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Rome in the imperial period

Type Object Region Italy Time 1–500

Imperial Rome was the political, religious, and cultural center of ancient Rome, with a peak population of over a million between 1 CE and 500 CE;…

Timeline

  1. 1–50Roman Forum · RomeAugustus incorporated the marble forum, the Campus Martius, and several temples into the city core, claiming to have transformed a Rome of brick and timber into a city of marble, laying out the grand public spaces of the imperial capital.
  2. 70–138Rome · LazioThe Colosseum, Trajan's Forum, and the Pantheon were successively completed, and the city's population passed a million; aqueducts, sewers, and free grain distributions kept the megacity running.
  3. 200–235Baths of Caracalla · RomeGiant public facilities such as the Baths of Caracalla were completed, and the city retained its status as the empire's largest metropolis, but the Crisis of the Third Century brought population fluctuations and some buildings fell into disrepair.
  4. 300–400Rome · LazioConstantine granted land to the church, and Christian buildings such as St. Peter's Basilica arose; after the imperial administrative center moved east, Rome was reduced to a symbolic capital and the scale of new construction shrank.
  5. 400–500Rome · LazioAfter the Western Roman emperor was deposed in 476 CE, Rome's population fell to the hundreds of thousands, and many classical buildings were abandoned or dismantled for materials; papal authority and church institutions became the city's new center.

Sources