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The beginning of empire

It's hard to say when the Roman republic ended and the empire began.

From early on, what had set the Romans apart from the rest of the ancient world – in addition to their belligerence – was their fierce obedience to the rule of law. However, from about 90 BC, the legal framework of the republic was torn apart by a number of civil wars. The old system, under which two new leaders were elected each year, gave way to a succession of powerful autocrats, each determined to hang on to power when their legal term of office ended.

Across the Rubicon
This process culminated in 49 BC, when Caesar, returning from his conquest of Gaul, led a legion across the Rubicon river in defiance of the Senate. A five-year civil war followed, ending only when the Senate conceded victory to Caesar and declared him 'dictator for life'. One month later, on 15 March 44 BC, he was assassinated by republican diehards, harking back to the days when it was heroic to kill a king.

Caesar's great-nephew and official heir Octavian and his protégé Mark Antony tried to divide up the empire between them, but soon began fighting (see Cleopatra). That war ended with Antony's very un-Roman death in the arms of Cleopatra and half the patrician class slain in battles around the Mediterranean.

The job of conquest
In 29 BC, when Octavian returned to Rome as victor over Egypt, what the Romans wanted above all was a return to order and legitimacy. The rule of Rome already extended from the Atlantic in the west to the Euphrates in the east, from the Danube and the Rhine to the deserts of north Africa and Arabia. There were pockets of resistance in Britain, the Alps, the Pyrenees and Dalmatia, but for the most part, the job of conquest was done.

Octavian, the imperator or 'commander', was given the additional titles of Augustus ('the sanctified') and Princeps senatus ('leader of the Senate'). In return for unchallenged power, he offered Romans peace and a chance to invent a fictional story to suit their aspirations.

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