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The Roman Empire was a state that dominated the Mediterranean and much of Europe, Western Asia, and North Africa during the classical period.

The Roman Republic had previously conquered most of these territories, which later came under permanent single-person rule following Octavian's rise to power and the establishment of the Augustan Principate in 27 BC. By the late 3rd century AD, the empire had been divided many times. The Western Roman Empire collapsed in 476 AD, whereas the Eastern Roman Empire (also known as the Byzantine Empire) persisted until the fall of Constantinople in 1453. By 100 BC, the city of Rome had expanded its rule from the Italian peninsula to most of the Mediterranean and beyond. 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. The vast Roman territories were organized into senatorial provinces, governed by proconsuls who were appointed by lot annually, and imperial provinces, which belonged to the emperor but were governed by legates. The first two centuries of the Empire saw unprecedented stability and prosperity known as the Pax Romana (lit. In the 3rd century, the Empire underwent a 50-year crisis that threatened its existence due to civil war, plagues and barbarian invasions. The Migration Period, involving large invasions by Germanic peoples and the Huns, led to the decline of the Western Roman Empire. With the fall of Ravenna to the Germanic Herulians and the deposition of Romulus Augustus in 476 by Odoacer, the Western Empire finally collapsed. The Byzantine (Eastern Roman) Empire survived for another millennium with Constantinople as its sole capital, until the city's fall in 1453. Due to the Empire's extent and endurance, its institutions and culture had a lasting influence on the development of language, religion, art, architecture, literature, philosophy, law, and forms of government across its territories.

Rome had begun expanding shortly after the founding of the Roman Republic in the 6th century BC, though not outside the Italian Peninsula until the 3rd century BC. Rome suffered a long series of internal conflicts, conspiracies, and civil wars from the late second century BC, (see Crisis of the Roman Republic) while greatly extending its power beyond Italy.

In 212, during the reign of Caracalla, Roman citizenship was granted to all freeborn inhabitants of the empire.

The Western Roman Empire began to disintegrate in the early 5th century. The Eastern Roman Empire, called the Byzantine Empire by later historians, continued until the reign of Constantine XI Palaiologos, the last Roman emperor.

Latin and Greek were the main languages of the Empire, but the Empire was deliberately multilingual.

Among these officials were the Roman governors: magistrates elected at Rome who in the name of the Roman people governed senatorial provinces; or governors, usually of equestrian rank, who held their imperium on behalf of the emperor in imperial provinces, most notably Roman Egypt.

Roman courts held original jurisdiction over cases involving Roman citizens throughout the empire, but there were too few judicial functionaries to impose Roman law uniformly in the provinces.

"There can be little doubt that the lower classes of ... provincial towns of the Roman Empire enjoyed a high standard of living not equaled again in Western Europe until the 19th century".

City planning and urban lifestyles was influenced by the Greeks early on, and in the Eastern Empire, Roman rule shaped the development of cities that already had a strong Hellenistic character.

As the Western Roman Empire declined, reading became rarer even for those within the Church hierarchy, although it continued in the Byzantine Empire.

Christianity emerged in Roman Judaea as a Jewish religious sect in the 1st century and gradually spread out of Jerusalem throughout the Empire and beyond.

The Holy Roman Empire was established in 800 when Pope Leo III crowned Charlemagne as Roman emperor.

Quick Facts

• The Western Roman Empire collapsed in 476 AD, whereas the Eastern Roman Empire (also known as the Byzantine Empire) persisted until the fall of Constantinople in 1453.
• The Eastern Roman Empire, called the Byzantine Empire by later historians, continued until the reign of Constantine XI Palaiologos, the last Roman emperor.
• 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.
• The Byzantine (Eastern Roman) Empire survived for another millennium with Constantinople as its sole capital, until the city's fall in 1453.
• The Migration Period, involving large invasions by Germanic peoples and the Huns, led to the decline of the Western Roman Empire.

Source material: Wikipedia - "Roman Empire". Adapted and summarized for DiscoverScroll. Original contributors are credited through the linked Wikipedia article. Read original on Wikipedia. CC BY-SA 4.0. Changes were made from the original.