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traditional end of the Republic.
The Principate of Augustus (27 B . C . E .– C . E . 14)
    The Principate is technically the period between the Republic and the Dominate of Diocletian ( C . E . 284) when Rome’s ruler was known as the princeps . Generally, however, it refers to the transitional rule of Augustus between Republic and Empire. Octavian, victorious over Anthony and Cleopatra in 31 B . C . E . claimed to restore the Republic, and in some ways he did. But otherwise, Octavian reorganized the Roman state so that he maintained a delicate balance between old ways and authoritarian rule until his death in C . E . 14. Octavian was awarded the name Augustus (“reverent and solemn”) and the title Princeps (“first among his peers”). His successors adopted this title from which the period gets its name. Under Augustus, Rome, both as a city and as an empire, flourished in a period of relative peace and stability.
The Imperial Age (Traditionally C . E . 14–476)
    The Imperial Age or Empire period begins with the death of Augustus. During the Empire, successions of emperors—both good and bad—ruled over the vast Roman dominions until the Emperor Diocletian split the Empire into two parts in 284. Constantine the Great reunited the Empire and moved the capital to Constantinople (modern-day Istanbul) in 330 and made Christianity the official Roman religion.
    From this point, continuing pressure from Goths, Attila the Hun, the Vandals, economic and social stagnation, and other factors combined to send the crumbling west teetering toward the Dark Ages. The traditional end date for the fall of the western Empire was set by Edward Gibbon in 1776 in his monumental work, The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire. He established the date as 476 when Germanic mercenaries deposed Romulus Augustulus and made their leader, Odoacer, emperor. Even though he was recognized by the eastern Emperor Zeno, Odoacer marks the point at which the western Roman Empire slides over the line from being a remnant of the Roman Imperial system into becoming a patchwork of Germanic kingdoms.
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    Â  Great Caesar’s Ghost! Two terms for political authorities come from this period as a result of Augustus’s nebulous position. The first is Augustus’s title of Imperator (commander) from which we get “Emperor.” The second is his title of Princeps (“First Citizen”) from which we get “Prince.”
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    Â  Roamin’ the Romans If you travel to northern Italy, be sure to visit Ravenna, the Ostrogoth capital where western emperors lived since Honorius (395–423) and where Theodoric is buried. Justinian’s forces took the city in 540. His archbishops Maximian and Agnellus built or refurbished the churches of San Vitale, St. Apollinare in Classe, and St. Apollinare Nuovo. These churches and their world-famous mosaics remain as reminders of Justinian’s attempt to reunite the Roman Empire and to elevate Ravenna above Rome as the new capital of the west.
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    The eastern half of the Empire tried to reestablish control under the Emperor Justinian (532–565). His efforts failed, and with his death the eastern Empire turned to soldier on alone for another thousand years.
The Byzantine Period (565–1453)
    People don’t often think of the Byzantine culture as “Roman.” Greek, not Latin, was the language of the realm and the Orthodox Church developed apart from the Latin Roman Catholic Church. Nevertheless, the culture we know as Byzantine was the continuation of the eastern Roman Empire and saw itself in that light. Citizens called themselves Romaioi (Romans) and recognized their emperor as the legitimate Roman emperor in the “New Rome,” Constantinople.
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    Â  When in Rome Byzantium refers to the civilization that developed from the eastern Empire after the death of the emperor Justinian ( C . E . 565).
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    Constantinople was first sacked in