Tuesday's Blog

The Roman Empire

Main Idea: The creation of the Roman Empire transformed by Roman government, society, economy, and culture.
Why it Matters: The Roman Empire has served throughout history as a model of political organization and control.
Terms & Names: 
Civil War - conflict between groups within the same country.
Julius Caesar - military leader from 60 B.C..
Triumvirate - a group of three rulers.
Augustus - Octavian eventually accepted this name meaning "exalted one".
Pax Romana - period of peace and prosperity meaning "Roman peace".

General Notes:
When Rome began to grow economically the gap between rich and poor also began to grow larger and larger. The rich often had large farmlands and huge estates that they lived on, people they had captured and enslaved from war were forced to work on these lands. By 100 B.C. slaves made up 1/3 of Roman population. Small farmers struggled competing with the rich and a good number of them were forced to sell their land to the wealthy, a lot of these small farmers were former soldiers as well. Many of them ended up becoming jobless and homeless. Tiberius and Gaius Garcchus tried to help the poor by proposing reforms that limited the sizes of estates and gave extra back to the poor. They made some powerful enemies with senators who felt threatened by their new ideas and they both met violent deaths, Tiberius in 133 B.C. and Gaius in 121 B.C.. A period of civil war followed soon after their deaths. Including the growing problems within the republic the once extremely loyal military began to break down and uprise. As their republic began to fall apart generals started taking land for themselves. They recruited soldiers by promising the homeless land and they worked for pay. These soldiers only had loyalty to their commander, they started to replace the soldiers how fought out of loyalty to their republic. It became possible for a military leader supported by his troops to take up power. Julius Cesar comes in around 60 B.C. and joins forces with two others, Crassus and Pompey. Crassus was a wealthy Roman and Pompey was a popular general. Caesar was elected in 59 B.C. with their help and for the next ten years they ruled as a triumvirate. Caesar was a very strong leader and genius military strategist, following consul tradition he only served for one, but then appointed himself as governor of Gaul, now France. This lasted from 58 B.C. to 50 B.C. Caesar led his legion to a grueling, but ultimately successful campaign to conquer all of Gaul. His men were loyal and devoted because Caesar understood and shared in their struggles during war. As Caesar became more popular with the people Rome, his now rival Pompey became worried of all his ambitions and began urging the senate to disband Caesars legions and order him to come home. In 50 B.C. they followed his pleas and order Caesar to disband and come home. Caesar deciding to go against this, marched into Rome on the night of January 10th, 59 B.C. causing Pompey to flee and he later defeated Pompey's troops in Greece, Asia, Spain, and Egypt. In 46 B.C. Caesar returned to Rome and with large support from the military and the masses he was elected dictator and in 44 B.C. elected dictator for life. Caesar governed as one absolute leader, he started many reforms, such as granting Roman citizenship to many people from the provinces, he expanded the senate adding friends and representatives from Italy etc., he created more jobs especially by construction of many buildings, he made colonies for people without land so they could own property, and he put more money into the pay of soldiers. Nobles and senators expressed fear in Caesar's growing popularity because they believed that this would take away power from them. Some senators led by Marcus Brutus and Gaius Cassius plotted his assassination, on March 15th, 44 B.C. Julius was stabbed to death in the senate chamber. Another civil war broke out following Caesar's death which essentially destroyed the remains of the Roman Republic. Octavian, Caesar's grandnephew, took control with two others and became the second triumvirate, ruling Rome for ten years. They ended in rivalry however, with Octavian forcing Lepidus to retire and becoming enemies with Mark Antony. Octavian accused Mark Antony of trying to rule Rome from Egypt after he followed his love Cleopatra there. A civil war broke out and Octavian defeated both Mark Antony's and Cleopatra's combined forces and becomes the unchallenged ruler of Rome. Cleopatra and Mark Antony later committed suicide. Octavian accepts the title of "Augustus" and "imperator" as well which means supreme military ruler. Rome met its peak at the beginning of Augustus' rule from 27 B.C. to 180 A.D.. For 207 years Rome had a peaceful reign except for small discretions among tribes along the border. They were able to hold their peace through a stable government and able rulers. Augustus was their most able leader, he glorified Rome by expanding their frontier and building magnificent buildings. After Augustus' death the government he placed helped keep the empire stable for many years. About 90% of the population of the Roman Empire was engaged in agriculture. Most Romans survived on local produce. Rome had a large trading network which stemmed from the mediterranean to China and India. Slavery was a big part of the economy in ancient Rome and it was heavily relied on. Most of their slaves came from conquering different nations and bringing their people back with them. Their masters had complete control over their slaves and they could punish or reward as they saw fit. The slaves were treated poorly and worked hard and intensive days. Slaves of more wealthy owners were treated better than others. Early Romans worshipped divine spirits called numina. In Rome their government and religions were linked to one another. The rich and poor classes were very different during these times, they lived almost nothing alike. The rich lived extravagant and wasteful lives whereas the poor were living day to day on rations of grains from the government and the rich were spending loads of money on new houses. To distract people from the corruption the government held games, mock battles, and various forms of entertainment for its people. During the Pax Romana the religion of Christianity began to pop up in their culture.