Roman Period - Subjugation and Order |
The Roman Empire is considered to have begun in 27 BCE with the Roman Senate's conferring of absolute power onto Augustus. The Western Roman Empire lasted until 476 CE with the capital moving to Madiolanum / Ravenna with the split of the Empire in 330 CE. The Eastern Roman Empire started in Constantinople in 330 CE and fell to the Ottomans in 1453 CE.
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The Etruscans as the true founders of Rome ...
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Two founding myths of Rome.
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Time to clarify. Rome was a Republic but allowed to be a dictatorship in times of war. Then a Triumvirate. Finally in 27 BCE, an empire with an Emperor.
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Mithridates actually almost defeated Rome. He also perfected the idea of taking small amounts of poison each day to develop resistance to poisons. In the Middle Ages, rulers wanted to discover his secret elixir but to no avail. Today, who has heard of him?
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Image Creative Commons free for public sharing from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colossus_of_Nero
Nero - Separating Fact from Fiction
Emperor from 54 CE (age 17) - 68 CE.
First the bad stuff:
Click the image below to read a National Geographic article on why Nero may not have been such a "bad boy" in historical terms.
From the article: “The gymnasium was part of a big change Nero brought about in Rome,” Filippi says. “He introduced the concept of Greek culture—and with it, this idea of physical and intellectual education of youth, and soon it spread throughout the empire. Before, such baths were only for the aristocrats. This changed social relations, because it put everyone on the same level, from senators to the horsemen.”
Emperor from 54 CE (age 17) - 68 CE.
First the bad stuff:
- Had his mother killed.
- Said to have kicked his pregnant wife to death in a fit of rage.
- Executed Christians and opponents.
- Accused by some of being responsible for the Great Fire of Rome in 64 CE as he wanted to take lands and execute his Grand Ambition of creating the Domus Aurea.
Click the image below to read a National Geographic article on why Nero may not have been such a "bad boy" in historical terms.
From the article: “The gymnasium was part of a big change Nero brought about in Rome,” Filippi says. “He introduced the concept of Greek culture—and with it, this idea of physical and intellectual education of youth, and soon it spread throughout the empire. Before, such baths were only for the aristocrats. This changed social relations, because it put everyone on the same level, from senators to the horsemen.”
National Geographic video
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National Geographic video
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Roman Writers - Ovid. Wrote naughty stuff and got exiled.
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