Covers the history of the Empire from Augustus to Marcus Aurelius, describing its formation and its political, religious, cultural, and social structures. Considers the daily lives of the Empire's people, both those in Rome and those in its furthest colonies and examines how they "Romanized" the cultures they conquered. It also looks at how the Empire has been considered and depicted in more recent times, from the writings of Gibbon to Gladiator. By Christopher Kelly. Oxford University Press. 144 pages.