The Roman Empire was one of the largest and most extensive in all of history. Its influence covers a large part of Europe and many other corners of the world, so we are going to understand in a special way how this expansion was through the map of this empire. let’s see then the Map of the Roman Empire and its evolution throughout history.
What was the map of the roman empire like
The Roman Empire was one of the largest and most influential empires of all time, and its birth undoubtedly contributed to the formation of today’s European and Western identity. But how did it come about, how did it spread, and how did it finally fall? Beyond the history books, we can understand how the expansion of the Roman Empire was through its maps, but specifically through the map at the time of Emperor Trajan. The map of 117 BC that you can see below and in which we see how the Roman Empire extended practically throughout Europe, part of Asia and some territories of Africa before the so-called crisis of the Roman Empire that occurred in the third century after Christ.
Upon becoming emperor, Augustus organized the Empire into provinces. In the years following the period of Augustus, the empire reached as we say its maximum expansion in 117 under Trajan. This map shows both the division into provinces and the maximum extent of the Roman Empire.
Evolution of the roman empire map
When Rome was founded Italy was inhabited by numerous populationss, whose territories were conquered gradually by Rome. In this first map you can see the beginning of that empire.
the punic wars
As of 264 BC C., Rome, at that time a Republic, engaged in its first continental war, against the Carthaginians. The Punic Wars, as today the conflicts between Rome and Carthage are remembered, there were three in total and ended with the decisive victory of the Romans and the destruction of Carthage in 146 BC. C. This map illustrates the situation in the Mediterranean in 218 BC, at the outbreak of the Second Punic War.
the gallic war
A new great turning point was the Gallic War, the military campaign with which Julius Caesar conquered Gaul, annexing it to the territory of Rome. Occurred between 58 and 51 a. c. and is remembered as one of the most successful military campaigns in history. It was precisely this success that paved the way for Julius Caesar’s seizure of power, which is detailed in the next point.
Caesar Vs Pompeo: The Civil War
On his return from the victorious campaign against the Gauls, beginning in 49 BC, Caesar engaged in a full-scale civil war against Gnaeus Pompeo, which was fought throughout the Mediterranean basin and ended with the victory of Caesar, who obtained the title of dictator thus effectively putting an end to the republic. in 44 a. C., Caesar was assassinated, and a new civil war between Octavio and Marco Antonio ended with the victory of the first that gave rise to the Roman Empirebecoming the first emperor with the name of Augustus.
The rest of the evolution of the roman empire can be summarized as follows:
The crisis of the third century
The third century after Christ was a period of profound crisis for the Roman Empire. One of the reasons was the complete instability of the leadership of the empire: many emperors, in fact, were assassinated or died under mysterious circumstances. A map illustrates where and how many emperors of this period died.
The spread of Christianity
From the first century after Christ, Christianity spread throughout the Roman Empire. Between moments of tranquility and religious freedom and moments in which they were victims of bloody persecution, the Christians increased considerably in number. The Roman Empire was generally placed in a tolerant manner with the religions of the time, provided they recognized the divine nature of the Emperor, which was not the case with monotheistic religions. There was a certain tolerance towards the Jews since they did not proselytize, what many emperors did not accept from the Christians was not recognizing the divine nature of the emperor and practicing a strong proselytizing work.
In 313, Emperor Constantine promulgated the Edict of Milan, definitively recognizing the freedom of worship of Christians.
The division of the empire
After Constantine’s death in 337, the Roman Empire was definitely divided between the Western Empire and the Eastern Empirea division that eventually sanctioned a real differentiation into two different states.
the barbarian invasions
One of the main plagues that hit the Roman Empire especially from the fourth century were the invasions of the barbarian peoples of northern and eastern Europe. This map shows which barbarian peoples created the greatest problems in Rome, to the point of causing the fall of the Western Roman Empire in 476.
after the fall
In 476 the Western Roman Empire fell due to the invasion of the Heruli led by King Odoacer. In the sixth century, the landscape of Western Europe was radically different from that of previous centuries: the barbarians who had brought the Empire to its knees with their invasions had formed a series of autonomous kingdoms. The Ostrogoths settled in Italya, the Visigoths in Spain, the Franks and Burgundians in France.
The heritage of the roman empire
Among the numerous cultural heritages left by the Roman Empire is undoubtedly linguistic. Today in Europe Neo-Latin languages are spoken in Italy, France, Spain, Portugal, Switzerland and Romania. Vatican City still uses Latin as the language for religious services and official documents.