The Roman Empire
The Golden Age
The beginning
Rome was founded in 753BC by its first king, Romulus. It grew into a rich and powerful city during the next few hundred years. Beginning in the eighth century B.C., Ancient Rome grew from a small town on central Italy’s Tiber River into an empire that at its peak encompassed most of continental Europe, Britain, much of western Asia, northern Africa and the Mediterranean islands.
Augustus Ceasar
Augustus Ceasar was the very first Roman emporers. He avenged the death of Caesar together with Mark Antony, before falling out with him.
Marius - The great Man of the Army
Gaius Marius is the man who organized army into the most effective and powerful fighting machine on earth.
Julian Caesar
He conquered Gaul in a brilliant campaign. His victories in Gaul brought into the empire what should later become one of the most important new territories to the empire.
The Roman Empire
War
During the early republic, the Roman state grew greatly in both size and power. Though the Gauls burned Rome in 390 B.C., the Romans rebounded under the leadership of the military hero Camillus, eventually gaining control of the entire Italian peninsula by 264 B.C. Rome then fought a series of wars known as the Punic Wars with Carthage, a powerful city-state in northern Africa. The first two Punic Wars ended with Rome in full control of Sicily, the western Mediterranean and much of Spain. In the Third Punic War, the Romans captured and destroyed the city of Carthage and sold its surviving inhabitants into slavery, making a section of northern Africa a Roman province. At the same time, Rome also spread its influence east, defeating King Philip V of Macedonia in the Macedonian Wars and turning his kingdom into another Roman province.