Foreword Timeline Part I: From City to Empire The Origins of Rome The Unification of Italy The Wars with Carthage Rome's Conquest of the East The Over-Mighty Generals Caesar's Conquest of Gaul Crossing the Rubicon The Civil Wars Shades of the Departed Part II: The Imperial Regime The New Order The City of Rome under Augustus Claudius and the Conquest of Britain Nero and the Year of the Four Emperors The Western Provinces Three Western Cities Vespasian and the Jewish War Trajan's Wars The Roman Army Part III: The Imperial Peace Hadrian's Travels The Eastern Provinces Three Eastern Cities Writing and Literacy Trade and Transport The Roman Amphitheatre Roman Spain Guarding the Frontiers Part IV: The Troubled Century The Year of the Six Emperors The Parthian Wars The City of Rome under the Severans Mystery Cults Roman Africa Three African Cities The Empire at Bay The West Breaks Away The Rise and Fall of Palmyra Part V: Restoration and Fall Diocletian and the Division of Power The Spread of Christianity Constantine the Great Technology and Engineering A Fragile Prosperity The Fall of the Western Empire The Inheritors Kings, Dictators and Emperors Further Reading Index Credits and Acknowledgements.