Download The Roman Empire - Miss Caspers` Classroom

The Roman Empire
9/29
The Parthenon in Greece is a long-standing symbol of
what ancient Greek ideals?
Warmup
Rome kept expanding
its territory and
provinces during the
Republic (lots of wars
and conquering)

“And then came
Julius Caesar!”
Previously…
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Gaius Julius Caesar
(100 – March 14th, 44
BC) was a patrician
(aristocrat), military
general, priest, and
politician
He grew up under the
bloody civil war of
Generals Marius and
Sulla
◦ Marius was his uncle,
but Sulla won the war
Gaius Julius Caesar
He served in the military and rose through the ranks to become
Imperator (honorary military title)
 He used the military’s power to back up his political power
 He allied himself with one of the richest men in Rome (Crassus)
and Pompey (a rich politician)

Julius Caesar
He could not serve in the military at the
same time as being a politician, so he left
the military
 He was elected Consul in 59 BC along with
Marcus Bibulus (the 2nd Consul)
 His alignment with Crassus and Pompey
was called The First Triumvirate

◦ The three of them had enough money and
political influence to control Rome
◦ Pompey even married Caesar’s daughter, Julia!
Julius Caesar
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After his consulship,
Caesar launched a
military invasion
against the Gauls
(modern day
France) and several
Germanic tribes
After they were
defeated, he invaded
Britain twice
◦ He was unsuccessful
due to crop failures in
Gaul and the fierce
fighting of the Britons
Invasion of Britain
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Crassus was
murdered
After Julia died,
Pompey turned
against Caesar
Pompey and the
Senate ordered
Caesar to come home
Caesar crossed The
Rubicon River and
started a civil war in
Rome against
Pompey
Back in Rome

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Caesar won the war
Pompey fled Rome
Caesar left Mark
Antony in charge
of Italy to chase
after Pompey
Caesar defeated
Pompey again and
again and again
Results


In 48 BC, Caesar was
appointed dictator,
but he resigned after
11 days
He looked for Pompey
but Pompey had been
assassinated
◦ Caesar was given
Pompey’s severed head
◦ He put Pompey’s
assassins to death
◦ He found out that the
Egyptian pharaoh had
been involved in
Pompey’s killing
11-day Dictator

Caesar became involved in an Egyptian
civil war between the Pharaoh and his
sister/wife/co-ruler Cleopatra
◦ Yes, husband and wife were brother and sister
Cleopatra
Caesar
Cleopatra

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Caesar sided with
Cleopatra against her
brother/husband/coruler
Caesar defeated the
Pharaoh at the Battle
of the Nile in 47 BC
He set up Cleopatra
as the only Pharaoh
of Egypt
He had a relationship
with Cleopatra (even
though Caesar was
married)
Caesar and Cleopatra
After several more
wars, and his defeat of
his arch-enemy Cato,
Caesar was appointed
dictator for 10 years in
47 BC
 He was “elected” as
sole consul during his
time as dictator
 His power grew until he
controlled everything
in the entire Roman
Republic

10-year Dictator
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He didn’t have to be
“checked” by the
Senate
He forced the Senate to
give him the title
“Father of the
Fatherland”
Coins were minted with
his face on them
He worked to fuse the
entire Republic into one
cohesive unit
Finally, he was
appointed dictator for
life in 44 BC
On March 14th, 44 BC,
Caesar came to a
Senate session
 Mark Antony tried to
warn Caesar about the
plot to kill him, but the
senators stopped him
 Caesar was stabbed 23
times by around 60
senators

◦ “Et tu, Brute?” (“And
you, Brutus?”)
◦ Caesar’s murder
ended the Roman
Republic
The Ides of March

Caesar’s heir was Octavian
Caesar (18 years old)
◦ The Second Triumvirate (Mark
Antony, Octavian, and Lepidus)
named Caesar as a god

Mark Antony and Octavian faced
off against the enormous armies
of Brutus and Cassius
◦ They won

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He and Cleopatra became lovers
Mark Antony and Cleopatra
fought a civil war against
Octavian
◦ Octavian won and annexed Egypt
into the Republic
◦ The Senate declared him
Emperor in 31 BC and he
changed his name to Augustus
Caesar
Rapid Fire Round!
The Roman Empire lasted for about 1,500
years
 The first two centuries of the Empire were
times of peace and prosperity known as
the Pax Romana

◦ Also known as the Pax Augusta
This was the greatest and richest time for
the Roman Empire
 The empire produced a series of
dynasties

Empire
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Gladiators were
fighters that fought,
killed and died for
Roman entertainment
Some gladiators were
slaves
Some were
volunteers who
wanted to elevate
their social standing
(become famous)
Treated like
celebrities if they
kept winning
Gladiators

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The Roman Republic
began a series of
construction efforts
starting in 300 BC to build
a system of roads and
bridges
It continued to spread
and be maintained
throughout the Empire
period
Used for:
◦
◦
◦
◦
Military
Commerce
Travel
Spread of cultural
diffusion (like
Christianity)
All Roads Lead to Rome
The Empire reached its territorial
height under Emperor Trajan
(reigned 98 – 117 AD)
 5 million square kilometers
(covered 40 modern-day countries)
 Anywhere from 60 – 100 million
inhabitants
 “The empire stretched
from Hadrian's Wall in drizzlesoaked northern England to the
sun-baked banks of
the Euphrates in Syria; from the
great Rhine–Danube river system,
which snaked across the fertile, flat
lands of Europe from the Low
Countries to the Black Sea, to the
rich plains of the North African
coast and the luxuriant gash of
the Nile Valley in Egypt. The
empire completely circled the
Mediterranean ... referred to by its
conquerors as mare nostrum—'our
sea'.” – historian Christopher Kelly

Biiiiiiig Empire!
In 212 AD, Emperor Caracalla granted
citizenship to all freeborn people in the
entire Empire
 He used this as a way to levy (raise)
taxes on more people to fund the
HUGE empire

Citizenship
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At first, the Romans copied a
lot of Greek styles of
sculpture, pottery, and
architecture (contrapposto)
◦ Even adopted the Greek
gods and gave them
different names! (Zeus =
Jupiter, Aphrodite = Venus,
etc.)
Broad spectrum of media:
marble work, painting,
mosaics, gems, silver and
bronze work, terracottas
(baked clay sculptures)
Contrapposto (weight on one leg)
Art in the Empire

During the Republic,
art was created in
service to the state
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Great military victories
Public sacrifices
Hard work
Important leaders and
soldiers
The “model Roman
citizen” had their faces
warped to add more
wrinkles, bigger noses,
less hair, etc. to appear
older, wiser, and
stronger
Art in the Republic
During the Empire,
art went back to
“Classical” Greece
styles
 Smooth lines,
elegant clothing
drapery, idealized
nude bodies, lots of
nature, lots of
ancient Greek myths
 A lot more art began to
appear in people’s
homes (wall paintings,
sculptures, etc.)

Art in the Empire
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HUGE buildings and
sculptures installed
in public centers
Successes in war,
tributes to the gods
and emperors, etc.
◦ Think about Greek art
x 39843571038 in
the volume of art
created, the size, the
diversity, etc.
Art in the Empire
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Jews migrated to Rome to escape the Middle
East (wars between the Ptolemaic and
Seleucid Empires)
Judaism and Jewish culture flourished for a
long time
Under Julius Caesar, Judaism was
recognized as an official religion
Tensions between Jews and pagan Romans
mounted, and between 66 – 135 AD several
civil wars happened
◦ Jerusalem and the Second Temple were destroyed
Judaism
Many Jews were sold into slavery, killed or
exiled from Rome
 Emperor Hadrian defeated Jewish armies
and cast them out of Jerusalem
 Between 70 – 135 AD, Jews left Rome and
were forced out of homes in a broad term
called The Diaspora

◦ The Diaspora includes several periods in history
where Jews were exiled from their homelands
by many different empires
Jewish Exile
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Christianity started as a
Jewish sect
Separated from Judaism
as a religion in the early
1st century AD
Christians were
persecuted (just like
the Jews were) during
the Roman Empire
◦ Both by the Emperors and
the general pagan Roman
public

Regardless of the
persecution, it spread
like CRAZY throughout
the Roman Empire
Christianity
Emperor Constantine
became the first
emperor to allow
Christians to worship,
stop their persecution,
and even adopted
Christianity as the
official Roman state
religion in 313 BC
 He still made laws
against the Jews
 He became known as
“The Christian
Emperor”

Christianity
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Crash Course Roman Empire
Crash Course
Who Are You? Quiz
Emperor Game
Hadrian's Wall Gallery
Roman Religion
Gallery
Death In Rome
Daily Life in Pompeii
Gallery
The Art of War
Gallery
Fun Time!
1) Everyone grab a
Chromebook
2) When you have
played at least 2
games and/or looked
at 2 of the art
galleries, fill out the
appropriate questions
on your worksheet