Manufacturers Old Glory - Range includes Republican Romans, Gallic Wars, Imperial Romans, and Late Romans. Magister Militum - Range includes Republican Romans, Late Republic/Early Imperial Romans, Romans Auxiliaries, and Late Romans. Time Period This range of figures covers the armies of Rome from the early Republic (around the 4th Century BCE) until the fall of the Roman Empire in the West in 476 CE. Historical Background The Roman army would be the instrument that would build one of the greatest empires of history. The Roman Republic would grow from a small city-state to dominate all of Italy. Challenged by the Cathaginians, Rome would emerge victorious and conquer much of the Mediterranean world and Western Europe. Civil war nearly tore this empire apart, but Augustus, nephew of Julius Caesar, became the first Roman Emperor and ushered in a period of stability and prosperity known as the "Pax Romana" in which the power of Rome would reach its apex. Roman soldiers would stand guard over a frontier that would stretch from Persia in the East to Scotland in the West. Slow decline, civil war, and the pressure of barbarian invasion would eventually lead to the fall of the Roman Empire in Western Europe, but its influence remains. The Battle of Zama in 202 BCE, at which the Roman army under Scipio Africanus defeated the Cartheginian general Hannibal, is an important turning point in Roman history and heralded Rome's rise to status as a great empire.