Roman Empire

Topics represented

Roman Empire (96) · Instituciones y derecho (5) · Instituciones, derecho y ciudadanía (4) · Ciudades e integración provincial (2) · Derecho, escritura y administración (2) · Derecho, escritura y educación (2) · Derechos, alimentos y guerra (2) · Gobierno y conflicto (2) · Guerra, ciudades y tecnología militar (2) · Guerra, comercio y mundo mediterráneo (2) · Guerra, provincias y gobierno (2) · Administración, diplomacia y guerra (1)

Records and sources

Ordered by start date. Long lives and processes may begin before the period you want to study.

1. c. 107 BCE

   Marius’ command and late-Republican recruitment

   Marius’ consulship and Numidian command are reference points for changes in recruitment, military careers, and dependence on commanders. Attributing all of those changes to one reform in 107 BCE remains debated.

2. 104 BCE–100 BCE

   Second Sicilian Slave War

   The Second Sicilian Slave War lasted from 104 to 100 BCE. Its recurrence on the island shows that coerced labor and provincial administration continued to generate conflict.

3. 91 BCE–88 BCE

   Social War and Italian citizenship

   Italian allies rebelled after citizenship proposals were blocked. The war led to extensions of citizenship for many free communities in Italy through uneven legal and local processes.

4. 89 BCE–63 BCE

   Mithridatic Wars

   Wars against Mithridates VI of Pontus extended Roman military intervention in the eastern Mediterranean. Their campaigns combined local conflicts, provincial finance, and competition among Roman commanders.

5. 88 BCE–79 BCE

   Sulla’s civil wars and dictatorship

   Rivalry between Sulla and his opponents culminated in civil war, proscriptions, and Sulla’s dictatorship. His reforms strengthened the Senate and limited the tribunate, but did not permanently stabilize the Republic.

6. 73 BCE–71 BCE

   Spartacus revolt

   The Third Servile War brought enslaved people and other followers together against Rome in Italy. Its defeat does not erase the diversity of participants or slavery’s centrality to the Roman economy.

7. 67 BCE–62 BCE

   Pompey’s extraordinary commands

   Laws of 67 and 66 BCE granted Pompey exceptional commands against pirates and Mithridates. The case shows how the Republic concentrated military and fiscal resources in individual commanders during expansion.

8. c. 60 BCE

   Informal First Triumvirate

   Caesar, Pompey, and Crassus formed an informal political alliance to coordinate interests and offices. It was not a magistracy created by law, but a changing agreement among elites with unequal resources.

9. 58 BCE–50 BCE

   Caesar’s Gallic Wars

   Caesar’s campaigns subdued or allied with numerous communities in Gaul and enlarged his military and political power. Death and captive totals in ancient sources are disputed and are not presented here as reliable counts.

10. 49 BCE–45 BCE

    Caesar–Pompey civil war

    The break between Caesar and Pompey opened civil war in Italy, Greece, Africa, and Iberia. The crisis arose from constitutional disputes and military rivalries; it was not the inevitable result of one decision.

11. 46 BCE–45 BCE

    Julian calendar reform

    Caesar introduced a solar calendar that reordered Roman civic timekeeping. Its implementation combined calculation, political decision, and administration; later adjustments show it was not a finished, immutable system.

12. 44 BCE

    Caesar’s lifelong dictatorship and assassination

    Caesar received the lifelong dictatorship and was assassinated on 15 March 44 BCE. The killing did not restore the Republic: it opened another series of civil wars and disputes over authority.

13. 43 BCE–33 BCE

    Second Triumvirate and proscriptions

    Octavian, Mark Antony, and Lepidus received extraordinary legal powers as triumvirs. Their proscriptions and wars redistributed property and power through political violence; the alliance did not remain stable throughout the period.

14. 31 BCE–30 BCE

    Actium and the annexation of Egypt

    Octavian’s victory over Antony and Cleopatra at Actium was decisive in the civil war; the next year Egypt came under Roman rule. It was not the “end” of Egyptian societies or a transition without violence.

15. 27 BCE

    Augustus and the Principate

    In 27 BCE, the Senate granted Octavian the title Augustus. Although the new regime retained Republican vocabulary and institutions, it concentrated imperial power; it was not a full restoration of the Republic.

16. c. 27 BCE–c. 23 BCE

    Augustan imperial provinces and standing army

    The Principate distinguished senatorial and imperial provinces and linked legions to the princeps’ command. Consolidation of a professional army was gradual and coexisted with auxiliaries, regional recruitment, and local arrangements.

17. 27 BCE–14

    Augustus’ urban and monumental program

    Augustus’ regime financed and promoted temples, forums, roads, and other spaces in Rome. These works combined urban maintenance, elite patronage, and political language; they were not a uniform improvement in everyone’s life.

18. c. 20 BCE–c. 14

    Annona, roads, and Rome’s supply

    Under Augustus, grain-supply functions were reorganized and routes connecting Rome with Italy and the provinces were maintained or promoted. The annona depended on harvests, shipping, and coerced labor, not only on administrative decision.

19. c. 1–c. 180

    Provincial cities and Roman citizenship

    During the early Empire, expanding citizenship, colonies, and urban status linked provincial cities to Roman government. Conditions varied among provinces and social groups; this does not imply uniform Romanization.

20. 9

    Varian disaster and the Rhine frontier

    The defeat of three legions under Varus in 9 CE limited Roman plans east of the Rhine. The frontier remained a zone of trade, mobility, and conflict, not a sealed cultural barrier.

21. 41–54

    Rome’s port and aqueducts under Claudius

    Claudius promoted public works, including development of the port at Ostia and completion of the Aqua Claudia. These projects connected shipping, water, and the annona, but their maintenance and benefits were uneven.

22. 68–69

    Julio-Claudian end and Year of the Four Emperors

    After Nero’s suicide, rivalries among armies and elites produced a rapid succession of emperors. Vespasian’s victory founded the Flavian dynasty without eliminating the legions’ political importance.

23. 72–80

    Flavian Amphitheatre (Colosseum)

    The Flavians built the amphitheatre in Rome as a venue for public spectacles. Its architecture reveals technical capacity and imperial patronage without making the building a single symbol of Roman urban experience.

24. 79

    Vesuvius eruption and Campanian towns

    Vesuvius’ eruption engulfed Pompeii, Herculaneum, and nearby villas. The archaeological remains enable study of Roman towns, but do not by themselves represent the whole empire or freeze a society without prior change.

25. 101–106

    Dacian Wars and the province of Dacia

    Trajan’s campaigns against Dacia culminated in creation of a Roman province. The conquest reorganized resources, settlements, and populations on a Danubian frontier; it was not homogeneous integration.

26. 117–138

    Frontiers and urbanism under Hadrian

    Hadrian’s government favored frontier consolidation and building programs in imperial cities. “Consolidation” does not mean immobility: troops, traders, and communities continued to cross and negotiate boundaries.

27. c. 165–c. 180

    Antonine plague

    A widespread epidemic affected the empire from 165/166 until at least 180; Galen witnessed part of it. Its cause and exact demographic impact are debated, so no mortality totals are assigned here.

28. 193–235

    Severan dynasty, army, and administration

    Septimius Severus took Rome in 193 and his dynasty explicitly based authority on army support. Greater use of equestrian officers in key posts reshaped administration without erasing the weight of other elites and cities.

29. 212

    Imperial citizenship under Caracalla

    Under Caracalla, citizenship frameworks between Italy and the provinces were decisively expanded. This marks an imperial legal transformation without treating every inhabitant or local condition as identical.

30. c. 235–c. 284

    Third-century crisis and soldier-emperors

    Between 235 and 284, short-lived emperors, civil wars, and military pressures followed one another. “Crisis” is a useful periodization, but its effects and the capacities of cities and provinces varied widely.