Roman Empire

==Legacy==
{{Main|Legacy of the Roman Empire}}
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| footer            = The [[Virginia State Capitol]] ''(left)'', built in the late 1700s, was modelled after the [[Maison Carrée]] ''(right)'', in [[Nîmes]], France, a [[Roman temple|Gallo-Roman temple]] built around 16 BC under Augustus.
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Several states claimed to be the Roman Empire's successor. The [[Holy Roman Empire]] was established in 800 when [[Pope Leo&nbsp;III]] crowned [[Charlemagne]] as [[Roman emperor]]. The [[Tsardom of Russia|Russian Tsardom]], as inheritor of the Byzantine Empire's [[Eastern Orthodox Church|Orthodox Christian]] tradition, counted itself the [[Third Rome]] (Constantinople having been the second), in accordance with the concept of [[translatio imperii]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=Burgan |first=Michael |title=Empire of Ancient Rome |date=2009 |publisher=Infobase Publishing |isbn=978-1-4381-2659-3 |pages=113–114}}</ref> The last Eastern Roman titular, [[Andreas Palaiologos]], sold the title of Emperor of Constantinople to [[Charles VIII of France]]; upon Charles' death, Palaiologos reclaimed the title and on his death granted it to [[Ferdinand and Isabella]] and their successors, who never used it. When the [[Ottoman Empire|Ottomans]], who based their state on the Byzantine model, took Constantinople in 1453, [[Mehmed&nbsp;II]] established his capital there and claimed to sit on the throne of the Roman Empire.<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Noble |first1=Thomas F. X. |title=Western Civilization: Beyond Boundaries, 1300–1815 |last2=Strauss |first2=Barry |last3=Osheim |first3=Duane J. |last4=Neuschel |first4=Kristen B. |last5=Accampo |first5=Elinor Ann |date=2010 |publisher=Cengage Learning |isbn=978-1-4240-6959-0 |page=352}}</ref> He even launched an [[Ottoman invasion of Otranto|invasion of Otranto]] with the purpose of re-uniting the Empire, which was aborted by his death. In the medieval West, "Roman" came to mean the church and the Catholic Pope. The Greek form [[Romaioi]] remained attached to the Greek-speaking Christian population of the Byzantine Empire and is still used by [[Greeks]].<ref>{{Cite book |title=Encyclopædia Britannica, History of Europe, The Romans |date=2008}}</ref>

The Roman Empire's control of the Italian peninsula influenced [[Italian nationalism]] and the [[unification of Italy]] (''[[Risorgimento]]'') in 1861.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Collier |first=Martin |title=Italian Unification, 1820–71 |date=2003 |publisher=Heinemann |isbn=978-0-435-32754-5 |page=22}}</ref> Roman imperialism was claimed by fascist ideology, particularly by the [[Italian Empire]] and [[Nazi Germany]].{{Citation needed|date=February 2024}}

In the United States, the [[Founding Fathers of the United States|founders]] were educated in the [[classical tradition]],<ref>{{Cite book |last=Briggs |first=Ward |chapter=United States |date=2010 |title=A Companion to the Classical Tradition |publisher=Blackwell |pages=279ff |author-link=Ward W. Briggs}}</ref> and used classical models for [[List of National Historic Landmarks in Washington, D.C.|landmarks in Washington, D.C.]].<ref name="Meinig">{{Cite book |last=Meinig |first=D.W. |title=The Shaping of America: A Geographical Perspective on 500 Years of History. Atlantic America, 1492–1800 |date=1986 |publisher=Yale University Press |isbn=0-300-03882-8 |volume=1 |pages=432–435}}</ref><ref name="vale">{{Cite book |last=Vale |first=Lawrence J. |title=Architecture, Power, and National Identity |date=1992 |publisher=Yale University Press |pages=11, 66–67}}</ref><ref name="korn">{{Cite book |last=Kornwall |first=James D. |title=Architecture and Town Planning in Colonial North America |date=2011 |publisher=Johns Hopkins University Press |isbn=978-0-8018-5986-1 |volume=3 |pages=1246, 1405–1408}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Mallgrave |first=Harry Francis |title=Modern Architectural Theory: A Historical Survey, 1673–1968 |date=2005 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |pages=144–145}}; {{Harvp|Wood|2011|pp=73–74}}; {{Cite book |last1=Onuf |first1=Peter S. |chapter=Introduction |last2=Cole |first2=Nicholas P. |title=Thomas Jefferson, the Classical World, and Early America |publisher=University of Virginia Press |page=5}}; {{Cite book |last=Dietler |first=Michael |title=Archaeologies of Colonialism: Consumption, Entanglement, and Violence in Ancient Mediterranean France |date=2010 |publisher=University of California Press |isbn=978-0-520-26551-6}}</ref> The founders saw [[Athenian democracy]] and [[Roman republic]]anism as models for the [[mixed constitution]], but regarded the emperor as a figure of tyranny.<ref>{{Harvp|Briggs|2010|pp=282–286}}; {{Harvp|Wood|2011|pp=60, 66, 73–74, 239}}</ref>