History Of The Roman Empire
According to Romans, the ancient city of Rome was founded in 753 BC, whereas according to modern historians, it was founded in 625 BC. The history of Roman Empire began after the 500-year old Roman Republic weakened due to civil wars. Many events, like Julius Caesar ruling as a permanent autocrat (44 BC), the Battle of Actium (31 BC), and awarding the honor of Augustus to Octavian by the Roman Senate in 27 BC, caused the evolution of the empire to turn from Republic to Imperialism. |
In the last years of the Republic, Rome had been expanded vastly and it was spread across the Mediterranean. But the empire reached its zenith during the reign of Emperor Trojan and the Roman Empire seized around 6.5 million sq km of land. It became the largest empire in the world. Its magnificence increased manifolds during Augustus’ regime. He once remarked that he found Rome a city of brick and left it a city of marble. Roman Empire’s vastness and stability influenced the whole world in many spheres like language, religion, architecture, philosophy, law, and administration of nations. A great part of the city was ruined on account of the Great Fire of Rome when Nero was the emperor. However, the ruined parts of the city were rebuilt.
In the start of the 3rd century, circumstances changed. The “Crisis of the 3rd Century” characterizes the adversities and political upheavals for the Empire, which was almost failed. Due to the barbarian attacks, there was a feeling of insecurity. Therefore, Emperor Aurelian decided to encircle the capital city with a huge wall in 273. Rome continued to be the official capital of the empire, but emperors did not spend much time there.
By time the third century came to an end, Diocletian made new rules and Rome was no more the official capital. In 330, Constantinople was declared a new capital by Constantine I. Many of the Roman nobles along with many artists and craftsmen shifted to Contantinople. Afterward, the empire was generally divided along an East or West axis. After the demise of Theodosius I in 395, it was segmented for the final time. The western part of the empire came to an end in 476 when Romulus Augustus was enforced to resign by Odoacer, and the eastern part of the empire tumbled in 1453 when Constantine XI died and Constantinople was seized by the Ottomans. This was the collapse of ancient Rome and Roman Empire. Monuments, temples and many splendid buildings were destroyed. The stones from these architectures ere taken to build churches.
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