Was Rome "original"? Was Roman civilization a direct successor to Magna Graecia? Why did the Romans deify their city, but allow former enemies to live in it? Why did the barbarian tribes revere Rome and share their love for it with the Romans? Why did Rome abandon monarchy and tyranny and become an empire? And what exactly is an empire? And why did the Romans believe that the true spiritual and religious environment for a person was the countryside? The Roman Empire collapsed. But the very idea of Rome continued to exist as an invigorating myth about a universal homeland, the history of which showed that it was not an impossible dream.