1. the lands and peoples subject to the authority of ancient Rome.
2. the form of government established in ancient Rome in 27 b.c., comprising the Principate or Early Empire (27 b.c.–a.d. 284) and the Autocracy or Later Empire (a.d. 284–476).
3. a later empire, as that of Charlemagne or the Byzantine Empire, regarded as a restoration or continuation of the ancient Roman Empire or one of its branches.

1. the territories ruled by ancient Rome. At its height under Trajan, the Roman Empire included W and S Europe, Africa north of the Sahara, and SW Asia. In 395 ad it was divided by Theodosius into the Eastern Roman Empire whose capital was Byzantium and which lasted until 1453, and the Western Roman Empire which lasted until the sack of Rome in 476
2. the government of Rome and its dominions by the emperors from 27 bc
3. the Byzantine Empire
4. the Holy Roman Empire

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