The greatest time of the Roman Empire coincided with the warmest period of the last 2,000 years in the Mediterranean, according to a study published in the journal Scientific Reports, from the Nature group. The climate conditions derived progressively towards arid conditions and later colder ones coinciding with the historical fall of the empire
The study identifies for the first time a warming phase which is different during the Roman period in the Mediterranean area and is focused on the reconstruction of the sea surface temperature (SST) over the last 5,000 years.These new records were correlated to data from other areas of the Mediterranean (Alboran Sea, Menorca basin and Aegean Sea) to show a regional signal of the basin to identify the Roman period (1-500 AC) as the warmest period of the last 2,000 years, 2ºC warmer than the average values at the end of the century. The experts also comment on the impact of the rainfall regime during this period –marked by a great regional variation of the most wet and arid phases- in the evolution of the Roman Empire
