Transcript The Early Empire Power Point Notes

The Early Empire
Life in Ancient Rome
The Fall of Rome
What did Augustus achieve?
 For centuries the Mediterranean region had been filled
with conflict – he began to get it under the control
of one empire
 How did he do that?
 150,000 professional soldiers
 9,000 Praetorian Guard (notice the root word, I wonder
why it is praetor?)
What else?
 His legions conquered many new territories
(Spain, Gaul (France), Austria, Hungary, Romania, and
Bulgaria – map text p. 292 A.D. 14)
 Rebuilt Rome
 Stately palaces, fountains, splendid public buildings (“I
found Rome a city of bricks and left it a city of marble”)
see picture text p. 287
 Arts flourished as never before
There’s more he did?
 Imported grain to feed population (less likely to
cause trouble)
 Improved Rome’s government
 Proconsul (governor) for each Roman province (they
replaced politicians who had been chosen by the Senate)
 Traveled to provinces to see how things are going
Changes made by Augustus (causes and
effects)
 C: builds professional army - E: adds conquered
territories to empire
 C: imported grain – E: reduced hunger
 C: new professional governors – E: improved local
government
 C: tax collectors were made government workers - E:
increased amount of money controlled by
government
EQ #1 How did Augustus begin Pax
Romana?
 Permanent professional army
 Restored Rome’s splendor
 Imported grain to feed the hungry poor
 Appointed a proconsul for each province
 Reformed tax system
 His armies conquered new territories
Who follows Augustus and how does that
work out?
 A mixed bag of rulers – some good and others were
very bad
 Caligula – mental illness caused him to act strangely
and treat people cruelly (text p. 288)
 Nero – another vicious man, “fiddled while Rome
burned” (text p. 288)
OK, so Nero’s dead and the “good
emperors” are coming – what happens in
between?
 Mt Vesuvius/Pompeii
 Time Traveler text p. 290
 Linking Past and Present text p. 290
 Google images of Pompeii/Mt. Vesuvius
What made the “good emperors” good?
 Agriculture flourished
 Trade increased
 Standard of living rose
 Though they overshadowed the Senate more than ever,
they did not abuse their power
 Named trained officials to carry out their orders
 S rank these in order of importance – 4 corners for
most important – defend why
Give me some details of what they did to
help the people
 Trajan gave money to help poor parents raise and
educate their children
 Hadrian made Roman law easier to understand and
apply
 Antoninus Pius passed laws to help orphans
 All of the emperors supported public building projects
(arches, monuments, bridges, road, harbors,
aqueducts)
How does it work for most people?
 Most people were farmers who grew olives, grapes, and
grain (both small estates and latifundia)
 Others were artisans who traded with others inside
and outside the Roman Empire
 A gap existed between rich merchants, shopkeepers,
and skilled workers – and poor farmers and city
dwellers
The empire becomes its largest
 Under the “good rulers” (Nerva, Trajan, Hadrian,
Antoninus Pius, and Marcus Aurelius) the empire
flourished
 Under Trajan it becomes its largest - spreading
well beyond the Mediterranean including Britain
in the north and part of Mesopotamia in the east –
(see map p. 293)
 Hadrian realizes it is too big to manage and pulls
troops back from most of Mesopotamia, in Europe
he sets the empire’s northern borders at the Rhine
and Danube Rivers – (see map p. 293, also built
Hadrian’s wall - Exploring Hadrian’s Wall p. 292,
google Hadrian’s Wall)
What keeps it all together?
 The empire was unified by:
 Roman law
 Roman rule
 Shared identity as Romans
 Roman culture had been carried into every province by
soldiers who protected the empire and by officials who
were sent to govern.
 Romans were generous in granting citizenship
 5 min Draw each & describe drawing to partner
EQ #2 What made the empire rich and
prosperous?
 system of roads – 50,000 miles long (oh of how they
were made; reasons roads were important)
 seas – naval protection and ports allowed trade to
flourish
 aqueducts
 common currency allows trade to be easy all
throughout the empire
 standard system of weights and measures
 Rank in importance – 4 corners – defend why