User:AWpCR/Roman Empire



The Roman Empire (: Βασιλεία Ῥωμαίων, tr.  Basileia Rhōmaiōn) is a constitutional monarchy situated around the Aegan Sea with territories in the Balkans, Asia Minor, the Levant, and North Africa. It shares border with ,, and  to the north,  to the northeast,  and  to the east,  and  to the south, and.

Rome holds the distinction as the oldest continually existing sovereign state in the world, with a traditional founding date of 753 BC, making it two thousand seven hundred and sixty nine years old as of 2016. During the country's long history of existence it has went through many changes in it's government and territorial extent.

Government and politics

 * Main article: Government of the Roman Empire

Rome features a unitary democracy and constitutional monarchy. The Emperor is the head of state and, unlike most European monarchies, holds a considerable amount of political power. The Premier Senator, or simply Premier, is the head of government. Both the Emperor and the Premier are considered to be the head of the executive branch, while the Emperor is also considered the head of the judicial branch (alongside the supreme court) and the Premier is the head of the legislative branch. Constitutionally, the Emperor is the head of the armed forces and is responsible for the nation's foreign and defense policies while the Premier is responsible for the nation's economic and domestic policy.

The five hundred member unicameral Senate, which is seated in Constantinople, is Rome's legislative body.

Administrative Divisions
The Roman Empire is divided into administrative divisions called themes (Greek:  θέματα, themata ; singular θέμα,  thema). Each theme is further divided into regional units (Hellenic:  περιφερειακές ενότητες, perifereiakés enóti̱tes; singular περιφερειακή ενότητα, perifereiakí̱ enóti̱ta).

Each theme is headed by a proconsul  (Greek: ανθύπατος,  anthýpatos) who is appointed by the Senate (with recommendation from the Premier) to enforce the national and local laws of their appointed theme. Each proconsul also commands a small paramilitary unit, the size of which depends on the population of the theme. There has been growing opposition to this state of affairs among Romans, who seek to have elected proconsuls or an equivalent so they can have a greater say in public policy.

Military

 * Main Article: Roman Military 

The Roman Military (Greek: Ρωμαϊκή Στρατιωτική, Romaïkí Stratiotikí) is organized into four distinct branches: the Roman Army (Greek: Ρωμαϊκό Στρατό, Romaïkó Strató), the Roman Navy (Greek: Ρωμαϊκή Πολεμικό Ναυτικό, Romaïkí Polemikó Naftikó) and the Roman Air Forces (Greek: Ρωμαϊκή Πολεμικές Αεροπορίες, Romaïkí Polemikés Aeroporíes). The Roman Empire spends about $82,080,000,000 on its military every year, or roughly 2% of it's GDP. As of January 2016 the Roman Military has 497,000 members in active service and another 329,000 reservists.

The Roman Army provides the bulk of the nation's ground forces, numbering 365,000 active personnel and 120,000 reservists.

Members of the armed forces swear fealty to the Emperor, who serves as their head (with the title Supreme Strategos of the Armed Forces). The daily management of the armed forces falls under the responsibility of the Ministry of Defense, which is headed by the Defense Minister. It works in conjunction with the Roman Defense Chiefs of Staff, the seats of the highest ranking generals (strategos) and admirals (navarchos) within the armed forces.

While Rome possesses an all volunteer military, conscription may be used during times of war through the country's selective service. Women are exempt from conscription but may volunteer for any branch of the military, and often serve in the front lines and are not discriminated against when applying for special forces.

Language
The official and most widely spoken language in the Roman Empire is, an independent member of the Indo-European language family. It is spoken as a first language by 78% of the population, with 99% of the population being fluent in the language. 98% of the population can read and write in the, which is the country's official writing system, being used to write all languages native to the Roman Empire, including languages with their own script. Greek replaced  as the official language of the Roman empire in 610 as Latin fell into disuse among the educated classes.

Religion
Although the freedom of religion is enshrined as a basic human right in the Roman Empire through the Articles of Liberties for Imperial Citizens and Residents of Rome, Eastern Orthodox Christianity is considered the official religion of the Roman Empire, with the Orthodox Catholic Church being the official state church. Citizens who are listed as part of the religion, which is affirmed at the age of 18 upon reaching adulthood, is required to pay a small 'church tax' towards the funding and maintaining of historical churches and the institutions of the Pentarchy. Unlike many countries which exempt religious institutions from taxes, the religious institutions in Rome must pay all applicable taxes, unless designated as a charitable non-profit organization, and are legally barred from becoming involved in politics.

Christianity is the most common religion, with Eastern Orthodoxy representing the largest Christian sect within Rome. Other sects include Eastern Catholic, Miaphysite, and various Protestant sects. Islam is the second largest religion, with the Sunni sect being by far the most widely practiced sect of Islam, practiced largely by the Turkish and Kurdish minorities. Judaism has been present in the Roman Empire for more than 2,000 years and is the third largest religion in the country. Aside from having a substantial minority during much of its existence, many Jews fled Europe during WWII and sought refuge within the Roman Empire to escape religious persecution in Germany and German-occupies lands. While many of these Jews would leave and establish themselves within the the State of Israel, many of them stayed and became naturalized citizens.

Recently there has been a revival of the ancient Roman polytheistic religion that was once the main religion of the Roman Empire, with over 25,000 adherents and 500,000 sympathizers.