 The peoples of the Roman Empire. Who were they that inhabited this great expanse of Rome's empire? Up to 60 million inhabitants spanning 5 million square kilometers, almost 2 million square miles. They were slaves, they were freed slaves, they were foreigners, also Roman citizens. We'll take a look at how they depict themselves and how Rome depicted them. Here we have the expanse of the Roman Empire. From the city to the Republican conquest of the peninsula, going against the Carthaginians and conquering part of North Africa and Spain, over at the Greek wars to conquer Greek mainland, and expanding substantially to conquer portions of three continents. Its greatest extent taking place in the second into third centuries under the Roman emperors. So when we take a look at its beginning, Rome is dealing with people throughout the Italian peninsula, people with their own mindsets, their own ways of representing themselves. Here we have the Samnites that the Romans conquered in a series of wars, beginning in the 4th century BC. We have unique architecture, here we have the tombs of Chervetity of the Etruscans, and the Etruscans also are going to represent themselves in a unique way, akin to what they're seeing under the Greeks, but also showing themselves with their own building materials and their own characteristics. As the Romans expand into southern Italy, conquering the Greeks, they come across this substantial amount of classical architecture and of course Greek style and Greek representation is going to vary throughout the Greek world. Here we have some representations of reliefs that belong to a temple in Selenunte. So we have beautiful artwork, again depending upon what the materials available to them are going to have their own unique characteristics. The Romans go against the Carthaginians, here's this famous portrait, the so-called portrait of Hannibal. So when you get this great series of Pinoch wars being fought, Rome will take over the territories of the Carthaginians, including this, including Spain. And quickly southern Spain is going to become what we call Romanized, you're going to have Roman citizens moving in there and making more citizens. Here we see the result in Merida, when it's in the Guston colony it's going to thrive and the architecture thrives, the engineering takes over the entire country. Now especially under Julius Caesar, you have the conquest of the Gauls, here represented as such with their standing hairstyle and facial hair. Here's the famous Dying Gaul that you find in the Capitoline museums. And under Augustus we have the continuation of the conquest of Gaul and as a result we have flourishing cities. Here is the Pont de Gard that's constructed by Agrippa. Here we are in the great city of Solona on the Namatian coast. You had already in the second century BC the Romans conquering this area, but it's under Augustus that you have the definitive victory after the great Illyrian revolt from 86 to 9. As a result you have the definitive presence and stabilization of great cities on the coast, like Solona pictured here. The Kingdom of Egypt was legendary, it's very distinct in its architectural style and it's going to be defeated by Augustus and as a result we have the incorporation, the absorption of this unique artistic style. Emperors are going to be represented as the faires of old. Here's Caracalla. We have ultimately a full range of development of representation of Egyptians. These are some of the figures from the fame burials in Egypt in the imperial period that are quite stunning. As we travel throughout the Roman Empire, just now in Egypt, now here back in Rome, back in the capital, we'll always do our research on the go on our computer, iPad, iPhone, and we want to be able to do that research in safety and tranquility. We always use a VPN whether it's Croatia, Saudi Arabia, or the UK and we're so fortunate that Nord VPN, which I've been using for years, has agreed to sponsor this video with an ad. Now a VPN will mask your identity online and it's great for us because we're always traveling and with ancient Rome live we need to do research. Sometimes we need to see video documentaries in other regions that otherwise we couldn't see. So it's a great benefit to us in our work. Nord VPN works in over 60 countries all over the world. That's perfect for us. And besides that, Nord VPN is tested to be the fastest VPN on the internet. So Nord VPN has the lowest possible impact on your internet speed depending on the location and server you're connecting to. Nord VPN is also about protecting you from malware so that you can do your research, you can do your online financials, whatever on the go. We're doing so much always onsite on location. Nord VPN is there for us and in fact it's not just safe. It's also the fastest on the market. Try it today. Go to NordVPN.com slash ancient Rome. You get a two-year plan plus four months for free with a huge discount. Is risk-free with Nord's 30-day money back guarantee. And we'll see you in Rome. And Egypt comes to Rome. Of course, one of the most magnificent structures for the veneration of ISIS was the Isium Temple in the campus marshes. Here is one of the columns decorated with the shaved head priests that venerated that deity. And Romans brought war trophies from the people they conquered. Here's the one of the greatest obelisk ever brought back. This isn't brought to Rome in the time of Caligula. It stands in front of the St. Peter's Church. It was once a metro turning post for the Circus of Gaius and Nero. But it was a definitive statement that the Romans had conquered Egypt. And of course, you have the Romans contributing to the land that they conquered here. We have a famous Trajanic kiosk that's on the island of Philae where you have the veneration of Isis. Around 20 BC, Augustus also celebrated a victory against the Parthians that he has depicted on the breastplate of the Augustus Prima port of statue today in the Vatican museums. Augustus celebrated this victory with many other monuments also frequently depicting the Parthians with their very identifiable Smurf hat. These are people that would be a bane on the existence of the Romans, the great kingdom to the east. Here's a celebratory inscription by the Emperor Claudius who celebrated defeating the kings of Britain. Here we have the remains of a monument by demission for the conquest of a portion of Germany. And what do you do in your victorious monument? You depict the people you conquered. So here is a noble chieftain with his distinct mustache. We can tell this is a German foe. Trajan fights against and defeats the Dacians after crossing the Danube river. And on the exterior of the column of Trajan, you see those battles. You see the accurate depictions of the people the Romans fought and conquered. And in this portion of the column which has been restored and recolored, we can see quite clearly the Romans above in their fortification and the dress of the Dacians down below, their cloaks, their tousled hair, their beards. Here's a statue that is another victory monument that was once depicted in the form of Trajan celebrating his victory over the Dacians. It's probably the great that's going to be conquering first the areas around Syria, but the cities come to thrive on a great scale like Jerash in the second century AD. In the reign of Trajan, we have the conquest of the Nabataean Empire, which extended all the way down to Saudi Arabia. But this is the main capital city, Petra. Petra with its unique way of carving the tomb facades right into the standstone cliffs. It's something unique. It's something that really captures the imagination. And we see here the remains of a temple and we understand then the representations of each part of that Roman Empire and its unique characteristics because people had local traditions and local outlooks. We're traveling now to the southern capital of the Nabataeans, Hegra, which in 106 also is becoming part of the Roman Empire. But here too, we have a strong presence of the Nabataean culture throughout. And we're going to also see a series of tombs, just like in Petra, that identify and record the lives of men and women of that culture. Under Hadrian, we have a grand celebration of the provinces of the Roman Empire. This is the restless emperor who visited so much of that empire. And in the portico surrounding his temple of deified Hadrian, we have a series of reliefs depicting those provinces from all over the empire. So as much as people are representing themselves and showing who they were as individuals, the Romans were also identifying and encapsulating with these individual figures the various provinces that were commanded by Rome. Lucius Veris fights and defeats in the 160s the Parthians. And here they are depicted on the so-called Parthian monument that comes from Ephesus. Today it's on display in Vienna. Marcus Aurelius fights against the Germans after a huge invasion into the empire. And here we have another version of a people's scroll. In this case, it's Rome against the Marcomania and the Quadi. Marcus Aurelius' son, Aquinas, also celebrates his own control. The empire here he is as Hercules himself balanced on an Amazon and the globe of the world that the Romans saw themselves controlling. Septimius Severus fights against the Parthians. Again, that nemesis that never goes away and celebrates his victories against them in the 190s with the arch in the Roman form. And once again, when we take a look at those reliefs, when we take a look at these figures, we can see the Roman soldiers. We also see those conquered Parthians. Here's one that's really particular. Here's a father in chains holding a baby. They're slated to be sold into slavery. The Romans continually show themselves as conquerors, as generals, and that conquered peoples, the barbarians, the non-Romans throughout their victory monuments, throughout their reliefs and their statues. Here's an unknown barbarian that's part of an arch that was once in Rome to date from the Bobilee Gardens in Florence. And we can come back to Rome. We can come back to the heart of the empire. We're here in the Roman Forum to think and contemplate how people are being represented from all over the empire in Rome itself. Here we have a young black individual from somewhere from sub-Saharan Africa. Here we have an individual who's identified as a Palmyran priest. And of course we have countless inscriptions in which people celebrate their diversity and where they're from. Here is the charioteer Crescians who races for the the blue faction. And he says he's from what nation? Maurus. He's from Mauritania or Morocco. Here's another individual, Tethys Ciras. And he says he's from Marchinopolis, which is today a city in Bulgaria. And here finally we have a delightful relief to individuals dedicated to the gods of the fatherland, Aglibol and Malakbel. It's dedicated by Gaius Aurelius Heliodorus, Adriannus, son of Antiochus, originally from Palmyra. And we have that dedication in Greek and in the Palmyran language. Such was the internationality of Rome when it had its incredible empire when Rome was the metropolis of the empire. Thanks for watching. Thanks for joining us in Rome and throughout the empire. This video was brought to you through a grant from the C.A.A.S. Martiantonio Award.