The city of Rome itself has tremendous environmentaladvantages, which

made it easier for Rome to become an important city. Rome is located at the
first place that people can easily cross the Tiber river, so it is the natural
location of the main north-south road in Italy. The reason you can cross the
Tiber at Rome is that there is an island in the river there (this is the same as at
Paris).
There are also important salt flats near the city, and because salt was so
valuable in the ancient world these were also important to the early city of
Rome. Also the riverboats going up and down the Tiber, from east to west and
back again, could stop at Rome.

As the Romans expanded their empire, they encountered many different

environments. There were deserts, mountains, swamps, forests, and
everything else. The Roman army had to learn to fight in different ways in
order to conquer these different areas.
They had to learn to split up their big legions into small guerrilla units that
would be able to get around quickly and quietly in the mountains or in the
forest. One reason that the Roman army was so successful was that it was
able to adapt to changing environments.

During the period of the RomanEmpire (about 100 BC to 500 AD), the
Romans had the great advantage of controlling the wholeMediterranean Sea.
This madetrade much easier because people could ship things by boat. They
also had the advantage of getting foodand materials from lots of different
environments. They could get tin from England, and wood fromGermany,
and cotton from Egypt, and silver from Spain.