Transcript Roman Empire

From Octavian to Augustus
Octavian Takes Power
• Octavian faced task of restoring
order in empire
• Had no intention of establishing
dictatorship when he took
power
Principate
• Octavian careful to avoid title of
king or emperor
• Called himself princeps, “first
citizen”
• Government called Principate
New Political Order
• Octavian decided it impossible
to return Rome to republican
form of government
• Created new political order,
known today as the empire
New Title
• 27 BC, Senate gave Octavian
title Augustus, “the revered
one”
• Title a religious honor; able to
wear laurel and oak leaf crown
The Augustan Age
New Imperial Government
• Augustus head of state more than 40 years, made smooth transition to new
imperial government with power divided between him and Senate
• Most financial, administrative matters under Augustus’s control
Foreign Affairs
• Started program to bring peace to west, particularly to Gaul, Spain
• Began series of conquests that pushed border eastward to Danube River
• Also took special care of Rome itself
Legacy
• Created police force, fire brigades; stockpiled food, water
• Began building program; presided over moral, religious reforms
• Great period of cultural creativity; great writers like Horace, Ovid, Virgil
Pax Romana
Roman PeaceEmperor
viewed as a
god!
Cupid
27
1. Britain
2. Romania (called
Dacia)
3. Judea (Israel)
4. Iraq
180
1. Emperor is a
god!
2. Police and Fire
Dept
3. Standardized
laws = same
everywhere in
empire
5. N. Africa
• Picked governors
• Forced Romans to
follow their laws
• Period of peace
in empire—no civil
wars
•More trade, more
money
•Money to spend
on improving
Rome and the arts
The Julian Emperors
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Augustus
Tiberius
Caligula
Claudius
Nero
The Flavian Emperors
1. Vespasian—began
Coliseum
2. Titus---son of Vespasian
3. Domitian---younger son
of Vespasian
Five Good Emperors
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Nerva
Trajan
Hadrian
Antoninus Pius
Marcus Aurelius
Emperors adopted the
empire’s best general as their
son so they could be the next
emperor. This stopped with
Commodus, son of Marcus
Aurelius
180
476
Germany
protection
land
Asia
Payment from
Romans to not
invade; led by
Attila
Armies fought to make
their general emperor. 37
Emperors from 180 AD to
287 AD!!!!
INFLATION= rise in prices; trade
declines less production
284
284-305
476
379-395
Split the empire in 2—East
and West
Last ruler of Eastern
and Western empires
Set maximum prices for goods
Allowed the Goths to
settle in Roman territory
Order people to remain in jobs
for life
Believed in divine right =
emperor rules not because
people allow it, but chosen by
god
307-337
First Roman emperor to become a
Christian
Moved the capital from Rome to
Constantinople (today Istanbul in Turkey)
Declared Christianity
the only religion in the
empire
German tribes invade --- the
Ostrogoths (east) and
Visigoths(west), the Lombards,
Vandals, and the Franks
 In 476 a German general named
Odoacer becomes emperor