roman emperor assignment

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Ancient Rome for Teachers Roman Empire & Emperors

Roman emperors - which emperor would you choose to be your leader.

Time Frame: 1-2 class periods

Preparation:  

• You will need:  Whatever you need to make posters Biographies: Nero, Trajan, Diocletian, Constantine, Valens – (one copy cut up to hand out one biography per group) , and then one per student at the end for class discussion (bios can be cut down at that point; this per student handout is to remind them of who's who for discussion.)

START CLASS:  

Say:   In ancient Rome, the government was very different during the Empire than it was under the Republic. There was still a Senate, but the current emperor could take away or give power to the Senate. The Assembly was gone. It was never a building. The Assembly was the right of the common man to assembly in the forum and vote. Vote for what? They did not pick the emperor, and the emperor was all-powerful. During the 500 years that Rome was an Empire, there were lots of emperors, some good, and some bad. Some took power by force. Some inherited the job from their fathers. Some emperors died by natural causes. Some were killed in wars. Some were murdered.  

Ask: What makes a good leader. (Quick discussion.)

Say: Let's take a look at one Roman Emp eror, Emperor Nero, and see if  you think he was a good leader based on the information provided in these two short, cartoon, PowerPoints. Show presentations: Nero at the Circus Maximus Nero Goes Insane

Ask: Would you say that Emperor Nero was a good leader?

Say: Today, we’re going to run political campaigns, working in groups. I am going to give you a biography of one Roman emperor. Your group's job is to get your candidate elected as emperor – not by the people of Rome, because the vote is gone. The people in this class will vote with a show of hands for their favorite candidate based on the campaigns. Majority rules. You may choose to work against your assigned candidate, because you believe he would make a very bad emperor. But be careful. In these dangerous times, you would not want your candidate to know you are working against him. Your campaign promises must sound positive on the surface. You will need to create two things - a campaign poster and a short speech with campaign promises. For example, a slogan might be Nero’s Our Hero. To go along with that, you would create a couple of campaign promises in your speech that supported Nero as a hero. Good Luck in the elections!

Divide your class into four groups. Give each group a biography of a real Roman emperor. Give students time to create their campaign based on the information in the biography they were handed. If some of your students wish to take Nero as their candidate, divide the class into five groups, but tell the Nero group that their slogan cannot be Nero is a Hero. They have to create their own slogan.

Allow each group time to present their candidate. Once all candidates have been presented, have the class vote with a show of hands. Tally their votes accurately. Announce the totals accurately. Then award the election to a candidate not of their choosing. For example, if Constantine gets the most votes, announce Nero as the new emperor, even if he is not running  Remind students that the common man had no voice in government.  

Read each biography aloud to the class. Compare the election promises with the biography as presented in the handout. Was the candidate presented accurately?

CLASS DISCUSSION:   Suggested Handout, shortened bios. One per student. (See below.)

Does it make sense to classify the emperors as good or bad?

Which emperor was the hardest to judge?

Which system of government do you think worked better for the ancient Romans, the Republic or the Empire?

What do we expect from our leaders today?

Suggested Handout, shortened bios  

NERO - He started out as a good ruler, but he went insane. He murdered his mother and his wife. He threw thousands of Christians to the lions. He ordered some members of the Senate to kill themselves. The Senate ordered his execution. Nero heard about it, and killed himself.

TRAJAN - He was the first emperor who was not from Italy. He was Spanish. He was a great conqueror. Under his rule, the empire grew, and covered more geography than at any other time.

DIOCLETIAN - He split the Roman Empire in half. The Western Roman Empire (Europe) included the city of Rome. The Eastern Roman Empire (Arab countries) included the city of Byzantium. Each half had an emperor, but one was the senior emperor, in charge.

CONSTANTINE - He was the first Christian emperor. He chose to live in the Eastern Roman Empire, and chose his capital to be the small town Byzantium, which he renamed Constantinople. Rome became less and less important to the Eastern Roman Empire.

VALENS - He allowed the Visigoths (Goths) to settle in the Danube region of the Western Roman Empire. He promised these settlers that Rome would help with food and shelter. He did not keep his promises. The Visigoths rebelled. It was the beginning of the end of Rome.

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Roman Empire

Server costs fundraiser 2024.

The Roman Empire , at its height (c. 117), was the most extensive political and social structure in western civilization . Building upon the foundation laid by the Roman Republic , the empire became the largest and most powerful political and military entity in the world up to its time and expanded steadily until its fall, in the west, in 476.

By 285, the empire had grown too vast to be ruled from the central government at Rome and so was divided by Emperor Diocletian (r. 284-305) into a Western and an Eastern Empire. The empire began when Augustus Caesar (r. 27 BCE-14 CE) became the first emperor of Rome and ended, in the west, when the last Roman emperor , Romulus Augustulus (r. 475-476), was deposed by the Germanic King Odoacer (r. 476-493). In the east, it continued as the Byzantine Empire until the death of Constantine XI (r. 1449-1453) and the fall of Constantinople to the Ottoman Turks in 1453. The influence of the Roman Empire on western civilization was profound in its lasting contributions to virtually every aspect of western culture .

The Early Dynasties

Following the Battle of Actium in 31 BCE, Gaius Octavian Thurinus, Julius Caesar 's nephew and heir, became the first emperor of Rome and took the name Augustus Caesar. Although Julius Caesar is often regarded as the first emperor of Rome, this is incorrect; he never held the title `Emperor' but, rather, `Dictator', a title the Senate could not help but grant him, as Caesar held supreme military and political power at the time. In contrast, the Senate willingly granted Augustus the title of emperor, lavishing praise and power on him because he had destroyed Rome's enemies and brought much-needed stability.

Augustus ruled the empire from 27 BCE until 14 CE when he died. In that time, as he said himself, he "found Rome a city of clay but left it a city of marble." Augustus reformed the laws of the city and, by extension, the empire's, secured Rome's borders, initiated vast building projects (carried out largely by his faithful general Agrippa (l. 63-12 BCE), who built the first Pantheon ), and secured the empire a lasting name as one of the greatest, if not the greatest, political and cultural powers in history. The Pax Romana (Roman Peace), also known as the Pax Augusta, which he initiated, was a time of peace and prosperity hitherto unknown and would last over 200 years.

Following Augustus' death, power passed to his heir, Tiberius (r. 14-37), who continued many of the emperor's policies but lacked the strength of character and vision which so defined Augustus. This trend would continue, more or less steadily, with the emperors who followed: Caligula (r. 37-41), Claudius (r. 41-54), and Nero (r. 54-68). These first five rulers of the empire are referred to as the Julio-Claudian Dynasty for the two family names they descended from (either by birth or through adoption), Julius and Claudius.

Although Caligula has become notorious for his depravity and apparent insanity, his early rule was commendable as was that of his successor, Claudius, who expanded Rome's power and territory in Britain ; less so was that of Nero. Caligula and Claudius were both assassinated in office (Caligula by his Praetorian Guard and Claudius, apparently, by his wife). Nero's suicide ended the Julio-Claudian Dynasty and initiated the period of social unrest known as The Year of the Four Emperors.

These four rulers were Galba , Otho , Vitellius , and Vespasian . Following Nero's suicide in 68 , Galba assumed rule (69) and almost instantly proved unfit for the responsibility. He was assassinated by the Praetorian Guard. Otho succeeded him swiftly on the very day of his death, and ancient records indicate he was expected to make a good emperor. General Vitellius, however, sought power for himself and so initiated the brief civil war which ended in Otho's suicide and Vitellius' ascent to the throne.

Vitellius proved no more fit to rule than Galba had been, as he almost instantly engaged in luxurious entertainments and feasts at the expense of his duties. The legions declared for General Vespasian as emperor and marched on Rome. Vitellius was murdered by Vespasian's men, and Vespasian (r. 69-79) took power exactly one year from the day Galba had first ascended to the throne.

Vespasian founded the Flavian Dynasty which was characterized by massive building projects, economic prosperity, and expansion of the empire. Vespasian's reign was prosperous as evidenced by his building projects which included initial construction of the Flavian Amphitheatre (the famous Coliseum of Rome) which his son Titus (r. 79-81) would complete. Titus' early reign saw the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 which buried the cities of Pompeii and Herculaneum .

Ancient sources are universal in their praise for his handling of this disaster as well as the great fire of Rome in 80. Titus died of a fever in 81 and was succeeded by his brother Domitian (r. 81-96). Domitian expanded and secured the boundaries of Rome, repaired the damage to the city caused by the great fire, continued the building projects initiated by his brother, and improved the economy of the empire. Even so, his autocratic methods and policies made him unpopular with the Roman Senate , and he was assassinated in 96.

The Five Good Emperors

Domitian's successor was his advisor Nerva who founded the Nervan-Antonin Dynasty which ruled Rome 96-192. This period is marked by increased prosperity owing to the rulers known as The Five Good Emperors of Rome. Between 96 and 180, five exceptional men ruled in sequence and brought the Roman Empire to its height:

• Nerva (r. 96-98)
• Trajan (r. 98-117)
• Hadrian (r. 117-138)
• Antoninus Pius (r. 138-161)
• Marcus Aurelius (r. 161-180)

Under their leadership, the Roman Empire grew stronger, more stable, and expanded in size and scope. Lucius Verus and Commodus are the last two of the Nervan-Antonin Dynasty. Verus was co-emperor with Marcus Aurelius until his death in 169 and seems to have been fairly ineffective. Commodus (r. 180-192), Aurelius' son and successor, was one of the most disgraceful emperors Rome ever saw and is universally depicted as indulging himself and his whims at the expense of the empire. He was strangled by his wrestling partner in his bath in 192, ending the Nervan-Antonin Dynasty and raising the prefect Pertinax (who most likely engineered Commodus' assassination) to power.

The Severan Dynasty

Pertinax governed for only three months before he was assassinated. He was followed, in rapid succession, by four others in the period known as The Year of the Five Emperors, which culminated in the rise of Septimus Severus to power. Severus (r. 193-211), founded the Severan Dynasty, defeated the Parthians, and expanded the empire. His campaigns in Africa and Britain were extensive and costly and would contribute to Rome's later financial difficulties. He was succeeded by his sons Caracalla and Geta, until Caracalla had his brother murdered.

Caracalla ruled until 217, when he was assassinated by his bodyguard. It was under Caracalla's reign that Roman citizenship was expanded to include all free men within the empire. This law was said to have been enacted as a means of raising tax revenue, simply because, after its passage, there were more people the central government could tax. The Severan Dynasty continued, largely under the guidance and manipulation of Julia Maesa (referred to as "empress"), until the assassination of Alexander Severus (r. 222-235) in 235 which plunged the empire into the chaos known as The Crisis of the Third Century (lasting from 235-284).

Two Empires: East & West

This period, also known as The Imperial Crisis, was characterized by constant civil war, as various military leaders fought for control of the empire. The crisis has been further noted by historians for widespread social unrest, economic instability (fostered, in part, by the devaluation of Roman currency by the Severans), and, finally, the dissolution of the empire which broke into three separate regions. The empire was reunited by Aurelian (270-275) whose policies were further developed and improved upon by Diocletian who established the Tetrarchy (the rule of four) to maintain order throughout the empire.

Even so, the empire was still so vast that Diocletian divided it in half in c. 285 to facilitate more efficient administration by elevating one of his officers, Maximian (r. 286-305) to the position of co-emperor. In so doing, he created the Western Roman Empire and the Eastern Roman Empire (also known as the Byzantine Empire). Since a leading cause of the Imperial Crisis was a lack of clarity in succession, Diocletian decreed that successors must be chosen and approved from the outset of an individual's reign. Two of these successors were the generals Maxentius and Constantine. Diocletian voluntarily retired from rule in 305, and the tetrarchy dissolved as rival regions of the empire vied with each other for dominance. Following Diocletian's death in 311, Maxentius and Constantine plunged the empire again into civil war.

Constantine & Christianity

In 312, Constantine defeated Maxentius at the Battle of the Milvian Bridge and became sole emperor of both the Western and Eastern Empires (ruling from 306-337 but holding supreme power 324-307). Believing that Jesus Christ was responsible for his victory, Constantine initiated a series of laws such as the Edict of Milan (313) which mandated religious tolerance throughout the empire and, specifically, tolerance for the faith which came to known as Christianity.

In the same way that earlier Roman emperors had claimed a special relationship with a deity to augment their authority and standing (Caracalla with Serapis , for example, or Diocletian with Jupiter ), Constantine chose the figure of Jesus Christ. At the First Council of Nicea (325), he presided over the gathering to codify the faith and decide on important issues such as the divinity of Jesus and which manuscripts would be collected to form the book known today as The Bible . He stabilized the empire, revalued the currency, and reformed the military, as well as founding the city he called New Rome on the site of the former city of Byzantium (modern-day Istanbul) which came to be known as Constantinople.

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He is known as Constantine the Great owing to later Christian writers who saw him as a mighty champion of their faith but, as has been noted by many historians, the honorific could as easily be attributed to his religious, cultural, and political reforms, as well as his skill in battle and his large-scale building projects. After his death, his sons inherited the empire and, fairly quickly, embarked on a series of conflicts with each other which threatened to undo all that Constantine had accomplished.

His three sons, Constantine II, Constantius II , and Constans divided the Roman Empire between them but soon fell to fighting over which of them deserved more. In these conflicts, Constantine II and Constans were killed. Constantius II died later after naming his cousin Julian his successor and heir. Emperor Julian ruled for only two years (361-363) and, in that time, tried to return Rome to her former glory through a series of reforms aimed at increasing efficiency in government.

As a Neo-Platonic philosopher, Julian rejected Christianity and blamed the faith, and Constantine's advocacy for it, for the decline of the empire. While officially proclaiming a policy of religious tolerance, Julian systematically removed Christians from influential government positions, banned the teaching and spread of the religion , and barred Christians from military service. His death, while on campaign against the Persians, ended the dynasty Constantine had begun. He was the last pagan emperor of Rome and came to be known as `Julian the Apostate' for his opposition to Christianity.

After the brief rule of Jovian, who re-established Christianity as the dominant faith of the empire and repealed Julian's various edicts, the responsibility of emperor fell to Theodosius I. Theodosius I (r. 379-395) took Constantine's and Jovian's religious reforms to their natural ends, outlawed pagan worship throughout the empire, closed the schools and universities, and converted pagan temples into Christian churches after proclaiming Christianity Rome's state religion in 380.

It was during this time that Plato 's famous Academy was closed by Theodosius' decree. Many of his reforms were unpopular with both the Roman aristocracy and the common people who held to the traditional values of pagan practice. The unity of social duties and religious belief which paganism provided was severed by the institution of a religion which removed the gods from the earth and human society and proclaimed only one God who ruled from the heavens.

This new god, unlike the gods of old, had no special interest in Rome - he was the god of all people - and this distanced the religion of Rome from the state of Rome. Previously, Roman religious belief was state-sponsored and the rituals and festivals went to enhancing the status of the government. Theodosius I devoted so much effort to promoting Christianity that he seems to have neglected other duties as emperor and would be the last to rule both Eastern and Western Empires.

The Fall of the Roman Empire

From 376-382, Rome fought a series of battles against invading Goths known today as the Gothic Wars. At the Battle of Adrianople , 9 August 378, the Roman Emperor Valens (r. 364-378) was defeated, and historians mark this event as pivotal in the decline of the Western Roman Empire. Various theories have been suggested as to the cause of the empire's fall but, even today, there is no universal agreement on what those specific factors were. Edward Gibbon has famously argued in his The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire that Christianity played a pivotal role, in that the new religion undermined the social mores of the empire which paganism provided.

The theory that Christianity was a root cause in the empire's fall was debated long before Gibbon, however, as the theologian Orosius (l. c. 5th century) argued Christianity's innocence in Rome's decline as early as 418. Orosius claimed it was primarily paganism itself and pagan practices which brought about the fall of Rome. Other contributing factors to Rome's fall include:

• Political instability due to size of empire
• The self-interest of the two halves of the empire
• Invasion of barbarian tribes
• Government corruption
• Mercenary armies
• Over-reliance on slave labor
• Massive unemployment and inflation

The ungovernable vastness of the empire, even divided in two, made it difficult to manage. The Eastern Empire flourished while the Western Empire struggled and neither gave much thought to helping the other. Eastern and Western Rome saw each other more as competitors than teammates and worked primarily in their own self-interest. The growing strength of the Germanic tribes and their constant incursions into Rome could have been dealt with more effectively if not for government corruption, especially among provincial governors, and fair treatment of the Goths by the Romans overall.

The Roman military , manned largely with barbarian mercenaries who had no ethnic ties to Rome, could no longer safeguard the borders as efficiently as they once had nor could the government as easily collect taxes in the provinces. Further, the debasement of the currency, begun under the Severan Dynasty, had steadily encouraged inflation while widespread slave labor deprived lower-class citizens of jobs and increased unemployment levels. The arrival of the Visigoths in the empire in the third century, fleeing from the invading Huns , and their subsequent rebellions has also been cited as a contributing factor in the decline.

The Western Roman Empire officially ended 4 September 476, when Emperor Romulus Augustulus was deposed by the Germanic King Odoacer (though some historians date the end as 480 with the death of Julius Nepos). The Eastern Roman Empire continued on as the Byzantine Empire until 1453, and though known early on as simply "the Roman Empire", it did not much resemble that entity at all. The Western Roman Empire would become re-invented later as The Holy Roman Empire (962-1806), but that construct, also, was far removed from the Roman Empire of antiquity and was an "empire" in name only.

Legacy of the Roman Empire

The inventions and innovations which were generated by the Roman Empire profoundly altered the lives of the ancient people and continue to be used in cultures around the world today. Advancements in the construction of roads and buildings, indoor plumbing, aqueducts , and even fast-drying cement were either invented or improved upon by the Romans.

The calendar used in the West derives from the one created by Julius Caesar, and the names of the days of the week (in the romance languages) and months of the year also come from Rome. Even the practice of returning some purchase one finds one does not want comes from Rome whose laws made it legal for a consumer to bring back some defective or unwanted merchandise to the seller.

Apartment complexes (known as insula ), public toilets, locks and keys, newspapers, even socks all were developed by the Romans as were shoes, a postal system (modeled after the Persians), cosmetics, the magnifying glass, and the concept of satire in literature . During the time of the empire, significant developments were also advanced in the fields of medicine , law, religion, government, and warfare .

The Romans were adept at borrowing from, and improving upon, those inventions or concepts they found among the indigenous populace of the regions they conquered. It is therefore difficult to say what is an "original" Roman invention and what is an innovation on a pre-existing concept, technique, or tool. It can safely be said, however, that the Roman Empire left an enduring legacy which continues to affect the way in which people live in the present day.

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Bibliography

• Adkins, L. & Adkins, R. A. Handbook to Life in Ancient Rome. Oxford University Press, 1998.
• Durant, W. Caesar and Christ. Simon & Schuster, 1980.
• Gibbon, E. The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire. Penguin, 2000.
• Grant, M. Readings in the Classical Historians. Scribner, 1993.
• Grant, M. The Climax of Rome. Weidenfeld, London, 1993.
• Harvey, B. K. Daily Life in Ancient Rome. Focus, 2016.
• Herwig, W. History of the Goths. University of California Press, 1988.
• Kelly, C. The Roman Empire. Oxford University Press, 2006.
• Lewis, J. E. The Mammoth Book of Eyewitness Ancient Rome. Running Press, 2003.
• Mellor, R. The Historians of Ancient Rome. Routledge, 2012.
• Polybius. The Rise of the Roman Empire. Penguin Classics, 1980.
• Tacitus. Annals of Tacitus. Cambridge University Press, 2001.
• The Roman Empire , accessed 1 Dec 2016.
• Titus Livy. Livy's Histories. Penguin Classics, 2002.

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Roman Emperor Assessment (Bailey): Details of the Assignment

• Details of the Assignment
• NoodleTools

Assignment Handout

Roman Emperor Assessment   

Use at least 2 actual print sources and at least 2 highly reputable web-based sources, which might include ABC-Clio and/or Facts On File.  Include a bibliography as well (created in Noodletools .... see the tab on this guide for help).

Write a short (2 to 3 page TYPED) analytical essay about your of this emperor in which you address the following questions. Include a thesis statement.

  Did he make the empire stronger? If so, how? Did he weaken or damage the empire?  If so, how?  Did he uphold and carry forth the concept of Princeps as defined by Augustus Caesar? What are the 3 most important developments during his reign?

You will also be expected to give a short (3 minute) oral presentation.  Presentations will be in class.                                                        

• Trajan   
• Antoninus Pius
• Marcus Aurelius
• Septimus Severus
• Caracalla               

Roman Emperors

ROMAN EMPERORS

Julio-Claudians

(31 or) 27 B.C. - 14 A.D. Augustus 14 - 37 Tiberius 37 - 41 Caligula 41 - 54 Claudius 54 - 68 Nero

Flavian Dynasty

69 - 79 Vespasian 79 - 81 Titus 81 - 96 Domitian

5 Good Emperors

96 - 98 Nerva 98 - 117 Trajan 117 - 138 Hadrian 138 - 161 Antoninus Pius 161 - 180 Marcus Aurelius

  177/180 - 192 Commodus 193 Pertinax 193 Didius Julianus 193 - 194 Pescennius Niger 193 - 197 Clodius Albinus

193 - 211 Septimius Severus 198/212 - 217 Caracalla 217 - 218 Macrinus 218 - 222 Elagabalus 222 - 235 Severus Alexander

(Emperors in pd. of decline/ upheaval)

235 - 238 Maximinus 238 Gordian I and II 238 Balbinus and Pupienus 238 - 244 Gordian III 244 - 249 Philip the Arab 249 - 251 Decius 251 - 253 Gallus 253 - 260 Valerian 254 - 268 Gallienus 268 - 270 Claudius Gothicus 270 - 275 Aurelian 275 - 276 Tacitus 276 - 282 Probus 282 - 285 Carus Carinus Numerian

  Tetrarchy

285-ca.310 Diocletian

295 L. Domitius Domitianus   297-298 Aurelius Achilleus 303 Eugenius

306-07 Constantine

(CONSTANTINE 306-07)

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• Last Updated: Jan 20, 2024 12:25 PM
• URL: https://libguides.montgomerybell.edu/romanemperors

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By: History.com Editors

Updated: June 12, 2023 | Original: November 9, 2009

As the first Roman emperor (though he never claimed the title for himself), Augustus led Rome’s transformation from republic to empire during the tumultuous years following the assassination of his great-uncle and adoptive father Julius Caesar. He shrewdly combined military might, institution-building and lawmaking to become Rome’s sole ruler, laying the foundations of the 200-year Pax Romana (Roman Peace) and an empire that lasted, in various forms, for nearly 1,500 years.

Augustus: Birth and Inheritance

Of Augustus’ many names and honorifics, historians favor three of them, each for a different phase in the emperor’s life. From his birth in 63 B.C. he was Octavius; after his adoption was announced in 44 B.C., Octavian; and beginning in 26 B.C. the Roman Senate conferred on him the name Augustus, the august or exalted one. He was born Gaius Octavius Thurinus in Velletri, 20 miles from Rome. His father was a senator and governor in the Roman Republic. His mother Atai was Caesar’s niece, and the young Octavius was raised in part by his grandmother Julia Ceasaris, Caesar’s sister.

Did you know? In 8 B.C. Augustus had the Roman month of Sextilius renamed after himself—as his great-uncle and predecessor Julius Caesar had done with July. August was the month of several of the emperor's greatest victories, including the defeat and suicide of Antony and Cleopatra. He did not increase the month's length, which had been 31 days since the establishment of the Julian calendar in 45 B.C.

Octavius donned the toga, the Roman sign of manhood, at age 16, and began taking on responsibilities through his family connections. In 47 B.C. he went to Hispania (modern-day Spain) to fight alongside Caesar. He was shipwrecked along the way, and had to cross enemy territory to reach his great-uncle—an act that impressed Caesar enough to name Octavius his heir and successor in his will.

Augustus: The Path to Power

The 17-year-old Octavius was at Apollonia (in present-day Albania) when the news of Caesar’s death and his own inheritance arrived. The dead ruler’s allies, including many in the senate, rallied around Octavian against their powerful rival Mark Antony . But after Octavian’s troops defeated Antony’s army in northern Italy, the future emperor refused an all-out pursuit of Antony, preferring an uneasy alliance with his rival.

In 43 B.C. Octavian, Antony and Marcus Aemilus Lepidus established the Second Triumvirate, a power-sharing agreement that divided up Rome’s territories among them, with Antony given the East, Lepidus Africa and Octavian the West. In 41 B.C. Antony began a romantic and political alliance with Cleopatra , queen of Egypt, which continued even after a Senatorial decree forced his marriage to Octavian’s sister Octavia Minor. Lepidus remained a minor figure until Octavian finally had him ousted after the triumvirate’s renewal in 37 B.C.

Antony’s affair with Cleopatra continued, and in 32 B.C. he divorced Octavia. In retaliation, Octavian declared war on Cleopatra. In the naval battle of Actium a year later, Octavian’s fleet, under his admiral Agrippa, cornered and defeated Antony’s ships. Cleopatra’s navy raced to aid her ally, but in the end the two lovers barely escaped. They returned to Egypt and committed suicide, leaving Octavian as Rome’s undisputed ruler.

Augustus: Emperor in All but Name

Historians date the start of Octavian’s monarchy to either 31 B.C. (the victory at Actium) or 27 B.C., when he was granted the name Augustus. In that four-year span, Octavian secured his rule on multiple fronts. Cleopatra’s seized treasure allowed him to pay his soldiers, securing their loyalty. To mollify Rome’s Senate and ruling classes, he passed laws harkening back—at least on the surface—to the traditions of the Roman Republic. And to win over the people, he worked to improve and beautify the city of Rome.

During his 40-years reign, Augustus nearly doubled the size of the empire, adding territories in Europe and Asia Minor and securing alliances that gave him effective rule from Britain to India. He spent much of his time outside of Rome, consolidating power in the provinces and instituting a system of censuses and taxation that integrated the empire’s furthest reaches. He expanded the Roman network of roads, founded the Praetorian Guard and the Roman postal service and remade Rome with both grand (a new forum) and practical gestures (police and fire departments).

Augustus: Family and Succession

Augustus married three times, although his first union, to Mark Antony’s stepdaughter Clodia Pulchra, was unconsummated. His second wife, Scribonia, bore his only child, Julia the Elder. He divorced in 39 B.C. to marry Livia Drusilla, who had two sons—Tiberius and Drusus—by her first husband, Mark Antony’s ally Tiberius Claudius Nero . The family tree became more complicated after Augustus had his stepson Tiberius briefly marry his daughter, and then adopted Tiberius outright as son and successor in A.D. 4.

Augustus Caesar died in A.D. 14, his empire secured and at peace. His reported last words were twofold: to his subjects he said, “I found Rome of clay; I leave it to you of marble,” but to the friends who had stayed with him in his rise to power he added, “Have I played the part well? Then applaud me as I exit.” Soon after that acknowledgement of human frailty, the Roman Senate officially declared their departed emperor, like Julius Caesar before him, to be a god.

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The consolidation of the empire under the Julio-Claudians

Actium left Octavian the master of the Roman world. This supremacy, successfully maintained until his death more than 40 years later, made him the first of the Roman emperors. Suicide removed Antony and Cleopatra and their potential menace in 30 bc , and the annexation of Egypt with its Ptolemaic treasure brought financial independence. With these reassurances Octavian could begin the task of reconstruction.

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Law and order had vanished from the Roman state when its ruling aristocrats refused to curb their individual ambitions, when the most corrupt and violent persons could gain protection for their crimes by promising their support to the ambitious, and when the ambitious and the violent together could thus transform a republic based on disciplined liberty into a turbulent cockpit of murderous rivalries. Good government depended on limits being set to unrestrained aspirations , and Octavian was in a position to impose them. But his military might, though sufficiently strong in 31 bc to guarantee orderly political processes, was itself incompatible with them; nor did he relish the role of military despot . The fate of Julius Caesar, an eagerness to acquire political respectability, and his own esteem for ancestral custom combined to dissuade Octavian from it. He wished to be, in his own words, “the author of the best civilian government possible.” His problem was to regularize his own position so as to make it generally acceptable, without simultaneously reopening the door to violent lawlessness. His pragmatic responses not only ensured stability and continuity but also respected republican forms and traditions so far as possible.

Large-scale demobilization allayed people’s fears; regular consular elections raised their hopes. In 29–28 bc Octavian carried out, with Marcus Vipsanius Agrippa , his powerful deputy, the first census of the Roman people since 70; and this involved drawing up an electoral roll for the Centuriate Assembly. Elections followed, and Octavian was inevitably chosen consul. Then, on Jan. 13, 27 bc , he offered to lay down his powers. The Roman Senate rejected this proposal, charging him instead to administer (besides Egypt) Spain, Gaul , and Syria for the next 10 years, while it itself was to supervise the rest of the empire . Three days later, among other honours, it bestowed upon him the name by which he has ever since been known, Augustus.

As most of the troops still under arms were in the regions entrusted to Augustus’ charge, the arrangements of 27 bc hardly affected his military strength. Moreover, so long as he was consul (he was reelected every year until 23 bc ), he was civilian head of government as well. In other words, he was still preeminent and all-powerful, even if he had, in his own words, placed the res publica at the disposal of the Senate and the Roman people. Augustus particularly wished to conciliate the senatorial class, without whose cooperation civilian government was impossible. But his monopolization of the consulship offended the Senate, making a different arrangement clearly necessary. Accordingly, in 23 Augustus made a change; he vacated the consulship and never held it again (except momentarily in 5 bc and again in 2 bc , for a limited, specific purpose). In its place he received the tribunician power ( tribunicia potestas ). He could not become an actual plebeian tribune , because Julius Caesar’s action of making him a patrician had disqualified him for the office. But he could acquire the rights and privileges pertaining to the office; and they were conferred upon him, apparently by the Senate, whose action was then ratified by the popular assembly. He had already been enjoying some of a tribune’s privileges since 36; but he now acquired them all and even some additional ones, such as the right to convene the Senate whenever he chose and to enjoy priority in bringing business before it. Through his tribunician power he could also summon the popular assembly and participate fully in its proceedings. Clearly, although no longer consul, he still retained the legal right to authority in civilian affairs.

The arrangement of 23 entailed an additional advantage. The power of the plebeian tribune was traditionally associated with the protection of citizens, and Augustus’ acquisition of it was therefore unlikely to rouse resentment. Indeed, Augustus thenceforth shrewdly propagated the notion that, if his position in the state was exceptional (which it clearly was), it was precisely because of his tribunician power. Although he held it for only one year at a time, it was indefinitely renewable and was pronounced his for life. Thus, it was both annual and perpetual and was a suitable vehicle for numbering the years of his supremacy. His era (and this is true also of later emperors) was counted officially from the year when he acquired the tribunician power.

The year 23 likewise clarified the legal basis for Augustus’ control of his provincia (the region under his jurisdiction) and its armed forces. The Senate invested him with an imperium proconsulare (governorship and high command), and, while this had a time limit, it was automatically renewed whenever it lapsed (usually every 10 years). This proconsular imperium , furthermore, was pronounced valid inside Italy , even inside Rome and the pomerium (the boundary within which only Roman gods could be worshiped and civil magistrates rule), and it was superior ( majus ) to the imperium of any other proconsul. Thus, Augustus could intervene legally in any province , even in one entrusted to someone else.

The network of favours owed him that Augustus had cultivated within the state, among people of the greatest authority over their own networks, made his position virtually unassailable, but he avoided provoking this high class of his supporters, senatorial and equestrian, by not drawing attention to the most novel and autocratic of the many grants of power he had received, the imperium proconsulare majus . Instead, he paraded the tribunician power as the expression of his supreme position in the state.

After 23 no fundamental change in Augustus’ position occurred. He felt no need to hold offices that in republican times would have conferred exceptional power (e.g., dictatorship, lifetime censorship, or regular consulship), even though these were offered him. Honours, of course, came his way: in 19 bc he received some consular rights and prerogatives , presumably to ensure that his imperium was in no particular inferior to a consul’s; in 12, when Lepidus died, he became pontifex maximus (he had long since been elected into all of the priestly colleges); in 8 bc the 8th month of the year was named after him; in 2 bc he was designated pater patriae (“father of his country”), a distinction that he particularly esteemed because it suggested that he was to all Romans what a paterfamilias was to his own household. He also accepted special commissions from time to time: e.g., the supervision of the supply of grain and water, the maintenance of public buildings (including temples), the regulation of the Tiber, the superintendence of the police and fire-fighting services, and the upkeep of Italy’s roads. Such behaviour advertised his will and capacity to improve the lives of people dependent on him. Of that capacity, manifest on a grand scale, his tribunician power and proconsular imperium were only the formal expression. He was a charismatic leader of unrivaled prestige ( auctoritas ), whose merest suggestions were binding.

Like an ordinary Roman, he contented himself with three names. His, however, Imperator Caesar Augustus, were absolutely unique, with a magic all their own that caused all later emperors to appropriate them, at first selectively but after ad 69 in their entirety. Thereby they became titles, reserved for the emperor (or, in the case of the name Caesar, for his heir apparent); from them derive the titles emperor, kaiser, and tsar. Yet, as used by Augustus and his first four successors , the words Imperator Caesar Augustus were names, not titles—that is, respectively, praenomen, nomen (in effect), and cognomen. One title that Augustus did have was princeps (prince); this, however, was unofficial—a mere popular label, meaning Rome’s first citizen—and government documents such as inscriptions or coins do not apply it to Augustus. But because of it the system of government he devised is called the principate .

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World History: Ancient to Renaissance – Week 4 Assignment

The Rise and Fall of the Roman Empire

Using the textbook and at least two additional sources (books, journal entries, articles) , please write a expository essay of at least 750 words to answer the question(s) below.   Avoid using Wikipedia, dictionaries, encyclopedias or casual websites as sources.

1.     How did the Romans manage to expand and maintain peace across such a large empire?

2.     Discuss the fall of the Western Roman Empire. How did it effect the Eastern Roman Empire? How did it effect Western Europe?

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You are here, hist 210: the early middle ages, 284–1000,  - transformation of the roman empire.

The Roman Empire in the West collapsed as a political entity in the fifth century although the Eastern part survived the crisis.. Professor Freedman considers this transformation through three main questions: Why did the West fall apart – because of the external pressure of invasions or the internal problems of institutional decline? Who were these invading barbarians? Finally, does this transformation mark a gradual shift or is it right to regard it as a cataclysmic end of civilization? Professor Freedman, as a moderate catastrophist, argues that this period marked the end of a particular civilization rather than the end of civilization in general.

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HIEU 322 Roman Civilization

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A history of the Roman state and culture from Romulus to Justinian, emphasizing territorial expansion, the republic, the Roman revolution, maintenance of autocracy, the thrust of Christianity into the Roman world, the fall of the empire and the heirs of Rome.

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Archaeologists discover elaborate 1,700-year-old grave of ‘barbarian’ who lived near Roman Empire’s frontier

Man, 60, likely belonged to alemanni germanic tribes that played a role in rome’s downfall, article bookmarked.

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Archaeologists have unearthed the grave of a “barbarian” who died on the frontier of the Roman Empire in the fourth century AD.

The man, about 60 years old, was buried 1,700 years ago along with valuable goods such as pottery, glassware, and a small fine-tooth comb.

Researchers found the burial during the construction of homes at the village of Gerstetten, 65km east of Stuttgart in Germany .

The elaborately built grave was enclosed in a wooden chamber and was situated at a prominent, solitary location, they said.

The Romans called Germanic tribal people “ barbarians ”, literally meaning “people who speak differently”, a term they also used for non-Roman people living outside the empire’s territories.

Archaeologists said the man likely belonged to the Alemanni Germanic tribes that lived on the Upper Rhine river.

Germanic barbarians invaded the Western Roman Empire to the south towards the end of the fifth century, causing its downfall.

The period from the 4th to 8th centuries was a time of major socioeconomic and cultural transformation in Europe. But not much is known about it in the absence of reliable written accounts.

Archaeological studies of barbarian cemeteries provide valuable insights into this time, called the Migration Period, which laid the foundation of modern European society, but few early German graves have previously been discovered.

Most of the graves uncovered so far are in the southwestern German state of Baden-Württemberg bordering France and Switzerland.

Archeologists said finding more graves would shed further light on this epoch of history.

“The excavation on Bismarckstraße, where the burial was discovered, was completed a week after the tomb was discovered at the beginning of May,” the Stuttgart Regional Council said in a statement.

Two ceramic vessels found at the site have been restored by the State Office for Monument Preservation at the Stuttgart Regional Council.

A rib from the grave, sampled for carbon dating, confirmed that he died between 263 and 342 AD.

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