Rome

First major phase of Roman imperial rule, from Augustus to the accession of Diocletian, retaining republican institutions alongside imperial authority.

Hellenistic dynasty ruling Egypt after Alexander, ending with the defeat of Cleopatra VII and annexation by Rome.

The final phase of the Roman Republic, marked by elite competition, political violence, civil wars, and the concentration of power in the hands of military leaders.

Roman imperial polity and its institutions from the rule of Augustus onward; the conventional end date of 476 CE concerns Western imperial rule, while the Eastern Roman Empire continued beyond that date.

Cultural, intellectual and artistic flourishing in Italian states from the late medieval into the early modern period, with especially influential developments in Florence, Venice and Rome.

Traditional pre-republican phase of Rome’s history, dated according to later Roman accounts; its earliest rulers and founding stories mix history with legend.

Later autocratic phase of Roman imperial government beginning with Diocletian; this Movieline chronology covers its Western Roman Empire phase through 476 CE, not its later Eastern continuation.

Julius Caesar was assassinated by a group of Roman senators in the Theatre of Pompey on 15 March 44 BCE.

Civil war between the forces of Julius Caesar and Pompey from 49 to 45 BCE, followed by Caesar’s dictatorship.

The devastating fire that began in Rome on the night of 18–19 July 64 CE, burning for about nine days including a renewed outbreak. The endpoint is approximate rather than an attested exact hour or day.

The civil war following Caesar’s assassination, culminating in the defeat of Brutus and Cassius at Philippi in 42 BCE.

Roman general and politician who became a leading Caesarian power-holder after 44 BCE.

Roman general and dictator whose rise accelerated the collapse of the republican political order.

Roman emperor from 54 to 68 CE whose reign forms the political setting for the story and whose government persecuted Christians in Rome after the Great Fire.

Last active ruler of the Ptolemaic Kingdom of Egypt and a major participant in the final Roman republican conflicts.

Jewish preacher whose ministry and crucifixion form the narrative center of the film.

Roman prefect of Judea who presided over the authority responsible for Jesus’s crucifixion.

The major political and religious center of Judea and the setting for much of the film’s story.

The cosmopolitan Egyptian city where Hypatia taught and where the film’s religious and political conflicts unfold.

The kingdom attempting to exercise control over Scotland during the conflict.

The Roman province containing Alexandria and the wider administrative and cultural setting of the story.

The kingdom whose political independence from England is the central issue of the narrative.