Skip to main content Accessibility help

We use cookies to distinguish you from other users and to provide you with a better experience on our websites. Close this message to accept cookies or find out how to manage your cookie settings.

Close cookie message
×
Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-p9bg8 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-27T09:13:44.686Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

3 - The Roman Empire

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  07 January 2021

By
Wolfgang Spickermann
Edited by
Yuri Pines ,
Michal Biran  and
Jörg Rüpke
Yuri Pines
Affiliation:
Hebrew University of Jerusalem
Michal Biran
Affiliation:
Hebrew University of Jerusalem
Jörg Rüpke
Affiliation:
Universität Erfurt, Germany
Get access

Summary

This chapter outlines the expansion of the Roman Empire during the Republican period and goes on to discuss the consequences of this expansion, the subsequent installation of a military monarchy (principate) and the Roman boundaries during that time. It discusses the Roman Empire as a legal, cultural and economic area, and the underlying factors behind its spatial dimensions. It shows that Rome’s wars and expansion were a by-product of multiple coexisting factors, ranking from predatory imperialism to the need to defend itself and its allies against other predators, from the magistrates’ quest for glory to the generals’ need to boost the morale of their armies and acquire political backing from the soldiers. Under the principate the factors influenced the empire’s expanding or contracting borders ranged from the desire of certain emperors to immortalize themselves by crossing the ocean, the symbolic limit of orbis terrarum), to the need to maintain the armies within the ecologically sustainable areas, to the degree of pressure from the empire’s enemies and recalcitrant subjects. Rather than presenting a one-size-fits-all explanation to the empire’s territorial extent, I follow the historical narrative which outlines multiple factors that influenced the empire’s size at every given moment.

Keywords

Roman EmpireRoman imperialismRepublicRoman armyprincipateorbis terrarummilitary monarchy
Type
Chapter
Information
The Limits of Universal Rule
Eurasian Empires Compared
 , pp. 111 - 140
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2021

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Ando, Clifford, ed. 2016. Citizenship and Empire in Europe 200–1900. The Antonine Constitution after 1800 years. Stuttgart: Franz Steiner Verlag.Google Scholar
Armstrong, Jeremy. 2016. War and Society in Early Rome. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Aßkamp, Rudolf and Schäfer, Christoph, eds. 2008. Projekt Römerschiff. Nachbau und Erprobung für die Ausstellung ‘Imperium Konflikt Mythos 2000 Jahre Varusschlacht’. Hamburg: Koehler.Google Scholar
Beard, Mary, North, John and Price, S. R. F.. 2013. Religions of Rome, 15th edn. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Bleicken, Jochen.2004. Geschichte der Römischen Republik. Oldenbourg Grundriss der Geschichte 2. 6. Auflage. München: Oldenbourg.Google Scholar
Bleicken, Jochen. 2008. Die Verfassung der Römischen Republik. Grundlagen und Entwicklung. 8. Auflage. Paderborn: F. Schöningh.Google Scholar
Brunt, Peter A. 1971. Social Conflicts in the Roman Republic. London: Chatto and Windus.Google Scholar
Brunt, Peter A. 1978. ‘Laus imperii’. In: Imperialism in the Ancient World, ed. Garnsey, Peter and Whittaker, C. R., 159–91. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Cancik, Hubert 2006. ‘Caput mundi. Rom im Diskurs “Zentralität”’. In: Cancik, Hubert, Schäfer, Alfred and Spickermann, Wolfgang, eds., Zentralität und Religion. Zur Formierung urbaner Zentren im Imperium Romanum. Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck 2006, 9–20.Google Scholar
Cornell, Tim J. 1995. The Beginnings of Rome. Italy and Rome from the Bronze Age to the Punic Wars (c. 1000–264 BC). London: Routledge.Google Scholar
Edwards, Iorwerth E. S., Gadd, Cyril J., and Hammond, Nicholas G. L., eds. 2008. The Cambridge Ancient History. Vol. 1. Part 1, Prolegomena and Prehistory. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Eich, Armin and Eich, Peter. 2005. ‘War and State-Building in Roman Republican Times’. Scripta Classica Israelica 24: 1–33.Google Scholar
Galinsky, Karl. 1998. Augustan Culture. An Interpretive Introduction. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
Garnsey, Peter and Saller, Richard. 1987. The Roman Empire. Economy, Society and Culture. London: Duckworth.Google Scholar
Garnsey, Peter and Whittaker, C. R., eds. 1978. Imperialism in the Ancient World. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Goldsworthy, Adrian Keith. 1996. The Roman Army at War. 100 BC–AD 200. Oxford: Clarendon Press.Google Scholar
Hopkins, Keith. 2009. ‘The Political Economy of the Roman Empire’. In: Dynamics of Ancient Empires: State Power from Assyria to Byzantium, ed. Scheidel, Walter and Morris, Ian, 178–204. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Itgenshorst, Tanja. 2005. Tota illa pompa. Der Triumph in der römischen Republik. Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kagan, Kimberley. 2006. ‘Redefining Roman Grand Strategy’. The Journal of Military History 70(2): 333–62.Google Scholar
Luttwak, Edward. 1976. Grand Strategy of the Roman Empire from the First Century A.D. to the Third. Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins University Press.Google Scholar
Mančić, Emilia. 2015. ‘Von der Aeneis bis zu den Nationalepen. Gründungs- und Begründungsnarative im imperialen und nationalen Kontext’. In: Narrative im (post)imperialen Kontext. Literarische Identitätsbildung als Potential im regionalen Spannungsfeld zwischen Habsburg und Hoher Pforte in Zentral- und Südosteuropa, ed. Schmidt, Matthias, 37–48. Tübingen: Francke Verlag.Google Scholar
Manthe, Ulrich. 2014. ‘Soldaten der Crassus-Armee in China?’. Gynnasium 121: 477–92.Google Scholar
Matijević, Krěsimir. 2015. ‘Der Ebrovertrag und die Verantwortlichkeit für den 2. Punischen Krieg’. Gymnasium 122: 435–56.Google Scholar
Mattern, Susan P. 1999. Rome and the Enemy: Imperial Strategy in the Principate. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press.Google Scholar
Mattingly, David J. 2011. Imperialism, Power, and Identity. Experiencing the Roman Empire. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
Mommsen, Theodor. 1856: Römische Geschichte. Vol. 1. 2. Auflage, Berlin: Weidmann.Google Scholar
Nippel, Wilfried. 1980. Mischverfassungstheorie und Verfassungsrealität in Antike und früher Neuzeit. Stuttgart: Klett-Cotta (Geschichte und Gesellschaft: Bochumer Historische Studien, Bd. 21).Google Scholar
Revell, Louise. 2009. Roman Imperialism and Local Identities. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Rostovtzeff, Michael I. 1971. The Social and Economic History of the Roman Empire. Unter Mitarbeit von Edition revised by Fraser, P. M.. 2. Aufl. 2 Bände. Oxford: Clarendon Press.Google Scholar
Rüpke, Jörg. 1995. ‘Wege zum Töten, Wege zum Ruhm: Krieg in der römischen Republik’. In: Töten im Krieg, ed. von Stietencron, Heinrich and Rüpke, Jörg, 213–40. Freiburg im Breisgau: K. Alber.Google Scholar
Rüpke, Jörg and Gordon, Richard. 2007. Religion of the Romans. Cambridge: Polity Press.Google Scholar
Scheidel, Walter. 2009. Rome and China. Comparative Perspectives on Ancient World Empires. Oxford: Oxford University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Scheidel, Walter, ed. 2015. State Power in Ancient China and Rome. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Scheidel, Walter. 2015. ‘The Monetary Systems of the Han and Roman Empires’. In: State Power in Ancient China and Rome, ed. Scheidel, Walter, 137–207. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Scheidel, Walter and Morris, Ian, eds. 2009. Dynamics of Ancient Empires: State Power from Assyria to Byzantium. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Schmidt, Matthias, ed. 2015. Narrative im (post)imperialen Kontext. Literarische Identitätsbildung als Potential im regionalen Spannungsfeld zwischen Habsburg und Hoher Pforte in Zentral- und Südosteuropa. Tübingen: Francke Verlag.Google Scholar
Schulz, Raimund. 1997. Herrschaft und Regierung. Roms Regiment in den Provinzen in der Zeit der Republik. Paderborn: Schöningh.Google Scholar
Stietencron, Heinrich von and Rüpke, Jörg, eds. 1995. Töten im Krieg. Freiburg im Breisgau: K. Alber.Google Scholar
Syme, Ronald. 1939. The Roman Revolution. Oxford: Clarendon Press.Google Scholar
van Wickevoort Crommelin, Bernard Raymond. 1993. Die Universalgeschichte des Pompeius Trogus. Herculea audacia orbem terrarum adgressus. Hagen: Verl.- und Buchhandelsges.Google Scholar
Walbank, Frank William et al., eds. 1989–2005. The Cambridge ancient history, vols. 7-12, 2nd edn. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Warnking, Pascal. 2015. Der römische Seehandel in seiner Blütezeit. Rahmenbedingungen, Seerouten, Wirtschaftlichkeit. Rahden/Westf.: VML, Verlag Marie Leidorf GmbH (Pharos, Band 36).Google Scholar
Welles, C. Bradford. 1934. Royal Correspondence of the Hellenistic Age: a study in Greek epigraphy. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.Google Scholar
Whittaker, C. R. 1994. Frontiers of the Roman Empire: A Social and Economic Study. Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins University Press.Google Scholar
Whittaker, C. R. 2004. Rome and Its Frontiers: The Dynamics of Empire. London: Routledge.Google Scholar
Will, Wolfgang. 1991. Der römische Mob. Soziale Konflikte in der späten Republik. Darmstadt: Wiss. Buchges.Google Scholar
Woolf, Greg. 2012. Rome. An Empire’s story. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure no-reply@cambridge.org is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

Available formats
×