“All roads lead to Rome,” boasted the ancient Romans. For 500 years, from about 27 B.C.E. to 476 C.E., the city
of Rome was the capital of the greatest empire the world had ever seen. Road markers for thousands of miles
showed the distance to Rome. But the empire’s 50 million people were connected by more than roads. They were
also connected by Roman law, Roman customs, and Roman military might.
At its height, around 200 C.E., the Roman Empire spanned the whole of the Mediterranean world, from northern
Africa to the Scottish border, from Spain to Syria. During this time, the Roman world was generally peaceful and
prosperous. There were one official language and one code of law. Roman soldiers guarded the frontiers and kept
order within the empire’s boundaries. The Romans were proud of all this and thought that they will stay like this for ever
