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Roman Rulers
In the early days, Rome was ruled by kings. Romulus was
supposedly the first king. The last king was Tarquin the Proud. He
ruled until 509BC, when the people of Rome drove him out. Rome
then became a republic. The republic didn’t allow one person to
have complete control of the city. Instead, a group of men called
senators shared power.
As the Roman republic grew more powerful, so did its army. The
senators could not always control the army and sometimes they
clashed with the generals.
In 49BC, Rome’s greatest general was Julius Caesar. He had complete control of the army,
but he wanted to rule Rome like a king again. Some senators didn’t like this and they killed
him in 44BC. But it was too late, Julius Caesar had changed Rome. A few years later, his
adopted son Octavius took power and became the first emperor of Rome. Rome had begun to
be rules by emperors who ruled as dictators. They made all the decisions and many of them
could be quite ruthless and cruel.
Julius Caesar
He wasn’t actually an emperor - he was just a really powerful
Roman who started the Empire. He was a very popular leader, a
bit of a show off and a great Roman general who failed twice
trying to invade Britain. He was assassinated on the 15th March
44BC by Roman senators led by Galius Longinus, Decimus Brutus
and Marcus Brutus. They stabbed him to death in Pompey. Caesar was the dictator of the
Roman Republic having recently been declared the dictator perpetuo (now almost like a King)
by the Senate. This declaration made other senators fear him, leading to his assassination.
Julius Cesar was bald so in all his pictures, he is wearing a wreath to hide his baldness!
Octavia also known as Augustus 27 BC
Augustus, the adopted son and heir of Julius Caesar,
brought peace to years of fighting. Augustus was the
first Emperor of Rome. His name was Octavian before
he became emperor, and changed it to Augustus in 27
BC. He came out on top after years of civil war that
followed the death of Julius Caesar. Augustus was
not a very lovable person, but he was clever and a good
law-maker. He set up a mail service, built a net-work of roads and rebuilt much of the city of
Rome. The empire got bigger. Augustus had a month named after him (August); before him,
the Romans called this month Sextilis. When Augustus died in AD 14 some say of natural
causes, but some people believe he was poisoned, his stepson Tiberius became emperor. There
was no going back to a republic.
Galius Julius Caesar Augustus Germanicus known as Caligula AD 37 to 41
Caligula ruled Rome from AD 37 to 41 famous (not to be
confused with Julius Caesar). Caligula expanded the Roman
Empire into Mauretania and made a significant attempt at
expanding into Britannia – even challenging Neptune in his
campaign. The conquest of Britannia was fully realized by his
successors Cluvius Rufus was a senator involved in the
assassination of Caligula. Then came Claudius.
Claudius AD 43 -54
Although he lacked a military reputation, the essential attribute of an emperor,
in 43 AD Claudius 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. Rumour has it, he rode an
Elephant in Colchester to celebrate his victory. As well as Britain, Claudius
added Mauretania (North Africa), Thrace (the Balkans) and Lycia (part of
Turkey) to the Roman Empire. Claudius died on 13 October 54 AD after being poisoned.
Nero AD 54 - 68
Nero was the adopted son of Claudius. In 64 AD much of Rome was
destroyed in a fire, for which Nero was blamed, although this is now
regarded as unlikely to be his fault. Nero diverted blame from himself by
accusing the Christians - then a minor religious sect - of starting the fire,
leading to a campaign of persecution. He provided help for 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. There were
revolts - in Britain (60 AD - 61 AD), led by Boudicca, and Judea (66 AD - 70 AD). In 65 AD,
Gaius Calpurnius Piso led a conspiracy against the emperor and in the purge that followed, a
number of prominent Romans were executed. In 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 AD.
Publius Aelius Hadrianus AD 117 to 138.
Hadrian ruled Britain from AD 117 to 138. One of his very first decisions as
an emperor was the abandonment of the eastern territories which Trajan had
just conquered during his last campaign. He remembered Emperor Augustus
saying that his successors should keep the empire within the natural
boundaries of the rivers Rhine, Danube and Euphrate. This decision was not
popular, a fact which he soon realised. He built a wall to mark the boundaries
of the Roman Empire and to keep the Scots out, part of ‘Haiden’s 120km stone wall’ still stands
today. Scotland was no longer part of Roman Britain. After years of military service, Haiden
retired, dying on the 10th July 138.
Information sourced from: http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/primaryhistory/romans/city_of_rome/ http://www.romanempire.net/highpoint/hadrian-index.html
http://www.bbc.co.uk/education/topics/zwmpfg8
http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/historic_figures/claudius.shtml