Roman emperor Caligula was one of the crulest rulers around. He would enjoy torturing people.He became emperor by smothering the last emperor (Tiberius) and the empire fell into his hands. He ruled for 5 years before being murdered. Before he bécame a amperes he was a politician.…
In 31 BC, Tiberius brutally suppressed a rebellion led by the commander of the Praetorian Guard, Lucius Aelius Sejanus. Tiberius had the commander’s…
“The new emperor began his reign under the most favourable conditions” as he was everything Tiberius was not and as such, “…he fulfilled the highest hopes of the Roman People” . Tiberius’ unpopularity was polarized due to his predecessor’s, Augustus, popularity and legacy, which proved impossible to supersede or even equal. Caligula was also a blood relative to Augustus and Julius Caesar, whereas Tiberius was only an adopted son of Augustus. So, the Roman people believed that after Tiberius’ death that Caligula…
The court officials thought he had died and began to congratulate Caligula on his accession, when Tiberius awoke. It is said that the Emperor was smothered with his bedclothes by Caligula's personal assistant. Caligula was in a perfect position to assume power, despite the obstacle of Tiberius's will, which named him and his cousin Tiberius Gemellus joint heirs. (Gemellus's life was shortened considerably by his orders). In the first months Caligula's reign was mild and his policies showed some good judgment. Even then, Caligula took much pleasure in attending executions and he preferred to have them drawn-out. Soon his grandmother Antonia, who might have been a good influence, died. After this, he became very ill and recovered this as a very different man. The real terror of Caligula's mind began to show itself. In a few months he entirely exhausted the treasury, which the late Tiberius had filled by years of economizing. People suspected of disloyalty were executed or driven to suicide. On one occasion, when there weren't enough condemned criminals to fight the tigers and lions in the arena, Caligula ordered some spectators to be dragged from the benches into the…
Tiberius Gracchus had several motivations to reform. The first one was that the Tiberius’s energy and ambition on political because Tiberius wanted to recover public land for poor people, this assumption was based on some writing was posted on house-walls, porticoes, and monuments. The second motivation could be coming from Tiberius wanted to avenge his humiliation, since Tiberius rejected the 137 surrender terms, this behavior assumed that Tiberius wanted to against the senate on purpose in public; however, at the same time Tiberius was supported by the prominent senior senators as well, they provided huge power on Tiberius's reform. The third motivation could be that Tiberius wanted to safeguard the interests of the military. Since most Rome's…
Owners of latifundias operated at lower costs than did owners of smaller holdings. These owners often resulted to mortgaging their lands to aristocrats due to the fact that they could not compete with the latifundias. Thus, causing unemployment and famines for this class. These peasants moved to cities, where they became “mobs”. Wealthy patricians often hired people into personal armies. Civil wars i.e. Caesar and Pompey, often broke out between high ranking officials, thus leading to political instability. During the first and second century CE of Rome, there were social tensions due to the unequal land distribution. As a way to mend the unequal land distribution issue, reformers attempted to redistribute the land, i.e. Gracchi Brothers, Tiberius and Gaius. Unfortunately these men did not succeed due to the fact that most members of the wealthy and ruling classes disagreed with the ideas of the brothers and found their way around their redistribution method. In fact, this action caused them to pay a high price – their lives. For fear that the brothers would have a greater effect on Roman affairs, their enemies had them assassinated. Wang Mang, just as the Gracchi Brothers had attempted with Rome, tried to reform the distribution of land in China.…
Gaius was a Roman general. He is known for annihilating manipular military formations and restructuring the structure of the legions into separate cohorts. Marius saw the need to increase troops and the requirements for recruiting policies to be relaxed. He helped defeat the Germanic tribes, which gave him the title of “the third founder of Rome”. He was a significant part in Rome’s switch from a Republic to an Empire. He even helped legions become more loyal to their generals than to the state itself. Marius was elected seven times to the position of consul. However, on his seventh election he decided to invade Rome, but died seventeen days into his seventh consulship.…
Cincinnatus was a Roman Hero. Cincinnatus lived from the early 6th century BCE into the late 5th century BCE. Cincinnatus was a consul and a Roman patrician. Cincinnatus had a son, named Caeso and he committed a crime. Caeso was put on trial, was found guilty and his punishment was death. Cincinnatus used his power and influence to make a deal with the government. Cincinnatus’ family would leave Rome for their son to be saved. Cincinnatus’ family lived in a farm for a couple years. In those years, nearby tribes called the Aequi and Volscians teamed up to attack Rome. The war lasted for about two years and it was very intense. Rome was losing this war and they wanted to appoint Cincinnatus as a temporary dictator. They sent a messenger to…
As a teenager, he was called before Tiberius (who was a complete tyrant in his own right, and supposedly killed members of Caligula’s family) on the island of Capri, where he was forcibly adopted and as a result of how well he was treated he supposedly developed Stockholm Syndrome (though this is subject to debate). He held an undying hatred for Tiberius but was forced to show respect, so took out his anger on others and enjoyed watching executions and torture, and frequently indulged in orgies…
The importance of the Gracchi brothers (Tiberius and Gaius) in Roman history cannot be overestimated. Most scholars would say that the actions of the Gracchi brothers was one of the most important events in Roman history.…
The Romans overthrew the Etruscans in 509 B.C.E. The Etruscans had ruled over the Romans for hundreds of years. Once free, the Romans established a republic, a government in which citizens elected representatives to rule on their behalf. The highest positions in the government were held by two consuls who ruled the Roman republic. A senate composed of Patricians elected these consuls and at this time, lower-class citizens, or plebeians, had virtually no say in the government. Both men and women were citizens in the Roman Republic, but only men could vote. Under certain circumstances, the senate and the consuls could appoint a temporary dictator to rule for a limited time until the crisis was resolved. One of the innovations of the Roman Republic was the notion of equality under the law. In 449 B.C.E., government leaders carved some of Rome 's most important laws into 12 great tablets. During the last three centuries of the republic, Rome experienced a long series of civil wars, economic as well as political issues, and civil crisis caused by the dictatorship of Julius Caesar. After Caesar’s death, another civil war broke out destroying what was left of the Roman republic. Caesar’s adopted son, Octavian, joined forces with a general named Mark Antony and a politician named Lepidus. They took control of Rome for ten years as the Second triumvirate. The alliance ended in violence and jealousy. Octavian forced Lepidus to retire and then became rivals with Mark Antony. Octavian believed Mark Antony was plotting to rule Rome from Egypt,…
Tension mounted between Caesar and the Senate of Rome, on account of Caesar’s possible claims to the title of king. In fact, financial birthrights allowed Senators to buy their seat in power. Furthermore, the senators wanted to live by their own rules and not under Caesar’s ideals. Motivated by these factors the senators decided to assassinate him.…
Murellus and Flavius were citizens but were conspirators who wanted to get rid of Caesar.…
The Romans showed a lack of justice because they were not kind or fair to the people who were different than them. The Romans killed people who…
sacrifice for the good of Rome and not as murder or “butchery” to improve his political level.…