The paper pivots on the concept of orbis in relation to the space of Roman conquest, and on its development in the course of a rather condensed historical period. Under Augustus, the defeat of Varus at the Teutoburg Forest (9 CE) marked a watershed. Under Tiberius, the worldwide Empire envisaged in Augustan Rome was further frustrated by the death of Germanicus in the East (19 CE). Albinovanus Pedo and Manilius provide clues as regards the development of a dual concept of orbis . Velleius Paterculus provides further evidence of a reassessment of the concept of orbis in this period. Mirroring the complex relationship between Rome and Parthia, the idea of orbis alter had enduring fortune. At a given point, it changed, as Paulinus of Nola used it in a Christian perspective between the 4
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