Bonus episodes twice a month (the 15th and the 30th) beginning October 2021 on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/historyfornightowls Host: Ali the Historian (PhD) Twitter: @alithehistorian Youtube: #historyfornightowls Image: Julia Maesa of Emesa (Homs) Syria, part of the Severan dynasty. When the Roman Empire captured Egypt in the age of Julius Caesar and Cleopatra, no one could have predicted that Rome would come to control the entire territorial coastline of the Mediterranean. In the west, the empire stretched as far as Spain and Morocco. In the east the empire encompassed Syria, Anatolia, and Greece. With the global expansion of the empire came a new synthesis of languages and cultures throughout ancient Europe, North Africa, and the Middle East. By the turn of the new millennium, Rome and the Italian peninsula were on a path to become a global bridge connecting Europe with the rest of the world.