Third Rome (Constantinople having been the second). These concepts are known as translatio imperii. After the succession of the Russian Tsardom by the Russian Empire, ruled by the House of Romanov, this ended in the Russian Revolution of 1917 when Bolshevik revolutionaries toppled the monarchy. After the sale of the Imperial Title by the last Eastern Roman titular, Andreas Palailogos, to Ferdinand II of Aragon and Isabella I of Castile, and the Dynastic Union between these two that proclaimed the Kingdom of Spain, it became a direct successor to the Roman Empire until today, after three restorations of the Spanish Crown. When the Ottomans, who based their state on the Byzantine model, took Constantinople in 1453, Mehmed II established his capital there and claimed to sit on the throne of the Roman Empire. He even launched an invasion of Otranto, located in Southern Italy, with the purpose of re-uniting the Empire, which was aborted by his death. Mehmed II also invited European artists to his capital, including Gentile Bellini. In the medieval West, "Roman" came to mean the church and the Pope of Rome. The Greek form Romaioi remained attached to the Greek-speaking Christian population of the Eastern Roman Empire and is still used by Greeks in addition to their common appellation. The Roman Empire's territorial legacy of controlling the Italian peninsula would influence Italian nationalism and the unification of Italy (Risorgimento) in 1861. Further Roman imperialism was claimed by fascist ideology, particularly by the Italian Empire and Nazi Germany. In the United States, the founders were educated in the classical tradition, and used classical models for landmarks and buildings in Washington, D.C., to avoid the feudal and religious connotations of European architecture such as castles and cathedrals. In forming their theory of the mixed constitution, the founders looked to Athenian democracy and Roman republicanism for models, but regarded the Roman emperor as a figure of tyranny. See also Outline of ancient Rome Fall of the Western Roman Empire List of political systems in France List of Roman dynasties Daqin ("Great Qin"), the ancient Chinese name for the Roman Empire; see also Sino-Roman relations Imperial Italy Byzantine Empire under the Justinian dynasty Notes References Citations Sources External links Romans for Children , a BBC website on ancient Rome for children at primary-school level. The Digital Atlas of Roman and Medieval Civilizations Historical Atlas showing the expansion of the Roman Empire.