How far did Rome spread?  At its peak, Rome stretched over much of Europe and the Middle East:  Legend has it that Romulus and Remus-twin brothers who were also demi-gods-founded Rome on the river Tiber in 753 B.C.. Over the next eight and a half centuries, it grew from a small town of pig farmers into a vast empire that stretched from England to Egypt and completely surrounded the Mediterranian Sea. The Roman Empire conquered these lands by attacking them with unmatched military strength, and it held onto them by letting them govern themselves. Rome's desire to expand had deep historical roots, says Edward J. Watts, a professor of history at the University of California, San Diego, and author of Mortal Republic: How Rome Fell Into Tyranny.   Rome expands with capture of Etruscan City:  In 396 B.C., after siege of many years and after digging into the soft tuff rock below the walls, they infiltrated the city's drainage system to emerge in the citadel. Even so, Rome was still relatively small by the time it transitioned from a Kingdom to a Republic in 509 B.C.      The Republic's first significant expansion largely let the city continue operating as it had done before, only under Roman control and with the understanding that Rome could conscript free men for the Roman army. Still, it never extended citizenship to the many enslaved people in Italy obtained through trade, piracy, wars, and other means.    This strategy of absorption changed as Rome conquered its first overseas territories. During the Punic Wars with Carthage between 264 B.C. and 146 B.C., Rome spread over multiple Meditertanean islands and onto the east coast of modern-day Spain.  Yet, instead of extending its republic into these trerritories or forming alliances, Rome designated these new territories as providences and appointed Roman governors to oversee them. Taking this new territory wasn't something Rome initially intended to do. "The first Punic War is something that they kind of stumbled into, but they're happy to take territory as a result of it," Watts said.                                        After Rome pushed Carthage out of Cicily in the first war, the Italian island became Rome's first foreign province.  During the second Pubic War, Rome found itself on the defense as the Carthage General Hannibal and his elephants marched over the Alps and south into Italy. Again, Rome defeated Carthage and conquered some of its territory, this time in Spain.                     Conquering territory in North Africa:  This time, Rome destroyed the capital city of Carthage in modern day Tunisia and enslaved the city's inhabitants. It also conquered all of Carthage's territory in North Africa and made it  a Roman Province.  Rome was now the major hegemonic power in the mediteranean region.    Over the next century, it cemented its status by conquering coastal territory in the modern-day countries of Greece, Turkey, Egypt and others until it completely surrounded the mediterranian Sea.         In the 60s B.C., Rome extended into the Middle East and captured Jerusalem. These eastern territories had old and complex political systems that Rome largely left in place. The extension of Imperial bureaucracy made the empire much harder to manage; The year 395 was the last time that the whole empire was united under one emperor.  After that, the western half split off and collapsed within a century.  In the east, the Roman Empire-also known as the Byzentine Empire-continued on for over a millennium.