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Rome
Its Rise and Fall
The Birth of an Empire
• The First Emperor
– With the defeat of Antony, Octavian ruled
Rome
• Everyone feared Octavian
• Everyone tired of fighting
– Octavian was given the name Augustus,
which means “Revered One.”
– He was also given the title of imperator
– He called himself the “First Citizen,” and
not dictator
Birth of an Empire
• Augustus’ reforms
– Gave power to the senate
– Emperor had control of the Army
– Emperor could pick his successor
– Created the Praetorian Guard
• 9,000 men who’s job it was to protect the
emperor
– Stabilized the Frontier
– Conquered a lot of new land
– The emperor was called Caesar
Julio-Claudians
• The direct descendants of Julius and
Augustus Caesar
– Tiberius, Caligula, Claudius and Nero
– Tiberius
• Lazy and did very little work. He delegated to
his assistances
• He stayed in power b/c Rome was not in a civil
war, and Rome was getting richer
Julio-Claudians
– Caligula
• Good ruler at first, but suffered from mental
illness
• Tried to make his horse a senator
• Wanted to marry his sister
• Killed by his own guards b/c he was so crazy
– Claudius
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Caligula’s Uncle
He was a good ruler
He took over England and made it a province
He was killed by his wife, Agrippina, so she
could rule through her son
Julio-Claudians
– Nero
• His mother killed his father so she could rule
through him
• He was 16 when he became emperor
• In his mid-20’s he became tired of his mother
controlling him, so he had her killed
• Most known for killing the Christians b/c of the
Great Fire
• Killed Peter and Paul of the Bible
• His army revolted against him, so he
committed suicide by cutting his own throat
• He was the last of the Julio-Claudians
The Five Good Emperors
• The year after Nero died, Rome had
Four different emperor
• For the next 20 years there was a lot
more fighting and war over who
controlled Rome
• Five emperors that ruled during the Pax
Romana, or “Roman Peace,” were
known as the Five Good Emperors
– Nerva, Trajan, Hadrian, Antonius Pius, and
Marcus Aurelius
The Five Good Emperors
– Nerva
• Was chosen to rule by the Senators
• He only ruled for two years
• Created the new way of choosing the
next emperor
–Pick whomever you thought would do
the best job, then adopt them as son
• Created land reform that favored the
poor
The Five Good Emperors
– Trajan
• Handpicked by Nerva to rule Rome
• Conquered a lot of new land for Rome
–Dacia (Romania) a lot of Gold Mines
–Western Asia up to Babylon
–Expanded Rome to its greatest size
• Made Christianity legal in Rome
The Five Good Emperors
– Hadrian
• Nephew of Trajan and picked to be the
next ruler
• Not very popular
–Gave back most of the land that
Trajan had taken b/c he felt that Rome
could not control it and keep it
• Built a giant wall to protect Roman
territory in Britain. It is called Hadrian’s
Wall
• Codified the Roman Law Code
The Five Good Emperors
– Antonius Pius
• Very religious man
• Looked out for the poor and the orphans
• Did not fight any wars
The Five Good Emperors
– Marcus Aurelius
• Last of the Five Good Emperors
• Did not have peaceful reign
• Delegated power so that no one would overthrow
him
• The Parthians (those in the eastern portion of
Rome) attacked the Romans to overthrow them
• Rome won the war, but the army caught a disease
from the Parthians (smallpox??)
• Plague broke out all over the Empire. Tens of
thousands died all over Rome.
• Germanic people to the North thought they would
take advantage of Rome during this weak time.
• The rest of Aurelius’ reign was fighting the
Germanic people
• Rome eventually won