Download From Republic to Empire

From Republic to Empire
Caesars Dead
Caesar’s death prompted another round of
Civil wars in Rome.
 On One side were the men who had killed
Caesar
 On the other side were Octavian, Mark
Antony, and Lepidus.
 They defeated the men who had killed
Caesar and formed the second
Triumvirate.
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Friends or Enemies?
Soon after taking power, Octavian forced
Lepidus in to retirement.
 He and Marc Antony divided the empire into the
east (Octavian) and the west (Marc Antony.)
 They soon went to war. At the battle of Actium
Octavian defeated all of Marc Antony’s forces.
He was now in charge of the empire.
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OCTAVIAN
Octavian was the Great Nephew of Caesar
 He had been with Caesar throughout
many of the battle he fought.
 Caesar adopted him in his will and left all
of his money to him.
 He installed himself as the emperor and
was in charge of the entire empire.
 He changed his name to Augustus
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MARK ANTONY
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Marc Antony was once a general that had
been in alliance with Octavian
However, by putting himself against Octavian,
he was doomed to lose.
He went to Egypt where he fell in love with
Cleopatra.
Since he was no longer in Rome, Octavian
was able to spread rumors about Marc
Antony.
This allowed Octavian to have public support
behind him and defeat Marc Antony.
A year later Marc Antony and Cleopatra
committed suicide.
PAX ROMANA
The PAX ROMANA lasted from the time that
Augustus took power until two centuries later.
 During this time, Rome experienced several
different rulers. Some of these rulers were very
good to the people and treated them very well.
However, others were not so worried about the
people, and were very cruel.
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GOOD EMPERORS
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NERVA reformed land laws in favor of the poor
HADRIAN made laws easier to understand and
apply.
TRAJAN gave money to the poor for the
education of their children. Expanded the empire
to its largest size
PIUS passed laws to help orphans
MARCUS AURELIUS was a philosopher who was
very fair to the people.
BAD EMPERORS
Domitian married his niece, persecuted early
Christians mass executions, and destroyed the
Roman economy.
 Nero married his step sister, killed his mother,
burned christians at the stake, and executed on
a scale that would have made Hitler proud.
 Caligula made his horse consul. He had
incestuous relationships with three of his sisters,
executed thousands of people, raped the wives
of head senate members, and went insane!
 All three were murdered or committed suicide.
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Extent of the Roman Empire
The Romans continued to conquer other peoples
and culture through a series of military
conquests.
 This spread the influence of the Romans
throughout the world and made their culture
very prevalent.
 However, the empire became too large and lost
some of its power, mostly through poor
leadership.
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Roman Architecture
Roman Society
Families were very large in Roman Society.
 The head of the family was a male called the
paterfamilias. He arranged marriages, disciplined
children or other family members, and had
complete control over the family.
 Children were educated (if they were citizens
and had money), but men were more educated
than women.
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Roman Culture
Roman culture could be described as “feel
good”.
 They were interested in being entertained
and amused. This led to the growth of
events such as the gladiator combats.
 Roman emperors were charged with
keeping the people entertained.
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