Lecture 6: 31 B.C. Actium—Birth of the Roman Empire
Sea. Although Rome had achieved great success with its overseas
conquests, these same successes had created severe internal strains
in the fabric of the republican system of government.x What had been a ruling coalition of powerful families had devolved
into a few strong men dominating through wealth, power, and
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B.C., a sequence of these men—Marius, Sulla, Pompey, and Julius
Caesar—had fought a brutal series of what were essentially civil
wars. Yet none was able to hold on to power permanently.x Even if the republic was no longer a political reality, many of its
ideals remained powerful, and the strongest of these was a deep-
seated aversion to being ruled by a king or anyone who acted like a
king. This sentiment led to the assassination of Julius Caesar in 44
B.C., when his behavior became too monarchial.x Caesar’s death left two candidates vying for power in Rome:
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who inherited most of Caesar’s wealth, prestige, and the loyalty
of the majority of his legions. Mark Antony was direct and
tough, a military man who got along well with the common
soldier; he could hold the allegiance of his men by sharing
their witticisms and living conditions, but he did not have the
subtlety of mind for complex political machinations.o The second was Octavian, a boy just out of his teens, whom
Caesar posthumously adopted as his son. Octavian possessed
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affairs to give the appearance he desired them to have. He
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and forthright, a natural military commander of considerable
genius. With Octavian directing grand political strategy and
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they were a formidable pair