More than fifteen centuries after its fall, the Roman Empire remains one of the most formative influences on the history of Europe. Its physical remains dot the landscape from Scotland to Syria. Its cities are still the great metropolises of the continent. Its law and institutions have shaped modern practice, and its ideal of a united Europe has haunted politicians ever since. Fully illustrated and featuring more than sixty full-colour maps, this atlas traces the rise and fall of the first great multinational state. It looks at its provinces and cities, its trade and economy, its armies and frontier defences; follows its foreign ward and internecine struggles; and charts its transformation into a Christian theocracy and its fall in 476.

Table of Contents

Part I From City to Empire: The Origins of Rome; The Unification of Italy; The Wars with Carthage; Rome's Conquest of the East; The Over-Mighty Generals; Caesar's Conquest of Gaul; Crossing the Rubicon; The Civil Wars; Shades of the Departed. Part II The Imperial Regime: The New Order; The City of Rome under Augustus; Claudius and the Conquest of Britain; Nero and the Year of the Four Emperors; The Western Provinces; Three Western Cities; Vespasian and the Jewish War; Trajan's Wars; The Roman Army. Part III The Imperial Peace: Hadrian's Travels; The Eastern Provinces; Three Eastern Cities; Writing and Literacy; Trade and Transport; The Roman Amphitheatre; Roman Spain; Guarding the Frontiers. Part IV The Troubled Century: The Year of the Six Emperors; The Parthian Wars; The City of Rome under the Severans; Mystery Cults; Roman Africa; Three African Cities; The Empire at Bay; The West Breaks Away; The Rise and Fall of Palmyra. Part V Restoration and Fall: Diocletian and the Division of Power; The Spread of Christianity; Constantine the Great; Technology and Engineering; A Fragile Prosperity; The Fall of the Western Empire; The Inheritors.

About the Author

Chris Scarre is Professor of Prehistory in the Department of Archaeology at the University of Durham.