Download Ch. 5-2-2

Ch. 5-2-2
The Roman Republic Declines
The Roman Republic Declines
• Rome fell into several civil wars
• Who is to be in control?
• Senate?
• Popular political leaders?
• Slave revolts became
• Military leaders had their own individual
armies = power
Julius Caesar the Dictator
• Ambitious military commander
• Caesar and Pompey dominated Roman
politics
• 58 B.C. Caesar went out to conquer
• Conquered Gaul (today France and Belgium)
• Pompey asked the Senate to disband Caesar’s
army and have him return to Rome
Caesar Continued
• Caesar did not listen to the order
• Crossed the Rubicon River into northern
Italy
• Headed to Rome
• Caesar crushed Pompey and his supporters
• He declared “Veni, vidi, vici”
• Forced the Senate to make him dictator,
though he had full control and power
Caesar Makes Reforms
• Between 48 B.C. and 44 B.C. Caesar
pushed some reform
• Used public works
• To help unemployed and gave land to poor
• Granted Roman citizenship to more people
• Introduced the Julian calendar, still used
for the most part today
Caesar Killed, War Follows
• Enemies worried he wanted to become
King of Rome
• To save the Republic, he had to die
• March of 44 B.C.
• Caesar stabbed to death
• Civil war followed
• Mark Antony and Octavian (Caesar’s
grandnephew) hunted down the killers
Caesar Killed Continued
• Antony and Octavian would soon fight
for power
• 31 B.C. Octavian defeated Antony and
his ally, Queen Cleopatra of Egypt
The Age of the Roman Empire
Dawns
• Octavian given the title of Augustus or
Exalted one
• Exercised absolute power without using
the name King
• The 500 year Republic was gone, the
Roman empire was born
Augustus Builds a Stable
Government
• Left the Senate in place
• High-level jobs open to any man
• Changes
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New coins
Census to see who should be taxed
Postal service
Jobless to work = roads and temples
• Worked well for 200 years, but who becomes
emperor after death?
Emperors Vary
• Not all emperors were good
• Nero and Caligula were possibly insane
• Caligula - appointed his horse as consul
• Nero persecuted Christians and may have set fire
to Rome
• A.D. 96-A.D. 180, “good emperors”
• Hadrian made Roman law, making it the same for
all provinces
• Marcus Aurelius liked philosophy, ruled as such
Compare
• Pg. 159
• Republic vs. Empire
The Pax Romana Brings
Prosperity
• 200 years from Augustus to Marcus
Aurelius
• “Roman Peace”
• Ruled an area equal to the continental
U.S.
• Traded everywhere along roads, like the
Great Silk Road to China
The Distraction of
Entertainment
• Circus Maximus
• Rome’s largest racecourse for chariots
• Coliseum
• Gladiator contest
• Man vs. man, man vs. animal, and animal
vs. animal
• Could earn freedom if good
• Mostly paid for by taxes