Download Key Figures of Rome Student

Essential Question: How did Classical Mediterranean societies interact politically, philosophical, and
culturally from 700 BCE to 400 CE?
Key Figures of Rome
Identify the ideas and impact of important individuals; include Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle and
describe the diffusion of Greek culture by Aristotle’s pupil Alexander the Great and the impact of
Julius and Augustus Caesar.
Julius Caesar
Description:
Civil War:
Ides of March:
Impact:
Augustus Caesar
Description:
Civil War:
Impact:
“Pax Romana”:
Essential Question: How did Classical Mediterranean societies interact politically, philosophical, and
culturally from 700 BCE to 400 CE?
Key Figures of Rome
Identify the ideas and impact of important individuals; include Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle and
describe the diffusion of Greek culture by Aristotle’s pupil Alexander the Great and the impact of
Julius and Augustus Caesar.
Julius Caesar
Description:
 Civil War breaks out in the Republic
 First Triumvirate formed in 60 BC
o Government run by three men who shared power
o Julius Caesar, Crassus & Pompay
 Julius Caesar is elected consul in 59 BC
o grants himself governor of Gaul from 58 – 50 BC
o wins decisive battles securing Roman borders in the North
o Caesar seen as a military hero
o “Veni, vidi, vici…” = I came, I saw, I conquered
Civil War:
Ides of March:
 As Caesar became more powerful the
 many feared Caesar would assume title of king &
Triumvirate falls apart
set up a dynasty
 Senate demands that Caesar return to Rome
 60 members of Senate plot to kill him
w/out his army
 Marcus Brutus and Gaius Cassius
 under the influence of a competitive Pompay
 March 15, 44 BC Caesar is stabbed 23 times that
result in death in the senate chamber
 Civil war ensues
o Caesar marched to Rome in 49 BC and
 Rome plunges into another civil war
Pompay fled
o civil war will last a few years
o Caesar wins
 Caesar hailed as dictator for life in 45 B.C.
Impact:
Caesar’s Reformation:
1. Granted citizenship to people of provinces
2. Expanded Senate
3. Aided poor by creating jobs (public works)
4. Started colonies for people without land
Augustus Caesar
Description:
 Real name Octavian
 Grand Nephew of Julius Caesar
 the Second Triumvirate formed 43 BC
o Caesar’s supporters banded together to eliminate assassins
o Octavian, Mark Antony & Lepidus
o Took back control of Republic and ruled for ten years
Civil War:




Octavian forced Lepidus into retirement
Octavian and Mark Antony then become rivals
Mark Antony meets Queen Cleopatra of Egypt while leading troop’s in a campaign in Anatolia
o Followed her back to Egypt
o Octavian accuses Antony of trying to rule Rome out of Egypt
o Another civil war breaks out
Battle of Actium 31 BC
o Octavian defeats the combined forces of Antony and Cleopatra at this naval battle
o Antony and Cleopatra commit suicide
Impact:
“Pax Romana”:
 Octavian becomes unchallenged ruler
 200 years of Roman peace and prosperity
 500-year old republic comes to an end
 Established by efficient government
1. Stabilized frontier
 Octavian changes his name to Augustus (exalted
2. Development of splendid governmental
one) and becomes Rome’s first emperor in 31 BC
buildings
 Augustus laid the foundation for the period called
3.
Civil Service (plebeians and former slaves)
the “Pax Romana”