"Rome continues to be a solid, tangible, and monumental expression of a legend. It is the eternal city where all roads of the ancient world converged, and has been the model for the very concept of a universal empire through the millennia. Through art, architecture, and urban planning, the empire expanded with an exceptional synthesis of technology, politics, law, and propaganda, conquering Europe, the Mediterranean, and the Near East. Accompanied by the masterpieces and memories of illustrious figures, we follow the arc of a city and a civilization from its beginnings to its height and fall, leafing through pages of history from the various eras. Rome was the final act of antiquity, and a dramatic conception of a new world."--BOOK JACKET.