What is the Roman Empire?
It’s interesting that the Romans had an empire before they got an emperor. An empire is a state in which the central government rules over several nations. In modern English, an emperor is a monarch who rules an empire. The Roman Empire started when the city of Rome expanded a rule over all the cities and peoples of Italy about 400-200BC. Beginning about 200BC, they conquered the city state of Carthage in North Africa. About 145BC they conquered Greece. They absorbed Egypt about 20BC. Soon after, they ruled the whole rim of the Mediterranean, plus Britain, and as far East as the Tigris and Euphrates rivers, as far North as the Rhine and Danube. The Roman Empire lasted in Europe till about 480AD. The empire continued in the East with capital at Constantinople, under the name of the Byzantine Empire. The Turks conquered Constantinople in 1453, and the Byzantine Empire ended. The first Roman emperor was Octavius Caesar, nephew and adopted son of Julius Caesar. He accumulated power slowly
