● The democratic part of Rome slowly was phased out
● The senate now voted with the positions of Rome ● The emperors decided that all soldiers must be loyal to them to stop civil war ● The emperor became a symbol to soldiers ● Octavian/Augustus 27 BCE-14CE) turned the republic into a monarchy without the people noticing ● He called himself 1st citizen, not king and was not aggressive towards getting power ● Augustus pretended to not want power but the people gave him more and more power ● The politicians saw Augustus’s schemes but they couldn’t go back ● Augustus means revered one ● Augustus built a lot of buildings ● He brought back some laws but some couldn’t work because they were made for a republic ● He established the Praetorian Guards who were skilled soldiers who basically became police ● He established peace with Parthia ● Augustus warned the empire shouldn’t get any bigger at the end of his life ● First 200 years was Pax Romana ‘Roman Peace’ ● Gaius Caligula (r. 37-41 CE) ● Caligula became insane after recovering from being sick ● He made his horse a priest ● Nero (r. 54-68 CE) ● Great Fire of Rome (64CE) ● All of the historical accounts were from senators who hate him ● Nero was not in Rome at the time and went on his balcony to find out how much damage happened ● He built the Golden House out of some of the burnt land ● Nero killed himself by slitting his throat ● Trajan (r. 98-117 CE) ● Nowadays emperors didn’t fight anymore but Trajan did ● But he loved conquest too much ●