The Collapse of the
Republic
Roman Empire at death of Julius
Caesar
Land Reform
•By 133 B.C., Roman politics had polarized
around two factions in the Senate.
•On the one hand were the "Optimates," the
better people –– people whose only interest lay
with wealth and the senatorial class.
•Numerically small but politically powerful, the
Optimates were by all accounts conservative –
they were the defenders of the good old days,
defenders of the status quo.
•On the other hand, there were the "Populares,"
the champions of the depressed portion of the
citizenry.
•The Populares demanded the redistribution of
the land to the dispossessed peasants who now
flooded into Rome as well as a reform of the
voting procedure.
Tiberius and Gaius Gracchus
• The struggle between these two
factions came to civil war when
the Senate resorted to the
assassination of Tiberius
Gracchus (168-133 B.C.).
• Tiberius had been elected Tribune
in 133. He proposed a land bill to
the Assembly of Tribes that would
effectively divide the land and
give it to the Roman citizenry –
he wanted the citizenry to be
independent of the Senate. The
bill limited the amount of land to
an individual to about 330 acres
• The Senate would not pass his
land bill and so Tiberius went
directly to the concilium plebis.
• As a result, Tiberius and 300 of
his followers were killed. The
bodies were thrown into the
Tiber River. The next day more
supporters of Tiberius were
rounded up and met a similar
fate
• The program of Tiberius was
taken up by his brother, Gaius
Gracchus (159-121 B.C.).
• Elected tribune in 123, Gaius
wanted to transform Rome into
a democracy along Hellenic
lines. In his attempt to place
checks and restraints on the
power of the senators, he had
the near total support of the
public Assembly.
• He also won the support of the
Assembly by legislating to keep
the price of grain sold to
citizens permanently low.
• Gaius built new storehouses and his road-building
program kept the citizens at work.
• He revised the terms of military service, which
amounted to a pay raise for soldiers and he also
reorganized the way taxes were collected in the
provinces.
• The Senate would have nothing of this and so
they declared martial law.
• Riots broke out and 3000 of the Populares, along
with Gaius, were killed. Gaius was beheaded and
his body thrown into the Tiber. A bounty had
beem put on the weight of his head [in gold]. One
of the co-conspirators in his murder then
decapitated Gaius, scooped the brains out of his
severed head, and filled the cavity of his skull
with molten lead. Once the lead hardened, the
head was taken to the Senate and weighed in on
the scale at over seventeen pounds. He was paid
in full.
The Rise of Generals
• Gaius Marius – 157-86 BCE
• By the time Marius came to power, around
107 BCE, the typical Roman recruiting
base was literally non-existant. There
simply weren't enough landowners
available who weren't already fighting the
Germanics or Jugurtha to field a new army
• He had little choice but to 'break' the law
in order to fulfill his political and military
ambitions
Marius & Sulla
• Gaius Marius – 157-86
BCE
• By the time Marius came
to power, around 107
BCE, the typical Roman
recruiting base was
literally non-existent.
There simply weren't
enough landowners
available who weren't
already fighting the
Germanics or Jugurtha
(Numidia) to field a new
army
• He had little choice but
to 'break' the law in order
to fulfill his political and
military ambitions and
fill the military with
poor, landless citizens
• The opposition
recruited a foe of
Marius’ named
Sulla
• A Civil War (called
the Social Wars
because it pitted
upper vs. lower
classes) followed
and lasted 4 years
• Marius was
defeated, Sulla
marched on Rome
and many believe
began the Collapse
of the Republic,
setting the stage
for Julius Caesar
• Marius & Sulla had
discovered that power
really didn’t lie in the
hands of the Senate, but in
the hands of a general with
a strong army.
• An ambitious man with
pedigree credentials
worked his way up the
ladder until he finally was
wealthy and strong enough
to propose a triple alliance,
or triumvirate with
another general, Pompey,
and the richest Roman,
Crassus (who had been the
general who defeated
Spartacus)
To make money, Caesar had himself appointed in charge of
Gaul (France) where he went about fighting anyone he could
find. This is the great king, Versingetorix surrendering
Pompey fled from Rome and
joined his army in Greece.
Caesar was declared absolute
ruler, or one who has total
power
• Caesar was
summoned
home. He was
probably going
to be arrested
• The law
required that
he leave his
army on the
northern side
of the Rubicon
River in 46BCE
• He crossed
with his army
and said “The
Die is Cast”
• Caesar and his army followed Pompey
finally defeating him in Egypt. Upon his
return he made many changes
• Gave Roman citizenship to many people
in Roman provinces
• Expanded the Senate (adding many
friends to support him)
• Created jobs, built buildings, started
colonies for landless people and
increased the pay of soldiers
• While in Egypt, JC
had time to make
the acquaintance
of their queen,
Cleopatra, and
then some – the
then some was a
son.
• Mark Antony,
after Caesar’s
death would take
up with her too.
• On March 15, 44 BCE, an assignation was carried out
by Senators, led by his friend, Marcus Brutus, who’s
ancestor led the revolt against Tarquin. He was
stabbed over 20 times
• Civil War broke out
between the supporters
of the Senate and those
of Julius Caesar
• 3 leaders emerged to root
out the assassins
• Mark Antony, Caesar’s
friend and head general
• Lepidus, a close friend of
Caesars. He was Master
of the Horse, which is like
Speaker of the House
today
• Octavian, Caesar’s
adopted 18 year old son
• This was the 2nd
Triumvirate
• All good things come to an end – after 10 years jealousy
caused Octavian to come after Antony. He defeated him
here, at Actium in Greece. Antony fled to Egypt with his
girlfriend, Cleopatra where they committed suicide.
• Octavian took the
title “Augustus”
which means
“exalted one”.
• He kept the title
“imperator” which
the term emperor
comes from
• Although he
claimed to support
the Republic he
never gave up the
power he had
gained
• Augustus ruled for
46 years
• This began the
time known as Pax
Romana, or Roman
Peace that would
last until 180 CE
• The empire would
peak somewhere
between 60-80
million people –
Rome would have
up to one million.
• Rome had a
huge trading
system. It used
shipping and an
excellent road
system built and
maintained by
the military
90% of the population was
engaged in farming
• The borders of the empire stretched some 10,000 miles. Sometimes
only a wall was in place to keep out the barbarians. This is part of
Hadrians Wall, built during the reign of Hadrian
• In the provinces, the soldiers were typically
not Romans but locals.
• When they were discharged they would get
full Roman citizenship
• Augustus was probably the best, most capable
of all the emperors (too bad he was the 1st)
• In spite of a number of poor, lousy, malicious,
and insane emperors, the empire would last
another 400 years after his death due to the
civil service he set up.
• These paid workers would manage the day to
day affairs of the empire
The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly
• Pax Romana depended upon a number of
factors, and none more important than
peaceful transition from one emperor to the
next
• Quite often there would be a power struggle
when the emperor died, and more often than
not, it would be sudden (since more were
killed than died naturally)
• There was a string of 5 emperors that ruled
for 84 years. This period is known as the 5
Good Emperors.
Trajan – born in Spain. He
was adopted by previous
emperor, Nerva – expanded
Empire
Hadrian – he was a Stoic.
Spent a lot of time putting
down rebellions and building
(remember his wall in N.
England to keep out the
Scots
Antonius Pius – Got his
name not from being a
religious man, but forcing
the Senate to make Deify
Hadrian
Marcus Aurelius – also a Stoic
philosopher. Spent most of
the last 10 years of his life
leading troops against
Germanic tribes.