There was a third man with them, Lepidus, who made the group a triumvirate, the first officially sanctioned one in Rome, but the one we call the second triumvirate. Antony married Octavia, Octavian's sister, before having an affair with Caesar's one-time mistress, the queen of Egypt, Cleopatra. Ranged against the assassins, under Cassius Longinus and Marcus Junius Brutus, who had fled to the east, were Caesar's right-hand man, Mark Antony, and Caesar's heir, his great nephew, the young Octavian. Mark Antony, Lepidus and Octavian Form the Second Triumvirate The public funeral inflamed passions and although the Senate had preferred to treat the conspirators with amnesty, the mob set out to burn down the homes of the conspirators. When he was killed, Rome was shaken to its core and sides were drawn up, leading to more civil war and alliances based on marriage and common sympathies. Unlike some of the Optimates, Caesar had kept the Roman people in mind, and he had developed firm personal friendships with loyal men who served under him. The Senate ratified all Caesar's acts, even ones for the future and declared that Caesar should be buried at public expense. Veterans still waiting for their land grants would be denied. If Caesar were posthumously declared a traitor, the laws he had enacted would be annulled. It was a recipe for disorder and violence. Diocletian (reign 284 to 305 A.D.Caesar's assassins may have thought killing the dictator was a recipe for the return of the old Republic, but if so, they were short-sighted. And, many historians believe, it would plant the seed in the minds of foreign nations that the previously “unconquerable” nation of Rome could indeed be toppled. Rome’s inability to rescue its own sovereign would deal a seismic blow to the mystique of power the Romans held over the world. The emperor went on to die in captivity under unknown circumstances. The unprecedented capture sent shockwaves through the Roman Empire, only to be exacerbated by the fact Valerian was never rescued. In 260 A.D., after the Battle of Edessa against the Persians, Valerian (a notorious persecutor of Christians) became the first Roman emperor to be taken as a prisoner of war. Publius Licinius Valerianus makes the influential list less for what he did than what was done to him. His book Meditations is largely regarded as a literary masterpiece. A fervent adherent of Stoicism-a Hellenistic school of philosophy that claimed that becoming a clear and unbiased thinker was key to gaining universal reason-the emperor (who was famously portrayed in the Oscar-winning Gladiator) is widely regarded as one of history’s most essential philosophers. Known as the “emperor-philosopher,” emperor Marcus Aurelius Antoninus produced writings now considered philosophical canon. After his murder at the hands of dozens of members of the senate, Rome officially transitioned from a democracy to an imperial society. These reforms made Caesar increasingly popular with Rome’s commoners while alienating him from its elite (and leading to his eventual infamous assassination). As leader of the Roman Republic, Caesar increased the size of the senate to represent more Roman citizens, established the Julian calendar (the 365-day, 12-month calendar still in use worldwide), granted Roman citizenship to all those living under Roman rule and redistributed wealth among the poor. Aside from being a successful general, conquering Spain and Gaul-feats that greatly expanded the size, power and wealth of Rome-Caesar enacted a number of foundational reforms that would set up the oncoming Roman Empire. But it’s impossible to tell the story of Rome (or its eventual transition from a republic to an empire, without mentioning Julius Caesar. Technically, as the last ruler of Rome’s Republican era, Gaius Julius Caesar was never recognized as an emperor. Over that time, Rome was ruled by scores of kings, dictators and emperors who expanded it from a small city to an empire spanning nearly 2 million square miles and consisting of, historians estimate, anywhere from 50 to 90 million inhabitants. So who exactly left an indelible mark on ancient Rome?įrom its inception to its collapse in 476 A.D., ancient Rome had three distinct periods: Regal Rome, (753–509 B.C.), when monarchs ruled Republican Rome (509–27 B.C.), when Roman elected its governors and Imperial Rome (27 B.C.–476 A.D.), when a supreme ruler oversaw the empire, and in early years did so alongside the elected senate. The more-than-1,000-year span of influence that began with the founding of Rome in 753 B.C. While its influence on western civilization, in particular, has been ubiquitous, its remnants can be found virtually everywhere, from our calendar and political systems to our alphabet. Few periods in history have had a greater impact on humankind than that of ancient Rome.
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