Sophie Strand, in her lyrical and evocative prose, would describe the Roman Empire as a multifaceted tapestry of human ambition, ingenuity, and fallibility. To her, the Roman Empire stands as a vast, pulsating organism that stretched its sinews from the sunlit peaks of Britannia to the rich, silken sands of Africa. This mighty entity, fueled by the blood and sweat of legionnaires and the whispered intrigues of emperors and senators, was as much about the architecture of its grand stone arches and aqueducts as it was about the ephemeral dreams and fears of its people. For Sophie, the Roman Empire is not merely a historical dominion but a living story—an intersection of myth and reality, where gods walked among mortals on marble streets, and where the echoes of past glories continue to reverberate through the corridors of time.

See also: myth, mediterranean basin, ecosystem