THE ROMAN EMPIRE, A Very Short Introduction
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62
0–19–280391–3
OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS
2006
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loginhe Roman empire was a remarkable achievement. At its height,in the 2nd century AD, it had a population of around 60 millionpeople spread across 5 million square kilometres (roughly 20 timesthe area of the United Kingdom). Then the empire stretched fromHadrian’s Wall in drizzle-soaked northern England to the sun-baked banks of the Euphrates in Syria; from the great Rhine-Danube river system, which snaked across the fertile, flat lands ofEurope from the Low Countries to the Black Sea, to the rich plainsof the North African coast and the luxuriant gash of the Nile valleyin Egypt. The empire completely encircled the Mediterranean. Thiswas the Romans’ internal lake, complacently referred to by itsconquerors as mare nostrum – ‘our sea
