From a small cluster of villages on the banks of the Tiber River to a sprawling empire that ruled over 20 per cent of the world’s population, this is the wondrous story of Ancient Rome.

The gifts bequeathed upon our world by Ancient Rome constitute the foundational pillars of Western civilization to this day – be it the Julian calendar, the names of the planets in our Solar System, or one of the most famous quotes in popular imagination, ‘et tu Brute?’

Follow along as The Shortest History of Ancient Rome takes you on a whirlwind journey through the myth, legend and fact that comprise the story of the ‘empire without an end’. Considered second only to the kingdom of Heaven, it went on to inspire generations of the world’s greatest known philosophers, poets, playwrights and artists, whom we continue to read and revere to this day. Be it Marcus Aurelius’s meditations on Stoicism, Machiavelli’s treatises on administration and good governance, Shakespeare’s tragedies, or a wealth of sculpture art, Ancient Rome remains alive in the world’s memory today despite its fall from the zenith of power many centuries ago.

But for a regime so plagued with scandal, betrayal and familicide over position and power, how did Rome exercise absolute control over twenty-five modern-day nations for over 500 years? What were the Romans like? Who even was Brutus? What do we know about the lives of Roman women? And finally, how did Rome fall?