A short and comprehensive political and military history of ancient Rome, from the origins of the city in the Italian Iron Age, until the deposition of the last emperor in 476 AD. Outlining Rome's absorption of the Italian peninsula, Christopher Mackay explains how this conquest provided the Romans with the man power that allowed them to conquer the Mediterranean in a mere half-century. Mackay details how the military responsibilities of empire undermined the political institutions of the Republic and how the Imperial adoption of Christianity as the state religion, as well as the military and economic pressures of the third and fourth centuries, eventually led to the downfall of the western empire through invasion. Illustrated with the relevant art works from Rome's long history, this volume will serve as a timely and up to date overview of one of the most extraordinary civilizations of human history.