How did a small town in Latium manage within a few centuries to impose itself initially on the neighboring cities and the Italian peninsula, then on Greece and Europe, and finally on the entire "oikoumene"? What was its relationship with the conquered territories and their inhabitants? How did it transform itself while becoming the greatest empire the ancient world knew? How was this historical cycle completed and what legacy did it leave behind? How much Rome still exists in Europe, the Near East, North Africa, but also in Greece? These and other important questions are explored in the classic introduction by Marcel Le Glay – Yann Le Bohec – Jean-Louis Voisin, one of the most successful Roman history textbooks in French historiography, translated into Greek for the first time, updated and expanded for the needs of the Greek edition.

The book is aimed both at students and the general reader, offering a panorama of the Roman universe, as it accompanies the presentation of events with key observations on the political, social, military, economic, religious, and cultural life of Rome from its beginnings until its definitive disappearance as an official entity in the 5th century.