Uh, that was France. Or maybe I’m missing what you mean there.
Anyway, I’ll copy in what I replied with as well:
In some ways, this is worse, because they hit metaphorical stairs the whole way up as well, and where the “top” is is a matter of what you want to measure.
It’s very not-the-circlejerk, but maybe 13 should be “Rome never existed in the first place”.
Basically, you’d have to be more specific about what measure you’re using. If you go by population they peaked in the 100’s, and infrastructure construction peaked around the same time IIRC. Territorial expansion was actually slower in the Empire than the Republic from the start.
It’s not clear what caused Rome to decline, either, to complicate things.
Uh, that was France. Or maybe I’m missing what you mean there.
Anyway, I’ll copy in what I replied with as well:
Basically, you’d have to be more specific about what measure you’re using. If you go by population they peaked in the 100’s, and infrastructure construction peaked around the same time IIRC. Territorial expansion was actually slower in the Empire than the Republic from the start.
It’s not clear what caused Rome to decline, either, to complicate things.