From Republic to Empire

Chapter 5 Section 2

Lesson Objectives

70.Understand how the Roman Republic grew through a series of conquests.

71. Identify the events leading to the decline of the Roman Republic.

72. Describe the nature of the new age that dawned with the Roman Empire.

70. Understand how the Roman Republic grew through a series

of conquests.

Rome Conquers the Mediterranean

71. Identify the events leading to the decline of

the Roman Republic.

Impact at Home

Conquests brought incredible amounts of wealth to Rome.

The gap between the rich and poor grew greatly. (All the new wealth went to a small group of people)

Many plebeian farmers had to move to Rome to find jobs.

Angry mobs of plebeians began to riot in Roman cities.

Greed and corruption replaced traditional Roman values of hard work and devotion to duty.

Rome erupts into Civil War

Unable to resolve its problems peacefully Rome erupted into civil wars.

Roman armies became professional armies in which the soldiers were loyal to their generals first and the Roman government second.

Julius Caesar the Dictator

Out of this chaos emerged Julius Caesar, a brilliant military commander.

He decided to try and seize power in Rome by marching his army to Rome and defeating his rival Pompey.

Julius Caesar became the absolute ruler of Rome. He maintained the Senate and the government of the Republic but made all decisions without their approval.

“Veni, vidi, vici”- “I came, I saw, I conquered”

-Julius Caesar

“Carpe diem!”- “Seize the day.”

-Julius Caesar

Caesar Makes Reforms

Public works projects to employ the poor.

Gave public land to the poor.

Granted Roman citizenship to more people in the empire.

Introduced a new calendar based on the Egyptian calendar. This becomes the calendar we use today.

Caesar is Killed: A new civil war erupts

Caesar’s enemies worried that he planned to make himself King.

They plotted against him and in March of 44 B.C. as Caesar arrived to the Senate he was stabbed to death by dozens of Senators.

Octavian wins the civil war that followed and becomes emperor.

The Roman Republic disappears and becomes

the Roman Empire Octavian becomes

known as Augustus, or “exalted one.”

Augustus was careful not to call himself a king, although he had absolute power and named his successor.

Under Augustus the 500 year old republic had come to an end. Rome was now an empire.

72. Describe the nature of the new age that dawned with the

Roman Empire.

Augustus Builds a Stable Government

He left the Senate in place (although they did not have much power).

High level jobs were appointed based on merit and not social class.

He ordered a census, or population count to take place to make sure taxes were fair.

He expanded public works projects to provide jobs to Romans.

Problems with an Emperor

There was one problem with the government in place. When the emperor died who would take his place?

Romans did not believe in handing down power based on heredity.

A power struggle often ensued when an emperor died, causing conflict and war.

Emperors not all the same

Emperors varied in their ability to be a good leader.

Some were great, just leaders while others were corrupt or even insane.

Caligula

Nero

Marcus Aurelius

Pax Romana The 200 years between the

reign of Augustus and Marcus Aurelius in Rome became known as the Pax Romana or “Roman Peace”.

This was a period of relative peace, order, unity, and prosperity.

Roman legions maintained and protected the roads.

The Roman navy rid the Mediterranean of bandits and pirates.

There was enormous amounts of trade and with it cultural diffusion between Rome and its provinces.