![]() Rome entered its Republican Period in 510 BC. The end of the Period of Kings came with the decline of Etruscan power, thus ushering in Rome’s Republican Period. Politically, this period saw the early formation of the Roman constitution. During this brief time Rome, led by no fewer than six kings, advanced both militaristically and economically with increases in physical boundaries, military might, and production and trade of goods including oil lamps. The first period in Roman history is known as the Period of Kings, and it lasted from Rome’s founding until 510 BC. Archaeological evidence indicates that a great deal of change and unification took place around 600 BC which likely led to the establishment of Rome as a true city. It is unclear whether they came together in defense or as a result of being brought under Etruscan rule. It is thought that the city-state of Rome was initially formed by Latium villagers joining together with settlers from the surrounding hills in response to an Etruscan invasion. Rome was founded around 625 BC in the areas of ancient Italy known as Etruria and Latium. The history of the Roman Empire can be divided into three distinct periods: The Period of Kings (625-510 BC), Republican Rome (510-31 BC), and Imperial Rome (31 BC – AD 476). View Announcement Search toggle Mobile Menu Toggle ![]() Wisconsin Statewide Community Science Project.“They thought they were liberating Rome, but instead they put the nail in the coffin of the free republic. “It’s a great irony,” Strauss says of those who plotted Caesar’s murder. By establishing the Roman Empire, Augustus completed the task his adopted father had started. Reigning for nearly a half-century, Augustus became the longest-serving ruler in Roman history and ushered in two centuries of peace and prosperity known as the Pax Romana. They believed that Augustus alone could save them. The freedom they sought was one from war, hunger and chaos. When a crisis of flooding, famine and plague besieged Rome in 22 B.C., citizens did not agitate for a restoration of the republic, but instead locked up a group of senators and threatened to burn them alive if Augustus was not named dictator. He said that he restored the republic and never used the terms dictator or king, instead calling himself Rome’s ‘first citizen.’” “He had a lot of tricks, and one of them was to pretend that what was happening wasn’t really happening. “He was a very shrewd politician," Strauss says. bestowed the title “Augustus” upon Octavian, which according to Roman historian Cassius Dio signified “that he was more than human.” Augustus ruled as Rome’s first emperor-although he never took that title for himself. By providing for soldiers’ retirements, he ensured their personal loyalty to him. Citizens in towns across Italy and the western Mediterranean were compelled to swear their personal loyalty to Octavian. Throughout Roman territories, coins, statues and even silverware bore his image. He approved of all candidates standing for election, while the powerless Senate rubber-stamped his decisions. Having eliminated his rivals and seen the support given to Caesar by the masses, Octavian established absolute rule over the former republic and surpassed the power of his great-uncle. after which Antony and Cleopatra each took their own lives. ![]() ![]() Octavian forced Lepidus into exile and took up arms against Antony, whose affair with Egyptian ruler Cleopatra VII damaged his reputation in Rome and humiliated his wife, who was Octavian’s sister. Octavian positioned himself as the sole defender of Rome from the eastern influence of Egypt, and his navy defeated the combined fleet of Antony and Cleopatra at the Battle of Actium in northern Greece in 31 B.C. The triumvirate eventually turned on each other. Tens of thousands died in the bloody battle, and the defeated Brutus and Cassius each committed suicide. After speaking ill of Antony, Cicero was killed by soldiers loyal to Caesar’s deputy, and his head and right hand were placed on display in the Roman Forum. Avenging Caesar’s murder, Octavian and Antony collaborated to defeat the forces of assassination plot leaders Brutus and Gaius Cassius Longinus in 42 B.C. Mary Beard, author of SPQR: A History of Ancient Rome, writes that the triumvirate’s main achievement was a “new round of mass murder.” Octavian and Antony brutally purged the republic’s leadership by killing their enemies and potential rivals. “He was a cunning, ruthless politician who knew how to play both sides,” Barry Strauss, author of Ten Caesars: Roman Emperors from Augustus to Constantine, says of Octavian. The forces of the two competing leaders clashed until Octavian and Antony called a truce and agreed to share power with another of Caesar’s former deputies, Lepidus, in the Second Triumvirate. Octavian quickly amassed a private army and outbid Antony for the support of several legions. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |