From the shores of Normandy in the west to the deserts of Baghdad in the East, the Roman civilization managed to flourish  from settlement of simple shepherds in the Italian peninsula into one, if not the, most powerful and sophisticated international and intercontinental powers the world has come to see. The history of Rome is divided into three political eras including the Monarchy, Republic, and Empire; but the religious culture and political atmosphere of Rome, specifically depriving from the Empirical era, continued to flourish in refuge in the east. After the split of the Roman Empire, the Eastern half, commonly known as Byzantine, carried the politics of the Western half through the structure of government, Christian religion, and the reigns of Emperor descending from the last Western Emperor who transitioned into the capital at the Byzantine capital of Constantinople.

     The rise of Ancient Rome is characterized mainly by military conquest and territorial expansion, which effectively lasted from 390 B.C-146 B.C. in 390 B.C the city, and capital, of Rome came under siege by Gaul warriors and effectively devastated the area, including burning down much of the city . Despite this unfortunate occurrence, the early Roman Republic managed
to pick themselves up as the war hero, Camillus, managed to take total decisive hold of the Italian peninsula at around 264 B.C.  In the same year the conquest of Italy was completed Rome had turned it's might to the Carthaginian Empire in the Mediterranean and North Africa to the South and Iberia to the West, known as the Punic Wars. There wars lasted from 264 B.C-146 B.C and saw Rome become the dominant force in Europe and western half of the known world. In the First and Second Punic Wars the Carthage Empire conceived major territorial defeats with capture of Sicily and Iberia by the Roman war machine. In the Third Punic War, after Hannibal was defeated outside the Roman capital, the Republic retaliated with an invasion into the Carthaginian Empire and ended the rule of this power and subjected it to integration to the greater Roman Republic

     Despite this extent of growth and rise of influence, Ancient Rome managed to find itself in a period of decline marked by political detoration and civil rift. The rapid increase of land and populace proved too much for the fragile political landscape to maintain an effective control and led to strife in the populace as violence raged for attempts of power grab and the economic division between patriarch and plebian accelerated at a rapid rate. It was not until a man named Pompey in 82 B.C, who was a supporter of a general-turned military dictator that managed to conduct offensives against pirates in the Mediterranean and fight against a group called the Mithridates located in Asia.  Foundations for Rome's height was set after Pompey returned to the Republic and formed the First Triumvirate with Marcus Licinius Crassus and the notable individual Gaius Julius Caesar.

     Julius Caesar began his tenure as part of the Triumvirate with governorship of three Gaul provinces in 58 B.C, and set out to conquer the rest of the region for the Roman Republic. Five years later, this union between the three men collapsed as Crassus was killed in combat and Pompey became the sole Consul of Rome. Around 49 B.C and after a string of successful military victories, Caesar crossed the Rubicon into Italy which began a civil conflict and ended in 45 B.C as Caesar came out victorious and made himself Dictator for life, effectively ending the Republic and bringing the transition of the Empire.  Less than a year later however, members of the Senate devoted to the idea of the Republic convened and assassinated Caesar on what is known today as the Ides of March

     After Julius’s assassination by the Senate, Octavian, the nephew and adopted son of the late Caesar, immediately rose to power and created the Second Triumvirate with Consul Marc Antony and ex-Consul Lepidus to hunt down and bring two individuals to justice for their roles in the cold-blooded murder of the former dictator for life, Marcus Junius Brutus and Gaius Cassius. But by 29 B.C, this Second Triumvirate had dissolved and led to bloodshed as Octavian, now known as Augustus Caesar, defeated Antony and Lepidus, leaving Augustus in total control of Rome and in a direct contradiction of the Senate years earlier, the government body of the people had made the decision to crown Augustus the Emperor of Rome.  This major political turn in Roman society saw the effective end of the Republic and the birth of the Empire; Augustus’s policies and reformations ushered in an era of peace known as the Pax Romana (meaning Roman Peace) for over two centuries. In this era, Rome had achieved its apex and consisted over what is estimated at 70 million people.

     Under the Pax Romana (27 B.C-180 A.D) Rome saw tremendous advancements in fields including art, literature, architecture, education, etc. Two of the biggest accomplishments was the extensive system of roads that linked all parts of the Empire together, which effectively increased troop movement and facilitated trade. Aqueducts were the other innovation as it allowed water to be carried over land so it can be delivered to cities not located near a water source and to farms in order to grow crops to keep demand with the all the people that had a demand for food. Concrete was also a major contributing factor as it allowed the creation of the iconic rounded arches and domes that can be found all over Europe to this very day; one of the most notable architectural  accomplishments was the Pantheon in the city of Rome.  Also under the Pax Romana, writing flourished under the aid of figures such as Horace, Virgil, Ovid, and Livy as they produced many literary and poetic masterpieces.

     Even though Rome managed to prosper under the 200 years of relative peace that did not prevent the inevitable decline and collapse like all things that are tangible. Like the early Roman Republic centuries earlier the aging Empire would face the harsh reality they have grown too large to governor effectively. A great deal of aspects contribute to the fall of the Roman/Western half including dependence on recruitment of barbarian tribes into the military, weak and ineffective emperors, the division of Rome into halves by Diocletian, and the rise of Christianity. The religious flow of Ancient Rome was based on Paganism/Greco-Roman gods and goddesses; the spread of the monotheistic religion of Christianity after Jesus’s death challenged the Pagan state religion as Rome. Priests and government officials cited that the spread of Christianity would cause the gods and goddesses to abandon Rome and cause it to collapse, causing a great deal of persecution against the fledgling Christian religion. This would climax under the rule of Emperor Diocletian as the amount of persecutions increased even more. But at the same time, Rome was having trouble of maintaining control over its possessions and so Diocletian also divided the Empire into a Western half and Eastern half, which would be run by another emperor elected by the one in Rome. In order to have military control, the Roman military would resort to the employment of tribal/barbarian warrior and many of which would precede the Franks and Goths who would end up becoming the destruction of the western half

     Although the Roman Empire as known fell, it still was able to flourish as a cultural and political continuation in the east as the Byzantines. Many attempts were made by Byzantine emperors to regain the glory of Rome, but only managed to do so under the rule of Emperor Justinian. Although unable to rise, the Byzantine Empire still managed to survive till the 16th century when Ottoman Turks had finally captured the capital of Constantinople

Quote from: Flee on November 17, 2014, 08:53:33 AM

Quote from: Kinder on November 17, 2014, 08:45:32 AM

Using MLA style, this comes out to 7 pages roughly

You serious? That's a page and a half at most.

Serious

12pt font
Times New Roman
1in margin

Follow MLA and it comes out to slightly less than 7 pages. Of course I excluded citations and the work cited page in the OP

Decent, but I've seen better.

I'd give it a solid B+

In the First and Second Punic Wars the Carthage Empire

Make way for best emperor.

Quote from: Kinder on November 17, 2014, 03:34:06 PM

Quote from: IcyWind on November 17, 2014, 10:05:21 AM

Decent, but I've seen better.

I'd give it a solid B+

Would it sound better knowing I did this the night before it was due?

Even worse. This is crap compared to the five page research essay I did on christian symbolism and modernistic allegories on the original novel for Metro 2033... I did that in two hours the day it due.

Quote from: DAS B00T x2 on November 17, 2014, 07:23:19 PM

Quote from: Kinder on November 17, 2014, 03:34:06 PM

Quote from: IcyWind on November 17, 2014, 10:05:21 AM

Decent, but I've seen better.

I'd give it a solid B+

Would it sound better knowing I did this the night before it was due?

Even worse. This is crap compared to the five page research essay I did on christian symbolism and modernistic allegories on the original novel for Metro 2033... I did that in two hours the day it due.

Dude I stayed up for 3 days straight working on a 60 page stats culminating where I lost my months of data collection and got a 90

GOML

That is the one thing that I will never be ashamed to brag about

Quote from: GodspeedGojira! on November 17, 2014, 07:49:23 PM

Quote from: DAS B00T x2 on November 17, 2014, 07:23:19 PM

Quote from: Kinder on November 17, 2014, 03:34:06 PM

Quote from: IcyWind on November 17, 2014, 10:05:21 AM

Decent, but I've seen better.

I'd give it a solid B+

Would it sound better knowing I did this the night before it was due?

Even worse. This is crap compared to the five page research essay I did on christian symbolism and modernistic allegories on the original novel for Metro 2033... I did that in two hours the day it due.

Dude I stayed up for 3 days straight working on a 60 page stats culminating where I lost my months of data collection and got a 90

GOML

That is the one thing that I will never be ashamed to brag about

how did you lose something that important