Imagine though it was an empire that began it's expansion from the city of Rome. It began as a small town/city formed by Latium villagers joining together with settlers from the surrounding hills next to the river Tiber and it gradually transitioned into a centralized state growing bigger, and from that locus point they launched military expeditions, raids and conquests to expand their territory.
Something else i learned recently as well is how clothing styles also changed in many parts of Europe after the fall of Rome mainly to cover body odour and foul smell and shoes with heels and long sleeves for lifting or protecting themselves from the dirty waste and poop filled streets/roads they walked through, and clothing garbs that can be lifted or opened up for effective open defecation and urination and undergarments to insulate their body odour and soak up sweat. They didn't just decline in terms of just impoverishment , they also declined in hygienes rarely bathe and washed themselves, had lice with they wore wigs to cover and perfumes cover smell. Different colours cloths to hide stains.
Before that during the Roman era people wore flowing untailored white cotton robes called Toga and simple sandals etc. The fact that they prefered white was a symbol of purity and dedication to cleanliness. They would wash themselves several times every day, bathe regularly, had latrines and bath houses, or thermae and would bleach wash their clothes even to whiten it. They would clean their roads and streets with carts, water and had sewers systems.
Another last interesting fact which i often find left out is how prevalent slaves were in the Empire. 1 in 5 Roman inhabitants were slaves and the forced labour exacted from them to build many of large edifices. They forced slaves from the populations they conquered to build massive public works and engage in large-scale mining operations, and engage in 'factory farming' with large-scale
monoculture plantations. They also worked as domestic servants in roman households.
A Study of Roman Society and Its Dependence on slaves.
https://dc.etsu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=3303&context=etd
Since the role of slavery in central productive processes turned Rome into a 'slave economy,' just as the widespread domination of slaves as a primary social relationship made it a 'slave society,' these two terms may be used interchangeably, especially in those strata where slaves and ex-slaves continuously enveloped .
Rome depended upon slavery to function and maintain its political, social, and economic stranglehold on the Mediterranean area and beyond.
Slaves served in households, agriculture, mines, the military, workshops, construction and many services. As many as 1 in 3 of the population in Italy or 1 in 5 across the empire were slaves and upon this foundation of forced labour was built the entire edifice of the Roman state.
It's very unlike the Muslim states and empires during the middle ages prior to the 18th-19th century slave trade boom , slaves were not the engines of their economies.