The Roman Empire Brings Change PDF

## The Roman Empire Brings Change ### Main Idea The creation of the Roman Empire transformed Roman government, society, economy, and culture. ### Why It Matters Now The Roman Empire has served throughout history as a model of political organization and control. ### Setting the Stage Rome grew rap...

## The Roman Empire Brings Change ### Main Idea The creation of the Roman Empire transformed Roman government, society, economy, and culture. ### Why It Matters Now The Roman Empire has served throughout history as a model of political organization and control. ### Setting the Stage Rome grew rapidly, and growth brought political, economic, and social changes. Some leaders attempted reforms, but the republican government was unable to deal with the problems caused by these changes. ### Expansion Creates Problems in the Republic - The Punic Wars and Rome's increasing wealth and expanding empire brought many problems. - The most serious was the widening gap between rich and poor. - Rich landowners lived on huge estates called _Latifundia_. - Many of these estates had been created by occupying conquered lands and by taking farms left untended by soldiers serving in the army. - Romans had made slaves of thousands of captured peoples during the wars. - These slaves were made to work on the _Latifundia_. - By 100 B.C., slaves formed perhaps one-third of Rome's population. - Small farmers found it difficult to compete with the large estates run by slave labor. - Some could not afford to repair the damage caused by Hannibal's invasion. - They sold their lands to wealthy landowners. - Many of these farmers, a large number of whom were returning soldiers, became homeless and jobless. - Most stayed in the countryside and worked as seasonal migrant laborers, while some headed to Rome and other cities looking for work. - The landless and unskilled in the cities found few jobs and joined the ranks of the urban poor, a group that totaled about one-fourth of Roman society. - While wealthy Romans became corrupted by money and luxury, discontent arose among the slaves, and resentment also grew among the poor. - Class tensions planted the seeds of the republic's collapse. ### The Republic Collapses - Two brothers, Tiberius and Gaius Gracchus, attempted to help Rome's poor. - As tribunes, they proposed reforms which included limiting the size of estates and giving land to the poor. - Tiberius spoke eloquently about the plight of the landless former soldiers: > The savage beasts have their...dens..., but the men who bear arms and expose their lives for the safety of their country, enjoy . . . nothing more in it but the air and light... and wander from place to place with their wives and children. - The brothers were strongly opposed by senators who felt threatened by their ideas. - Both met violent deaths - Tiberius in 133 B.C. and Gaius in 121 B.C. - A period of civil war, or conflict between groups within the same country, followed their deaths. ### Changes in the Character of the Army - Changes in the character of the army had led to the rise of politically powerful military leaders. - Generals began recruiting soldiers from the landless poor by promising them land. - These soldiers fought for pay and owed allegiance only to their commander. - They replaced the citizen-soldiers whose loyalty had been to the republic. - It now was possible for a politician supported by his own troops to take over by force. - Two such generals were Gaius Marius and Lucius Cornelius Sulla. - During 88-82 B.C., their supporters fought a bloody civil war. - The war ended with Sulla being named dictator. - Rivalries between generals continued to threaten the republic. - Eventually an ambitious and daring leader, Julius Caesar, emerged to bring order to Rome. ### Julius Caesar Takes Control - In 60 B.C., Julius Caesar joined forces with Crassus, a wealthy Roman, and Pompey, a popular general. - With their help, Caesar was elected consul in 59 B.C. - For the next ten years, these men dominated Rome as a triumvirate, a group of three rulers. - Caesar was a strong leader and a genius at military strategy. - Abiding by tradition, he served only one year as consul. - He then appointed himself governor of Gaul (now France). - During 58-50 B.C., Caesar led his legions in a grueling but successful campaign to conquer all of Gaul. - Because he shared fully in the hardships of war, he won his men's loyalty and devotion. > I had no shield with me but I snatched one from a soldier in the rear ranks and went forward to the front line. Once there, I called to all the centurions by name and shouted encouragement to the rest of the men.... My arrival gave the troops fresh hope.... - The reports of Caesar's successes in Gaul made him very popular with the people of Rome. - Pompey, who had become his political rival, feared Caesar's ambitions. - In 50 B.C., the senate, at Pompey's urgings, ordered Caesar to disband his legions and return home. - Caesar's next move led to civil war. - He defied the senate's order. - On the night of January 10, 49 B.C., he took his army across the Rubicon River in Italy, the southern limit of the area he commanded. - He marched his army swiftly toward Rome, and Pompey fled. - Caesar's troops defeated Pompey's armies in Greece, Asia, Spain, and Egypt. - In 46 B.C., Caesar returned to Rome, where he had the support of the army and the masses. - That same year, the senate appointed him dictator; in 44 B.C., he was named dictator for life. ### Caesar's Reforms - Caesar governed as an absolute ruler, one who has total power. - He made sweeping changes: - He granted Roman citizenship to many people in the provinces. - He expanded the senate, adding friends and supporters from Italy and the provinces. - Caesar helped the poor by creating jobs, especially through the construction of new public buildings. - He started colonies where the landless could own land. - He increased pay for soldiers. - Many nobles and senators were troubled by Caesar's growing power, success, and popularity. - Some feared losing their influence. - Others considered him a tyrant. - A number of important senators, led by Marcus Brutus and Gaius Cassius, plotted his assassination. - On March 15, 44 B.C., they stabbed him to death in the senate chamber. ### Beginning of the Empire - After Caesar's death, civil war broke out again and destroyed what was left of the Roman Republic. - Three of Caesar's supporters banded together to crush the assassins. - Caesar's 18-year-old grand-nephew and adopted son Octavian joined with an experienced general named Mark Antony and a powerful politician named Lepidus. - In 43 B.C., they took control of Rome and ruled for ten years as the Second Triumvirate. - Among those killed in the Triumvirate's purge of Caesar's enemies was Cicero, a defender of the republic in the senate. - The Second Triumvirate ended in jealousy and violence. - Octavian forced Lepidus to retire. - He and Mark Antony then became rivals. - While leading troops against Rome's enemies in Anatolia, Mark Antony met Queen Cleopatra of Egypt. - He fell in love with her and followed her to Egypt. - Octavian accused Antony of plotting to rule Rome from Egypt, and another civil war erupted. - Octavian defeated the combined forces of Antony and Cleopatra at the naval battle of Actium in 31 B.C. - Later, Antony and Cleopatra committed suicide. ### Octavian - Octavian claimed he would restore the republic. - He retained some if its forms and traditions - such as the senate, which continued to meet, and Octavian consulted it on important matters. - However, Octavian became the unchallenged ruler of Rome. - Eventually he accepted title of Augustus (AW-GUHS-tuhs), or "exalted one". - He also kept the title imperator, or "supreme military commander", a term from which emperor is derived. - Rome was now an empire ruled by one man. ### A Vast and Powerful Empire - Rome was at the peak of its power from the beginning of Augustus' rule in 27 B.C. to A.D. 180. - For 207 years, peace reigned throughout the empire, except for some fighting with tribes along the borders. - This period of peace and prosperity is known as the Pax Romana- "Roman peace." - During this time, the Roman Empire included more than 3 million square miles. - Its population numbered between 60 and 80 million people. - About 1 million people lived in the city of Rome itself. ### An Economy Based on Agriculture and Trade - Agriculture was the most important industry in the empire. - All else depended on it. - About 90 percent of the people were engaged in farming. - Most Romans survived on the produce from their local area. - Additional foodstuffs (when needed) and luxury items for the rich were obtained through trade. - In Augustus' time, a silver coin called a denarius was in use throughout the empire. - Having common coinage made trade between different parts of the empire much easier. - Rome had a vast trading network. - Ships from the east traveled the Mediterranean, protected by the Roman navy. - Cities such as Corinth in Greece, Ephesus in Anatolia, and Antioch on the eastern coast of the Mediterranean grew wealthy. - Rome also traded with China and India. - A complex network of roads linked the empire to such far-flung places as Persia and southern Russia. - These roads were originally built by the Roman army for military purposes. - The most important of the roads were the Silk Roads, named for the overland routes on which silk from China came through Asia to the Romans. - Other luxury goods traveled along the same routes. - Trade also brought Roman ways to the provinces and beyond. ### Managing a Huge Emprie - The borders of the Roman Empire measured some 10,000 miles. - Included in its provinces were people of many languages, cultures, and customs. - The Roman army drew upon the men of the provinces as auxiliary or support forces. - They were not citizens of Rome, but they learned Roman customs and became citizens when they were discharged from military service. - In this way, the army also spread the Roman way of life to the provinces and Roman rights to non-Romans. ### A Sound Government - Augustus was Rome's ablest emperor. - He stabilized the frontier, glorified Rome with splendid public buildings, and created a system of government that survived for centuries. - He set up a civil service by paying workers to manage the affairs of government, such as the grain supply, tax collection, and the postal system. - Although the senate still functioned, civil servants drawn from plebeians and even former slaves actually administered the empire. - After Augustus died in A.D. 14, the senate chose his adopted son Tiberius as his successor. - During the Pax Romana, some of Rome's emperors were able and intelligent, but some were cruel. - Two, Caligula and Nero, were either insane or unstable. - The system of government set up by Augustus proved to be stable, mainly due to the effectiveness of the civil service in carrying out day-to-day operations. ### The Emperors and Succession - Rome's peace and prosperity depended upon the orderly transfer of power. - Because Rome had no written law for selecting a new emperor, a crisis or a civil war was always a possibility when an emperor died. - The succession problem was temporarily solved by the leaders known as the Five Good Emperors. - Beginning with Nerva in A.D. 96, each of them adopted as his heir a respected leader who had the support of both the army and the people to be the next emperor. - The reign of Marcus Aurelius, the last of the five, ended in A.D. 180. - His death marked the beginning of the empire's decline and the end of the Pax Romana. ### Roman Emperors A.D. 37 - A.D. 180 - **Caligula** (37-41): Mentally disturbed. Assassinated after a short, brutal reign. - ** Nero** (54-68): Good administrator but vicious. Murdered many. Persecuted Christians. Committed suicide. - **Domitian** (81-96): Ruled dictatorially. Feared treason everywhere and executed many. Assassinated.