From myth to empire, from gladiators to emperors - this is the story of Rome's astonishing rise, told in a way that will keep you turning the pages. Two thousand years ago, Rome was the center of the world. Its emperors ruled over glittering cities and distant provinces; its legions marched across continents; its roads, laws, and language bound together an empire of more than sixty million people. Yet Rome was also an empire of contrasts - of opulent villas and squalid slums, of emperors crowned in triumph and assassinated in fear, of slaves in chains and gladiators fighting for their lives in arenas that shook with the roar of the crowd. This book tells the story of how a small city on the banks of the Tiber became history's most influential empire. It explores the vision, ambition, and brutality that forged Rome's power, the battles that shook its foundations, and the ideas that ensured its legacy long outlasted its fall. We'll look at:The rise of Julius Caesar to his death on the Ides of March The excess of Caligula and cruelty and tyranny of Nero How Rome won an Empire, and the cities it created Masters of war, thought and politics such as Cincinnatus, Seneca and Marcus Aurelius Daily life in the Roman Empire, religion, science and technology The Fall of the Western Empire, the sack of Rome and Byzantium This is a story of triumph and tragedy, of blood and marble, of an empire that gave the world roads, cities, laws, and spectacles on a scale never seen before - an empire whose shadow still falls across our lives today. And look out for Amazing Facts such as:In the 2nd century AD, the Roman Empire had an estimated population of around 65 million people, probably around a quarter of the world's population at the time. Julius Caesar hated going bald so he made it illegal for anyone to stand above him and look down at his bald patch - if you did, you could be put to death! Enter the world of Rome - an empire of power, ambition, and immortality.