History 1-1-1: The Roman Empire Grows

Rome was a big republic. No.... not big....HUGE! At its height it had a population of near one million. That was unheard of back then.  Rome stretched all the way around the Mediterranean Sea, in Mesopotamia, modern day Turkey, southern Britain, and Africa (including Egypt). At first Rome was run with a republic, or a government where the citizens are able to vote for their officials. Republics are mostly used for if the citizens knew their leaders. Because Rome was so big, it had many cultures which made it hard for everyone to know who their leaders are. Rome was also continuously growing. The more they conquered, the more slaves they got. These slaves took the jobs that would have been foe Romans. This left thousands unemployed. This caused riots. Rome needed a leader, so they found Julius Caesar. Julius Caesar had conquered Gaul for Rome, that made him famous throughout the republic. His rule made many people unsure. They thought that Caesar would later become a king! They got really worried so they decided to try to forget the problem.......by assassinating him. That solved the problem. Well, maybe not. His assassination put Rome in a civil war! Later, Octavian, Julius's adopted son, became emperor in 31 B.C. Then, Rome became a Empire! In 27 B.C. Octavian took the name Augustus, which means "great and holy one" . His rule started a long period of peace called the Pax Romana. It all went down after Augustus died in A.D. 14. Families plotted and murdered to get the throne. Because of this, some emperors were known for being crazy and some were known for only ruling for a few months. At one point 27 out of 31 emperors were assassinated. Who would want to be emperor after that? In A.D. 284 a leader named Diocletian  became ruler. He decided that if he split the empire into two parts (Western and Eastern Empire), then it would make ruling the huge empire easier. Little did he know that this would make the empire weaker, not stronger...

To Be Continued

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