It is said that most men think about the Roman Empire daily, and I think I do. I am fascinated about how the period from the foundation of the Roman Republic until the fall of the last king of the Romans lasts over 2000 years! But the empire has a lot of twists and turns and I think I have a unique view on the periods of the empire
This division is fairly obvious. It takes Rome from being a city state in Latinum to being the dominant power in the Western Mediterranean following the defeat of Carthage.
Following 146 BC Rome is a superpower in the Mediterranean and it uses its strength to take over the whole area. It still uses its city state structures but in the 1st century BC the sheer scale of Roman armies throws up leading general after leading general and shows the limit of the senate. Augustus eventually solves this by becoming empire
As the historian Kyle Harper has said the classical Roman Empire dies in the mid 3rd century. There is a 20 year period when the empire nearly falls apart and when it is eventually stitched back together again by Aurelian, Diocletian and Constantine it is a very different beast. It is now a military dicatorship where Rome is not a key city. Interestingly this structure survives in the east past the end of the Western empire.
If you lived in the east, the 5th century collapse in the West had little impact on you. The empire actually regroups and launches into a new golden age under Justinian.
But this empire is worn down first by famine, then plague, followed by a near 30 year wae against the Sassanian Persians, before being reduced and reformulated under the stresses of the 7th century Arab invasions.
After the Arab conquests the Eastern Roman Empire is reduced to its heartlands in Greece, the Southern Balkans and Western Anatolia. Greek becomes the only lingua franca and both political and religious links with the west begin to weaken.
Whilst never used by contemporaries, this period can be called "the Byzantine Empire."
It is remarkably successful throughout the period 640 to about 1200, and at times recaptures land in the Balkans and Eastern Anatolia, but the coming of the crusaders in 1204 permanently weakens the empire. Gradually the Ottoman Turks move in and straggle what is left of the once mighty empire before capturing Constantinople in 1453.
©Copyright. All rights reserved.
We need your consent to load the translations
We use a third-party service to translate the website content that may collect data about your activity. Please review the details in the privacy policy and accept the service to view the translations.