How Big Did Rome Get?
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The story in brief
Why would a Roman emperor give up Rome's newest conquests? This Short runs through how big the Roman Empire got, and how it shrank, in under a minute.
Rome became an empire in 27 BC, when Octavian took the name Augustus. At its height, around AD 117 under Trajan, it ruled roughly five million square kilometres. Trajan's newest eastern conquests were given up almost immediately by his successor, Hadrian, and around AD 271 Rome pulled out of Dacia.
From AD 395 the empire was ruled as two halves. The Visigoths sacked Rome in 410, and in 476 Odoacer deposed the last western emperor, Romulus Augustulus, the date traditionally used for the fall of the West. The Eastern Roman Empire survived until 1453, which leaves the Short's closing question: did Rome fall in 476, or in 1453?
Sources
- Britannica, "Roman Empire": https://www.britannica.com/place/Roman-Empire
- Britannica, "Odoacer": https://www.britannica.com/biography/Odoacer
- Encyclopaedia Iranica, "Hadrian": https://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/hadrian/
- Eutropius, Breviarium 9.15: https://dcc.dickinson.edu/eutropius/9-15
- Turchin, Adams & Hall 2006, Journal of World-Systems Research 12(2): https://doi.org/10.5195/jwsr.2006.369
Maps
- Wilhelm Sieglin & Max Kiessling, Atlas Antiquus (Gotha: Justus Perthes, 1909), Tab. 27
- Gustav Droysen, Allgemeiner historischer Handatlas (Bielefeld & Leipzig: Velhagen & Klasing / R. Andrée, 1886), scan via Internet Archive item DroysensHistoricalAtlas1886 (Public Domain Mark), p. 18
- William R. Shepherd, Historical Atlas (Henry Holt, 1923), pp. 42-43; enhanced copy from de.wikipedia (Benowar 2004 / Wolpertinger)
- William R. Shepherd, Historical Atlas (New York: Henry Holt, 1923 ed.), via University of Texas Libraries PCL Map Collection, p. 50
Borders on the maps in this Short are approximate.
Full image and music credits are in the video description on YouTube.
Narration is AI-generated. Scripts are AI-assisted and fact-checked against the sources listed.
Card artwork: Ink Before Dust (own work).
