Ancient Rome

Ancient Rome was a highly influential nation, that flourished, for multiple centuries, approximately two thousand years ago. The Latin language was their language, and it continues to have a large influence today. The surviving romance languages, like the French language, the Spanish language, the Portugese language, the Italian language, the Romanian language, the Sicilian language, the Sardinian language, and the Corsican language, are all descended from Latin. During the middle ages there were hundreds of romance languages, which have either disappeared, or been incorporated into those surviving languages.

Books recording the knowledge of Roman scholars continue to be published and studied.

Rome's influence is due to its strong military. The early Roman city-state conquered neighbouring city-states, in the Italian peninsula, making it a significant regional military power. Once it was a regional military power the Roman republic vied for influence with other powers, like ancient Carthage, and Egypt.

In the late first century BC Rome changed from a republic to an empire. Imperial Rome continued to expand. However that expansion slowly halted as powerful leaders sought to make themselves the new emporer, rather than work on the continued expansion of the empire.