Western Civilization I
Outline #10
Prof. Knight

The Roman Empire

I.  The Decline of the Republic
	Growth of Empire destabilizes Republic
		Division between classes
		Influx of slavery
		Farmers driven off the land
		Hungry desperate urban mob crowd cities
	Tiberius Gracchus (163-133BC)
		Tries to introduce land reform, is assassinated 
	Generals:
		Gaius Marius (157-86)
		Lucius Cornelius Sulla (138-78)
	The “Triumvirate”
		Pompey (106-48BC), Crassus (115-53BC) and Julius Caesar (100-44BC)
	Marcus Tullius Cicero (106-43BC)
	Conquests of Julius Caesar: Gaul, Britain, Spain (I came, I saw, I conquered)
	Caesar “crosses the Rubicon”
	Assassination of Caesar, 44BC
		Brutus, Cassius
	The Second Triumvirate
		Mark Antony, Mark Lepidus, Octavian
	Queen Cleopatra of Egypt
	Octavian defeats Mark Antony and Cleopatra at Actium.

II.  The Roman Empire
	Octavian becomes Augustus, Empire begins (27BC)
	Priceps—“First Citizen” (Augustus’ official title)
	Augustus’ reforms
		Reform of Elites
			Senate reduced in size.
			Equestrian order purges, replenished with supporters
		Military reforms
			Army reduced in size
			Soldiers given land
			Military Colonies
		Religious reform
			Turning back to tradition 
			Patronage of religious life.
			Deification of Emperors
		Social Reforms
			Strengthening of traditional “family values”
	Augustus’ successors
		Tiberius (14-37AD)
		Caligula (37-41AD)
		Claudius (41-54AD)
		Nero (54-68AD)
	The Pax Romana (69-180)
	Vespasian founds new dynasty (70AD)
	“Five Good Emperors”
		Trajan (98-117)
		Hadrian (117-138)
		Marcus Aurelius (161-180)
	End of the Pax Romana
		Commodus (180-192)
	Crisis of 3rd Century BC
		Economic weakness
			Hyperinflation
		Political weakness
			Emperor becomes dependent on army
			Septimius Severus (193-211)
				“Pay the army and the hell with the rest”
		Military weaknesses (Foreign invasion)
			Germanic Tribes
				Alemanni, Franks, Goths
			Sassadin Dynasty of Persia
		Social Unrest
			Banditry, Peasant revolts
		Restoration of Empire
			Gallienus (253-268)
			Dioclitian (284-305)