The Unity of the Roman Empire

During the process known as Romanisation, Rome took certain measures to establish and maintain power. This station shows objects that represent some of the resources used to build a common space where diverse nations coexisted under the emperor’s rule.

The Roman Empire had a vast road network that facilitated interactions between Rome and the provinces and helped to spread the Roman way of life. The map of Europe, the Near East and North Africa shows some of the roads that once connected the principal cities of the empire.

Another cornerstone of the unified empire was the existence of a common spoken and written language: Latin. On the brick shown here, the opening lines of the Aeneid are written in cursive script. As Latin was used throughout the empire, these verses could be read, understood and appreciated in all the Roman provinces, making them part of a shared culture.

The army was another key factor in the process of Romanisation, represented here by a legionary's helmet, with a design that provided excellent defence and protection for the neck, nape, ears, face and forehead. Helmets like this one were part of the standard gear of the Roman army, which controlled and defended the empire’s borders and kept the domestic peace.

This bronze tablet of laws engraved with a Latin inscription is just one example of the many legal norms that governed and defined the Roman way of life and served to unify civil society, the basis of the empire’s administrative and social organisation structure.