Roman Emperors

By. Nuke

Rome was said founded in 753 BCE but for over 250 years earlier it was a village
near Palatine Hill (one of the seven hillsof Rome) beside the Tibur river.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Seven_Hills_of_Rome.svg

Ruled by kings until 510 BCE, the Roman Republic lasted 450 years until 27 BCE,
when the rule of Roman Emperors began. The Imperator (Emperor) ruled Rome and
commanded the Roman Legions. Around 500 BCE, Rome joined up with other Latin
cities in mutual defense against the Sabines, an Italic tribe, and consolidated its
supremacy over its neighboring cities in 393 BCE.

In 387 BCE, Rome was sacked and burned by the Senones, a Gallic people in
eastern Italy. Rome hastily rebuilt and began a military offensive that lasted for
hundreds of years and spread its dominance to the far corners of the known earth.

By the time of its first emperor, Augustus, the Roman Empire had brutally
subjugated Europe and the Mediterranean and had a population of one to two
million people. The Empire fractured into the Western Roman Empire and Eastern
Roman Empire in 285 by Emperor Diocletian. The Western Roman Empire collapsed
in 476 and the Eastern Roman Empirein 1453. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roman_Emperors

Early in the first century BCE, the Roman Republic began to experience violent
contractions, in the form of the Social War between Rome and its allies(91-88 BCE)
and continuing Servile Wars (slave revolts) (135 – 132 BCE; 104 – 100 BCE; 73 – 71
BCE), after which Rome arguably lost its confidence.

While his successor Octavian was the first Emperor, Julius Caesar ushered in the end
of the Republic. He conquered Gaul, marched against Rome, destroyed his
opponents and ruled Rome until his assassination in 44 BCE. From 44 -31 BCE,
Marcus Antonius (Mark Antony) and Octavian, Caesar’s nephew, struggled for
supreme power over Rome. Octavian finally defeated Mark Antony and Cleopatra at
the Battle of Actium in 31 BCE and quickly consolidated his power over the Roman
Empire. He took the title Princeps (First Citizen) and was later named Augustus by
the Senate.

The *Principate Emperors

(30 BCE – 192 CE)

*Designated a Principae because, from Augustus to the death of Commodus, all

emperors ruled under the fiction that they were merely the leader of the Senate.
Caesar and Christ, p. 114, Will Durant

Augustus
Reigned: 16 January 27 BCE -- Augustus 19, 14

First Emperor of Rome, Augustus ruled from 27 BCE until his death in 14 CE. Born
Gaius Octavius Thurinus, Octavian was adopted by his great uncle Julius Caesar,
and renamed Gaius Julius Caesar and renamed again Gaius Julius Caesar Augustus
in 27 BCE.

After defeating Mark Antony and Cleopatra, after killing Caesarion (the son of Julius
Caesar and Cleopatra) and a son of Anthony by Fulvia and adopting the children of
Antony and Cleopatra, Octavian returned to Rome. He found a Rome beset with the
fruits of 20 years of civil war. Farms were in ruin, towns had been sacked, wealth
stolen and destroyed, robbers made streets unsafe, highwaymen kidnapped
travelers and sold them into slavery, trade was diminished, interest rates were
soaring and property values were falling. Rome was filled with newly poor men and
soldiers who had tasted adventure and wanted more,taxes were increasing and
childlessness spreading. Caesar and Christ, p. 211, Will Durant

Hesitating before abolishing the old constitution, Augustus formed his power by
blending the theories of Cicero, the precedents of Pompey and the policies of
Caesar. Caesar and Christ, p. 212, Will Durant Weary of civil war and disorder, the
people had lost their thirst for freedom and looked more intently for security, order,
life at the games and bread.

Loaded with the treasury from Egypt, Octavian arrived with such abundance, which
he shared with Rome, that interest rates fell from twelve to four percent and the
value of property rose enormously. Octavian restored the confidence of many by
restoring the sacredness of property rights and saw trade expand and wealth begin
again to flow into Rome. Using his great wealth, Octavian retained 200,000 soldiers
and bound them by an oath of loyalty. He discharged 300,000 soldiers and allotted
them agricultural land and a gift of money. He forgave property owners tax arrears
and publicly burned records of such debt. Caesar and Christ, p. 210-14, Will Durant

As his money slipped away and his reputation grew, Octavian lived modestly and
shunned luxuries but was accumulating more political power. As imperator and
consul, he ruled the Legions and he Treasury and administered Rome’s laws. Caesar
and Christ, p. 214, Will Durant He genius lay in binding the perceived need for
security with the need for freedom.

But when he began to undertake to improve Roman ‘morals’ at the expense of their
happiness, the Roman people never forgave him. Looking for racial purity, he
began by seeking to slow the growth of freed slaves and increasing the birth rate of
Romans to preserve what he considered “Rome.” He joined with the older
generation and formed a puritan party to govern people’s morals by law. For the
first time in Roman history marriage was brought under the protection of the state
but while women could be condemned for adultery, men could not. In addition,
marriage was made obligatory for all marriageable males under sixty and women
under fifty. Unmarried citizens could not inherit and could not attend public games.
Every Roman class was soon offended but, undeterred, Augustus assumed that
moral reform would better follow a religious dictatorship and tried to elevate the
power of religion. Irony being what it is, he found himself forced to destroy his own
daughter and granddaughter for violating his moral reforms. Caesar and Christ, p.
221-224, Will Durant

In his personal life, he had one child by three wives—Claudia, Scribonia (who gave
birth to his daughter Julia) and Livia. Livia came with two children, Tiberius and
Drusus. He loved Drusus, who died during a military campaign, but only respected
Tiberius. Julia, his daughter, siding with the younger Romans and against the
puritans who had allied with her father, made his town house her salon of pleasure
and wit. Octavian forced Tiberius to divorce his pregnant wife (the daughter or a
dear friend) and forced Julia to marry him. When Julia took lovers at her pleasure no
matter the marriage, Tiberius moved to Rhodes and lived for seven years as a
simple citizen. In time, Octavian banished his daughter to a desolate island. When
his granddaughter followed in her mother’s steps, Octavian banished her to a
desolate island, as well. At his end, he saw the collapse of his family, his honor and
his laws. Caesar and Christ, p. 221-232, Will Durant

At his death, the Roman Empire had restored its dominance of the seas, stabilized
its government, opened new mines, increased the circulation of its currency and
covered 3,340,000 square miles.

See Roman Emperors Part II … Tiberius

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