Key Stage 3 · Year 7 · History · 2 minutes
How Rome became an empire
From one small city to an empire that still shapes our world.
Key terms
- republic
- A state run by elected leaders and a senate rather than by a single ruler.
- senate
- A group of leaders who helped run Rome when it was a republic.
- emperor
- The single ruler of Rome; Augustus was the first, from twenty-seven BC.
- legion
- A group of about five thousand trained Roman soldiers.
- aqueduct
- A structure the Romans built to carry fresh water into cities.
- Hadrian's Wall
- A wall seventy-three miles long that Emperor Hadrian ordered built across the north of Britain.
Transcript
It started as one small city beside the River Tiber. Yet Rome came to rule lands on three continents. So how did a city become an empire?
Rome was a republic, run by elected leaders and a senate. But after years of civil war, in twenty seven BC, Augustus became the first emperor.
Watch it grow. In five hundred and nine BC, Rome was a small city state. By forty four BC, it stretched around much of the Mediterranean. And by AD one hundred and seventeen, under Trajan, it reached its greatest size.
How do you hold that together? Roads. The Romans built over eighty thousand kilometres of paved roads for soldiers and messages. All roads lead to Rome.
Along those roads marched the army: legions of about five thousand trained soldiers. Latin and Roman law tied people together, and aqueducts carried fresh water into the cities.
In AD forty three, the Romans invaded Britain. In AD one hundred and twenty two, Emperor Hadrian ordered a wall across the north, seventy three miles long.
Rome's empire is gone, but look around. July and August are named after Julius Caesar and Augustus. Thousands of English words come from Latin, and judges still use Latin phrases.
So remember: Rome grew from a republic into an empire. Its army, roads, language and laws held it together. And its legacy is still with us.
Sources
Every fact in the video, and where it comes from.
- 1britannica.com/place/ancient-Rome
- Rome began as a small settlement by the River Tiber in central Italy.
- 2britannica.com/place/Roman-Republic
- The Roman Republic is traditionally dated from 509 BC; it was governed by elected magistrates (consuls) and the Senate.
- 3britannica.com/biography/Augustus-Roman-emperor
- After civil wars, Octavian was given the name Augustus in 27 BC and became the first Roman emperor.
- 4github.com/AWMC/geodata (roman_empire_bce_60)
- By the late Republic (c. 60–44 BC) Rome controlled lands around much of the Mediterranean, including Gaul after Caesar's conquest (58–50 BC).
- 5britannica.com/biography/Julius-Caesar-Roman-ruler
- By the late Republic (c. 60–44 BC) Rome controlled lands around much of the Mediterranean, including Gaul after Caesar's conquest (58–50 BC).
- 6en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_the_Roman_Empire
- The empire reached its greatest extent in AD 117 under Trajan, across Europe, Africa and Asia.
- 7github.com/AWMC/geodata (roman_empire_ce_117_extent)
- The empire reached its greatest extent in AD 117 under Trajan, across Europe, Africa and Asia.
- 8britannica.com/technology/Roman-road-system
- Rome built roughly 80,000 km (50,000 miles) of hard-surfaced roads, mainly for military reasons.
- 9britannica.com/topic/legion
- A legion had roughly 5,000 heavy infantry soldiers.
- 10english-heritage.org.uk/learn/story-of-england/romans
- The Romans invaded Britain in AD 43 under Emperor Claudius.
- 11english-heritage.org.uk/faqs-hadrians-wall
- Hadrian's Wall, 73 miles (80 Roman miles) long, was begun in AD 122.
- 12britannica.com/science/Julian-calendar
- July is named after Julius Caesar and August after Augustus; many English words come from Latin; Latin phrases are still used in law.
- 13britannica.com/topic/Latin-language
- July is named after Julius Caesar and August after Augustus; many English words come from Latin; Latin phrases are still used in law.
Image and sound credits
- View of the Tiber in Rome with the Castel Sant'Angelo, Bernardo Bellotto (public domain)
- Cicero Denounces Catiline, fresco by Cesare Maccari (public domain)
- Augustus of Prima Porta, photo by Till Niermann (public domain)
- Bust of Trajan, Glyptothek Munich (public domain photo via Wikimedia Commons)
- Trajan's Column cast, panel 57, photo by Joe Mabel (public domain)
- Pont du Gard (CC0)
- The Pantheon inscription, Institute for the Study of the Ancient World (CC BY 2.0)
- Hadrian's Wall west of Housesteads, Steven Fruitsmaak (public domain)
- Roman territory and roads: Ancient World Mapping Center geodata (ODbL)
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