JULIUS CAESAR AND OCTAVIAN AUGUSTUS
In Rome, it calmed down a little only after Sulla's death., when Pompey took over the city. and Licinius Crassus. Pompey was mainly interested in plundering overseas wars, and his frequent absence from the capital gave Julius Caesar, a talented orator with the ability to raise funds, a chance to stand out.. When Pompey in 60 r. BC. returned to Rome, founded the first Triumvirate with Crassus and Caesar.
W 59 year p. n. e. Caesar bought himself the job of consul, and then spent eight years fighting the Gauls. His military achievements irritated Pompey and problems began. Pompey turned against his old ally and Caesar proceeded to counterattack. W 49 r. p.n.e., against the orders of the Senate, crossed the Rubicon, but when he got to the city, and met no resistance. Caesar became the absolute ruler of Rome. He spent the next four years carrying out civil reforms, writing the history of the Gallic Wars and prosecuting Pompey and his allies in Spain. Greece and Egypt. A group of his opponents in the Senate, including Caesar's favorite Brutus, started a conspiracy ending with the murder of Caesar in 44 r. p.n.e., a few months after that. as he was made a lifetime ruler. One year later. Octavian, Caesar's nephew and heir. Lepidus and Mark Antony formed the second Triumvirate. This system was again full of tensions, this time the struggle for power was fought between Antony and Octavian. While Antony was staying with Cleopatra. Octavian strengthened his military power, i w 31 r. BC. there was a final confrontation at Actium. where Antony committed suicide.
As sole ruler, Octavian took the name of Augustus Caesar and initiated a series of reforms and public works, keeping absolute power to himself, despite the modest official title of "the first of the Senators".
Emperors
Tiberius (14-37 n.e.). successor of Augustus, he ruled wisely, but then the period of decline began. During the reign of the psychopath Caligula (37-41) the functioning of the empire was supervised by the state administration; Claudius (41-54) he conquered southern Britain, and his successor Nero, step son (54-68). he murdered his mother Agrippina and his wife Octavia. then beginning the cruel persecution of Christians. Threatened by a coup d'état, Nero committed suicide, and a year 68 four emperors successively followed. Heyday during the reign of the Flavian family (Vespasian and his sons Titus and Domitian) it was a foretaste of the Antoninian century, the golden age of emperors: Nerves, Trajan, Hadrian. Antoninus Pius and Marcus Aurelius, these emperors consolidated the infrastructure of the empire and created favorable conditions for the development of arts. A perfect embodiment of this is the equestrian statue of Marcus Aurelius in Rome - an equally refined work has to wait until the Renaissance.
The reign of Marcus Aurelius' son was full of unrest. The dresser (180-193) and his successors, none of which fully controlled the legions. Artistic life, intellectual and religious entered a period of stagnation, and the scales of economic development shifted to the north, while poverty was increasing in the agricultural south.