The Roman Empire is the phase of the ancient Roman civilization characterized by an autocratic form of government and large territorial holdings in Europe and the Mediterranean. The Roman Empire succeeded the 500-year-old Roman Republic (510 BC – 1st century BC), which had been weakened by the civil wars of the Late Republic, and continued as the Byzantine Empire until 1453.[4] Several dates are commonly proposed to mark the transition from Republic to Empire, including the date of Julius Caesar's appointment as perpetual dictator (44 BC), the victory of Caesar's heir Octavian at the Battle of Actium (September 2, 31 BC), and the Roman Senate's granting to Octavian the honorific Augustus. (January 16, 27 BC).[5]
The Latin term Imperium Romanum (Roman Empire), probably the best-known Latin expression where the word imperium denotes a territory, indicates the part of the world under Roman rule. Most of the people living there called themselves Romans[citation needed], and lived under Roman law. Roman expansion began in the days of the Republic, but reached its zenith under Emperor Trajan. At this territorial peak, the Roman Empire controlled approximately 5,900,000 km² (2,300,000 sq mi) of land surface. Because of the Empire's vast extent and long endurance, Roman influence upon the language, religion, architecture, philosophy, law and government of nations around the world lasts to this day.
The end of the Roman Empire is sometimes placed at 4 September 476 AD, when the last emperor of the Western Roman Empire, Romulus Augustus, was deposed and not replaced. Before this date, however, the Empire had been divided into Western and Eastern halves, Emperor Diocletian, who retired in 305, having been the last sole Emperor of an undivided Empire. The Western Roman Empire declined and fell apart (see Decline of the Roman Empire) in the course of the 5th century. The Eastern Roman Empire, known largely today as the Byzantine Empire, preserved Greco-Roman legal and cultural traditions along with Hellenic and Orthodox Christian elements for another millennium, until its eventual collapse with the conquest of Constantinople at the hands of the Ottoman Empire in 1453.
The Empire contributed many things to the world, such as a calendar with leap years, the institutions of Christianity and aspects of modern neo-classicistic and Byzantine architecture. The extensive system of roads that was constructed by the Roman Army lasts to this day. Because of this network of roads, the time necessary to travel between destinations in Europe did not decrease until the 19th century, when steam power was invented.
The Roman Empire also contributed its form of government, which influences various constitutions including those of most European countries and many former European colonies. In the United States, for example, the framers of the Constitution remarked, in creating the Presidency, that they wanted to inaugurate an "Augustan Age". The modern world also inherited legal thinking from Roman law, codified in Late Antiquity. Governing a vast territory, the Romans developed the science of public administration to an extent never before conceived nor necessary, creating an extensive civil service and formalized methods of tax collection. The western world today derives its intellectual history from the Greeks, but it derives its methods of living, ruling and governing from those of the Romans.
Wednesday, March 26, 2008
Rome: A MEDITERRANEAN EMPIRE
For many years there has explained the height and the rise of Rome claiming to be the moral, political institutions, military talent and good fortune of the Roman town.
It is also based on the physical environment of Rome and Italy, stating that Italy was located in the heart of the inhabited world. It praised the productivity of the Italian peninsula, expanded under the eyes of historians successive throughout the Mediterranean region. In the specific case of Italy, stated the length of the peninsula, the extension of the Apennines and climatic varieties that do not cease to be associated with it and guarantee a variety and a comprehensive range of foods.
The Roman Empire at its peak, at the beginning of the third century AD, included not only the peninsulas, islands and shores of the Mediterranean, as well as large tracts of the interior (to the edge of the Sahara and to the Tigris River), but also areas Europe located as far north as southern Scotland, the Rhine and Danube (as well as a part of southern Germany, on the other side of the Rhine and Dacia across the Danube Central).
Additionally, under the principality, the largest advances were made in Europe through the reign of the first emperor, Augustus. Your generals pushed the northern border from the Alps to the Danube and finally pacificaron the Iberian Peninsula. Beyond the matter of pure conquest, and sometimes economic strategic considerations played a role in shaping the campaigns of the emperors who were most active in the military field.
The Roman Empire extended far beyond the Mediterranean world, but during the entire period of principality, since about 27 BC Until 235 AD, the shaft political and the cultural basis of the rule were in the Mediterranean.
It is also based on the physical environment of Rome and Italy, stating that Italy was located in the heart of the inhabited world. It praised the productivity of the Italian peninsula, expanded under the eyes of historians successive throughout the Mediterranean region. In the specific case of Italy, stated the length of the peninsula, the extension of the Apennines and climatic varieties that do not cease to be associated with it and guarantee a variety and a comprehensive range of foods.
The Roman Empire at its peak, at the beginning of the third century AD, included not only the peninsulas, islands and shores of the Mediterranean, as well as large tracts of the interior (to the edge of the Sahara and to the Tigris River), but also areas Europe located as far north as southern Scotland, the Rhine and Danube (as well as a part of southern Germany, on the other side of the Rhine and Dacia across the Danube Central).
Additionally, under the principality, the largest advances were made in Europe through the reign of the first emperor, Augustus. Your generals pushed the northern border from the Alps to the Danube and finally pacificaron the Iberian Peninsula. Beyond the matter of pure conquest, and sometimes economic strategic considerations played a role in shaping the campaigns of the emperors who were most active in the military field.
The Roman Empire extended far beyond the Mediterranean world, but during the entire period of principality, since about 27 BC Until 235 AD, the shaft political and the cultural basis of the rule were in the Mediterranean.
THE FALL OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE
There many reasons why the roman empire fall, internal and external reasons. the external reasons were basicly the barbarian attacks to the western part of the empire. And the internal were mainly control reasons and family problems.
All the intern problems started when Theodosius I died in milan, he was the last emperor to have control of all the empire, he died of heart problems. As a result he left the power to his two sons Honorius and Arcadius. The first one ruled the estern part of the empire, and the second the western part of the empire. Honorius ruled in milan but he wasnt very succesfull in terms of managing the empire, he died in the year 423. Between 423 and 425 an usurper of the throne named Juan ruled, then he named emperor of the east a 4 year old child called Valentinus III. Arcadius, Theodosius youngest son died in 408 leaving the throne to his son Theodosius II a nine year old child, but in 425 the usurper Juan name into power of the west to a army general Flavius Constansius.
Consequently to this the stability of the post imperial dynastic during this period was secured at the cost of introducing the Empire very young emperors ruled by ministers and generals. This dynastic continuity created by the legacy of Theodosius I did not stop the usual political rivalries between supporters of the emperors, but it was important in these times extremely difficult for the Roman Empire.
The causes of the fall of the Roman Empire were both internal and external. The causes were internal problems in the succession of power, which caused instability and civil wars among warlords. Consequently, there was a politicization of the army, and that commanders were concerned about gaining power and ordered the army to abandon its specific functions, which were defending the border, stoping rebellions and expanding the empire through conquest. These civil wars, werent good also to the economy of the Empire, as the regions of this scenery of conflict, these civil wars and destroy crops and soil resources, which were the basis of the economy. They also polluted the waters. Due to this the production was damaged. Not only this was what affected the economy but also the permanent revelions that took the manpower contributions to the field and forced by the soldiers. Consequently to these orders workers were required to agree because these men of the army handled a lot of power. In regard to external causes, the politicization of the military contributes to the eastern border vulnerable to attack by barbarians.
The word barbaric used to designate those individuals who are not Romans. Faced with these attacks were fragmenting the Roman Empire, formerly a political unit, as they were ruled by a single person, there were a constant exchange; culture, there were an idea all fell within the same civilization by the language, as well as a religious unit, as all were from the same religion Christianity.
Thus, the Roman world was divided into two parts: the Western Roman Empire, occupied by the Roman-Germanic peoples and on the other sides of the Roman Empire East, also known as the Byzantine Empire. Consequently to this the western Roman Empire fell a few years after and the Byzantine Empire ruled europe almost a 1000 years more.
All the intern problems started when Theodosius I died in milan, he was the last emperor to have control of all the empire, he died of heart problems. As a result he left the power to his two sons Honorius and Arcadius. The first one ruled the estern part of the empire, and the second the western part of the empire. Honorius ruled in milan but he wasnt very succesfull in terms of managing the empire, he died in the year 423. Between 423 and 425 an usurper of the throne named Juan ruled, then he named emperor of the east a 4 year old child called Valentinus III. Arcadius, Theodosius youngest son died in 408 leaving the throne to his son Theodosius II a nine year old child, but in 425 the usurper Juan name into power of the west to a army general Flavius Constansius.
Consequently to this the stability of the post imperial dynastic during this period was secured at the cost of introducing the Empire very young emperors ruled by ministers and generals. This dynastic continuity created by the legacy of Theodosius I did not stop the usual political rivalries between supporters of the emperors, but it was important in these times extremely difficult for the Roman Empire.
The causes of the fall of the Roman Empire were both internal and external. The causes were internal problems in the succession of power, which caused instability and civil wars among warlords. Consequently, there was a politicization of the army, and that commanders were concerned about gaining power and ordered the army to abandon its specific functions, which were defending the border, stoping rebellions and expanding the empire through conquest. These civil wars, werent good also to the economy of the Empire, as the regions of this scenery of conflict, these civil wars and destroy crops and soil resources, which were the basis of the economy. They also polluted the waters. Due to this the production was damaged. Not only this was what affected the economy but also the permanent revelions that took the manpower contributions to the field and forced by the soldiers. Consequently to these orders workers were required to agree because these men of the army handled a lot of power. In regard to external causes, the politicization of the military contributes to the eastern border vulnerable to attack by barbarians.
The word barbaric used to designate those individuals who are not Romans. Faced with these attacks were fragmenting the Roman Empire, formerly a political unit, as they were ruled by a single person, there were a constant exchange; culture, there were an idea all fell within the same civilization by the language, as well as a religious unit, as all were from the same religion Christianity.
Thus, the Roman world was divided into two parts: the Western Roman Empire, occupied by the Roman-Germanic peoples and on the other sides of the Roman Empire East, also known as the Byzantine Empire. Consequently to this the western Roman Empire fell a few years after and the Byzantine Empire ruled europe almost a 1000 years more.
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