Garrison Valliere AP World Summer Assignment Mr. McCullough
One of the greatest empires of the ancient world was that of Ancient Rome. Ancient Rome was created, in the 6th century bce and grew to be the world’s greatest empire until it’s fall in the 5th century ce. Like all nations, no matter how great, there must be changes and continuities made in order to keep that nation in order. Rome was no exception. During it’s time, Rome was host to many political, social, and economic changes and continuities. Some of these changes were negatively forced unto it by the outside world, such as the invasion of Germanic tribes around the end of the 4th century ce. Other changes and continuities were made to keep the state of the empire stable, such as the reform’s made by Caesar which enlarged the Senate by adding friends and allies, and created jobs for the poor to help better the economy. From its creation to its fall, Rome went through significant political, social, and economic changes and continuities throughout its lifetime.
Rome went through significant political changes during its years as an empire and even before when it was only a new republic. One such change was that the power of the emperor, which, from the time of the first emperor to the time of Rome’s fall, had increased tremendously. In the first century, the Roman emperor was considered just a figurehead, and the protector to the republic. An example of a first century emperor is the rule of Octavian Caesar, later know as Augustus Caesar. During his reign as emperor, Augustus helped Rome become stable and helped bring it to the Pax Romana, or Roman Peace. But these things do not mean he was all powerful, no. Augustus still abided by the Roman way of law, which included consulting a senate, or group of officials, for most government purposes, and rarely was able to make his own decisions without question. An, example of this increase in power of the emperor is Diocletian. By the end of the 3rd century moving into the 4th century ce, Diocletian had become emperor and governed unquestioned as absolute ruler and “descendant of the ancient Roman gods”, of Rome, severely limiting the power of the rest of the government. He also caused the split of Rome onto eastern and western halves, appointing himself ruler of the “Latin-speaking West” and General Maximian as the ruler of the Greek-speaking East”. Although, Diocletian had still kept overall control of both halves, which in turn started a trend in Rome in which the emperor now has absolute rule over the empire. Another example of this power increase for the emperor is the rule of Constantine. Constantine gained power over the western part of the empire in 312 ce and continued many policies of Diocletian. As ruler he had complete power, and in 324 he gained control of the East and became the all-powerful emperor of Rome. He even was able to singlehandedly move the capital of Rome from the city of Rome itself to the Greek city of Byzantium, in what is now Turkey. This new capital stood on the Bosporus Strait and was strategically located for trade and defense between the easetern and western portions of the empire. Constantine had this new capital reinforced by large walls and filled with building modeled after those in Rome, he then named the city after himself, Constantinople, city of Constantine. Constantine also changed the ways of religion of Rome by making the persecuted belief of Christianity the official Roman religion. An emperor being able to name a city after himself, and change the religion of an empire, shows that the emperor has become Rome’s one absolute ruler and that the title of emperor has gained power over its time. Another significant political change in the history of Rome was the shift of power within the government from Rome’s beginning to its end. In the beginning of Rome, the three settlers who populated it were the Latins, Etruscans, and Greeks. They had fought over the land