Transcript Section Two: From Republic To Empire

Section Two: From
Republic To Empire
Objectives
• 1. Characterize the internal
instability of the Roman Empire
• 2. Summarize the event in
which Octavian, titled Caesar
Augustus, was named emperor.
I. Growing Inequality & Unrest
• Landed aristocracy
governed Rome
• Wealthy, powerful families
• Senate & political offices
Growing Inequality & Unrest
• Small farmers losing land
to large, wealthy
landowners
• New urban class of
landless poor
• Economic & social unrest
Growing Inequality & Unrest
• Tiberius & Gaius Gracchus,
reform-minded aristocrats
• Called for laws giving public
land back to the landless poor
• Both brothers eventually killed
• Discontent & unrest grew
II. A New Role for the Army
• Traditionally small landowning
farmers made up the army
• Marius recruited soldiers by
promising land for allegiance to
him
• Generals began gaining political
& individual power
A New Role for the Army
• Sulla & Marius fight to gain
control
• Sulla seized power in 82 B.C.
• Restored power to the
Senate & took away most of
the powers of the assemblies
III. The Collapse of the
Republic
• Civil Wars 82 - 31 B.C.
• Crassus, Pompey & Julius
Caesar emerged as victors
• combined wealth & power to
dominate the political scene
A. The First Triumvirate
• 60 B. C. first triumvirate –
a government by three
people with equal power
• Crassus, Pompey & Caesar
• Crassus killed in 53 B.C.
The First Triumvirate
• Caesar crossed the Rubicon,
the river
• Caesar and Pompey start a
civil war against each other
to gain power
The First Triumvirate
• Caesar defeats Pompey’s
forces
• Caesar become a dictator –
an absolute ruler
• gave land to poor & increased
the Senate to 900 members
Julius
Caesar
The First Triumvirate
• 44 B.C. a group of leading
senators assassinated him
B. The Second Triumvirate
• Octavian, Antony &
Lepidus
• Octavian took the west &
Antony, the east
• soon came into conflict
The Second Triumvirate
• Antony allied himself with
the Egyptian queen
Cleopatra VII
• Like Caesar before him,
Antony had fallen in love
with her
Mark
Anthony
Cleopatra
VII
http://sangha.net/messengers/cleopatra_vii.jpg
The Second Triumvirate
• At the Battle of Actium,
Octavian’s forces smashed
the army & the navy of
Antony & Cleopatra
• Both committed suicide a
year later
IV. The Age of Augustus
• 27 B.C. Octavian became
“Augustus” the revered
one
• Imperator – or
commander in chief, gave
us the word emperor
Octavian
The Age of Augustus
• Maintained a huge army
• stabilized the frontiers
• Failed to conquer Germany
• Taught Augustus that Rome’s
power was not unlimited
V. The Early Empire
• A.D. 14 a series of new
emperors ruled Rome
• ending in A.D. 180, is
called the Early Empire
A. Emperors of the Early
Empire
• Nero, had people killed if he
wanted them out of the way including his mother
• Roman legions revolted
• Nero committed suicide by
stabbing himself in the throat
Nero
Emperors of the Early Empire
• Five good emperors: Nerva,
Trajan, Hadrian, Antoninus
Pius & Marcus Aurelius
• Pax Romana, “Roman Peace”
• lasted 100 years
Pax Romana
• Treated ruling classes with
respect
• ended arbitrary executions
• maintained peace in the
empire
• supported domestic policies
C. Extent of the Empire
• Trajan extended into Dacia
(modern Romania),
Mesopotamia & Sinia Peninsula
• Hadrian strengthened the
fortifications along a line
connecting the Rhine & Danube
Rivers
C. Extent of the Empire
• Hadrian built a defensive wall
(Hadrian’s Wall) across northern
Britain
• 2nd century Roman was at it’s
height
• 3 1/2 million square mile & 50
million people
http://itsa.ucsf.edu/~snlrc/encyclopaedia_romana/britannia/ruins/hadrianswall.jpg
C. Extent of the Empire
• Cities spread Roman culture,
law & the Latin language
• Freely mixed with Greek
culture
• Greco-Roman Civilization
D. Economic & Social
Conditions
• high levels of trade &
commerce
• farming still the basis of
Roman prosperity
• latifundia, large landed estates
• raised sheep & cattle
Economic & Social Conditions
• Upper class lived in villas & vast
estates
• poor worked in shops &
markets
• thousand of unemployed
depended on the emperor’s
handouts
http://www.camelotintl.com/romans/images/villa.jpg
Roman Villa in England