny the Younger.
Colosseum (80 CE): Flavian amphitheatre in Rome, completed in 80 CE under Titus, which held tens of thousands of spectators for gladiatorial games.
Hadrian's Wall (122 CE): Defensive wall across northern Britain begun in 122 CE under Hadrian, marking the north-west frontier of the Roman Empire.
Constantine the Great (c. 272 CE – 337 CE): First Roman emperor to convert to Christianity; he legalised the faith and refounded Byzantium as Constantinople.
Edict of Milan (313 CE): Agreement between the emperors Constantine and Licinius granting religious tolerance to Christians throughout the Roman Empire.