Ancient Rome

Augustus

• first emperor

• lived in a modest house with 12 rooms

• lost three legions in the battle

• halted roman expansion into northern Europe changing the course of world history forever

  maintained a standing army of 28 legions (approx. 150,000 men)

• called himself Princeps Civitatis

• dominated the Roman world for 45 years

• he said that he found Rome a city of bricks and left it a city of marble.

Tiberius

• kept secret files on important Romans

• threw innocent people off of a cliff for fun

• assassinated by Caligula

Caligula

• liked to rape the wives of senators at banquets and then grade their sexual performance

• killed his pregnant sister that he impregnated

• claimed to defeat Poseidon in battle

• made fun of one bodyguard’s voice, and raped another’s wife

• was assassinated by those two bodyguard’s

Claudius

• invaded Britain

• thought at first to be a stuttering idiot with a club foot

• an effective ruler

• he was assassinated by his niece/wife

Nero

• killed his first and second wives (kicked 2nd wife who was pregnant to death)

• thought he was a great actor/poet

• was a lover of all things Greek and went to Greece to compete in the Olympics

• won every event he entered but only because it was rigged

• ruthlessly persecuted the Christians who he blamed for the fire

• committed suicide before he was assassinated by the Roman people

Year of the 4 emperors

Galba, Otho, Vitellius, all killed each other

Vespassion

• started the Coliseum (called it the Flavian Amphitheater)

Titus

• Vesuvius erupt

• finished the Flavian Amphitheater, destroys Pompeii and Herculaneum

• Rome burned again

• Assassinated by Domitian

Domitian

• makes a treaty with the Dacians after the Dacians invade roman territory and pays an annual tribute to them

• paranoid of the senate and terrorizes them

• assassinated by his wife’s servant because she found her name on a death list he created

Nerva

• elected by the Senate and adopts Trajan

Trajan

• defeats the Dacians annexes their territory into the Roman Empire.

• invades Parthia and dies

Hadrian

• he was the adopted son and the son-in -law of Trajan

• consolidated the Roman borders

• builds Hadrian’s wall

• makes many temples and statues in honour of his young lover who drowned in the Nile

Antonious Pious

• an uneventful but peaceful reign

• did nothing and went no where but didn’t make any errors

Marcus Aurelius

• philosopher emperor this scholar and soldier ruled well and defended the borders against the Germans

Commodus

• concerned himself with the gladiatorial games

• abandoned the oversight of the borders

• was assassinated by his gladiatorial trainer because his wife found her name on a death list he created

Pertinax

• would have been a good ruler but was assassinated by the royal body guard

• death marks the start of the decline of the Roman Empire

Didius Julianus

• bought the empire from the Praetorian Guard who assassinated Pertinax

Septimus Severus

• first african emperor

• an effective administrator who tried to expand the boundaries of the empire into Caledonia/Scotland

• his son Caracalla tried to assassinate him twice

Caracalla

• killed his brother and co emperor

• many innocent Romans were his victims but he did give citizenship to all free men in the empire

• assassinated by one of his soldiers

Diocetian

• persecutes the Christians and divides the empire into 4 sections to more effectively administer it

• under his leadership this system does temporarily work

• retires from the job

Constantine

• reunites the entire empire under his authority

• becomes the first Christian Emperor

• moves the capital to Constantinople

• called for the council of Nicaea which established the bible

Theodosius I

• divided the Empire upon his death (in 395) between his two sons

Romulus Augustus

• last emperor of the Western Roman Empire

5 Good Emperors

• Nerva, Trajan, Hadrian, Antonius Pius, Marcus Aurelius

• not because they were necessarily GOOD but because Rome prospered under their respective reigns

Assassinated Emperors

Tiberius, Caligula, Claudius, Galba, Otho, Vitellius, Titus, Domitian Commodus, Pertinax, Didius Julianus , Caracalla

Attila the Hun

• king of the Huns from the Eurasian Step

• The Huns were horse people

• They did nothing constructive. They did not build anything or left any significant legacy.

• Indirectly they and Atilla are responsible for the founding of Venice

Why did the Western Empire fall?

• Plague ravaged the empire at various times. Both under the rule of Trajan and in the case of Marcus Aurelias the plague is estimated to have killed ¼ of the entire Roman population weakening the empire.

• The position of Emperor was precarious to say the least. Many were assassinated and the position could be bought. A good ruler’s work could easily be destroyed by a bad one.

• Between 235-284 there were 22 Emperors in Five Decades.

• Economically the western half of the empire was not as well off as the Eastern half nor secure from Barbarian invasions.

• The Huns, Goths, Visigoths, Vandals, Jutes, and Saxons all invaded within a short time period

• The Roman army was not as well trained nor manned because of economic restraints and could not beat them off.

• Christianity played a major role in destabilizing the empire. Christians not only at one point sought to eliminate paganism but warred amongst themselves over their own visions of what Christianity should be. This is why Constantine called a council to decide what would become the Bible.

What was the Pax Romana?

• “Roman Peace" in Latin, was a period of relative peace, prosperity, and stability in the Roman Empire that lasted roughly from 27 BC to 180 AD.

• characterized by a significant reduction in warfare and expansion, though not entirely without conflict, and saw increased trade, infrastructure development, and cultural

  exchange

• "Pax Romana" is often used to describe a period of relative tranquility in Roman history, though it was not entirely without conflict and expansion.