Ø Octavian was supported by government after the civil war and he changed his name to Augustus and became the first emperor (absolute ruler) of Rome (R).
Ø Augustus (AU) held most of
the major offices of R at same time but never officially took the title emperor
(E).
Ø AU made important people
feel like R was still a republic by keeping other parts of government running.
Ø However AU made himself
stronger by having all soldiers swear loyalty to him and he had talented people
he knew take over parts of government.
Ø AU made R easier to defend
by using natural borders instead of continuing to expand.
Ø AU did a good job creating a
solid R government by paying governors well, charging fair taxes, and taking a
census (population count).
Ø AU ruled R for 41 peaceful
years and made people feel pride in R.
Ø PR was period of mostly
peace that lasted for ~200 years.
Trade
Ø Trade increased with peace
for several reasons.
Ø 1. No tariffs (taxes on goods
brought into the country).
Ø 2. Same money used
throughout empire.
Ø 3. More roads and shipping
occurred.
Ø More trade meant more wealth
for R.
Law
Ø Laws had to be change when R
started to trade with non-Romans.
Ø Juris prudentes (special
lawyers and legal writers) helped judges determine new laws.
Ø Everybody equal in law and
innocent until proven guilty.
Ø Laws eventually became
standardized (the same throughout the empire).
Ø R law became basis of laws
of most western countries and Christian church.
Ø ~1 Million people lived in
the city Rome during early years of empire.
Ø R had problems of pollution,
crime, and overcrowding.
Ø Rich people lived in a fancy
house called a domus while most poorer people lived in apartments.
The
Family
Ø Families were very important
and fathers were in charge.
Ø Until 12 girls and boys went
to school together.
Ø After 12 rich boys continued
studies and worked on rhetoric (speech and writing) while poor boys went to
work.
Ø After 12 rich girls received
expensive, private education.
At
Leisure
Ø R had public bathhouses that
served as social gathering places.
Ø Political leaders often put
on free public games like chariot racing and gladiatorial games to become more
popular.
Ø Gladiators fought each other
and animals for entertainment.
Ø PR ended and the W part of R
fell to barbarians while the E part remained around for another 1000 years as
the Byzantine Empire.
Ø Problems that led to R
decline were:
Ø 1. No rule of who would
inherit throne once an emperor died caused fighting among heir.
Ø This caused civil wars with
armies of heirs fighting.
Ø 2. Emperor had to pay army
well to keep them loyal and did this through raising taxes.
Ø 3. Inflation (period of ever
increasing prices) due to using less gold in coins and the coins being worth
less.
Ø This was due to not
conquering any new lands and caused R to go back to a barter (exchange of goods
without money) economy.
Ø 4. Germanic people to the N
of R were able to fight more effectively than the Romans due to civil wars and
problems.
Diocletian
(DI) and Constantine I (CI)
Ø DI reorganized the
government to try to make it work better.
Ø DI made goods have a maximum
price to keep down inflation.
Ø DI said power of emperor
came from rule from divine right (right to rule came not from people but from
gods).
Ø Last major change was his
decision to divide R Empire into an E and W.
Ø DI governed the E part.
Ø CI tried to make people stay
in their jobs when things got bad by making them take up their father’s
professions.
Ø Rich people chose to move
away from the city to country to escape government.
Ø CI moved the capital of R
Empire to Constantinople in Turkey.
End
of Empire
Ø Reforms of CI and DI and
others did not save empire.
Ø Germanic tribes continued to
attack and R grew too weak to stop them.
Ø Many of the Germanic tribes
were trying to escape the Huns from W. Asia.
Ø In 410 AD soldiers invaded
the city and took over what was left.