2.13 Roman Empire
Overview
The transition from Republic to Empire for Rome was not a smooth one. While Julius Caesar was appointed “dictator for life” before his assassination, he never envisioned himself as an emperor and would probably have been horrified to be accused of such ambitions. Instead, Caesar simply believed that his duty and glory resided in the glory of Rome – a new empire (territorially) thanks in large part to Caesar’s own military campaigns. At Caesar’s death, his will bequeathed his “power” and possessions to his great-nephew, Octavian. The Senate thus bestowed on Octavian the title “Augustus”, a Latin word that loosely translates as “the exalted” in order to maintain the fiction of a republic.
The Shift to Empire
Politically, the Roman Empire begins with Augustus Caesar, though Augustus always claimed he was only preserving the Republic. The emperor that followed Augustus dropped this pretense.
Consider the following when looking at the evolution of the Republic to the Empire and the subsequent fall of the Western Roman Empire:
- Why did agriculture and trade formed the basis of the Roman economy?
- What impact did war and conquest have on the economy? In what ways did Rome benefit financially from such expansion?
- How did Augustus (Octavian) seize control of the Roman state? In what ways does his rise to power reflect the violence and chaos that characterized late republican politics? What social, political and economic reforms did he introduce, and how did those reforms set the stage for the Pax Romana?
- What strengths and weaknesses of the Roman Empire are revealed in the journey of Hadrian? How might they have contributed to the decline, and eventually, the fall of Rome?
- Who were Diocletian and Constantine? In what ways did they attempt to address the crises facing Rome? Were those attempts successful? Why or why not?
- Who were the barbarians and how did they contribute to the fall of Rome?
