by R Wilkinson

Created on: August 21, 2008

To write briefly about the Roman Empire is no easy thing; here's a few quick thoughts....

The greater part of what we think of geographically as the Roman Empire was actually acquired during the period of the Roman republic, which gradually fell apart during the first century B.C. During the bitter struggle which followed the assassination of the talented general and dictator Julius Caesar, his great nephew and adopted heir Octavian rose to the fore, taking the name of Caesar and cleverly accepting the title of Princeps (first citizen, in 27 B.C. He is probably better known to many people as Augustus, the first formal emperor of Rome.

In settling the affairs of the defunct republic in the way he did, Augustus recognized the reality of governing a vast area covering many languages and regions in a society without the communications and technologies of today. He also set a dangerous precedent. Whilst he was alive, he effectively gathered absolute power into the office of the emperor (literally 'commander', but his relatives and heirs were not of his political calibre and whilst power stayed within his family, ('the Julio Claudians') the empire remained at its political and military might, whilst its rulers became corrupt and degenerate.

Nero (51 - 68 A.D.) was the last of the Julio Claudian family to hold power. When he was finally forced to commit suicide with much of the empire in open revolt, he was followed within a year by three other would be emperors, the last of whom, Vespasian, founded the Flavian dynasty, which, though relatively short in duration covered the period when the Colosseum was built and the destruction of Pompeii took place. Throughout the period 27 B.C. to 96 A.D. when the Flavian era ended, the empire remained strong and dominant, but the height of the empire was now to come, with the advent of five 'good emperors', each of whom demonstrated various qualities of political or military wisdom in their time. The empire thrived, reaching its gretatest territorial extent under Trajan (98 - 117 A.D..

As the second century wore on, the pressure on the empire from the many 'Barbarian' peoples outside its northern borders grew, but did not seriously affect the empire until the following century.

Following the death of Marcus Aurelius (161 - 180 A.D.) and the disastrous rule of his son Commodus, the empire became unstable and the long decline began, which culminated in the sack of Rome by Alaric and his Goths in 410 A.D.

During that time, the empire

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