Ancient Rome

What you’ll learn

• Rome moved from monarchy to republic to empire; each shift followed civil war or political crisis
• The Roman Republic combined elected consuls, the Senate, and citizen assemblies, ideas that influenced the U.S. Constitution
• Roman civil law emphasized written statutes and procedures that still shape modern legal systems
• Legions, roads, aqueducts, and concrete architecture connected and supplied a vast multi-ethnic empire
• The Pax Romana brought long stability under emperors, but power was concentrated and many people lacked citizenship
• The West fell in 476 CE from overlapping military, economic, and political pressures; the East survived as Byzantium