Overview

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...