Ancient Rome

Ancient Rome was a civilization that started in the city of Rome on the Italian Peninsula. Roman civilization was the most important civilization in the Mediterranean region, Europe and the Near East from the late 3rd century BC. Roman civilization existed throughout Classical Antiquity, Late Antiquity, and the Middle Ages. However, "Ancient Rome" means the ancient history of Roman civilization before the Middle Ages. Traditionally, the fall of the western Roman Empire during the 5th century AD is the start of the Middle Ages in Western Europe.

In Classical Antiquity, the Roman Empire controlled a large area of land. It stretched from Great Britain to the Arabian Peninsula. Ancient Rome has been important to the history of Europe, North Africa and Western Asia, where the Romans controlled many lands. Ancient Rome's culture took ideas from other civilizations, especially Ancient Greece and the Greek kingdoms of the Hellenistic period. Ancient Roman ideas have been very influential for later civilizations.

The Romans' Latin language became the most common language in the western Mediterranean and Western Europe and is the ancestor of Romance languages. The Roman emperors were responsible for making Christianity Rome's state religion, and the Romans spread Christianity across the Roman Empire in Late Antiquity. Roman Christianity replaced the Roman religion and other traditional religions.