A MIGHTY EMPIRE In March 44 BCE a young Roman man named Octavian learned his great uncle the mighty Gaius Julius Caesar had been murdered Caesar had been a general in the Roman army before becoming a statesman an authority figure in Roman politics and then head of the government Along the way Caesar had made enemies The Pantheon has survived the centuries to become a popular tourist attraction CHAPTER 1 7
BETRAYAL AND ASSASSINATION The ruling body of Rome the Senate did not care for the tactics Caesar used to gain political power with his allies Crassus and Pompey After the death of Pompey in 48 BCE Caesar became the most powerful man in Rome Some senators feared he would use his power to crown himself king They plotted to assassinate Caesar His murder prompted a series of civil wars within Rome The Roman Republic started unraveling The Assassination of Julius Caesar The assassination of Julius Caesar has become legendary inspiring playwright William Shakespeare to recount the man’s life and death in the play Julius Caesar On the Ides of March March 15 according to the Roman calendar in 44 BCE Caesar made his way to the Theatre of Pompey for a meeting of the Senate There conspirators confronted him including Tillius Cimber who presented Caesar with a petition to allow his exiled brother to return to Rome When Caesar declined Cimber grabbed him Another conspirator Casca attacked Caesar with a sharpened writing instrument called a stylus Immediately all the men with Cimber began attacking and stabbing Caesar Brutus a Roman politician and Caesar’s friend was among them which prompted Shakespeare’s famous line uttered by the dying Caesar Et tu Brute which is Latin for You too Brutus 1 With 23 stab wounds Caesar bled to death on the Senate floor The assassins marched to the city’s capitol rejoicing and announcing that the city was once again free The citizens of Rome however remained in their homes and did not join in the revelry The assassination of Caesar brought about years of civil war and unrest 8
In his will Caesar adopted Octavian and made the 19-year-old his sole heir The young man took the name Gaius Julius Caesar Octavianus He then began an ascent to power that would usher in a new era in Rome Caesar’s chief lieutenant Mark Antony took control of Rome after Caesar’s murder Octavian raised an army of men who had been loyal to the assassinated Caesar and they defeated Mark Antony in 43 BCE Octavian forced the Roman Senate to elect him to a high-ranking position He then struck an agreement with Mark Antony and the two men along with an ally of Caesar named Lepidus divided the existing provinces among themselves Mark Antony took control of Rome’s eastern provinces Octavian ruled the western provinces Lepidus oversaw Rome’s territory in North Africa The next year in 42 BCE Octavian joined military forces with Mark Antony and the two defeated Caesar’s assassins Octavian had avenged the death of Caesar and had risen to formidable power within Rome THE AGE OF THE ROMAN EMPEROR Octavian did not settle for sharing the rule of Rome In 32 BCE he went to war against Mark Antony The two had earlier removed Lepidus from power leaving only the two of them in control of Rome In the Battle of Actium on September 2 31 BCE Octavian’s general Marcus Agrippa defeated the 9
