Roman Empire

The Roman Empire in AD 117 at its greatest extent, at the time of Trajan's death (with its vassals in pink)
The Augustus of Prima Porta (early 1st century AD)
The Roman Empire in AD 117 at its greatest extent, at the time of Trajan's death (with its vassals in pink)
The Barbarian Invasions consisted of the movement of (mainly) ancient Germanic peoples into Roman territory. Even though northern invasions took place throughout the life of the Empire, this period officially began in the 4th century and lasted for many centuries, during which the western territory was under the dominion of foreign northern rulers, a notable one being Charlemagne. Historically, this event marked the transition between classical antiquity and the Middle Ages.
The Roman Empire by 476
The cities of the Roman world in the Imperial Period. Data source: Hanson, J. W. (2016), Cities database, (OXREP databases). Version 1.0. (link).
A segment of the ruins of Hadrian's Wall in northern England, overlooking Crag Lough
A 5th-century papyrus showing a parallel Latin-Greek text of a speech by Cicero
Bilingual Latin-Punic inscription at the theatre in Leptis Magna, Roman Africa (present-day Libya)
A multigenerational banquet depicted on a wall painting from Pompeii (1st century AD)
Citizen of Roman Egypt (Fayum mummy portrait)
Dressing of a priestess or bride, Roman fresco from Herculaneum, Italy (30–40 AD)
Slave holding writing tablets for his master (relief from a 4th-century sarcophagus)
Cinerary urn for the freedman Tiberius Claudius Chryseros and two women, probably his wife and daughter
Fragment of a sarcophagus depicting Gordian III and senators (3rd century)
Condemned man attacked by a leopard in the arena (3rd-century mosaic from Tunisia)
Forum of Gerasa (Jerash in present-day Jordan), with columns marking a covered walkway (stoa) for vendor stalls, and a semicircular space for public speaking
Reconstructed statue of Augustus as Jove, holding scepter and orb (first half of 1st century AD).
Antoninus Pius (reigned 138–161), wearing a toga (Hermitage Museum)
The Roman empire under Hadrian (ruled 117–138) showing the location of the Roman legions deployed in 125 AD
Relief panel from Trajan's Column in Rome, showing the building of a fort and the reception of a Dacian embassy
The Pula Arena in Croatia is one of the largest and most intact of the remaining Roman amphitheatres.
Personification of the River Nile and his children, from the Temple of Serapis and Isis in Rome (1st century AD)
A green Roman glass cup unearthed from an Eastern Han Dynasty (25–220 AD) tomb in Guangxi, southern China; the earliest Roman glassware found in China was discovered in a Western Han tomb in Guangzhou, dated to the early 1st century BC, and ostensibly came via the maritime route through the South China Sea
Solidus issued under Constantine II, and on the reverse Victoria, one of the last deities to appear on Roman coins, gradually transforming into an angel under Christian rule
Landscape resulting from the ruina montium mining technique at Las Médulas, Spain, one of the most important gold mines in the Roman Empire
The Tabula Peutingeriana (Latin for "The Peutinger Map") an Itinerarium, often assumed to be based on the Roman cursus publicus, the network of state-maintained roads.
A map of the Periplus of the Erythraean Sea, a Greco-Roman Periplus
Workers at a cloth-processing shop, in a painting from the fullonica of Veranius Hypsaeus in Pompeii
Roman hunters during the preparations, set-up of traps, and in-action hunting near Tarraco
Amphitheatres of the Roman Empire
Construction on the Flavian Amphitheatre, more commonly known as the Colosseum (Italy), began during the reign of Vespasian.
The Pont du Gard aqueduct, which crosses the river Gardon in southern France, is on UNESCO's list of World Heritage Sites.
Cityscape from the Villa Boscoreale (60s AD)
Aquae Sulis in Bath, England: architectural features above the level of the pillar bases are a later reconstruction.
Public toilets (latrinae) from Ostia Antica
Reconstructed peristyle garden based on the House of the Vettii
Birds and fountain within a garden setting, with oscilla (hanging masks) above, in a painting from Pompeii
Bread stall, from a Pompeiian wall painting
An Ostian taberna for eating and drinking; the faded painting over the counter pictured eggs, olives, fruit and radishes.
Still life on a 2nd-century Roman mosaic
Wall painting depicting a sports riot at the amphitheatre of Pompeii, which led to the banning of gladiator combat in the town
A victor in his four-horse chariot
The Zliten mosaic, from a dining room in present-day Libya, depicts a series of arena scenes: from top, musicians playing a Roman tuba, a water pipe organ and two horns; six pairs of gladiators with two referees; four beast fighters; and three convicts condemned to the beasts
Boys and girls playing ball games (2nd-century relief from the Louvre)
So-called "bikini girls" mosaic from the Villa del Casale, Roman Sicily, 4th century
Stone game board from Aphrodisias: boards could also be made of wood, with deluxe versions in costly materials such as ivory; game pieces or counters were bone, glass, or polished stone, and might be coloured or have markings or images
Women from the wall painting at the Villa of the Mysteries, Pompeii
Claudius wearing an early Imperial toga (see a later, more structured toga above), and the pallium as worn by a priest of Serapis, sometimes identified as the emperor Julian
The Aldobrandini Wedding, 27 BC – 14 AD
The Wedding of Zephyrus and Chloris (54–68 AD, Pompeian Fourth Style) within painted architectural panels from the Casa del Naviglio
The bronze Drunken Satyr, excavated at Herculaneum and exhibited in the 18th century, inspired an interest among later sculptors in similar "carefree" subjects.
On the Ludovisi sarcophagus, an example of the battle scenes favoured during the Crisis of the Third Century, the "writhing and highly emotive" Romans and Goths fill the surface in a packed, anti-classical composition
The Primavera of Stabiae, perhaps the goddess Flora
The Triumph of Neptune floor mosaic from Africa Proconsularis (present-day Tunisia), celebrating agricultural success with allegories of the Seasons, vegetation, workers and animals viewable from multiple perspectives in the room (latter 2nd century)
Actor dressed as a king and two muses. Fresco from Herculaneum, 30–40 AD
All-male theatrical troupe preparing for a masked performance, on a mosaic from the House of the Tragic Poet
Pride in literacy was displayed in portraiture through emblems of reading and writing, as in this example of a couple from Pompeii (Portrait of Paquius Proculo).
Reconstruction of a writing tablet: the stylus was used to inscribe letters into the wax surface for drafts, casual letterwriting, and schoolwork, while texts meant to be permanent were copied onto papyrus.
A teacher with two students, as a third arrives with his loculus, a writing case that would contain pens, ink pot, and a sponge to correct errors
Mosaic from Pompeii depicting the Academy of Plato
Portrait of a literary woman from Pompeii (ca. 50 AD)
A fresco in Pompeii depicting a poet (thought to be Euphorion) and a female reading a diptych
Statue in Constanța, Romania (the ancient colony Tomis), commemorating Ovid's exile
Brescia Casket, an ivory box with Biblical imagery (late 4th century)
Silver cup, from the Boscoreale Treasure (early 1st century AD)
Finely decorated Gallo-Roman terra sigillata bowl
Gold earrings with gemstones, 3rd century
Glass cage cup from the Rhineland, 4th century
Dionysus (Bacchus) with long torch sitting on a throne, with Helios (Sol), Aphrodite (Venus) and other gods. Fresco from Pompeii.
A Roman priest, his head ritually covered with a fold of his toga, extends a patera in a gesture of libation (2nd–3rd century)
Statuettes representing Roman and Gallic deities, for personal devotion at private shrines
thumb|upright=0.6|The Pompeii Lakshmi, an ivory statuette from the Indian subcontinent found in the ruins of Pompeii
Relief from the Arch of Titus in Rome depicting a menorah and other spoils from the Temple of Jerusalem carried in Roman triumph.
This funerary stele from the 3rd century is among the earliest Christian inscriptions, written in both Greek and Latin: the abbreviation D.M. at the top refers to the Di Manes, the traditional Roman spirits of the dead, but accompanies Christian fish symbolism.
The Pantheon in Rome, a Roman temple originally built under Augustus and later rebuilt under Hadrian in the 2nd century, dedicated to Rome's polytheistic religion before its conversion into a Catholic church in the 7th century

The post-Republican period of ancient Rome.

- Roman Empire

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The Cenacle on Mount Zion, claimed to be the location of the Last Supper and Pentecost. Bargil Pixner claims the original Church of the Apostles is located under the current structure.

Early centers of Christianity

The Cenacle on Mount Zion, claimed to be the location of the Last Supper and Pentecost. Bargil Pixner claims the original Church of the Apostles is located under the current structure.
A diagram of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre based on a German documentary. The church is claimed to be at the site of Calvary and the Tomb of Jesus.
The Church of St Peter near Antakya, Turkey, said to be the spot where Saint Peter first preached the Gospel in Roman Antioch.
Map of Western Anatolia showing the "Seven Churches of Asia" and the Greek island of Patmos.
Remains of the ancient Roman aqueduct in Caesarea Maritima.
St Paul's Pillar in Paphos
The Chapel of Saint Paul, said to be Bab Kisan where St. Paul escaped from Old Damascus
St. Peter's Basilica, believed to be the burial site of St. Peter, seen from the River Tiber
A scene showing Christ Pantocrator from a Roman mosaic in the church of Santa Pudenziana in Rome, c. 410 AD
Amphithéâtre des Trois-Gaules, in Lyon. The pole in the arena is a memorial to the people killed during the persecution.
St Paul's Islands near St. Paul's Bay, traditionally identified as the place where St Paul was shipwrecked
According to tradition, the Indo-Parthian king Gondophares was proselytized by St Thomas, who continued on to southern India, and possibly as far as Malaysia or China.

Early Christianity (up to the First Council of Nicaea in 325) spread from the Levant, across the Roman Empire, and beyond.

Fall of the Western Roman Empire

The loss of central political control in the Western Roman Empire, a process in which the Empire failed to enforce its rule, and its vast territory was divided into several successor polities.

The loss of central political control in the Western Roman Empire, a process in which the Empire failed to enforce its rule, and its vast territory was divided into several successor polities.

Routes taken by barbarian invaders of the Roman Empire during the Migration Period
Roman Empire in the early second century
The divided Empire in 271 CE
The Roman Empire under the Tetrarchy, showing the dioceses and the four Tetrarchs' zones of responsibility
Solidus of Julian, c. 361. Obverse: Julian with the beard appropriate to a Neoplatonic philosopher. Inscription: FL(AVIVS) CL(AVDIVS) IVLIANVS PP(=Pater Patriae, "father of the nation") AVG(=Augustus). Reverse: an armed Roman, military standard in one hand, a captive in the other. Inscription: VIRTVS EXERCITVS ROMANORVM, "the bravery/virtue of the Roman army"; the mint mark is SIRM, Sirmium.
The Eastern and Western Roman Empire at the death of Theodosius I in 395
The emperor Honorius, a contemporary depiction on a consular diptych issued by Anicius Petronius Probus to celebrate Probus's consulship in 406, now in the Aosta museum
The Favorites of the Emperor Honorius, by John William Waterhouse, 1883
An ivory diptych, thought to depict Stilicho (right) with his wife Serena and son Eucherius, ca. 395 (Monza Cathedral)
Inscription honouring Honorius, as florentissimo invictissimoque, the most excellent and invincible, 417–418, Forum Romanum
Areas allotted to or claimed by barbarian groups in 416–418
During his four-year reign Majorian reconquered most of Hispania and southern Gaul, meanwhile reducing the Visigoths, Burgundians and Suevi to federate status.
Tremissis of Anthemius
Tremissis of Julius Nepos
Europe and the Mediterranean in 476 AD
The Ostrogothic Kingdom, which rose from the ruins of the Western Roman Empire

The Roman Empire lost the strengths that had allowed it to exercise effective control over its Western provinces; modern historians posit factors including the effectiveness and numbers of the army, the health and numbers of the Roman population, the strength of the economy, the competence of the emperors, the internal struggles for power, the religious changes of the period, and the efficiency of the civil administration.

Monogramme of Christ (the Chi Rho) on a plaque of a sarcophagus, 4th-century AD, marble, Musei Vaticani, on display in a temporary exhibition at the Colosseum in Rome, Italy

State church of the Roman Empire

Monogramme of Christ (the Chi Rho) on a plaque of a sarcophagus, 4th-century AD, marble, Musei Vaticani, on display in a temporary exhibition at the Colosseum in Rome, Italy
Icon depicting Constantine and the bishops of the Council of Nicaea (325). The centrally placed and haloed Emperor holds the Creed of the First Council of Constantinople (381).
Missorium of Emperor Theodosius I, who declared Nicene Christianity to be the State religion of the Roman Empire. This piece was found in Almendralejo.
Changes in extent of the Empire ruled from Constantinople. 476 End of the Western Empire; 550 Conquests of Justinian I; 717 Accession of Leo the Isaurian; 867 Accession of Basil I; 1025 Death of Basil II; 1095 Eve of the First Crusade; 1170 Under Manuel I; 1270 Under Michael VIII Palaiologos; 1400 Before the fall of Constantinople
The Hagia Sophia basilica in Constantinople, for centuries the largest church building in the world.
Odoacer's kingdom in 480, after annexing Dalmatia and most of Sicily.
A map of the five patriarchates in the Eastern Mediterranean as constituted by Justinian I. Rome is coloured in pink, Constantinople in green, Antioch in blue, Jerusalem in pink and Alexandria in yellow. Leo III extended the jurisdiction of Constantinople to the territories bordered in pink.
A map of Muslim expansion in the 7th and 8th centuries.
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The spread of Christianity in Europe by 1000.
The coronation of Charlemagne as emperor.

The state church of the Roman Empire refers to the church approved by the Roman emperors after Theodosius I issued the Edict of Thessalonica in 380, which recognized the catholic orthodoxy of Nicene Christians in the Great Church as the Roman Empire's state religion.

The ancient quarters of Rome

Roman Kingdom

The earliest period of Roman history when the city and its territory were ruled by kings.

The earliest period of Roman history when the city and its territory were ruled by kings.

The ancient quarters of Rome
A map of Rome in 753 BC. Colours show topography, with green lowlands and brown highlands. The Latin names of hills are included in all caps.
Growth of the city region during the kingdom
A map of the City of the Four Regions, roughly corresponding to the city limits during the later kingdom. The division is traditionally, though probably incorrectly, attributed to Servius Tullius. The seven hills of Rome are shown in green, with Latin names.
The Capitoline Brutus, an ancient Roman bust from the Capitoline Museums is traditionally identified as a portrait of Lucius Junius Brutus

The accounts of this period written during the Republic and the Empire are thought largely to be based on oral tradition.

Roman Italy, the metropole of the Roman Empire. Roman provinces are marked in pink.

Metropole

Homeland, central territory or the state exercising power over a colonial empire.

Homeland, central territory or the state exercising power over a colonial empire.

Roman Italy, the metropole of the Roman Empire. Roman provinces are marked in pink.

The metropole of the Roman Empire was Italy.

Augustus of Prima Porta, 1st century

Augustus

The first Roman emperor, reigning from 27 BC until his death in AD 14.

The first Roman emperor, reigning from 27 BC until his death in AD 14.

Augustus of Prima Porta, 1st century
A denarius from 44 BC, showing Julius Caesar on the obverse and the goddess Venus on the reverse of the coin. Caption: CAESAR IMP. M. / L. AEMILIVS BVCA
The Death of Caesar by Vincenzo Camuccini. On 15 March 44 BC, Octavius's adoptive father Julius Caesar was assassinated by a conspiracy led by Marcus Junius Brutus and Gaius Cassius Longinus. Galleria Nazionale d'Arte Moderna, Rome
A bust of Augustus as a younger Octavian, dated ca. 30 BC. Capitoline Museums, Rome
Roman aureus bearing the portraits of Mark Antony (left) and Octavian (right), issued in 41 BC to celebrate the establishment of the Second Triumvirate by Octavian, Antony and Marcus Lepidus in 43 BC. Both sides bear the inscription "III VIR R P C", meaning "One of Three Men for the regulation of the Republic". Caption: M. ANT. IMP. AVG. III VIR RPC M. BARBAT. Q. P. / CAESAR IMP. PONT. III VIR PRC. The M. Barbatius Pollio was a moneyer
A denarius minted c. 18 BC. Obverse: CAESAR AVGVSTVS; reverse: comet of eight rays with tail upward; DIVVS IVLIV[S] (DIVINE JULIUS).
Fresco paintings inside the House of Augustus, his residence during his reign as emperor.
A denarius of Sextus Pompeius, minted for his victory over Octavian's fleet. Obverse: the place where he defeated Octavian, Pharus of Messina decorated with a statue of Neptune; before that galley adorned with aquila, sceptre & trident; MAG. PIVS IMP. ITER. Reverse, the monster Scylla, her torso of dogs and fish tails, wielding a rudder as a club. Caption: PRAEF[ECTUS] CLAS[SIS] ET ORAE MARIT[IMAE] EX S. C.
Anthony and Cleopatra, by Lawrence Alma-Tadema
The Battle of Actium, by Laureys a Castro, painted 1672, National Maritime Museum, London.
This mid-1st-century-BC Roman wall painting in Pompeii, Italy, showing Venus holding a cupid is most likely a depiction of Cleopatra VII of Ptolemaic Egypt as Venus Genetrix, with her son Caesarion as the cupid, similar in appearance to the now lost statue of Cleopatra erected by Julius Caesar in the Temple of Venus Genetrix (within the Forum of Caesar). The owner of the House of Marcus Fabius Rufus at Pompeii walled off the room with this painting, most likely in immediate reaction to the execution of Caesarion on orders of Augustus in 30 BC, when artistic depictions of Caesarion would have been considered a sensitive issue for the ruling regime.
Aureus of Octavian, circa 30 BC, British Museum.
Octavian as a magistrate. The statue's marble head was made c. 30–20 BC, the body sculpted in the 2nd century AD (Louvre, Paris).
The Arch of Augustus in Rimini (Ariminum), dedicated to Augustus by the Roman Senate in 27 BC, one of the oldest surviving Roman triumphal arches
Portraits of Augustus show the emperor with idealized features
The Blacas Cameo showing Augustus wearing a gorgoneion on a three layered sardonyx cameo, AD 20–50
Augustus as Jupiter, holding a scepter and orb (first half of 1st century AD)
Head of Augustus as pontifex maximus, Roman artwork of the late Augustan period, last decade of the 1st century BC
A colossal statue of Augustus from the Augusteum of Herculaneum, seated and wearing a laurel wreath.
Bust of Augustus wearing the Civic Crown, at Glyptothek, Munich
Bust of Tiberius, a successful military commander under Augustus before he was designated as his heir and successor
Muziris in the Chera Kingdom of Southern India, as shown in the Tabula Peutingeriana, with depiction of a "Temple of Augustus" ("Templum Augusti"), an illustration of Indo-Roman relations in the period
The victorious advance of Hermann, depiction of the 9 AD Battle of the Teutoburg Forest, by Peter Janssen, 1873
Augustus in a late 16th-century copper engraving by Giovanni Battista Cavalieri. From the book Romanorum Imperatorum effigies (1583), preserved in the Municipal Library of Trento (Italy)
The deified Augustus hovers over Tiberius and other Julio-Claudians in the Great Cameo of France
The Mausoleum of Augustus restored (2021)
The Virgin Mary and Child, the prophetess Sibyl Tivoli bottom left and the emperor Augustus in the bottom right, from the Très Riches Heures du duc de Berry. The likeness of Augustus is that of the Byzantine emperor Manuel II Palaiologos
The Augustus cameo at the center of the Medieval Cross of Lothair
Augustus as Roman pharaoh in an Egyptian-style depiction, a stone carving of the Kalabsha Temple in Nubia
Coin of Kushan ruler Kujula Kadphises, in the style of Roman emperor Augustus. British Museum. AE dichalkon, Chach, c. first half of 1st. Century, Weight:3.26 gm., Diam:18 mm. Caption: obverse in Greek ΚΟΖΟΛΑ ΚΑΔΑΦΕΣ ΧΟΡΑΝΟΥ ΖΑΟΟΥ, reverse in Kharoshti.
Fragment of a bronze equestrian statue of Augustus, 1st century AD, National Archaeological Museum of Athens
Virgil reading the Aeneid to Augustus and Octavia, by Jean-Joseph Taillasson, 1787
Coin of Augustus found at the Pudukottai hoard, from an ancient Tamil country, Pandyan Kingdom of present-day Tamil Nadu in India, a testimony to Indo-Roman trade. British Museum. Caption: AVGVSTVS DIVI F[ILIVS]. (The vertical slice, not part of the original design, was likely an old test cut to make sure the coin was solid rather than a fourrée.)
1st century coin of the Himyarite Kingdom, southern coast of the Arabian peninsula. This is also an imitation of a coin of Augustus.
Close up on the sculpted detail of the Ara Pacis (Altar of Peace), 13 BC to 9 BC
The Temple of Augustus and Livia in Vienne, late 1st century BC
The Meroë Head of Augustus, bronze Roman portraiture bust from Meroë, Kingdom of Kush (Nubia, modern Sudan), 27–25 BC
Portrait of Augustus; Istanbul Archaeology Museums, Turkey

His status as the founder of the Roman Principate (the first phase of the Roman Empire) has consolidated a legacy as one of the greatest leaders in human history.

Map of the Mediterranean Sea

Mediterranean Sea

Sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean Basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Western and Southern Europe and Anatolia, on the south by North Africa, and on the east by the Levant.

Sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean Basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Western and Southern Europe and Anatolia, on the south by North Africa, and on the east by the Levant.

Map of the Mediterranean Sea
Greek (red) and Phoenician (yellow) colonies in antiquity c. the 6th century BC
The Roman Empire at its farthest extent in AD 117
The Battle of Lepanto, 1571, ended in victory for the European Holy League against the Ottoman Turks.
The bombardment of Algiers by the Anglo-Dutch fleet in support of an ultimatum to release European slaves, August 1816
Borders of the Mediterranean Sea
Approximate extent of the Mediterranean drainage basin (dark green). Nile basin only partially shown
Map of the Mediterranean Sea from open Natural Earth data, 2020
Alexandria, the largest city on the Mediterranean
Barcelona, the second largest metropolitan area on the Mediterranean Sea (after Alexandria) and the headquarters of the Union for the Mediterranean
The Acropolis of Athens with the Mediterranean Sea in the background
The ancient port of Jaffa (now in Tel Aviv-Yafo), from which the biblical Jonah set sail before being swallowed by a whale
Catania, Sicily, Italy, with Mount Etna in the background
İzmir, the third metropolis of Turkey (after Istanbul and Ankara)
Africa (left, on horizon) and Europe (right), as seen from Gibraltar
Positano, Italy, Tyrrhenian Sea
View of the Saint George Bay, and snow-capped Mount Sannine from a tower in the Beirut Central District
The Port of Marseille seen from L'Estaque
Sarandë, Albania, stands on an open-sea gulf of the Ionian sea in the central Mediterranean.
The two biggest islands of the Mediterranean: Sicily and Sardinia (Italy)
Predominant surface currents for June
A submarine karst spring, called vrulja, near Omiš; observed through several ripplings of an otherwise calm sea surface.
Messinian salinity crisis before the Zanclean flood
The thermonuclear bomb that fell into the sea recovered off Palomares, Almería, 1966
Stromboli volcano in Italy
The reticulate whipray is one of the species that colonised the Eastern Mediterranean through the Suez Canal as part of the ongoing Lessepsian migration.
A cargo ship cruises towards the Strait of Messina
Port of Trieste
Kemer Beach in Antalya on the Turkish Riviera (Turquoise Coast). In 2019, Turkey ranked sixth in the world in terms of the number of international tourist arrivals, with 51.2 million foreign tourists visiting the country.
Coast of Alexandria, view From Bibliotheca Alexandrina, Egypt
Beach of Hammamet, Tunisia
The beach of la Courtade in the Îles d'Hyères, France
Sardinia's south coast, Italy
Pretty Bay, Malta
Panoramic view of Piran, Slovenia
Panoramic view of Cavtat, Croatia
View of Neum, Bosnia and Herzegovina
A view of Sveti Stefan, Montenegro
Ksamil Islands, Albania
Navagio, Greece
Ölüdeniz, Turquoise Coast, Turkey
Paphos, Cyprus
Burj Islam Beach, Latakia, Syria
A view of Raouché off the coast of Beirut, Lebanon
A view of Haifa, Israel
Old city of Ibiza Town, Spain
Les Aiguades near Béjaïa, Algeria
El Jebha, a port town in Morocco
Europa Point, Gibraltar
Panoramic view of La Condamine, Monaco
Sunset at the Deir al-Balah beach, Gaza Strip

The Roman Empire maintained nautical hegemony over the sea for centuries.

Province of Aegyptus in AD 125

Roman Egypt

Province of Aegyptus in AD 125
A 1st-century AD Roman emperor wearing nemes with a uraeus, as pharaoh (Louvre)
The first generations of the imperial Severan dynasty depicted on the "Severan Tondo" from Egypt (Antikensammlung Berlin)
Statue of an orator, wearing a himation, from Heracleopolis Magna, in Middle Egypt (Egyptian Museum, Cairo)
Bronze statue of a nude youth, from Athribis in Lower Egypt (British Museum, London)
A 2nd-century AD Roman emperor wearing nemes, as pharaoh (, Bad Deutsch-Altenburg)
Encaustic and tempera painted mummy portrait of a Roman officer c. 160, with a green sagum, gold fibula, white tunic, and red leather balteus (British Museum)
Encaustic painted mummy portrait of a Roman officer c. 130, with a blue sagum, silver fibula, white tunic, and red balteus, with related grave goods (Antikensammlung Berlin)
Encaustic mummy portrait of a Roman officer c. 100, with a blue sagum, fibula, white tunic with purple angusticlavus, and red balteus (Antikensammlung Berlin)
1st-century AD mummy excavated by William Flinders Petrie
Bust of Roman Nobleman, c. 30 BC–50 AD, Brooklyn Museum
Roman trade with India started from Aegyptus according to the Periplus of the Erythraean Sea (1st century).
Kushan ruler Huvishka with seated Roman-Egyptian god Serapis (ϹΑΡΑΠΟ, "Sarapo") wearing the modius.
Roman emperor Trajan making offerings to Egyptian Gods, on the Roman Mammisi at the Dendera Temple complex, Egypt.
North apse of the Red Monastery of Sohag
Possible personification of the province of Egypt from the Temple of Hadrian in Rome (National Roman Museum)
Nilus, the river god of Egypt's Nile, with cornucopia, wheatsheaf, sphinx, and crocodile (Braccio Nuovo). Sculpture from Rome's Temple of Isis and Serapis.
Enthroned statue of the syncretic god Serapis with Cerberus, from Pozzuoli (National Archaeological Museum, Naples)
4th-century relief of the god Horus as a Roman cavalryman killing the crocodile, Setekh (Louvre)
2nd-century relief of Anubis as a Roman infantryman in the Catacombs of Kom El Shoqafa
Copper-alloy statuettes of Egyptian gods Anubis (left) and Horus (centre) as Roman officers with contrapposto stances (National Archaeological Museum, Athens)
5th-century Christian relief (Staatliche Sammlung für Ägyptische Kunst)
A possible 2nd-century papyrus fragment of the Gospel of Peter, from the Oxyrhynchus Papyri (P. Oxy. LX 4009, Sackler Library)
Coptic cross and chi-rho carved into older reliefs at the Temple of Isis at Philae
Roman-era Christian-themed wool-and-linen Egyptian textile (Louvre)
Trilingual stela of G. Cornelius Gallus from Philae (Egyptian Museum)
Granite statue of Caracalla wearing nemes and uraeus cobra headdress (Alexandria National Museum)
"Pompey's Pillar", a monument erected by Diocletian ((r. 284 – 305)) in the Serapeum of Alexandria, represented in a mosaic from Sepphoris in Roman Palestine
4th-century pendant with portrait of Alexander the Great as Zeus-Ammon with repoussé border (Walters Art Museum)
Folio 6 verso from the Golenischev papyrus of the Alexandrian World Chronicle, showing Theophilus of Alexandria standing triumphantly on top of the Serapeum with its bust of Serapis
The Carmagnola, an Egyptian porphyry head on Venice's St Mark's Basilica thought to represent Justinian I
A map of the Near East in 565, showing Byzantine Egypt and its neighbors.
Augustan-era krater in Egyptian alabaster, found in a Roman necropolis at San Prisco in 1897 (National Archaeological Museum, Naples)
The Byzantine Empire in 629 after Heraclius had reconquered Syria, Palestine and Egypt from the Sassanid Empire.
The Mediterranean world in 650, after the Arabs had conquered Egypt and Syria from the Byzantines.
Mummy portrait from er-Rubayat (Walters Art Museum)
1st-century mummy portrait from Hawara (Cleveland Museum of Art)
1st/2nd-century mummy portrait from er-Rubayat (Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek)
2nd century mummy portrait from er-Rubayat (Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek)
2nd-century mummy portrait from er-Rubayat (Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek)
2nd-century mummy portrait from er-Rubayat (Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek)
2nd-century mummy portrait from er-Rubayat (Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek)
2nd-century mummy portrait from er-Rubayat (Walters Art Museum)
Mummy portrait (Antikensammlung Berlin)
2nd-century mummy portrait from er-Rubayat (Walters Art Museum)
2nd-century mummy portrait from Faiyum (Galerie Cybèle, Paris)
2nd-century mummy portrait from er-Rubayat (Antikensammlung Berlin)
3rd-century mummy portrait from er-Rubayat (Brooklyn Museum)
2nd-century mummy portrait (Getty Villa)
2nd-century mummy portrait (Pushkin Museum)
2nd-century mummy portrait (Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art)
2nd–4th-century mummy portrait from Hawara (Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek)
2nd/3rd-century mummy portrait from er-Rubayat (Walters Art Museum)
2nd-century mummy portrait (Harvard Art Museums)
2nd-century mummy portrait probably from er-Rubayat (Getty Villa)
Mummy Mask of a Man, early 1st century AD, 72.57, Brooklyn Museum
Canopic jar from the 3rd or 4th century (National Archaeological Museum, Florence)
Funerary masks uncovered in Faiyum, 1st century.
2nd-century statuette of Horus as Roman general (Louvre)
1st–4th-century statuette of Horus as a Roman soldier (Louvre)
2nd-century statuette of Isis–Aphrodite (Metropolitan Museum of Art)
2nd-century statuette of Isis–Aphrodite from Lower Egypt (Louvre)
1st–4th-century statuette of Isis lactans (Louvre)
Isis lactans: the mother goddess suckles Harpocrates (Pio-Clementino Museum)
1st/2nd-century Parian marble statue of Anubis (Gregorian Egyptian Museum)
2nd/3rd-century mosaic of Anubis from Ariminum (Museo della Città, Rimini)
6th- or 7th-century Christian sandstone grave stela (Luxor Museum)
6th- or 7th-century Christian sandstone stela (Luxor Museum)
6th- or 7th-century Christian sandstone relief (Luxor Museum)
Hadrian coin celebrating Aegyptus Province, struck c. 135. In the obverse, Egypt is personified as a reclining woman holding the sistrum of Hathor. Her left elbow rests on a basket of grain, while an ibis stands on the column at her feet.
Zenobia coin reporting her title as queen of Egypt (Augusta), and showing her diademed and draped bust on a crescent. The obverse shows a standing figure of Ivno Regina (Juno) holding a patera in her right hand and a sceptre in her left hand, with a peacock at her feet and a brilliant star on the left.

Egypt (Aegyptus ; Aígyptos ) was a subdivision of the Roman Empire from Rome's annexation of the Ptolemaic Kingdom in 30 BC to its loss by the Byzantine Empire to the Islamic conquests in AD 641.

The Tusculum portrait, possibly the only surviving sculpture of Caesar made during his lifetime. Archaeological Museum, Turin, Italy.

Julius Caesar

Roman general and statesman.

Roman general and statesman.

The Tusculum portrait, possibly the only surviving sculpture of Caesar made during his lifetime. Archaeological Museum, Turin, Italy.
Gaius Marius, Caesar's uncle
Dictator Lucius Cornelius Sulla stripped Caesar of the priesthood.
A denarius depicting Julius Caesar, dated to February–March 44 BC—the goddess Venus is shown on the reverse, holding Victoria and a scepter. Caption: CAESAR IMP. M. / L. AEMILIVS BVCA
The extent of the Roman Republic in 40 BC after Caesar's conquests
Vercingetorix throws down his arms at the feet of Julius Caesar, painting by Lionel Royer. Musée Crozatier, Le Puy-en-Velay, France.
A Roman bust of Pompey the Great made during the reign of Augustus (27 BC – 14 AD), a copy of an original bust from 70 to 60 BC, Venice National Archaeological Museum, Italy.
Cleopatra and Caesar, 1866 painting by Jean-Léon Gérôme
This mid-1st-century-BC Roman wall painting in Pompeii is probably a depiction of Cleopatra VII as Venus Genetrix, with her son Caesarion as Cupid. Its owner Marcus Fabius Rufus most likely ordered its concealment behind a wall in reaction to the execution of Caesarion on orders of Octavian in 30 BC.
Green Caesar, posthumous portrait of the 1st century AD, Altes Museum, Berlin
Statue of Julius Caesar, Via dei Fori Imperiali, Rome
La clémence de César, Abel de Pujol, 1808
Denarius (42 BC) issued by Gaius Cassius Longinus and Lentulus Spinther, depicting the crowned head of Liberty and on the reverse a sacrificial jug and lituus, from the military mint in Smyrna. Caption: C. CASSI. IMP. LEIBERTAS / LENTVLVS SPINT.
The senators encircle Caesar, a 19th-century interpretation of the event by Carl Theodor von Piloty
The Death of Caesar, Jean-Léon Gérôme, 1867
Bust of Mark Antony made during the Flavian dynasty (69–96 AD)
Marc Antony's Oration at Caesar's Funeral by George Edward Robertson
Gaius Julius Caesar Octavianus, Caesar's adopted heir
The Chiaramonti Caesar bust, a posthumous portrait in marble, 44–30 BC, Museo Pio-Clementino, Vatican Museums
Reliefs of Cleopatra and her son by Julius Caesar, Caesarion, at the Temple of Dendera
Roman painting from the House of Giuseppe II, Pompeii, early 1st century AD, most likely depicting Cleopatra VII, wearing her royal diadem, consuming poison in an act of suicide, while her son Caesarion, also wearing a royal diadem, stands behind her
Julii Caesaris quae exstant (1678)
A 1783 edition of The Gallic Wars
Bust in Naples National Archaeological Museum, photograph published in 1902
Bust in the National Archaeological Museum of Naples
Bust of Julius Caesar from the British Museum
Modern bronze statue of Julius Caesar, Rimini, Italy

A member of the First Triumvirate, Caesar led the Roman armies in the Gallic Wars before defeating his political rival Pompey in a civil war, and subsequently became dictator of Rome from 49 BC until his assassination in 44 BC. He played a critical role in the events that led to the demise of the Roman Republic and the rise of the Roman Empire.

Rome

Capital city of Italy.

Capital city of Italy.

Roman representation of the god Tiber, Capitoline Hill in Rome
Capitoline Wolf, a sculpture of the mythical she-wolf suckling the infant twins Romulus and Remus
The Ancient-Imperial-Roman palaces of the Palatine, a series of palaces located in the Palatine Hill, express power and wealth of emperors from Augustus until the 4th century.
The Imperial fora belong to a series of monumental fora (public squares) constructed in Rome by the emperors. Also seen in the image is Trajan's Market.
The Roman Empire at its greatest extent in 117 AD, approximately 6.5 e6km2 of land surface.
The Roman Forum are the remains of those buildings that during most of Ancient Rome's time represented the political, legal, religious and economic centre of the city and the neuralgic centre of all the Roman civilisation.
Trajan's Column, triumphal column and place where the relics of Emperor Trajan are placed.
The Pyramid of Cestius and the Aurelian Walls
15th-century illustration depicting the Sack of Rome (410) by the Visigothic king Alaric I
Detail view on an illustration by Raphael portraying the crowning of Charlemagne in Old Saint Peter's Basilica, on 25 December 800
Almost 500 years old, this map of Rome by Mario Cartaro (from 1575) shows the city's primary monuments.
Castel Sant'Angelo or Hadrian's Mausoleum, is a Roman monument radically altered in the Middle Ages and the Renaissance built in 134 AD and crowned with 16th and 17th-century statues.
Fontana della Barcaccia by Gian Lorenzo Bernini in 1629
Carnival in Rome, c. 1650
A View of the Piazza Navona, Rome, Hendrik Frans van Lint, c. 1730
Bombardment of Rome by Allied planes, 1943
The municipi of Rome
The Piazza della Repubblica, Rome
The Palazzo del Quirinale, now seat of the President of the Italian Republic
Satellite image of Rome
Aerial view of part of Rome's Centro Storico
Stone pines in the Villa Doria Pamphili
The Esquilino rione
Archbasilica of Saint John Lateran, Rome's Cathedral, built in 324, and partly rebuilt between 1660 and 1734
Basilica di Santa Maria Maggiore, one of the four papal major basilicas and has numerous architectural styles, built between the 4th century and 1743
St. Peter's Basilica at night from Via della Conciliazione in Rome
The Pantheon, built as a temple dedicated to "all the gods of the past, present and future"
The Colosseum is still today the largest amphitheater in the world. It was used for gladiator shows and other public events (hunting shows, recreations of famous battles and dramas based on classical mythology).
The Victor Emmanuel II Monument
The Palazzo della Civiltà Italiana in EUR district
The Temple of Aesculapius, in the Villa Borghese gardens
The Trevi Fountain. Construction began during the time of Ancient Rome and was completed in 1762 by a design of Nicola Salvi.
Fontana dei Fiumi by Gian Lorenzo Bernini, 1648
Flaminio Obelisk, Piazza del Popolo
Ponte Vittorio Emanuele II at sunset
The Vatican Caves, the place where many popes are buried
Rome chamber of commerce in the ancient Temple of Hadrian
The Sapienza University of Rome, founded in 1303
Biblioteca Casanatense
National Central Library
The Teatro dell'Opera di Roma at the Piazza Beniamino Gigli
The Spanish Steps
Ostia Lido beach
The Vatican Museums are the 3rd most visited art museum in the world.
Via Condotti
Spaghetti alla carbonara, a typical Roman dish
Concia di zucchine, an example of Roman-Jewish cuisine
Sepulchral inscription for Tiberius Claudius Tiberinus, a Plebeian and professional declaimer of poetry. 1st century AD, Museo Nazionale Romano
Stadio Olimpico, home of A.S. Roma and S.S. Lazio, is one of the largest in Europe, with a capacity of over 70,000.
Stadio dei Marmi
Rome–Fiumicino Airport was the tenth busiest airport in Europe in 2016.
Port of Civitavecchia
Roma Metrorail and Underground map, 2016
Conca d'Oro metro station
FAO headquarters in Rome, Circo Massimo
WFP headquarters in Rome
Sculpture dedicated to Rome in the Square Samuel-Paty in Paris
Column dedicated to Paris in 1956 near the Baths of Diocletian
The Piazza della Repubblica, Rome
Archbasilica of Saint John Lateran, Rome's Cathedral, built in 324, and partly rebuilt between 1660 and 1734

Eventually, the city successively became the capital of the Roman Kingdom, the Roman Republic and the Roman Empire, and is regarded by many as the first-ever Imperial city and metropolis.