Roman Empire

The Roman Empire was a state that dominated the Mediterranean and much of Europe, Western Asia, and North Africa during the classical period. The Roman Republic had earlier conquered most of these lands. They later came under permanent single-person rule after Octavian's rise to power and the start of the Augustan Principate in 27 BC. By the late 3rd century AD, the empire had been divided many times. The Western Roman Empire collapsed in 476 AD, while the Eastern Roman Empire (also known as the Byzantine Empire) lasted until the fall of Constantinople in 1453.

By 100 BC, the city of Rome had expanded its rule from the Italian peninsula to most of the Mediterranean and beyond. However, it was badly weakened by civil wars and political conflicts. These ended with the victory of Octavian over Mark Antony and Cleopatra at the Battle of Actium in 31 BC, and the later conquest of the Ptolemaic Kingdom in Egypt. In 27 BC, the Roman Senate gave Octavian great military power (imperium) and the new title of Augustus, making him the first Roman emperor. The large territories were organized into senatorial provinces, which were governed by proconsuls chosen by lot each year, and imperial provinces, which belonged to the emperor and were governed by legates.

The first two centuries of the Empire brought great stability and prosperity, known as the Pax Romana (lit. 'Roman Peace'). Rome reached its greatest territorial extent under Trajan, but trouble and decline began under Commodus. In the 3rd century, the Empire went through a 50-year crisis that threatened its existence because of civil war, plagues, and barbarian invasions. The Gallic and Palmyrene empires broke away, and a series of short-lived emperors ruled. The Empire was later reunified under Aurelian. The civil wars ended with the victory of Diocletian, who set up two imperial courts in the Greek East and Latin West. Constantine the Great, the first Christian emperor, moved the imperial seat from Rome to Byzantium in 330 and renamed it Constantinople. The Migration Period, which included large invasions by Germanic peoples and the Huns, led to the decline of the Western Roman Empire. After the fall of Ravenna to the Germanic Herulians and the deposition of Romulus Augustus in 476 by Odoacer, the Western Empire finally collapsed. The Byzantine (Eastern Roman) Empire survived for another thousand years with Constantinople as its sole capital, until the city's fall in 1453.

Because of the Empire's size and long life, its institutions and culture had a lasting influence on language, religion, art, architecture, literature, philosophy, law, and forms of government across its lands. The rediscovery of classical science and technology, which formed the basis for Islamic science, helped lead to the Scientific Renaissance and Scientific Revolution in medieval Europe. Rome's republican institutions influenced the Italian city-state republics of the medieval period, the early United States, and modern democratic republics.

History

Main article: History of the Roman Empire

For a chronological guide, see Timeline of Roman history.

See also: Campaign history of the Roman military

Further information: Roman Republic and Roman Kingdom

Rome began to expand soon after the Roman Republic was founded in the 6th century BC, but it did not go beyond the Italian Peninsula until the 3rd century BC. The Republic was not a nation-state in the modern sense. It was a network of self-ruled towns and provinces run by military commanders. It was governed by magistrates, especially Roman consuls, who worked together with the Senate. The consuls' military power came from imperium, meaning "command." Some successful generals were given the title imperator, which is where the word emperor comes from. From the late 2nd century BC, Rome faced many civil wars, conspiracies, and internal conflicts (see Crisis of the Roman Republic), even as it greatly expanded beyond Italy. In 44 BC Julius Caesar was briefly perpetual dictator before he was assassinated by a group that opposed his power. That group was defeated at the Battle of Philippi in 42 BC by Mark Antony and Caesar's adopted son Octavian. The two men divided the Roman world between them, but this did not last long. Octavian defeated Mark Antony and Cleopatra at the Battle of Actium in 31 BC. In 27 BC the Senate gave him the title Augustus ("venerated") and made him princeps ("foremost") with proconsular imperium, which began the Principate, the first period of Roman imperial history. The Republic still existed in name, but Augustus held all the real power. During his 40-year rule, a new constitutional order took shape, so that when he died, Tiberius succeeded him as the de facto monarch. The 200 years that began with Augustus's rule are traditionally called the Pax Romana ("Roman Peace"), a time of stability and prosperity. The Julio-Claudian dynasty lasted for four more emperors, Tiberius, Caligula, Claudius, and Nero, before the Year of the Four Emperors in 69 AD, from which Vespasian emerged as the winner. He founded the short-lived Flavian dynasty, which was followed by the Nerva–Antonine dynasty and its "Five Good Emperors": Nerva, Trajan, Hadrian, Antoninus Pius, and Marcus Aurelius.

Among these emperors, Hadrian (r. 117–138) is noted for strengthening the empire's frontiers and starting ambitious building projects across the provinces. In Judaea, the center of Jewish national and religious life, his reign was a turning point. After earlier Jewish resistance to Roman rule, he visited the region in 129/130 AD and refounded Jerusalem as the Roman colony Aelia Capitolina, which included a Temple to Jupiter on the site of the former Jewish Temple. Later tradition and archaeological evidence also point to a Temple of Venus near the site of the Holy Sepulchre. His measures, along with restrictions on Jewish practices, helped spark the Bar Kokhba Revolt (132–135 AD). After crushing the uprising, Roman forces expelled most Jews from Jerusalem. In the view of the Greek historian Cassius Dio, the accession of Commodus in 180 marked a change "from a kingdom of gold to one of rust and iron," and Edward Gibbon later took Commodus' reign as the beginning of the Empire's decline. In 212, during the reign of Caracalla, Roman citizenship was granted to all freeborn inhabitants of the empire. The Severan dynasty was unstable, and the empire was then engulfed by the Crisis of the Third Century, a period of invasions, civil strife, economic disorder, and plague. This crisis sometimes marks the change from classical to late antiquity as a historical epoch. Aurelian (r. 270–275) stabilised the empire militarily, and Diocletian reorganised and restored much of it in 285. Diocletian divided the empire into four regions, each ruled by a tetrarch, but the Tetrarchy collapsed shortly after. Order was eventually restored by Constantine the Great, who became the first emperor to convert to Christianity and made Constantinople the new capital of the Eastern Empire. Under the Constantinian and Valentinian dynasties, the empire was split along an east–west line, with power centres in Constantinople and Rome. Julian, influenced by his adviser Mardonius, tried to restore Classical Roman and Hellenistic religion but ruled only briefly. Theodosius I, the last emperor to rule both East and West, died in 395 after making Christianity the state religion.

The Western Roman Empire began to disintegrate in the early 5th century. The Romans fought off all invaders, most famously Attila, but the empire had assimilated so many Germanic peoples of uncertain loyalty that it began to break apart. Most historians place the end of the Western Roman Empire in 476, when Romulus Augustulus was forced to abdicate to the Germanic warlord Odoacer. Odoacer then declared Zeno sole emperor and placed himself as Zeno's nominal subordinate, though in reality he ruled Italy alone. The Eastern Roman Empire, called the Byzantine Empire by later historians, continued until the reign of Constantine XI Palaiologos, the last Roman emperor. He died in battle in 1453 against Mehmed II and his Ottoman forces during the siege of Constantinople. Mehmed II adopted the title of caesar to claim a connection to the former Empire. The Patriarchate of Constantinople soon recognized his claim, but European monarchs did not.

Geography and demography

Main articles: Demography of the Roman Empire and Borders of the Roman Empire

Further information: Classical demography

The Roman Empire was one of the largest in history, with connected lands across Europe, North Africa, and the Middle East. The Latin phrase imperium sine fine ("empire without end") showed the idea that neither time nor space limited the Empire. In Virgil's Aeneid, limitless power is said to have been given to the Romans by Jupiter. This claim of rule without limits was renewed when the Empire came under Christian rule in the 4th century. The Romans did more than take over large areas. They also changed the land directly, for example by cutting down entire forests. Roman expansion was mostly done under the Republic, though parts of northern Europe were conquered in the 1st century, when Roman control in Europe, Africa, and Asia was strengthened. Under Augustus, a "global map of the known world" was shown in public in Rome for the first time, at the same time as the most complete political geography from ancient times was made, the Geography of Strabo. When Augustus died, the account of his achievements (Res Gestae) also highlighted the mapping of the Empire. Geography and careful written records were key concerns of Roman Imperial administration.

The Empire reached its largest size under Trajan (r. 98–117), covering 5 million km². The traditional estimate of 55–60 million people made up between one-sixth and one-fourth of the world's population, and it was the most populous unified political entity in the West until the mid-19th century. Some demographic studies from the 21st century have argued for a peak of 70 million to more than 100 million people. Each of the three largest cities, Rome, Alexandria, and Antioch, was almost twice the size of any European city at the beginning of the 17th century. The historian Christopher Kelly described the Empire as stretching from Hadrian's Wall in rainy northern England to the hot banks of the Euphrates in Syria. It also reached across the Rhine–Danube river system in Europe, from the Low Countries to the Black Sea, and over the rich plains of North Africa and the Nile Valley in Egypt. The Empire completely surrounded the Mediterranean, which the conquerors called mare nostrum, meaning "our sea." Trajan's successor Hadrian chose to keep the empire as it was rather than expand it. Borders (fines) were marked, and the frontiers (limites) were patrolled. The most heavily fortified borders were the most unstable. Hadrian's Wall, which separated the Roman world from what was seen as a constant barbarian threat, is the main surviving monument of this effort. In the eastern provinces, rural administration often used inscribed boundary stones to mark land and manage taxes.

Languages

Main article: Languages of the Roman Empire

See also: Jireček Line

Latin and Greek were the main languages of the Empire, but the Empire was deliberately multilingual. Andrew Wallace-Hadrill says "The main desire of the Roman government was to make itself understood." Early in the Empire, knowing Greek helped someone pass as an educated noble, and knowing Latin helped with a career in the military, government, or law. Latin words were very common in Greek by the early imperial era, and Greek grammar, literature, poetry and philosophy shaped Latin language and culture. There was never a legal requirement to use Latin, but it showed a certain status. High standards of Latin, Latinitas, began with Latin literature. Over time, Latin was used to show power and higher social class. Most emperors were bilingual but preferred Latin in public, beginning during the Punic Wars.

After all freeborn inhabitants were universally enfranchised in Constitutio Antoniniana, many Roman citizens lacked a knowledge of Latin. The wide use of Koine Greek helped spread Christianity and showed its role as the lingua franca of the Mediterranean. After Diocletian's reforms in the 3rd century AD, knowledge of Greek declined in the west. Spoken Latin later broke into the early romance languages in the 7th century AD, after the Empire's west collapsed. Other languages continued to be spoken too. Vulgar Latin gradually replaced Celtic and Italic languages, while Coptic was used in Egypt and local languages appeared in military settings along the Rhine and Danube. Roman jurists cared about local languages such as Punic, Gaulish, and Aramaic so that laws and oaths were understood correctly. In Africa, Libyco-Berber and Punic were used in inscriptions into the 2nd century. In Syria, Palmyrene soldiers wrote in their dialect of Aramaic, an exception to the rule that Latin was the language of the military. The Gallo-Romance languages were later shaped by Gaulish, and Proto-Basque or Aquitanian developed with Latin loan words into modern Basque. The Thracian language also appears in Imperial-era inscriptions.

"Gate of Domitian and Trajan" at the northern entrance of the Temple of Hathor, and Roman emperor Domitian as Pharaoh of Egypt on the same gate, together with Egyptian hieroglyphs

Society

Further information: Ancient Roman society

Main articles: Status in Roman legal system and Roman citizenship

Main article: Women in ancient Rome

Main article: Slavery in ancient Rome

See also: Senate of the Roman Empire, Equestrian order, and Decurion (administrative)

The Empire was multicultural, yet it had an "astonishing cohesive capacity" to create a shared identity. Public places open to all, such as forums, amphitheatres, racetracks and baths, helped build a sense of "Romanness." Roman society had many overlapping social hierarchies. Over time, the old Republic's rigid rules loosened, and people could move up or down more than in other well-documented ancient societies, through social mobility. By the time of Nero, a former slave could be richer than a freeborn citizen, and an equestrian could hold more power than a senator. Patronage and personal relationships still shaped politics. Many voluntary associations and confraternities, such as collegia, sodalitates and burial societies, gave people with few resources a social life. In law, the jurist Gaius explained that every person was either free or a slave. Most citizens had limited rights, such as the ius Latinum, but they still had legal protections that non-citizens lacked. Free non-citizens were called peregrini. In 212, the Constitutio Antoniniana gave citizenship to all freeborn people in the Empire.

Freeborn women were citizens but could not vote, hold office, or serve in the military. A woman kept her own family name for life, and women could own property, make contracts, and run businesses. Some women were honoured for paying for public works. Marriage rules changed over time. The old manus marriage, where a wife was under her husband's control, was mostly abandoned, and wives kept their own property. Under the Augustan plan to restore traditional values, moral legislation tried to promote "family values." Adultery was a crime, but the rules were unequal, a double standard in which a wife had to be faithful while a husband did not. Women who had three children received honours and more legal freedom through the ius trium liberorum. Slavery was very common. Around the time of Augustus, perhaps 20 to 30% of people in Roman Italy were enslaved, and many worked in agriculture and industry. Slaves were considered property and had no legal personhood. Some could earn money to buy their freedom, a process called manumission. Slaves captured in war were a main source of slaves, and pirates also sold them. Freed slaves could become citizens, and their former owners became their patronus. Under the Empire, Hadrian limited freedmen's role in government. Citizens were ranked through the Roman census. A senator needed to hold an executive magistrate office and have 1 million sestertii in property, while an equestrian had to meet a lower property requirement. Senators could be removed for breaking moral standards. Justice was also unequal, as those of higher rank, the honestiores, could pay a fine for crimes that could bring a humilior a scourging. Early Christians could lose their standing, which could lead to martyrdom.

Government and military

Main article: Constitution of the Roman Empire

The Roman state had three main parts: the central government, the military, and the provincial government. The army first won control of a land through war. Afterward, its job became keeping order, protecting Roman citizens, farm fields, and religious sites. The Romans did not have enough soldiers or money to rule by force alone, so they worked with local elites to keep order, gather information, and collect money. Communities that stayed loyal kept their own laws and could sometimes be free from Roman taxes. This made Roman government limited, but it used its resources well.

The emperor held the most power. Emperors and some members of their families were linked to divinely sanctioned authority. Over time, the emperor took over many jobs that had belonged to republican officials, and his power became stronger. He relied on advisors, and the Senate kept a symbolic role in government. The emperor's real support came from the military. Soldiers were paid by the Imperial treasury and swore a yearly oath of loyalty to the emperor. The main job of the early army was to preserve the Pax Romana.

See also: Roman emperor and Senate of the Roman Empire

Main articles: Imperial Roman army, Late Roman army, and Structural history of the Roman military

Main article: Roman law

Further information: Taxation in ancient Rome

Economy

Main article: Roman economy

The Roman Empire was a network of regional economies. The state controlled trade to make sure it earned money. Economic growth was greater than in most societies before industrialization, though it cannot be compared to modern economies. Conquered lands were organized for farming, which created extra food and let people specialize in certain jobs, especially in north Africa. Some cities were known for particular industries, and the many large buildings show that construction was an important industry. Trade routes linked the regional economies together, and transportation grew a great deal in the 1st and 2nd centuries. The army bought supplies from local suppliers near its bases, throughout each province, and across provincial borders. Economic dynamism also allowed people to move up in society, although wealth was very important for rank, and plutocracy was strong. People gained respect by spending money on large homes, luxury items, public entertainments, funerary monuments, and religious dedications. Guilds (collegia) helped people succeed through connections. Households in the top 1.5% of income distribution received about 20% of income, while the "vast majority" of people lived near subsistence.

Money was used almost everywhere to set prices and record debts. The sestertius was the basic unit of value, and the silver denarius, worth four sesterces, was also used from the time of the Severan dynasty. Coins were counted rather than weighed, and the standard money helped trade across the Empire. Rome had no central bank, and banks were lightly regulated. Bankers received deposits and lent money to others, and debts could be passed to other people as payment. Only one serious credit shortage is known from the early Empire, in 33 AD. Over time, emperors reduced the value of coins, and the economy weakened during the Crisis of the Third Century. Mining was also important. The main mining regions were the Danubian provinces, Macedonia, Thrace, and Asia Minor, along with the Iberian Peninsula, Gaul, and Britain. Roman hydraulic mining produced large amounts of metal, and the Roman silver stock at its peak was five to ten times larger than the combined silver of medieval Europe and the Caliphate around 800 AD. Roads, sea routes, and rivers carried goods. The Empire surrounded the Mediterranean, which the Romans called Mare Nostrum ("our sea"). Land transport used the Roman roads, and the state mail service, the cursus publicus, was set up by Augustus. Trade reached as far as China and India, and the main traded good was grain. Many workers were skilled, and textile and clothing production provided many jobs. Inscriptions record 268 occupations in Rome and 85 in Pompeii.

Main articles: Mining in ancient Rome and Roman metallurgy

See also: Roman currency and Roman finance

See also: Roman commerce, Indo-Roman trade relations, and Sino-Roman relations

Further information: Cursus publicus

Main articles: Ancient Roman architecture, Roman engineering, and Roman technology

The Romans are known for the arch, vault, and dome, which were their chief contributions to architecture. Some of their buildings still stand today, partly because of their skill in making cements and concrete. Roman temples grew from Etruscan and Greek styles but had some special features of their own. Roman roads were considered the most advanced built until the early 19th century. Roman bridges were among the first large and lasting bridges, built mostly from stone and concrete with arches. The largest was Trajan's bridge over the lower Danube, built by Apollodorus of Damascus, which was the longest bridge ever built for over a thousand years. The Romans also built many dams and reservoirs to collect water, such as the Subiaco Dams, two of which fed the Anio Novus, one of the largest aqueducts in Rome.

The Romans built many aqueducts to carry water. De aquaeductu, a book by Frontinus, who served as water commissioner, shows how important the water supply was to them. Stone channels carried water along a precise gradient, using only gravity. The water was then collected in tanks and sent through pipes to public fountains, baths, toilets, or factories. The main aqueducts in Rome were the Aqua Claudia and the Aqua Marcia. The system built to supply Constantinople drew water from over 120 km away along a route of more than 336 km. Roman aqueducts were built with tolerance so fine that their standard was not matched until modern times. The Romans also used aqueducts in their large mining operations. Insulated glazing was used in public baths, and wealthy homes in cooler areas might have hypocausts, a form of central heating. The Romans were also the first culture to bring together the main parts of the much later steam engine, including the crank and connecting rod, Hero's aeolipile, the cylinder and piston, non-return valves, and gearing.

Daily life

Main article: Culture of ancient Rome

Augustus rebuilt Rome with many public buildings and divided the city into neighbourhoods called vici. The Campus Martius, an open area outside the city centre, was one of the most attractive places in Rome to visit. Most people in Rome lived in apartment buildings called insulae, which were often dirty and dangerous fire traps. Public baths were a place for daily socializing, and public entertainment such as chariot races and gladiator combat was aimed mainly at ordinary people. Wealthy families usually had a townhouse in the city and a villa outside it, where they could escape the busy city. Most Romans ate mainly cereals and legumes, and the state gave citizens a grain dole. The poet Juvenal criticized the people for caring only about "bread and circuses."

Disease was common, and many children did not survive to adulthood. The importance of a good diet to health was recognized by medical writers such as Galen. Entertainment was a big part of Roman life. The largest venue in Rome was the Circus Maximus, where horse and chariot races were held. The Colosseum became the regular arena for gladiator contests. Most Romans wore a simple sleeved tunic, while the toga was the distinctive national garment of male citizens, though it was heavy and impractical and mainly worn for political business and religious rites.

Arts

Main articles: Roman art and Art collection in ancient Rome

Greek art had a strong influence on Roman art. Public art, such as sculpture, victory columns, triumphal arches, and designs on coins, is often studied for what it shows about history and ideas. Artworks were also made for religious dedications, funerary commemoration, home use, and trade. Wealthy people showed their love of culture with decorative arts in their homes, but even famous artists had a low social status, partly because they worked with their hands. Portraits, which mostly survive as sculpture, were the most common kind of imperial art. Over time, they mixed realism and idealism. Painted portraits are mainly seen in the Fayum mummy portraits, which show the dead in a realistic style. Roman sculpture survives in large numbers, often damaged, in marble, bronze, and terracotta, as well as in reliefs from public buildings. Elaborately carved sarcophagi, or stone coffins, are characteristic of the 2nd to 4th centuries, and their carvings show mythological scenes and the life of the person buried inside.

Early Roman painting drew on Etruscan and Greek models. Much of what is known about Roman painting comes from the decorations of private homes, especially those preserved by the eruption of Vesuvius. Mosaics, made from small pieces called tesserae, were among the most lasting Roman decorative arts and were often placed on floors. Mosaics across the Empire showed geometric patterns, myths, and, in North Africa, scenes of hunting, farming, and local wildlife. Luxury goods included fine pottery, glassware, and silver and bronze items, and glassmaking was an important industry. Theatre was another major part of Roman culture. Literary theatre, borrowed from the Greeks, used masks and was performed by all-male groups, while the more popular mimus included dance, juggling, and acrobatics. Music was also part of daily life, appearing at funerals, sacrifices, and gladiator games. Performers were often treated as lower in status, even though popular "stars" could become wealthy and famous.

Literacy, books, and education

Estimates of the average literacy rate range from 5 to over 30%. The Romans valued the written word, as shown by their many documents and inscriptions. Numeracy was necessary for trade. Books were expensive because each copy had to be written out by hand on a papyrus roll (volumen) by scribes. The codex, with pages bound to a spine, was still new in the 1st century but replaced the volumen by the end of the 3rd century.

Collectors built personal libraries, and a fine library was part of the cultivated leisure (otium) of the villa lifestyle. Literary texts were often read aloud at meals or in reading groups. Public readings (recitationes) grew from the 1st through the 3rd century. Literacy began to decline during the Crisis of the Third Century, but reading continued in the Byzantine Empire.

Education

Main article: Education in ancient Rome

Traditional Roman education was moral and practical. Stories taught Roman values (mores maiorum). Young children were looked after by a pedagogue, usually a Greek slave or former slave, who kept them safe and taught self-discipline. Formal education was available only to families who could pay for it, and most schools used corporal punishment.

Higher education was provided by grammatici or rhetores. The art of speaking was highly prized, and young Roman men often went abroad to study rhetoric and philosophy, mostly to Athens. Literate women ranged from cultured aristocrats to girls trained to be calligraphers and scribes.

Literature

Main article: Latin literature

See also: Latin poetry

Literature under Augustus, along with that of the Republic, is viewed as the "Golden Age" of Latin literature. The three most influential Classical Latin poets, Virgil, Horace, and Ovid, belong to this period. Virgil's Aeneid was a national epic. The later "Silver Age" included Martial, Pliny the Elder, and the historian Tacitus. The principal Latin prose author of the Augustan age was the historian Livy. Later, Augustine wrote The City of God against the Pagans.

Religion

Main article: Religion in ancient Rome

Further information: Roman imperial cult, History of the Jews in the Roman Empire, and Early Christianity

See also: Religious persecution in the Roman Empire and Historiography of the Christianization of the Roman Empire

The Romans thought of themselves as very religious and credited their success to their piety and good relations with the gods (pax deorum). Their old religion, which was believed to have come from the earliest kings of Rome, was central to Roman identity. Roman religion was practical, based on the idea "I give that you might give," and it depended on the correct practice of prayer, ritual, and sacrifice rather than on faith. Every home had a shrine, and religion was part of daily life. The Roman calendar was built around religious festivals, with as many as 135 days devoted to them. After the Republic's collapse, state religion supported the new emperors. Augustus used religious revival to justify one-man rule, and the Roman imperial cult became a major way Rome showed its presence in the provinces. Rejecting the state religion was treated as treason. The Romans honoured many deities and usually absorbed local gods rather than wiping them out, so religious tolerance was not an issue.

Christianity began in Roman Judaea as a Jewish religious sect in the 1st century and gradually spread throughout the Empire. Persecutions were limited and sporadic, and the most severe persecution of Christians took place under Diocletian from 303 to 311. In the early 4th century, Constantine I became the first emperor to convert to Christianity. He supported the Church and made laws that favored it, and he banned public sacrifice while tolerating other traditional practices. Later, Julian tried to revive traditional public sacrifice, but he met Christian resistance and little popular support. Over the following centuries, Christians focused more on heresy, and non-Christians were not persecuted until the 6th century.

Legacy

Main article: Legacy of the Roman Empire

The Virginia State Capitol (left), completed in 1788, was modelled after the Maison Carrée (right), in Nîmes, France, a Roman temple built around 16 BC under Augustus. The Roman Empire's control of the Italian Peninsula influenced Italian nationalism and the unification of Italy (Risorgimento) in 1861. In the United States, the founders saw Athenian democracy and Roman republicanism as models for the mixed constitution, but regarded the emperor as a figure of tyranny.

Several states claimed to be the Roman Empire's successor. The Holy Roman Empire was established in 800 when Pope Leo III crowned Charlemagne as Roman emperor. The Russian Tsardom saw itself as the Third Rome, since it inherited the Orthodox Christian tradition of the Byzantine Empire and Constantinople had been the second, following the idea of translatio imperii. The last Eastern Roman titular, Andreas Palaiologos, sold the title of Emperor of Constantinople to Charles VIII of France. After Charles died, Palaiologos took the title back, and when he died he gave it to Ferdinand and Isabella and their successors, who never used it. When the Ottomans took Constantinople in 1453, Mehmed II made it his capital and claimed the throne of the Roman Empire. He even launched an invasion of Otranto to re-unite the Empire, but his death stopped it. The Greek form Romaioi stayed attached to the Greek-speaking Christian population of the Byzantine Empire, and it is still used by Greeks.