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Chapter 7
Sec. 3.2
Rule of Caesar
Increased Senate to 900 members
Many Senators fearing his popularity
formed a conspiracy
Two where his friends: Cassius and
Marcus Brutus
Ides of March kill him in the Senate
2nd triumvirate
Octavian (Caesar’s
Nephew) 19 years old
Marc Antony took
control of Rome
Octavian, Antony,
Lepidus
Soon it was Antony
and Octavian
Cont.
Antony: East and Octavian: West
Octavian declared war on
Antony/Cleopatra and won
Antony/Cleopatra committed suicide
Octavian
Didn’t present himself
as a king
First citizen
Senate gave him the
name Augustus: 1st
Roman Emperor
Empire: from Spain to
Syria and from Egypt to
Danube River
Reign of Augustus (Pax
Romana) Roman
peace
Pax Romana Emperors
Next 54 years of relatives of Caesar (JulioClaudian Emperors)
Army Emperors 68-69 AD
Flavian Emperors 69-96 AD
Five Good Emperors 96-180 AD
The emperor also had a passion for
gladiatorial combat, which he took so
far as to take to the arena himself,
dressed as a gladiator. The Romans
found Commodus' naked gladiatorial
combats to be scandalous and
disgraceful. It was rumoured that he
was actually the son, not of Marcus,
but of a gladiator whom his mother
Faustina had taken as a lover
Commodus raised the ire of many
military officials in Rome for his
Hercules persona in the arena. Often,
wounded soldiers and amputees
would be placed in the arena for
Commodus to slay with a sword