From its humble beginnings in c. 753 B.C., Rome emerged to conquer most known portions of Europe, Southwest Asia, and North Africa in the nine centuries that followed. Ruthlessly subduing subject peoples and bringing them into alignment with their imperial vision, the Romans forged an empire breathtaking in its scope, a realm that made possible trade, communication, and travel as never before. At the empire's height in A.D. 116, it became possible to travel from Scotland to the Red Sea without leaving a Roman road except to cross bodies of water. It was no wonder, then, that geographers of Roman lands, perhaps for the first time in history, began to conceive the idea of mapping the known world. Likewise it was fitting that, centuries after Rome crumbled, the vision of a great European-based multinational empire remained alive.

Background

Numerous myths glorified the Romans' origins, none more so than the great Aeneid of Virgil (70-19 B.C.), which depicted them as descending from a great prince who led a group of escapees from defeated Troy. A particularly telling aspect of the myth is the unfavorable light in which it casts Dido, the queen regarded by the people of Carthage—Rome's historic rival—as the founder of their own civilization: in Virgil's tale, Dido falls deeply in love with Aeneas, and commits suicide when he leaves her.