At its height, the Roman Empire stretched from the north of Britain to the desert of Egypt. Emperors were cruel and bent on conquering. Art and architecture flourished, but math and science did not. The idea of the empire began with Julius Caesar, who was killed because he was ruling the government by himself. His adopted son, Octavian, became the first emperor, calling himself Augustus Caesar. The Roman Empire split into two parts, East and West. The West fell in 476. The East, which came to be known as the Byzantium Empire, continued for several hundred years.Most of the population of the Roman Empire lived within easy reach of the Mediterranean, and the imperial government promoted ...view middle of the document...
Finally, this complex network of water routes was knit together by a system of roads and bridges that have been used into modern times. People are often awed by the effort that must have been expended in building such highways without the aid of modern machinery, but one must remember that construction is more dependent upon organization than upon advanced technology. The Romans were well aware that the maintenance of a standing army was an expensive proposition, especially since that army would be employed in combat only 10 percent of the time at most. So the Roman administrators took care that there were productive pursuits for army units when they were not engaged in warfare or training for warfare. One of these pursuits was the construction of roads that would allow military units to move quickly from place to place. Such mobility increased the efficiency of the Roman army so that it was possible to reduce its number, and hence its expense, without diminishing its effectiveness. The great netw...
