Roman Empire
The history of the Rome of the Caesars, and the legions, the Appian way and the Colosseum, begins about 753 B.C. and ends, either in 476 A.D. when the western division of the empire was completely lost or in 1453 A.D. when Constantinople, the capitol of Rome in the east fell to the Turkish regime. Sources differ in this regard and it is useful to specify which part of Roman history and which region of Rome to which one refers.
The period 753 BC to 509 B.C. can be refered to as the Monarchy period. It encompasses the founding of the city itself and ends with the last year of the rule of Tarquinius Superbus. The period to follow, the Roman Republic, begins in 509 B.C. and ends with the founding of the Empire in 27 B.C. with the ascension of Augustus Ceasar to the throne as the first emperor. However this transition was not done in a year but took a few years to accomplish.
The initial period establishing the Roman Empire conceivably took place in the period 31 B.C. to 14 A.D. This period is marked by the triumph of Octavian in 31 B.C. at the end of the civil war for control of the Roman Republic (32-31 B.C.) and the death of Caesar’s last remaining rivals, Mark Antony and Cleopatra in 30 B.C.. Octavian's victory was followed by his ascension to the throne in 27 B.C. when Octavian took the name Augustus Caesar. The period ends with the death of Augustus in 14 A.D. by which time popular elections had all but been abandoned. and the Empire had truly replaced the Republic.
During this forty-year rule of Augustus Caesar, he began building the political structure for Imperial Rome. The system of magistracies was subsumed by the throne and were awarded by the emperor (princeps in Latin).
Caesar Augustus also took over direct control of the majority of the provinces, ruling through his appointed subordinates, and nationalised the army, placing it under direct control of the emperor. This measure stripped generals of the power to interfere in politics with their troops in support as had been done earlier by Julius Caesar in 49 B.C..
Augustus invested heavily in changing Rome’s physical stature with extensive building projects to ostentatiously advertise his rule. Concomitantly, he went to great lengths to promote his own family as the future imperial dynasty.
When Augustus died in 14 A.D., he was succeeded by his step-son Tiberius.
Emperors
27 B.C.-14 A.D. Augustus Caesar
14-37 Tiberius
37-41 Gaius Caesar (Caligula)
41-54 Claudius
54-68 Nero
68-69 Galba, Otho, Vitellius
69-79 Vespasian
79-81 Titus
81-96 Domitian
96-98 Nerva
98-117 Trajan
117-138 Hadrian
138-161 Antoninus Pius
161-180 Marcus Aurelius
180-192 Commodus
193 Year of the Five Emperors
(December 31, 192 - March 28, 193) Publius Helvius Pertinax
(March 28, 193 - June 1, 193) Marcus Didius Salvius Julianus Severus
(193 - 194) Pescennius Niger
(193 - 197) Decimus Clodius Albinus
193-235 Severan Dynasty
Septimius Severus (r. 193–211 A.D.)
Publius Septimius Geta (209 - Dec. 26, 211)
Co-ruler with his father Septimius and his older brother Marcus Aurelius Antoninus.
Marcus Aurelius Antoninus (Caracalla) (r. 211–17 A.D.)
Macrinus (r. 217–18 A.D.)
Elagabalus (r. 218–22 A.D.)
Alexander Severus (r. 222–35 A.D.)
284-305 Diocletian
307-337 Constantine I
Notes
- ↑ The Fall of the Roman Republic BBC History 2006-09-11. Author: Mary Beard, professor of Classics at the University of Cambridge.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 Ancient Rome Timeline BBC Ancient History. Author: Dominic Berry, senior lecturer in Classics and Roman history at the University of Leeds.
- ↑ The Late Republic, 133-30 B.C. Ancient Rome: From its founding to decline. Author: Gary Edward Forsythe: Assistant Professor of Classical Languages and Literatures, University of Chicago
- ↑ Augustus (63 BC - AD 14) BBC History
- ↑ Cassius Dio: Roman History Cassius Dio (circa late 2nd to early 3rd century), translated by Earnest Cary (1914 thru 1927). Loeb Classical Library, 9 volumes: Harvard University Press
- ↑ The Severan Dynasty 193-235 Department of Greek and Roman Art. (2000) In Timeline of Art History. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art