notes

Assassination of Another Caesar

• There remained a stubborn core of senators that were still disturbed by his successes 
• 44 B.C. he secured a vote from Senate making him dictator for life. 
• he raised himself even higher by permitting a religious cult to be established in his honor and wearing the purple robe of the ancient Roman kings.  
• On the Ides of March (March 15) 44 B.C. Caesar appeared in the Senate house, unarmed and unguarded, a crowd of senators struck him down with their daggers.

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• Roman literature and art, philosophy and law, architecture and engineering were often inspired by Greek models, but Roman achievements in these fields eventually equaled or surpassed those of the Greeks and became just as much an inspiration and model for future Western developments. 
• In the West , the native languages of conquered European barbarian people began to be replaced by Latin
• In the East, Egyptian hieroglyphics writing fell out of use. But the empire's most revered international gods and goddesses came from Egypt. 
• The era of the Roman Peace was one of massive social, religious, and cultural changes that would form a new pattern of Western civilization

The Rule of the Emperors 

• After Octavian's triumph at Actium, the Senate conferred on him a new title, Augustus ("revered one"), the name that he went down in history as.  
• Augustus was now the supreme ruler and intended to stay in power, reconstruct the failed government of the Roman city-state, and keep its empire together. 
• The "Augustan Settlement" had emerged by 27 B.C., the year generally accepted as the end of the Republic and the beginning of the rule of the Roman emperors 
• The Augustan Settlement 
• he proclaimed the goal of restoring the Republic 
• THE FIRST CITIZEN
• refused the offer of a long-term dictatorship and referred to himself simply as princeps ("first citizen"), a traditional name for prominent leaders who were considered indispensable to the Republic. 
• By arrangement with the Senate in 27 B.C., Augustus was confirmed as commander in chief of the armed forces, which included civil and military control of all provinces with garrisons. 
• He permitted the Senate to supervise Italy and the city of Rome, as well as provinces where no soldiers were stationed. 
• On his way to supreme power he proscribed and put to death many opponents in the Senate and replaced them with his friends and allies. This allowed him to consult the Senate frequently and give it genuine government power
• THE DIVINE BEING 
• After Augustus won supreme power, Greek cities in Anatolia began building shrines and sacrificing to "Rome and Augustus"-worshiping Rome itself as divine, and Augustus as a god-sent human being who embodied Rome's beneficent rule
• He also acquired the title pf Father of the Fatherland 
• he passed laws against adultery of woman and against both men and women who failed to marry; another law exempted mothers of more than three kids from requirement of guardianship
• married to a woman named Livia they never managed to have children together
• Reform, Reconstruction, and the End of Expansion
• First, he brought the system of government appointments under his personal control 
• Second, showed respect for local institutions and encouraged provincial leaders to fulfill their responsibilities 
• Third, Augustus reorganized the army to ensure the loyalty of the rank-and-file soldiers
• Last, Augustus gradually brought about his single most drastic reform. making the army more stable all soldiers were to volunteer
• THE END OF ROMAN EXPANSION
• Even after Augustus's troop cuts, his army was still far larger than the forces that Rome had usually maintained in the past
• he kept part of his army- legion sized Praetorian Guard- in Rome to back up his power at the empire's center, but he moved, most of his forces to the frontiers of the empire, he fully intended to continue Rome's tradition of seemingly endless conquest 
• Permanent Monarchy
• He himself would never have come to power if Julius Caesar had not made him his son