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Roman Empire - Imperial Trajectories from Roots to Fall

5 important questions on Roman Empire - Imperial Trajectories from Roots to Fall

What is the chronology in the Roman Empire?

1. The rise of Rome
2. Roman Expansion over Italy
3. The rise of a Mediterranean Empire
4. Decline and fall

What are key points in the Chronology of the Roman Empire?

The development of the Roman Empire was a long process that took centuries
Transition from a hegemonic to a territorial empire with the conquest over seas
Relative stability from later 1st century BC into the 2nd century AD
Crisis of the 3rd century
Decline and fall of Western Empire in the 4th and 5th century, Eastern Empire lives on

What is the hegemonic way of control?

A patchwork of different treaties and statuses

What is the territorial way of control?

System of provinces: regional entities governed by a governor that were dependent on the imperial core in Rome which in term was headed by the emperor

What caused the transition from republic to empire?

Republic: there was a republic government by consols and the senate who appointed generals that conducted expentional warfare
General became more powerful and soldiers became more loyal to their general than to their leader. Conquest -> spoils of war -> reinvested their riches into their position of power -> transition from republic to empire