Roman Empire

An empire started by the Romans that stretched from British Isles 41 B.C., to Northern Africa 146 B.C., to Armenia 42 B.C.

Rome may be credited with creating the virtue of civic republicanism: that a citizen should give his life in battle or in work to the glory of the Republic.

Its greatest ruler was Caius Iulius Caesar Octavianus, or Augustus, although many others parallel his life in depth.

Rome contributed a great deal to the mythology of early Christianity. For example, the prophecy that "a savior would come out of Judea" was popular in the Roman Empire, so popular that the biographer Suetonious saw fit to include it in his De Vitae Caesarium. However, Suetonious identified the savior as Vespasian in his "Life of Vespasian," since Vespasian did, as it was said, "save the State."

The Roman Empire built roads that connected roads that connected with the Silk Road.

See World History Lecture Four