Rome is the best-known empire on the historical map, and also one of the most confusing. When people search for a "map of the Roman Empire" they usually mean the empire at its largest, under Trajan. But Rome existed as a state for more than two thousand years, and its borders kept changing: first a city, then a republic that ruled Italy, then an empire around the Mediterranean, then two empires, and finally Byzantium.
On the Panchronia globe the borders of Rome change with the timeline. Below are the key stages; each link opens the map in that year.
The map of Rome at a glance
| Year | What the map shows | Map |
|---|---|---|
| 500 BC | The Roman Republic is a city-state in Latium, among the Etruscans, Latins and Greek colonies | 500 BC on the globe |
| 264 BC | Rome controls peninsular Italy; the First Punic War with Carthage begins | 264 BC on the globe |
| 146 BC | Carthage and Corinth are destroyed; Rome holds Spain, North Africa, Macedonia and Greece | 146 BC on the globe |
| 44 BC | After Julius Caesar's conquest of Gaul, Rome reaches the Rhine and the English Channel | 44 BC on the globe |
| 14 AD | Death of Augustus: the Roman Empire surrounds the Mediterranean, including Egypt | 14 on the globe |
| 117 AD | Peak under Trajan: from Britain to Mesopotamia, about 5 million km² | 117 on the globe |
| 270 AD | The crisis of the third century: the Gallic Empire in the west and Palmyra in the east break away | 270 on the globe |
| 395 AD | Division of the Roman Empire into the Western Roman Empire and the Eastern Roman Empire | 395 on the globe |
| 476 AD | Fall of the Western Roman Empire; the East survives | 476 on the globe |
| 555 AD | Justinian I has retaken Italy, North Africa and southern Spain | 555 on the globe |
| 1450 AD | The Byzantine Empire is reduced to Constantinople and a few territories in Greece; it falls in 1453 | 1450 on the globe |
From city to republic
According to legend, the city was founded in 753 BC (Founding of Rome), and its first rulers were kings: the Roman Kingdom. In 509 BC the Romans expelled the last king and established the Republic (Founding of the Roman Republic). For the next two centuries Rome fought its neighbours one by one, and by 264 BC it ruled almost the whole Italian peninsula.
The Republic conquers the Mediterranean
Rome's expansion beyond Italy began with three wars against Carthage, the great sea power of North Africa. In the second of them Hannibal crossed the Alps with elephants and destroyed a Roman army at the Battle of Cannae, but Scipio Africanus defeated him at the Battle of Zama. In 146 BC, at the end of the Third Punic War, Carthage was razed, and the same year Rome destroyed Corinth.
In the first century BC the Republic's generals conquered more than the Senate could control: Pompey took Syria and Judaea, and Caesar spent eight years in the conquest of Gaul. The Republic did not survive this: Caesar crossed the Rubicon in 49 BC, the civil wars ended with the Battle of Actium and the Death of Cleopatra, and Egypt became a Roman province.
The Empire at its peak
In 27 BC Octavian became Augustus (Octavian becomes Augustus), and the Republic became the Empire. Augustus wanted to push the border to the Elbe, but after the Battle of the Teutoburg Forest in 9 AD the frontier in Germany stayed on the Rhine. In 43 AD came the Roman invasion of Britain.
The Roman Empire reached its greatest extent under Trajan. He took Dacia (modern Romania; see Trajan conquers Dacia), annexed Nabataea, and in 116 captured the Parthian capital Ctesiphon (Trajan takes Ctesiphon). In 117 Rome ruled about 5 million km² and perhaps 60 million people: a quarter of humanity. The Mediterranean was entirely a Roman lake, which the Romans called Mare Nostrum, "our sea".
Trajan's successor Hadrian gave up Mesopotamia and fortified the frontier instead: in Britain he built Hadrian's Wall. From then on, Rome's borders hardly moved for a century and a half: the Rhine and the Danube in Europe, the Euphrates in the east and the Sahara in Africa.
Crisis, division and fall
In the third century the Empire almost fell apart: between 235 and 284 there were more than twenty emperors, a Roman emperor was captured by the Persians (Battle of Edessa: a Roman emperor taken captive), and for some fifteen years Gaul and the East were ruled by separate states. Diocletian restored order and split the government between four rulers (Diocletian establishes the Tetrarchy). Constantine the Great reunited the Empire, adopted Christianity and moved the capital east: Founding of Constantinople in 330.
After the death of Theodosius in 395, the Empire was divided for good. The western half did not last long: the Goths crossed the Danube and won the Battle of Adrianople, Rome was sacked in 410 (Sack of Rome by the Visigoths) and again in 455, and in 476 the last western emperor, Romulus Augustulus, was deposed. On the map of 480 the place of the Western Empire is taken by the kingdoms of the Visigoths, Vandals, Franks and Ostrogoths.
The Eastern Roman Empire: Byzantium
The eastern half called itself the Roman Empire until the very end; "Byzantium" is a name given by later historians. Under Justinian I it regained Italy and North Africa (Belisarius destroys the Vandal kingdom), but lost most of the East to the Arabs in the seventh century. It survived until 1453, when the Ottomans took Constantinople (Fall of Constantinople). So the Roman state, counted from the legendary founding of the city, lasted more than 2,200 years.
Questions
When was the Roman Empire at its largest?
In 117 AD, at the death of Emperor Trajan. It covered about 5 million km², from Britain to Mesopotamia and from the Rhine to the Sahara.
What countries were part of the Roman Empire?
At its peak, all or part of more than forty modern countries: Italy, Spain, Portugal, France, Belgium, England and Wales, the south of Germany and Austria, Switzerland, the Balkans, Greece, Romania, Turkey, Syria, Lebanon, Israel, Jordan, Egypt, Libya, Tunisia, Algeria, Morocco, Iraq and others.
When did the Roman Empire end?
The Western Roman Empire ended in 476, when Romulus Augustulus was deposed. The Eastern Roman Empire, or Byzantium, lasted until the fall of Constantinople in 1453.
What was the difference between the Roman Republic and the Roman Empire?
The Republic (509–27 BC) was ruled by elected magistrates and the Senate; the Empire was ruled by an emperor, starting with Augustus in 27 BC. Most of Rome's conquests were in fact made by the Republic.