The Roman Empire

Hadrian (76-138 CE) was the fourteenth Emperor of Rome (10 August 117 to 10 July 138 CE) and is known as the third of the Five Good Emperors (Nerva, Trajan, Hadrian, Antoninus Pius, and Marcus Aurelius) who ruled justly. Born Publius Aelius Hadrianus, probably in Hispania, Hadrian is best known for his substantial building projects throughout the Roman Empire... [continue reading]

Augustus Caesar (63 BCE – 14 CE) was the name of the first (and, by all accounts, greatest) emperor of Rome. Augustus was born Gaius Octavius Thurinus on 23 September 63 BCE. He was adopted by his great-uncle Julius Caesar in 44 BCE, and then took the name Gaius Julius Caesar. In 27 BCE the Senate awarded him the honorific Augustus ("the illustrious one"... [continue reading]

The Roman Empire is defined as that period of time, between 27 BCE and 476 CE, when the city of Rome ruled the known world. The Roman Empire begins when Augustus Caesar becomes the first Emperor of Rome and ends when the last Roman Emperor, Romulus Augustulus, is deposed by the Germanic King Odoacer. Following the Battle of Actium in 31 BCE, Gaius Octavius... [continue reading]

Greece is a country in southeastern Europe, known in Greek as Hellas, and consisting of a mainland and an archipelago of islands. Greece is the birthplace of Western Philosophy (Plato), Literature (Homer), Mathematics (Pythagoras), History (Herodotus), Drama (Sophocles and Aristophanes), the Olympic Games, and Democracy and Science (these last two most notably... [continue reading]

An empire is a political construct in which one state dominates over another state, or a series of states. At its heart, an empire is ruled by an emperor, even though many states in history without an emperor at their head are called "empires". At its core, an empire is the domination of one state by another. This idea lies at the heart... [continue reading]