St. Peter is claimed as the first Pope by the Roman Catholic Church. St. Peter, according to church tradition, travelled to Rome, where he established the first Christian church in the city. He was then captured, on Nero’s orders, and crucified upside down. Peter and his fellow disciple Paul are credited with leading the initial spread of Christianity in the wake of Jesus’ death.

The Romans viewed Christianity as a powerful threat, even during Christ’s lifetime. The Romans were concerned by Christ’s claim that individuals owed their allegiance to God and the Kingdom of Heaven, rather than to the Roman Emperor. They were also worried that Christ might inspire an earthly rebellion in the Judean province of the Roman Empire. Finally, the Romans were appalled that Jesus denied the divinity of the Roman Emperor.

Marcus Aurelius was an Emperor of Rome during the so-called reign of the Five Good Emperors. He is, perhaps, most notable for embracing the philosophical discipline of stoicism. He wrote extensively on the subject in his Meditations (a collection of initially unpublished musings and essays).

According to Catholic tradition, St. Peter was captured and executed on the orders of Emperor Nero for attempting to spread heretical belief (Christianity) in the city of Rome. It is generally stated, in popular history, that St. Peter asked to be crucified upside down so as to refrain from emulating the death of his Messiah, Jesus Christ.

St. Paul, along with St. Peter, is one of two men who are credited with spreading the nascent Christian faith around the Roman world in the first century CE. St. Paul is perhaps most famous for the letters he wrote to political and religious figures throughout the Greek and Latin speaking world, urging them to embrace Christianity.

These great stone aqueducts marked much of Rome's territory. While some of these other options may have been used within Roman cities, the aqueduct efficiently transported water from outside sources to the cities by using gravity.

Claudius Ptolemy was a Greco-Egyptian scholar and scientist who lived in Alexandria, in Roman Egypt, during the second century CE. He was an accomplished mathematician and scientist and wrote extensively on geography, astronomy, and astrology.

The Denarius was a silver coin, a unit of currency, first used in the Roman Republic and then used in the Roman Empire. It was the most common unit of currency in the Roman Empire.

Augustus Caesar is responsible for creating a professional standing army and is known for making countless reforms of the Roman military to try and improve its fighting capacity. It, therefore, seems logical to speculate that he would also be responsible for creating a professional corps of army medics, and this is indeed the case. The Romans made numerous notable innovations in battlefield surgery including arterial surgical tools to prevent death from loss of blood. Due to the skills of these army medics, Roman soldiers could expect to live as long or even longer than Roman civilians.

Hadrian’s Wall is a defensive fortification that was built in northern England. It marked the northernmost boundary of the Roman Empire, in the British Isles, at the time of Hadrian’s rule around 120 CE. It was constructed to deter the barbarian Picts (who lived in modern-day northern England and Scotland) from attacking the Roman Empire.