The Roman Empire lasted over a period of 1,000 years, beginning with the 27 B.C., and ending in the East with the Byzantine Empire. The Roman Empire is the post-Republican period of ancient Rome, and it stretched around the Mediterranean Sea in Europe, North Africa, and Western Asia. It was ruled by emperors, with the capital Rome in Latium until 476 A.D.
The imperial insignia was sent to Constantinople (the Eastern Empire eventually became the Byzantine Empire) after the capture of the Western Empire capital in Ravenna by Germanic barbarians when the last Emperor Romulus Augustus was deposed by the barbarian leader Odoacer.
The end of classical antiquity is considered 380 A.D. when Christianity became the official religion of the Roman Empire. According to historians, the Middle Ages began after this significant event.
