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Roman Revolution text Main Ideas Rome had been a republic for hundreds of years but one man’s decisions set Rome on a course of change. The civil war and revolution that followed created what we know today as the Roman Empire. Rome on the eve of Revolution As we enter the story of the Roman Revolution, the City of Rome is already 700 years old. The City of Rome was the little town set on the seven hills and east of the Tiber River, close to the Tyrrhenian Sea. The system of government is 450 years old. Rome had been a republic since the days it abandoned monarchy. Italy was then divided in two along the Po River, South of the Po every freeborn person had the rights of being a Roman citizen. This meant that free males in this region could vote both in their local elections and in the city of Rome itself. Rome was known as “Communis patria” or the common fatherland. This was similar to being a citizen of the state of California and the United States. Slaves did not count as citizens in this system, of course, rights came with freedom, manhood, and wealth. The term “nation” to the Romans meant ethnicity not geographical area. Outside of Italy, Rome gained Provinces, these were acquired in many different ways and sometimes by accident. Sometimes Kings willed their kingdoms at their death to the Roman people, but why? Nobody knows, though we do know the Roman Senate didn’t want them, but some ambitious person always figured out what to do with the new territory. There is a myth that Romans had a reputation for organization, but the truth is, they were anything but organized most of the time. Romans were, in the republican period, were reluctant Imperialists. Monarchy and Republic There were two main forms of government at the time in the Mediterranean, there was Monarchy and Republic. To the Romans, living in a Monarchy meant all of the people are like slaves to the King. In the Roman view, Kings were all bad and the only free person in a monarchy was the King. To them the idea of someone in their nation using the title, “king” was just as bad as it would be here in the United States since if someone declared themselves “King”. For example after one of his campaigns, a crowd of people started calling Julius Caesar “Rex” (King in Latin) and he became nervous and he joked and said, “No Mr. Rex is over there.” (Pointing to a man whose last name happened to be Rex). Julius Caesar was a Roman senator and general and unlike other Romans he wanted to expand Rome so lead his armies out to conquer many territories in Europe. He was incredibly successful. He had a problem after his victories, his friends in Rome had turned on him and were now his enemies. The Senate ordered him to resign his command and return to Rome, but he refused. When the Republic Faltered In 49BC the senate had declared Julius Caesar a public enemy. He was North of Italy and made a choice to cross the Rubicon River into Italy with is army, armed and ready for battle. In his view he did this to protect himself against his enemies, but it was illegal to bring an army armed for battle, into Rome and this was bad! This action started the civil war with both sides saying that they were fighting to defend the Republic. Instead of saving the Republic they ended up destroying it. In the civil war Julius Caesar fought the supporters of his enemy Pompey. Pompey had thought that he could easily get money and support for the Roman people, but he was wrong and he ran away without fighting. Caesar took the city and declared victory. Caesar was brutal but he offered forgiveness to anyone that would switch sides. He even tried to trap Cicero, the great senator and writer, but Cicero was smart, and stayed away from Rome. Cicero believed that no matter who won the civil war they would become dictators, and that the republic was doomed. In this first phase of the civil war thousands were killed in Italy, In North Africa 800,000 died, and in Spain 30,000 died. After this much of the senatorial class was gone (Patricians). They were replaced by friends and soldiers of Caesar. These newcomers owed their new jobs and status to Caesar himself and not to the senate for electing them. Any surviving old senators were offended because Caesar started to act like he was better than them, but he was supposed to be their equal. It is at this time that Caesar started making big mistakes. Caesar’s mistakes Caesar was given new jobs and titles by his friends in the senate. In 44BCE he decided to have them make him “Dictator Perptuus” (dictator for life) This was a big mistake, and may have eventually got him killed. He also accepted every honor that was given to him. He was allowed to wear special clothes and the laurel wreath all the time, they named a month after him (July), and he was given a fancy chair, which, to the Romans was a symbol of monarchy. This time it was Caesar that was being trapped. One day in the year 44BCE, Julius Caesar was sitting in front of the temple of Venus, and he did not get up from his seat to greet a group of senators, who were supposed to be his equals, this was very rude in Rome and that was bad for Caesar. These senators were offended by his behavior to them, they felt that he was acting like a King! Caesar had set himself above the system and this was unacceptable. M. Junius Brutus (a descendant of L. Brutus who had abolished the monarchy centuries before, and made the Republic possible) and some of his friends. Brutus and his friends had a plot to murder Caesar, spread rumors about him, and restore the Republic. On “The Ides of March” (March 15th) under a statue of Pompey the Great Julius Caesar lay dead. The assassination was a shock to all who not involved in the plot. There was chaos, confusion, and fear. The praetors (public officials) should have met to decide what to do in the crisis, but they didn’t. Instead of calling a meeting of the senate the praetors ran away. The day after the assassination there was a speech by Brutus, it was quite elegant. Both Julius Caesar’s death and Brutus’ speech were dramatized centuries later by William Shakespeare. When the senate finally met they also made some bad choices. Instead of restoring the republic they decided to keep all of Caesars actions and decisions as they were. Caesar had chosen people to do jobs for years in advance, and this meant even though they had killed him he was still in charge because only his friends would still get to make government decisions. Elections were not part of the senate’s plans, and they really should have been. At the same time the Senate then decided to let the assassins go because they had saved then from Caesar’s dictatorship. This is the backdrop for the struggle for power that was about to start. Successors One of Julius Caesar’s friends had been correctly elected, his name was Marc Antony. With the death of his friend he had a problem. He could not just size power, and the heir to Caesar’s wealth and property was very young and away in school, Caesar’s nephew Octavian. In Caesar’s will Octavian was adopted as his son (adoption to rise in social status was done frequently in Rome). Antony didn’t like Octavian and refused to recognize him a Caesar’s heir. It did not take long before trouble started between Octavian and Antony and Octavian had to run away to the hills, having been declared enemy of the state. There were senators that supported Octavian and they voted to give him “Imperium Propraetore” (the power to act in the name of the state). These new powers to act in the name of the state made him the most powerful man in Italy. After a series of battles Antony found himself needing to join his enemy, Octavian. It is at this time that they, and another older general, Lepidus, created the board of three men, the “Triumvirate” (the Triumviri Rei Publicae Constinendae in Latin). This began a new phase of the Revolution. The Roman Revolution Phase II The Triumvirate carved up the Mediterranean among themselves, each taking a third and legions to hold them with. Antony, got the East, Lepidus got the West (Spain) and Octavian got Italy, Switzerland, and Sicily. Antony, Octavian, and Lepidus sat together and wrote an agreement they called the “Lex Titia”. Their first job was supposed to be to get rid of Brutus, the man who had assassinated Caesar. To do this the decided they would appoint all public officials and write a list of people that should be executed and on it were all of their personal enemies. This list was called the proscription list. For the men (only adult males were supposed to be listed) on the list. For those listed there was no trial, just execution and their property was also taken, leaving their families nothing. The person who killed a person on the list would profit and those that helped a person on the list were to be killed. Nobody was safe. What followed was a reign of terror that touched every Roman family. Whole classes of people were almost gone. Antony’s own wife, Fulvia was also killed as a result of the proscription list. Octavian and Antony were partners on paper but they still didn’t like each other and this became worse when Antony constantly tried to make trouble for Octavian. In order to stop fighting Antony married Octavian’s sister Octavia. This seemed like it would work but there was a problem. Antony had fallen in love while he was away in the East with one of the most powerful women in the world at the time, Cleopatra of Egypt. Cleopatra was a very powerful woman and last Pharaoh of Egypt. She ruled Egypt at a time when it was and beautiful and wealthy place. The Romans thought poorly of things that were too grand and they didn’t like women that had power. Roman women were supposed to be humble and support their husbands and fathers. Roman writers all wrote of Cleopatra as a villain. There is no evidence that Cleopatra was any more or less brutal in her reign than and male monarchs were. She and her brother had fought for the throne of Egypt and she had absolute power in Egypt. In fact she was raised to do her job and she did it very well but she chose the wrong side. Cleopatra and Antony fell in love and she helped Antony to fight Octavian. Antony had forgot his marriage to Octavia and his promise to keep the peace and had declared that he wanted to move the capital of Rome to Alexandria in Egypt. This was treason against Rome and Octavian had to do something about it. Octavian and Antony fought at the battle of Actium. Octavian won and Antony fled to Egypt on Cleopatra’s royal barge. Octavian followed and executed both of them by forcing them to commit suicide. Suicide was preferable to execution in the Roman world because it was considered more honorable than being killed. After Antony was out of the way Octavian went home to Rome and announced that he was going to retire. Lepidus also retired. The Triumvirate was at last over. The senate, which was now full of new people because all of the old people had died or run away, begged Octavian to come back. He reluctantly did return to Rome and the third Phase of the Revolution began. Phase III of the Revolution: Putting Rome Back Together Again Octavian now had a tricky job. Apart from trying to forget the horror of the past years of Civil War, he had to restore order fairly and in a way that the people of Rome could accept. He had to be careful not to act the way his uncle had, like a king. He also had to try not to lose too much power because if he did he could not fix anything. He could have created a state with informants and secret police but he didn’t (in the 1930s a man in the same situation as Octavian did chose this, his name was Hitler). The problem he had was that the Republic was dead and gone. Octavian created a new government he called a “Principate”, instead of a republic or a simple monarchy. In his new system there was one person that was voted, by the senate, to be the “first citizen” or “princeps”. This person was not a superior to any of the senators, he was supposed to be their equal, and Romans liked this. He also did not have absolute authority over the senate’s decisions, but he could call them to meet and control the armies outside of Rome. If this sounds familiar it is because in the United States we have a similar position, the office of President has similar powers, and he can veto bills and command the armed forces. When they senate chose a “first citizen” they also voted to give him legal powers, one legal power was his Tribune Powers, these gave him authority to call the senate to meet. The second power was “Imperium” which was his power to act in the name of Rome. These powers together made him the most powerful man in the Roman world. In January 27 BCE Octavian called a gathering of senators and he declared in his speech to them that he was restoring their power to them. They were stunned. They were so grateful they gave him a new title, Augustus, which meant “your excellency”. We now remember him as Caesar Augustus the first Roman Emperor.