Big History 2: Rome

The complete text of a 1901 textbook on Roman history by William C. Morey. However, the work is still useful today as if covers all the basic information about Rome from its earliest beginnings through the Republic and later the Empire.

This overview of the Roman Empire is organized by chapters, which include The Founding, The Kings, The Republic, Early Emperors, The Decline, The Collapse, Constantinople, Religion, Society, and The Army. Content includes several maps, dates of major battles, biographies of all the emperors, and more.

In the late fourth century, the Western Roman Empire crumbled after a nearly 500-year run as the world’s greatest superpower. Historians have blamed the collapse on hundreds of different factors ranging from military failures and crippling taxation to natural disasters and even climate change.

One of the many factors that contributed to the fall of the Roman Empire was the rise of a new religion, Christianity.

The fall of Ancient Rome started from about AD 190. The Roman Empire was attacked by tribes such as the Goths and the Vandals. Civil wars in parts of the empire further weakened the rule of Rome and respect for Roman law dwindled as a result.

“The warlike states of antiquity, Greece, Macedonia, and Rome, educated a race of soldiers; exercised their bodies, disciplined their courage, multiplied their forces by regular evolutions, and converted the iron which they possessed into strong and serviceable weapons. But this superiority insensibly declined with their laws and manners; and the feeble policy of Constantine and his successors armed and instructed, for the ruin of the empire, the rude valour of the Barbarian mercenaries.”

Was the collapse of the Roman empire in the west a series of gradual adjustments or a catastrophic event that brought violent change?

This ancient history site features maps of Rome from just the "seven hills" to the entire city plan with the areas labeled in Latin.

Interesting and useful site on Ancient Roman culture and civilization. Includes pages of information on the Roman Empire, Invasions/Rebellions, the Roman Army, and more.

Interesting and useful site on Ancient Roman culture and civilization. Includes pages of information on the Roman Empire, Invasions/Rebellions, the Roman Army, and more.

Rome was a city of “firsts”—the first apartment buildings, the first shopping mall, the first landfill site, and the first public welfare system. Discover more in this infographic on this Ancient supercity.

This site contains an extensive discussion on the development of wine cultivation in the Roman Republic.

Includes biographies of emperors, timelines, interactive maps, and sections on the society and the military.