Transcript Roman triumvirate

Vini, Vidi, Vici
Divide et Impera
Iacta Alea Est
Draco dormiens nunquam titilandus

Involved
Julius Caesar
 Pompey (not Pompeii, that is a city)
 Crassus


Crassus dies in the battle of Carrhae

Caesar’s daughter Julia dies (why is this important?)
Civil war breaks out between Caesar and Pompey
 The Senate backs up Pompey and tell Caesar to
disband his army and give up Gaul
 Caesar crosses the Rubicon river setting of a civil
war (why is the Rubicon important)


stream bounding his province, to enter Italy
Marc Anthony and Cassius aid Caesar
 Civil war lasts for five years
 Caesar finally defeats his enemies and takes
control of Rome as sole ruler
 He chases Pompey all the way through Egypt
and into Greece where he meets…

In Rome he pardoned all his enemies
 Took the money from the coffers of the Senate
and gave it to the people
 Reformed the living conditions of the people by
passing agrarian laws and by improving housing
accommodations (bread and circuses)
 drew up the elaborate plans (which Augustus
later used) for consolidating the empire and
establishing it securely
 In the winter of 46 B.C.–45 B.C. he was in Spain
putting down the last of the senatorial party
under Gaeus Pompeius, the son of Pompey


He returned to Rome in Sept.45 B.C.E., and was
elected to his fifth consulship in 44 B.C.


same year he became dictator for life and set about
planning a campaign against Parthia (Persia), the only
real menace to Rome's borders.
His dictatorial powers aroused great resentment
was bitterly criticized by his enemies, who accused
him of all manner of vices.
 conspiracy was formed against him, however, it was
made up of his friends and protégés, among them
Cimber, Casca, Cassius, and Marcus Junius Brutus.
 On Mar. 15 (the Ides of March), 44 B.C.E., he was
stabbed to death in the senate house


His will leave everything to his 18-year-old
grandnephew Octavian- later Augustus

After Caesar’s assassination= civil war
ensued

Second Triumvirate: Octavian, Marc
Antony and Lepidus in 43 BCE and
divided the Republic between them
(sealed with a marriage between
Octavian’s sister and Marc Antony)

Lepidus was pushed from power

Marc Antony met and married Cleopatra
in 36 BCE, but Octavian defeated Marc
Antony at the battle of Actium and
Anthony and Cleopatra committed
suicide

Octavian was left as master of Roman
world

Octavian claimed he would return control
of republic to the Senate (really gave Senate
power over provinces with weak military, while he
kept provinces with large armies for himself)






He was given semi-divine name of
Augustus and portrayed he was a
descendant of Venus
Augustus changes his coins to mention
Deius filius “son of god”
Expanded his power by becoming Tribune
to the People to bridge the gap between
the rich and poor
Only took the title of Princeps (first
among the equals or First Citizen) but
was in fact Rome’s first emperor
Emperors were the commander in chief
of the army and head of the priesthood
Senate continued to exist to suggest and
approve the Emperor’s decisions
 Period
of Augustan peace called
Principate
 Flourishing of “Romanity” (arts,
religion, civil service, literature,
state sponsored architecture,
mosaics and sculptures ie. 82
temples)
 Had an imperial force of 9000
men known as Praetorian Guard
to protect Rome
 A great statesman and his system
of bureaucracy lasted for 200
years
 Massive
building program that turned
Rome from a ‘city of brick to a city of
marble’ (2 circuses, 2 amphitheatres, 4
gladiatorial schools, 11 imperial baths,
926 private baths, 2000 fountains, 700
public pools and 37 monumental gates)
 Estimated Rome population grew from
180 000 inhabitants in the Republic ( c.
270 BCE) -375 000 (130 BCE) to 1 million
people under Augustus
 At its peak, there could have been as
many as 54 million people within the
Roman empire (based on Roman census
taken every 5 years as a basis for
taxation)
 Step-son
of Octavian/Augustus
 Capable military leader
 Tiberius succeeds Augustus as an emperor
after his death
 Tiberius started out well, but greed and
paranoia stepped in
 He spent most of his time on the Isle of Capri
where he lived in depravity with Caligula
 Son
of General Germanicus
 Real name Gaius Germanicus
 Raised with the army and given nickname
“little boots”
 Germanicus, his wife and older sons killed by
Tiberius while Caligula watches
 Tiberius raises Caligula on Capri (needless to
say, Caligula did not have a normal
childhood)
 Caligula becomes emperor for a short while,
attacks the sea then dies.
 Was
the only heir left after the death of
Tiberius and Caligula (friend)
 Seen as weak because he had a limp and
speech impediment (stutter)
 Made the senate angry by having trials in
private and for allowing lower class Greek
men into his administration
 Undertook
the conquest of Britain
 He visited the island for 16 days, to preside
over the capture of Colchester, the capital of
the new province, and then returned to
Rome in triumph
 Claudius added Mauretania (Morocco),
Thrace (the Balkans) and Lycia (part of
Turkey) to the Roman Empire
 Agrippina niece, wife, mother of Nero
 Dies October 13 54 AD due to poison
 Kills
his mother…
 new emperor paid more heed to his advisors
Burrus and the philosopher Seneca
 Burrus dies and Seneca retires
 much of Rome was destroyed in a fire, for
which Nero was blamed
 diverted blame from himself by accusing the
Christians - then a minor religious sect - of
starting the fire, leading to a campaign of
persecution
 Helped
Romans made homeless by the fire
and set about the necessary rebuilding of the
city

appropriating a large area for a new palace for
himself
 68
AD, the Gallic and Spanish legions, along
with the Praetorian Guards, rose against
Nero and he fled Rome
 The senate declared him a public enemy and
he committed suicide on 9 June 68 CE and
said “oh what an artist the world loses”
 Vespatian
 Trajan
 Marcus
Aurelius
 Nerva
 Hadrian
 Diocletian
(ca. 280-ish)
 Constantine the Great
 Honorius
Remember “divide et impera, amicci meum)