The Rise of Imperial Rome - Essay Example

? Hist 2321 The Rise Of Imperial Rome Introduction Ancient Rome began growing as early as the 18th century BC. Located along the Mediterranean Sea, it expanded to become one of the largest empires. It was before a monarchy republic but it changed to an aristocratic republic. The habitants are known as the Roman and the main language spoken was Latin. The growth and prosperity of Rome Empire was marked by the 1st century. However, it was noted in history that during Trajan’s rule was when the empire reached its largest expansion encompassing a 5 million square kilometre area of land. Afterwards, more provinces became romanized and integrated they themselves played an increasing role in the empire governing. The people in the new provinces gradually started getting roman citizenship and later the provinces came to form significant minorities in the Rome senate (Jill, 286). However, the citizenships extended always tend to exclude women and slaves. The same time the provinces were be included in the senate, the economic centre of the empire began to move towards the provinces within the Roman Empire from Italy. Trade started expanding and extending to other markets such as Italy and beyond. The trading that went on within the provinces of trading everyday items between those in the empire created a sense of communion. However, a clear defined line between the east and west was still laid down. In the east Greek was spoken as an official language while in the west Latin was the official language at this time. However, through the years Latin remained to be a marker of Romanness. The trading opportunities for Rome Empire were diverse and plentiful. Roman glassware and pottery were traded east. Gold and silver coins were the main form of payment, draining 100 million sesterces every year from the empire. Among the trade that took place in Rome was also slave trade (history.com/topics/ancient-rome). During Augustus reign as many as 35 percent of Italian people were slaves. Therefore Rome was marked as one of the five slave societies in history. Slaves in Rome Empire constituted at least a fifth of the people in the population and played a major role in the economy. History of the rise of imperial Rome Initially, Rome was governed as a republic before it becoming an empire. It had three major elements; the central government, military and provincial government. In the 3rd century BC, Rome had begun taking over provinces. During this time, Sulla and Caesar governed Rome and they had both achieved the rank of absolute ruler, however, their reign was short lived, owing to the crisis that the empire underwent in the 3rd century, which threatened its existence. Fortunately, the situation was stabilized and reunited. This was four centuries before it became the greatest empire. Furthermore, the provinces were administered by former praetors and consuls. The consuls and praetors were elected to one year term and held right of command. Consequently, Rome transitioned from republic to imperial autocracy due to the amassing of misappropriates military power and wealth by some men through their provincial commands and this was a lead factor for the transition. After the transition from a republic to an empire the first empire was Augustus. The first empire Augustus obtained his role as a supreme ruler after defeating Antony and Cleopatra in 31 BC, at the battle of Actium. The emperor was the overall authority in decision and policy making and his practical source of power and authority was the military. Augustus rejected titles associated with monarchy and otherwise referred to him as princeps which meant the leading citizen. Moreover, in his era, Augustus order to the chaos that almost took 20 years of civil war was finally brought to an end (Duncan, 24). Areas that had been added to the Roman republic needed to be reconstructed as provinces to the empire, therefore Augustus reorganised the provinces such as Asia Minor and Syria, and then held the Parthian empire in check using cunning diplomacy. During the reign of August consuls continued to be elected and senators still debated on decisions but it was Augustus, however, who established the rule that the emperor controlled the final decisions concerning the empire and they would be backed up by military force. Augustus and his family built many structures both public and private. Therefore, the foundations of the empire were laid by Augustus, and his aspirations were passed on his successors which were to conquer and defeat their enemies and to make Rome the greatest empire in the world. The reign of Augustus lasted for 40 years, and was portrayed in art and literature as the new Golden Age. He had many accomplishments but he was most noted for his ability to hold supreme power and he lived a long life. He died in 14 AD and he proved that the thought or idea of one person holding such power in his hand was no longer a threat for the empire. After the death of Augustus he was succeeded by Tiberius. Tiberius was a smooth emperor and he withdrew and spent most of time on Capri but despite of this he was still respected by the people. He reigned for ten years. Tiberius was succeeded by Gaius. Gaius was however, known by his nickname, Caligula. He was an emperor with many excesses. Due to these he faced much resentment among the senators. During their reign Augustus and Tiberius faced conspiracies but none of them fell prey to them unlike Caligula who did fall. The power that was held by the praetorians was brought forth by the death of Caligula. The praetorians were the empires elite group of bodyguards. Claudius was the next emperor to rule after Caligula. He was appointed by the praetorians, although the senators were the ones who had the greatest interest of restoring the republic. During the reign of Claudius the imperial households and the courts officials became increasingly powerful and wealthy. Claudius’ ruled over the empire of Rome for a period of 14 years. The trend of the court officials and the imperial household being very powerful continued even after Claudius reign was over. His successor continued with this trend. Nero was the successor of Claudius but he was not famous among the provinces. The senators did not give Nero their support and this undermined his position and eventually led to his fall which was due to the open rebellion in Gaul and Spain in the 68 AD(Duncan, 33). This showed that Nero failed to achieve the grace and glory that Augustus had; therefore, he was termed as an inept emperor. When Nero realized that his guards and officials had deserted him he took his own life. The death of Nero was the end of the dynasty of emperors that is the Julio-Claudians, who had reigned over Rome since Augustus. All this emperors were all related to each other through marriage since no son succeeded his father as emperors (Jill, 290). However, Claudius was the only emperor who had a son during his reign but his succession was passed over to Nero. Adoption was the principal form of imperial succession. This is clearly seen in the case of Augustus who adopted Tiberius, and Claudius adopted Nero. Rome was plugged into a state of uncertainty after the death of Nero. Emperors kept on overthrowing each other for power and supreme ruler ship.When Augustus inherited rule after the first Punic War in the 264 to 241 BC there was little room for imperial expansion planning because of the bureaucracy involved. However, when Augustus obtained the centralized rule he was able to expand the empire and therefore inheriting the wealth of the defeated. In 31 BC Augustus was victorious at Actium and this proved to be the empire’s stepping stone. He followed the victory by invading Egypt that was a year later. Antony and Cleopatra had fled to Egypt after they had been defeated by Augustus at Actium (pbs.org/empires/romans/empire/augustus.html). The invasion of Egypt proved to be a big victory for Rome because Egypt became the principle grain source for the ever-growing Rome Empire. Augustus kept this province under his person supervision because it was very important to him. Major foreign wars that were fought by Augustus were fought to rationalize the imperial frontiers. Augustus did a lot of conquers such as the northern Balkans. This was so as to extend the natural boundary up to the river Danube. Rivers were seen as the suitable boundaries because they offered extreme effective defensive post. The boundary between the Romans and the Parthians in the east was marked by River Euphrates. The Rhine was the frontier of the new province in the west. An awkward salient of unconquered territory was left in the Alps, between Gaul and Italy. However, this situation was cleared by Augustus in that he moved forward and conquered the Alpine tribes and carried the frontier to the Rover Danube. After this he took a step of moving the Rhine frontier forward to Elbe. After achieving this Rome Empire pose to advance still further into central Europe. However, rebellion from the Balkans led to the withdrawal of the troops from operations there instead. During Augustus reign he also achieved to control and strengthen Roman rule in Europe, Africa and Asian. However, in 9 AD, three years later, the German massacred three Roman legions while they were crossing the Teutoburg forest, therefore the hope of advancement past the Rhine were forgotten(Duncan, 84). When Augustus died he left his successors with the advice that they should consolidate what they had and forget about extending the imperial territory. However, this advice was not followed by the emperors who succeeded him instead they continued to acquire more provinces by peaceful means or by force if necessary. It was until the reign of Hadrian that he adopted the policy of maintaining what they had acquired rather than expanding the empire. Although the acquiring of new provinces occurred in peaceful acquisition sometime, they did not occur with frequency at all. Most plots for expansion were achieved by direct military conquest. Military in the Imperial Rome was considered as a full-time career in itself. Transition to professional military was one of the many profound transitions from republicanism to emporium. The most notable invasions by the military in Rome history are Britain, invaded in 43 AD by Claudius; Dacia, invaded by Trajan. The Romans said that their enemies were uncivilized and barbarians hence, they were justified to conquer their enemies’ provinces and people. However, their explanation was not true at all. Moreover, we can learn that the many provinces conquered by the Romans rule were very civilized, with their own government which were stable and also their own towns and coinage. Augustus fixed the pay of the armies and this caused the numbers to remain the same so as to enable him to keep a tab on the legions he had on his side. In the Rome Empire taxation amounted to 5 percent of gross product. The emperors justified tax collection by stating that it was for the need to maintain the military. The tax payers sometimes get a refund for their tax if the army captures a surplus of booty. The people who could not pay their tax in form of money due to their less-monetized state their tax was accepted in-kind, that is, surplus of grain or goods to military camps. Accomplishment According to Duncan, emperors of Imperial Rome were trying to accomplish the following things: The emperors wanted to bring about stability, wealth and control in the Rome Empire. To expand the boundaries of Rome Empire hence making it one of the largest empires by adding new provinces and conquering their enemies and taking the land. Augustus was trying to build an empire that provided proper republican form and avoid the dictatorial rule relied upon by Caesar. They were trying to conquer all their enemies such as Italy and Egypt hence make Rome Empire the supreme empire in the region. They were trying to bring about civilization to the barbarian provinces, that is, according to the emperors as they tried to justify their colonization of other provinces. To Romanize as many provinces as possible hence increasing their role as the emperors in governing of the empire. To spread their religion (Christianity) to many more provinces, hence romanizing them to be under the Rome Empire. Question 2: The events that unfolded with rise of Imperial Rome were very interesting, that Rome was governed as a republic before it became an empire. In the 1st century BC, the old republican institution no longer bear the incessant for power dogmatic generals or demands of growing empire, therefore this led to the appointment of the first emperor, Augustus, who was able to please both the senate and Roman people. In doing this he found a new form of government. Therefore, Rome changed from being governed as a republic and became an empire. The second thing is that, the rise of Imperial Rome was not entirely dependent upon emperors and armies, but it was accompanied by an immense of wealth. Economic and political power played a major role in the rise of Imperial Rome. During this era, the province that had a lot of wealth was termed to be supreme and also it had the power to provide the required supplies to its armies hence, enabling them to win wars. The rise of Rome was attributed to a shift economic and political power westwards. That is why the emperors involved the empire in trade activities and also enforced tax on the citizens. Furthermore, adoption was the principle form of Imperial succession. Many of the emperors’ successors were related to them through adaption that is from the time of Augustus going forward. However, there is a case of blood related father-son succession in the time of Claudius. Claudius was succeeded by his son hence the principle of adoption did not apply to him (history.com/topics/ancient-rome). Also the emperors were all related either by marriage or adoption. All the emperors did their best to do better than the ones they succeeded but, not all of them were as successful as the first emperor, Augustus. Impacts The rise of Imperial Rome had many impact to the world history. They included both immediate impacts and long term impacts. The immediate impacts included; the breakage of war, for example the war in 31 BC at Actium and also the first Punic War (264-241 BC). When the Romans wanted to expand their territory the invaded other provinces hence these led to war. It also led to uncertainty state in the empire and this was an impact especially when Emperor Nero died. After he died emperors took power but did not last since they were overthrown by another who wished supreme rule. Furthermore, the long term impact included; one, it led to the change in the form of governing in Rome that is from republican to Rome becoming an empire. Augustus was chosen to be the first emperor and the form of governing changed and went on for a long time, Rome being governed as an empire. Secondly, it led to the colonization of other provinces hence, forcing them to pay tribute to the Rome Empire and this went on for many centuries since Rome had a very strong army and they were very equipped hence they won many wars. For example; a province such as the northern Balkans which was conquered by Augustus, Britain was invaded by Claudius and Dacia invaded and conquered by Trajan. Thirdly, it led to the expansion of Rome and increase of new provinces to the already existing provinces in Rome (Duncan, 146). The emperors were focused on expanding their territory conquering their neighbours both in the west and the east taking their land and forcing them to pay tribute to Rome Empire. From the first emperor Augustus, continuing down with his successors Rome continued to expand its territory and conquering the other provinces. Fourthly, It led to slavery and slave trade which went on for many centuries until the 6th centuries when it started ceasing although gradually. Many people were subjected to slavery after the Romans had conquered their province. The Jews and Africans were the most affected. Moreover, slaves were considered property of their masters and were auctioned in the markets and sold to the highest bidder. Lastly, it increased the spread of languages such as Latin and Greek which were associated with the Romans. The provinces that were conquered were forced to learn the Romans’ language especial if one wanted to attain citizenship therefore this led to high spread of these languages. The event of rise of Imperial of Rome was important in world history for many reasons. First of all, it led to the expansion of trade markets all over the world. Goods could be traded form the horn of Africa to the west, due to the exploration of the Roman soldiers (pbs.org/empires/romans/empire/augustus.html). Therefore, the rise of Imperial Rome led to trading being well exploited and this was import in the world history. Secondly, it contributed to the world arts, literature and portraits. The ancient portraits and literature of the rise of Imperial Rome has contributed a lot to today’s world art and literatures. Many films are being produced showing the way of life of the people in ancient times and that is mainly due to the literature of the rise of Imperial Rome( Jill, 290). The third thing was that the rise of Imperial Rome led to the spread of Latin and Greek languages to other provinces. Therefore, this was important in the world history because it brought about diversity in many provinces. These languages are used today in the world for communication. Refrences "Ancient Rome." History.com. A&E Television Networks, n.d. Web. 13 Nov. 2013. . Campbell, Duncan . The Rise of Imperial Rome AD 14-193. New York: Osprey Publishing, 2013. Print. Harries, Jill. Imperial Rome AD 284-363: the new empire. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2012. Print. "The Rome Impire in the 1st Century." PBS. PBS, n.d. 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