広大無比のローマ帝国。そこにはいかなる統治の実態があったのでしょうか。ローマ人自身、さらにその支配下に置かれた人々は、帝国の強大な力をどのように捉えていたのでしょう。軍事力に物を言わせたその破壊的な征服活動から、皇帝権力、属州支配のシステム、人々の生活のありようまで、類書にない斬新な視点からローマ帝国の全体像を描き出します。
   

• Descibes the astonishing logistical feats, the politics, and the oppression, which the Romans used to rule their vast empire.
• Looks at the daily lives of the empire's people: both those in Rome as well as those living in its furthest colonies. Religion, culture, social structure, and law and order all played an important part in maintaining the empire.
• Brings the empire right up to date, examining how it has been considered and depicted since the eighteenth century, from the comparisons which the British made with their own empire, to the latest Hollywood blockbuster films.

  
The Roman Empire was a remarkable achievement. It had a population of sixty million people spread across lands encircling the Mediterranean and stretching from drizzle-soaked northern England to the sun-baked banks of the Euphrates in Syria, and from the Rhine to the North African coast. It was, above all else, an empire of force - employing a mixture of violence, suppression, order, and tactical use of power to develop an astonishingly uniform culture. 
  
This Very Short Introduction covers the history of the Empire from Augustus (the first Emperor) to Marcus Aurelius, describing how the empire was formed, how it was run, its religions and its social structure. It examines how local cultures were "romanised" and how people in far away lands came to believe in the emperor as a god. The book also examines how the Roman Empire has been considered and depicted in more recent times, from the writings of Edward Gibbon, to the differing attitudes of the Victorians and recent Hollywood blockbuster films.