Romans used a variety of methods to administer their republic and, later, empire.
All civilizations rely on government administration—bureaucracy. Perhaps no civilization better exemplifies this than ancient Rome. The word “civilization” itself comes from the Latin word civis﻿, meaning "citizen." Latin was the language of ancient Rome, whose territory stretched from the Mediterranean basin all the way to parts of Great Britain in the north and the Black Sea to the east. To rule an area that large, the Romans, based in what is now central Italy, needed an effective system of government administration and infrastructure. Romans used a variety of methods to administer their republic and, later, empire.