Transcript The Roman Empire

The Republic Falls
 133
BCE The Senators become the most
powerful group of government
 The Gracchi brothers attempted reforms
 Tiberius: land reforms to help the soldierfarmer
 Gaius: Public funds to buy grain for the poor
 Violence became a key tool for politics
 Roman
allies began to rebel; wanted to
be Roman citizens and hold office
 The Senate wanted to keep all the power
and refused to grant citizenship to the
allies
 The Social War: War between the allies
and Rome. The allies were trained by the
Romans; bloody war; Rome won
 Rome gave the allies citizenship and
rights
 The whole Italian Peninsula became a
Roman State
 Roman
general; became consul in 107 BCE
 Volunteer Army; rewarded with money, land,
and war loot (booty)
 Troops more loyal to general than
government
 Elected
consul in 88 BCE
 Wanted to gain military command of an
army to make himself rich and famous
 Marius opposed him
 Sulla marched on Rome; civil war
 Sulla won; dictator from 82 to 79 BCE
 Added more senators
 Army and commander could control the
senate
 Nephew
of Marius, became a General
 Powerful speaker
 Spent money to gain support of poor
 60
BCE; Caesar, Gnaeus Pompey, Licinius
Crassus became the First Triumvirate: rule of
3
 Caesar became consul in 59 BCE
 Caesar needed a loyal army for power; in 10
years conquered Gaul for Rome
 Crassus died in battle; Pompey made consul
 Pompey is jealous of Caesar
 Caesar marches on Rome and defeats Pompey
 Took Egypt; put Cleopatra in power
 Dictator
for Life
 Senate now had 900 members; less power
 Conspiracy of Senators including Brutus and
Cassius killed Caesar on March 15 44 BCE
 Octavian,
Marc Antony, Lepidus (Caesar’s
second in command
 Drove out conspirators
 Divided the Roman World: Antony the East
and Octavian the West.
 Octavian declared war on Antony and
Cleopatra
 31 BCE took over Antony and Cleopatra’s
lands
 27
BCE: gave Octavian title Augustus or
revered one
 The first Roman Emperor
 Beginning of the Roman Empire
 Empire from Spain to Syria and Egypt to the
Rhine
 Invaded Germany; defeated in A.D. 9
 Rhine River was the boundary
 Roman
peace for 200 years
 Senate, magistrates, and assemblies had
limited power
 Emperor could abuse power
 Julio-Claudian
Emperors: relatives of
Caesar’s family that became emperor
 Emperors named successors
 Five Good Emperors: ruled Rome for 100
years
 Hadrian: tried to Romanize the provinces
 Marcus Aurelius: last good emperor; welleducated man. Had to defend the empire
from invasion on the north and east
 Why
did the Republic Fall – what happened?
 How did the Empire develop? Who was the
first Emperor?
 What is the Pax Romana? How did it affect
Roman Culture?