Rome/ Caesar test

Who was the first emperor? Caesar Augustus

• began the period of peace and prosperity called Pax Romana
• after Augustus died (at age 76), they went to his grand-nephew OCTAVIAN in A.D. 14 to pass on the power to him 

CALIGULA

• he was Germanicus' son (28 years old when started being "in charge"
• he was Tiberius' adopted grand son and great-nephew 
• he started off well: granting bonuses to those in the military 
• he began to fight with the senate
• he claimed to be a god 
• when you start to claim yourself as a god as a very young age...it is starting to show your crazy
• he had many statues of him everywhere
• sacrilegious
• he was cruel and insane:
• he slept with other men's wives and bragged about it
• spent a lot of money (the empires money) 
• he tried to make his horse a consul and priest (that is what critics said)
• he was assassinated by his own government officials AD 41 (28 years old)

CLAUDIUS 

• a very miserable leader (but a great one)
• expanded the empire somewhat into Britain 
• conquered Britain; he built roads, canals and aqueducts; renovated the Circus Maximus 
• critics thought he had cerebral palsy or polio
• his own family used to make fun of him because of this 
• ostracized by his own family 
• married to a women named Messalina (who "messed" around a lot)
• she had a lover named Silius 
• she thought when Claudius died her lover could become emperor 
• Claudius heard about this and got Messalina and her lover (Silius) killed

RELIGIOUS TROUBLES

• Christianity and Judaism: monotheistic
• romans had many gods, plus at times the emperor was viewed as a god
• AD 66: a group of Jews called the Zealots tried to rebel, but Roman troops put them down and burned their temple (except for one wall)
• the western wall today is the holiest of all Jewish shrines
• half a million Jews died in the rebellion 

PERSECUTION OF CHRISTIANS

• Romans were harsh towards those who would not worship the emperor
• especially Christians, who were viewed as followers of a new, upstart religion (cult)
• often used for "entertainment" purposes in the Colosseum (thrown to the lions ect.)
• despite the oppression, Christianity grew quickly- by AD 200, around 10% of the people in the Roman empire were Christians  

Text book notes: assassination and another Caesar

Page 101: Assassination and another Caesar

- Pompey was hasitily commissioned to defend thee Senate, but his forces were no match for Caesar's veterans
- Forced to flee from Italy, Pompey was later defeated by Caesar in Greece and murdered in Egypt, where he had taken refuge 
- Caesar moved swiftly to make himself supreme ruler of the Republic 
- The people's assemblies continued to exist, but they did little more than endorse Caesar's proposals 
- Caesar extended Roman citizenship to parts of Gaul and Spain and appointed citizens from the provinces to the Senate 
- He gave the Romans splendid public buildings and rods, and introduced reforms into every department and administration

• this is where Rome changes from Republic to empire  

- romans at home and abroad applaud Caesar's deeds, but these remained a stubborn core pf senators who were disturbed by his successors 
- Caesar appeared in the senate house, unarmed and unguarded, according to his custom, and a crowd of senators struck him down with their daggers 
- his murder did not restore the republic; instead, his death produced yet another crop of warlords and yet more bouts of civil war 

Page 103 The Roman Peace

- Augustus's new system of government kept many features of the Roman Republic, allowed subject peoples a good deal of self-rule, and brought Rome's destabilizing expansion to a halt. The result was two hundred years of stability that modern scholars call the Roman peace. 

- within the empire, the roman version of Greco-Roman civilization prevailed in the western territories and the Greek version was dominant in the east

- in many ways, the dominant international civilization undermined the traditions of other peoples of the empire 

Pages 104-107 LO1: The rule of the emperors

princeps: "first citizen" a traditional roman name for prominent leaders who were considered indispensable to the republic that came to be used by Augustus and other early emperors

• soon after Octavian's triumph at Actinium, the senate conferred on him a new title, Augustus ("revered one"), the name under which he has gone down in history  

THE AUGUSTAN SETTLEMENT 

• at the time, Augustus did his best to make it seem as if no such historic change was under way

THE FIRST CITIZEN

• unlike Sulla and Caesar, Augustus refused to offer a long-term dictatorship and referred to himself simply as pinceps (first citizen), a traditional name for prominent leaders who were considered indispensable to the republic 

THE DIVINE BEING

• in spite of avoiding Caesar's open exercise of supreme power, Augustus followed the dictator's even more arrogant-seeming example of accepting religious worship of himself 
• augustus also acquired the title of father of the fatherland and took seriously the fatherly duty of supervising the behavior of his "household"-- especially of the upper classes in rome

REFORM, RECONSTRUCTION, AND THE END OF EXPANSION 

• ensuring peace and stability involve not only changing the way the roman city-state worked but also reorganizing the whole of Rome's empire 
• first he brought the system of government appointments under his personal control
• second, Augustus showed respect for local institutes and encouraging provincial leaders to fulfill their responsibilities  
• third, he reorganized the army to ensure the loyalty of the rank- and- file soldiers 
• then he gradually brought about his single most drastic reform 

THE END OF ROMAN EXPANSION

• even after Augustus's troop cuts, his army was still far larger than the forces that Rome has usually maintained in the past
• he kept part of his arms in rome guarded to back up his power at the empires center but moved most of his forces to the frontiers of the empire 

 PERMANENT MONARCHY

• augustus was convinced that if romes new peace and stability were to last, the changes he had made in its government system must continue after his death  

caesar- the imperial title given to the designated successor of a reigning emperor

augustus- the imperial title given to a reigning emperor

roman peace- a term used to refer to the relative stability and prosperity that roman rule brought to the Mediterranean world and much of western Europe during the first and second centuries (AD)

LO2 LITERATURE AND THOUGHT IN THE ROMAN EMPIRE

- as rome's conquest brought it into closer contact with the Greek world, the romans began to share in the cultural traditions of Greece and Latin joined as a language of literature and thought 

Nero, a crazy man

Today in class we watched a movie about Nero Caesar. Nero was the ruler of Rome for a period of time. He was not what you would call a normal guy. Nero was crazy! After there was a huge fire in Rome he decided to re-build the city and change it completely. He killed dozens of people including his wife who was pregnant. The council wanted to kill him themselves but a slave who over heard them talking about their plan to attack him ran and told Nero before they could do it. Nero was confused and very scared but also furious. He called the men in and asked them if they were really planning to kill him. They lied and said they weren't planning on doing that but the slave interrupted and said that it was a lie and they were going to. Nero ended up killing many men in the council and also the slave. Everyone in Rome thought that Nero was crazy and all wanted to do something about it. But since he was the ruler, and was completely crazy, they were to afraid to actually do anything. They are currently planning on what they will do to Nero because they definitely need to get rid of him. He is crazy and an awful leader!

Julius Caesar

Julius Caesar
- Got stabbed to death by senate
- took over at the age of 18
- "The honored one" 
- Brutus:

• one of his close friends
• stabbed him to death as well
• Et tu, Brute? Even you Brutus?
• thought to be his last words because Shakespeare wrote them

- Octavian (Caesar Augustus) 

• AKA: Caesars grand-nephew 
• began his rule at age 18
• became known as Caesar Augustus 
• begins the Pax Romana- a period of peace and prosperity
• built roads, aqueducts (brought water to the cities)
• set up civil service to take care of roads, the grain supple, even a postal service
• Augustus dies at age 76 in A.D. 14, and passes power to Tiberius 

from Jesus to Christianity:

• Jesus was a roman citizen and a practicing Jew
• at 30, he began his ministry (A.D. 31-33), preaching to the poor (and there were lots of them) in the empire, and reaching out to outsiders
• statements like "My kingdom is not of this world" made the Romans (and the jew) nervous, and they began to plan his execution
• the governor of the Roman province of Judaea, Pontius Pilate (prompted by Jewish high priests), sentences Jesus to death by crucifixion 
• Paul is an instrument in telling the world about Jesus
•  life, death, resurrection, and message
• 
  
• He travels far and wide: Cyprus, Anatolia, Athens, Corinth, Macedonia, Rome, Jerusalem, and maybe even spain and britain
• he writes letters to many of those he spoke to- these epistles are a part of the New Testament
• if not for the efforts of Paul, it is likely that Jesus remains an obscure preacher, instead of the central figure of the worlds largest religion 

honorific: to honor someone/ someone honorable 

august: to be honored 

 

Rise and Fall of an Empire

Ancient Rome Video: Julius Caesar 

- Rome was the greatest empire the world has ever known
- war was fought against Gaul and Romans
- 6 critical moments that shape the empire 

• the empire was great
• but also fell

- Alesia Gaul, 52 BC

• Tibus Lebinus:
• general of Caesars war/army 
• Mark Antony:
• general of Caesars army/war

- Romans attacked Gaul and won the war 

• Gaius Crastinus:
• veteran Centurion 

"The war is not over, it is just the beginning"

Caesar:

• in charge of the war
• had many men behind him wanting to fight for him
• very in charge of things
• a powerful dictator 
• a powerful soldier
• but also a powerful politician 

Underlining and Note taking

We had to get out our textbooks today in class because instead of copying notes we were underlining notes from our books. We were still continuing to talk about Rome and also the Gracchus brothers. We were also talking about the lifestyle and how the families were back then. One of the Gracchus brothers, Tiberius, tried to pass a law through the senate which the senate did not like, at all. So they beat him to death with a chair and threw his dead body in the Tiber river. We also talked about Julius Caesar and how he was a really smart and powerful dictator. He was eventually killed but when he was alive he always had a group of friends and soldiers to back him up. He got many people to do what he wanted just like Hitler did. Except, Julius wasn't crazy like Hitler was. We are going to be talking a little more about Rome tomorrow I think and sadly underlining notes in the book is not that fun. But, it is a lot better than a test or project and it is also a great way to study for any upcoming tests.

Pg 99-101 notes

SOLDIERS, WARLORDS AND CIVIL WAR
- with the changes in Rome's society and politics, the character of its armies and their commanders also changed

• triumvirate: in ancient rome, an alliance of three politicians that enabled them to control the Republic's decision making

JULIUS CAESAR

- came from an old patrician family that had come down in the world

- he entered the city's politics as a young man determined to regain the fame and power of his ancestors 

- came to the identity Rome's key problems at home and abroad

- with the help of his new friends he won an appointment as proconsul of a province that included the southern regions of Gaul

"But that which brought upon him the most apparent and mortal hatred was his desire of being king; which gave the common people the first occasion to quarrel with him, and proved the most specious pretence to those who had been his secret enemies all along."

ASSASSINATION AND ANOTHER CAESAR

- romans at home and abroad applauded Caesar's deeds but they remained a stubborn core of senators who were disturbed by his successes