Julio Claudian Dynasty Essay

The Julio-Claudian Dynasty began in 27 B.C and ended in 68 A.D, introducing the very first five Roman Emperors: Augustus, Tiberius, Caligula, Claudius, and Nero. These five emperors ruled the Roman Empire in the 1st century second half until the Julio-Claudian Dynasty ended when the last of the successors of Augustus, Nero, took his own life. Each emperor contributed to the expansion of Roman Empire during the Julio-Dynasty whether it was, commissioning or being honored with a monument, or painting, sculptures, and mosaic artworks. During the growth of the Roman Empire, many leaders had their own goals for the city whether it was beneficial to the empire or harmful. But how did the Roman Empire, Julio-Claudian Dynasty, come about and how and

when did it end. Throughout the Julio-Claudian era none of the emperors were succeeded by their own sons, but by sons that they adopted and only one really had their own heirs become ruler.

In this research I will provide a short description as to where the empire started, along with a bibliography of all five of the emperors of the Julio-Claudian Dynasty, they are all connected in some way. I will also contribute different accomplishments and failures (if any) that the emperors have done during their reign.

In the beginning of the eighth century, B.C. Ancient Rome flourished from being a small town on the central Tiber River in Italy, to being an empire that engulfed most of Europe, Britain, Western Asia, Northern Arica and also the Mediterranean islands. Different languages were spreading among the people, Italian, Spanish, French, Portuguese and Romanian. Rome was a republic for 450 years then it became an empire in

which Julius Caesar (was a general and statesmen) was dictator of Rome before the Julio-Claudian Dynasty started. He didn’t classify himself as being the first Empire instead he was ruled by the senate. Caesar was born July 12 or 13, 100 B.C to Aurelia and Gaius Caesar. Before Caesar became ruler of Rome it was unstable and was unable to handle its size and influence. The Senate believed that Caesar had too much power and before Caesar came along Rome had no rule them, so in taking matters into their own hands the senate had Caesar assassinated on March 15, 44 BCE. One of the assassins was he was Caesar's second choice as heir, Marcus Junius Brutus, and Gaius Cassius Longinus, along with a variety of others who contributed to the killing of Caesar. “The assassins, however, made the mistake of neglecting to plan what they would do following Caesar’s death and, in so doing, mistakenly allowed Marcus Antonius (Mark Antony), Caesar’s cousin and right-hand man, to live. Mark Antony turned the tide of Roman popular opinion against the conspirators and, allied with Octavian, defeated the forces of Brutus and Cassius at the Battle of Philippi in 42 BCE” (Mark par. 15). Before Caesar was assassinated he adopts Augustus and taught him many teachings of Rome.
The first emperor during the Julio-Claudian Dynasty was Gaius Octavius and it was changed to Augustus Caesar when he became the ruler of Rome, it was said that Augustus started the Julio-Claudian era in 32 B.C.

Augustus was born on 23rd of September 63 B.C., he was born during the civil war when he, unfortunately, lost his father who was a Roman Politic. Luckily he was adopted by his uncle Julius Caesar was a Roman general and politician at the time. Caesar was in desperate need of an heir to take his place in becoming the Empire of Rome. At the age of 19, Augustus great-uncle was slain by his own advisors, which influenced Augustus to engage in Roman politics. Before Augustus became the emperor of Rome it was ruled by the Republican government, which was one of the reasons why Augustus lost his great uncle Caesar to conspiracy in the government. So in order to keep from being assassinated like his great uncle, Augustus brought an end to the Republic rule and felt that it was best for the Roman Empire to give all of the supreme power to the Emperor, in the imperial palace. He made a partnership with a general name Marc Antony to avenge his great-uncle's death, they defeated enemies of Rome. Both Marc Antony and Augustus were the most powerful and successful men in Rome divided the empire amongst each other, Augustus kept the west and Antony took control of the east Egypt. Octavius took the name Augustus in 27 B.C. when he discovered the participate (princess Latin word

meaning the first or one man) (http://ancienthistory.about.com) period, in which Augustus by himself took over Rome’s political control. During Augustus reign, he proposed a time of peace which was known to be called the Pax Romana or The Roman Peace. Of course, there were several wars in order to expand Rome and then there was a year long civil war that occurred after Augustus was made an emperor. But he made Rome a free empire making him the most influential leaders in the history of Rome as he unified Rome. The rule of Augustus was extensive as well as successful, he kept Rome free from any conflict for more than two centuries. Augustus used his time as emperor wisely to expand Roman territory and left Rome financially stable after building many monuments. Augustus was a strong supporter of the Arts, he believed that Roman art should be preserved. While he was emperor he commissioned a variety of monuments and even restored over 82 public monuments that were dedicated to the gods, which showed his dedication to the city of Rome and their gods.