Rome

Rome, a city occupying just shy of 500 square miles of the Italian Peninsula, in its long, complex history, has influenced the lives, societies, and cultures of countless countries and peoples. In the Middle Ages, which, according to many historians, commenced with the fall of The Roman Empire in 5th century CE, many of the medieval objects that survive today were profoundly influenced by The Roman Empire as well as its Ancient Roman roots. Through conduits like language, global trade, technology, art, architecture, aided of course by the expansive network of Roman roads, ideas that once flourished primarily in The Roman Republic and The Roman Empire found their way into the medieval world, and consequently, the modern world.