Rome also known as the ancient city was the capital of the greatest empire of the ancient world. It was a great and prosperous city that was filled with at least one million people. Many people believe that the height of the city of Rome reached its height near the time that emperor constantius the second had seen it for the first time. When he had seen all the sights such as the sanctuary of Jupiter capitolinus, the public baths, the coliseum and the circus maximus and the dome of the pantheon.
And then once he saw the forum built by Trajan he started to complain about all of the wonderful stories he was told about Rome and those stories were not giving Rome enough credit. Julius Caesar Julius Caius Caesar lived from a questionable 102? Before Christ44 before Christ , Julius Caesar was a roman statesman and a general. Julius caeser was born into the Julian Gens family one of the oldest aristocratic families in Rome, Julius Caesar was always a member of the democratic or also known as the popular party. In 82 Before Christ. , Sulla condemned Julius Caesar, who fled from Rome when Sulla died in 78 Before Christ.
Julius Caesar returned back to Rome and began his political career as a member of the popular party. In 69 Before C. Julius Caesar helped Pompey to obtain the supreme command for the war in the East. When Julius Caesar returned to Rome from Spain in 68 Before Christ he created one of his greatest contributions to history the Julian calendar. In 60 Before Christ Julius Caesar organized a union that was known as the First triad, made up of Pompey, commander and chief of the army, Marcus Licinius Crassus the wealthiest person in Rome, and Julius Caesar himself.
In the years 58 to 49 Before Christ Julius Caesar made his reputation in the Gallic wars. Caesar made explorations into Britain in 55 and 54 Before Christ and defeated the Britains. By the end of the Gallic wars Julius Caesar had reduced all of Gaul to Roman control. The battles of the Gallic wars Julius Caesar one of the greatest military commanders of all time developed the personal devotion of the Roman legions to him self. Crassus’s death in 53 Before Christ ended the First Triad and put Pompey and Caesar at each others throats.
In 50 Before Christ the senate ordered Caesar to disperse his army, but two tribunes faithful to Caesar, 1. Marc Antony and Quintus Cassius Longinus, vetoed the bill. They fled to Caesar, who assembled his army and got the support of the soldiers against the senate. On Jan. 19, 49 Before Christ, Caesar crossed the Rubicon, the stream holding his province from entering Italy, once he crossed this stream the civil war began. Julius Caesars march to Rome was a triumphant one filled with happiness and joy in the Romans part although I cant say that for the Italians. At Pharsala in 48 B. C. Caesar defeated Pompey, when he was defeated he fled to Egypt, where he was killed by Julius Caesar . Caesar, having pursued Pompey to Egypt, remained there for some time, living with Cleopatra who lived from 69 Before Christ30 Before Christ she was the queen of Egypt, and one of the most well known heroines of history. Cleopatra was The daughter of Ptolemy the eleventh, Cleopatra was forced by custom marry her younger brother Ptolemy the twelth. By revolting against Ptolemy the twelth with the help of Julius Caesar, Cleopatra won the kingdom of Egypt although Egypt remained a henchmen of Rome.
After Cleopatras husband died, she married another brother, Ptolemy the thirteenth but during this time she was the mistress of Julius Caesar, and in Rome she had a son of which she named Caesarion later named as Ptolemy the fourteenth of which she said was his own son. On Julius Caesars return to Rome, he set about reorganized the living conditions of the people by passing Agrarian laws and also by improving the housing of the Romans . In 44 Before Christ he became dictator for life.
This meant until he died he would own and rule all of Rome. Julius Caesars dictatorship powers made great resentment in his enemies, but when a conspiracy was formed against him, it was made up of his not his enemies but friends. Julius Caesar even heard of the conspiracy but he did not believe that his own friends would do such a thing to him so he made no action against any of them. among the many were Cimber, Casca, Cassius, and Marcus Junius Brutus. On March 15, 44 Before Christ, he was stabbed to death in front of the senate house.
He was confronted by a leader of a mob that was going to kill Julius Caesar who had been mad that his brother was exiled by Julius Caesar. He asked him to let his brother come back to Rome but Caesar refused. Then 49 other guys came out and he was brutally stabbed to death by this mob by about 21 stabs to his body. His will left everything to his 18-year-old grandnephew Octavian who later was named Augustus. Caesar made the Roman Empire. Cleopatra After the murder of Julius Caesar cleopatra was visited by Marc Antony who fell deeply in love with her.
She seemed to have hoped to use him to rebuild her throne’s power. The two were married in 36 Before Christ But the Romans were very hostile at this time and Octavian later known as Augustus defeated Marc Antony in 31 Before Christ. Failing to defend themselves in Egypt, Antony and Cleopatra killed themselves. Diocletian Diocletians full name was Caius Aurelius Valerius Diocletianus, this gives you a good idea why everyone called him Diocletion he lived from 245313 A. D. , Diocletian was the Roman emperor from 284 to 305 A. D.
He was An army commander of humble birth, he was chosen in a vote mainly because the army was allowed to vote so they voted for who they knew there commander and the first law that he had passed was that the army was not allowed to vote anymore. He did this because if the army could vote him in they could vote someone else in as the ruling emperor. He made four areas of the empire he separated them so that the Empire could defend itself faster and better. The commander was called an Augustus and each Augustus had a Administrator which was called a Caesar.
When the commander or the Augustus died the Administrator or Caesar took charge and chose a new Caesar. Constantine the great Constantine the Great started as the emperor in 284 A. D. but then because he got board of it he retired in 305 A. D. the at this time the roman empire went in to civil war again this civil war to them was like electronics is for us an every day thing. This civil war was for who would be the emperor this civil war lasted from 307 to 310 A. D. In 312 A. D. Constantine the great defeated his main western rival maxentius.
This battle was scheduled to be on the bridge of milvian. So it was called the battle of the milvian bridge, who real shocker. The night before Constantine had a ritual we all like to not call fear. Constantine thought about how he was going to beat his rival and what he would do if he lost the battle if he should die like a man or run like a little coward which would have been very pathetic so he wouldnt do that but anyway he asked god for a sign and low and behold Constantine the great was given a sign when he looked up in the sky he saw a cross by this time it had been made the christian sign.
Constantine had all of his army soldiers to put this sign somewhere on their shield and Constantine won the battle so he choose because god helped me I must be a christian. In the end he decided to proclaim himself as a christian. Constantine lived his life for the church he had many churches built and he became one of the most powerful persons in the church. Because his power was in the church he was able to increase taxes and make knew jobs for the people.
One of the churches he had built was the St. peters church. By legend it was supposed to have been built on the burial site of St. peter but this was not were he died so it wasnt such a great church after all. Constantine the great also Co. wrote a law called the edict of malon which granted complete tolerance to all religions including the christian religion and that any of the peoples items that were confiscated would be returned to their rightful owners.