Some remarks: 1. Mercator projection gives Russian empires an unfair advantage. 2. The Romans ruled over arguably the best lands in the known world at that ti

Some remarks: 1. Mercator projection gives Russian empires an unfair advantage. 2. The Romans ruled over arguably the best lands in the known world at that time, and a much larger part of the world population. Russia ruled/rules over vast empire of vast forests, inhospitable steppes and empty tundra, sprinkled with a few good spots and a few people. 3. Inefficient travel doesn't make a great empire. That's not to say the Russian empire wasn't huge, or didn't have a lot of people, or wasn't powerful. It was the largest power pre-World War 1, and its remnant is still a major player. I just wasn't as important or dominant or influential or long lived as the Roman empire was.