Emperors

When Caesar was assassinated, Augustus raised an army to claim his inheritance,
for he was his adopted nephew. At the battle of Actium, in 31 BC, he defeated the last of
his opponents, Mark Anthony, and took control of Rome. To make his power lawful, the
Senate named him Imperium proconsulare maius infinitum in 23 BC, which gave him control
over the provinces and the army. He saw it as the only way to sustain the empire. He ran it
as an autocracy. Augustus acted in the name of the Senate, and the Senate reflected his
will to keep people satisfied that the government was working together.

Augustus built temples to encourage and place importance in Roman religion.
He gladly spent money to improve the artwork of Rome. He tried to revive the traditional
Roman religion to improve the moral climate of the empire. He also tried to fortify the
traditional Roman family by established laws which punished adultery and required
marriage.

He developed an imperial civil service to govern the empire more effectively.
Augustus divided the city of Rome into 14 wards and organized a bureaucracy to control
them which resulted in a more effective way to govern it. The Urban cohorts were his
police force for the wards, and either senators or Augustus himself served as ward leaders.

The focal point of his leadership was the military. Augustus had a great military
mind, and used his military strength well. With himself at the head he organized the military
and used it to invade new countries as well as to control the frontier regions of the Roman
Empire. His claims included Spain, Gaul, Egypt, and Armenia. He also signed a peace
treaty with Parthia, showing he used wisdom as well as aggression.

Augustus was remembered well by his people and died with honor. His
stepson, Tiberius, inherited Roman control. He was a great leader for the Roman Empire.
His wisdom and intelligence benefited the people of his empire, for he was a strong as well
as a fair ruler. He reigned during the Pax Romana.

Hadrian was distinguished as an administrator and a commander. When he was
announced as Trajan's successor, some people were unhappy with this. Nevertheless, he
led a vigorous and judicious rule. His reign was a time of reform, consolidation of the
empire, and building.

By pacifying Moesia he improved his military skill. Hadrian withdrew to the
boundary of the Euphrates, which was unlike Trajan's aggressive policy. However, he
proved himself ruthless in Palestine: he excluded the Jews from Jerusalem and aroused
opposition. In Rome, he was most generous in offering circuses and in giving alms to the
poor, and he enlarged and reformed the civil service.

He traveled all over the empire. In Germany, he built great protective walls; and
in Britain, he had Hadrian's Wall built. He carried out his plan of building a temple of Jupiter
Capitolinus on the site of the ruined Temple at Jerusalem. He built the Arch of Hadrian in
Athens; and in Rome, he rebuilt the Pantheon, added to the Roman Forum, and erected a
mausoleum. Before he died, he chose his successor to be Antoninous Pius.

Vespasian was a successful general in the province of Judea. When his troops
urged him to seize power, they marched to the capitol, only to find them face-to-face with
their Roman enemy for the first time in a hundred years. The Roman civilians were caught
in the middle when Vespasian gained the upper hand. His forces won. The Senate ratified
that Vespasian was Emperor of Rome from then on.

Rome became a military dictatorship. Vespasian restored the capital by building
temples, a theater, and began to build the Colosseum. He approached the business of
government with an earthy humor unlike his predecessors. His expenditures were financed
by new taxes; he was frugal. He became the empires hope for stability, which was more
than being a conquering general after decades of abuse and uncertainty.

Rome benefited from Vespasian's steady hand, but in the year 79, he became very
ill. He knew he was dying, but still made humor of his own death. He had brought Rome
through its civil war and left it stronger and more resilient. But a troubled legacy was
passed, for the empire was plagued by the scourge of hereditary rule. His reign occurred
during the rebirth of the Roman Empire.

Constantine became emperor of Rome in 306. He converted after a war
against his brother-in-law and Maxentius. Before the battle of Milvian Bridge, Constantine
believed he needed a miracle. While he was praying for it, God sent him a vision of a cross
of light at midday, with an inscription on it: "in hoc signo vinces " which meant: "In this sign,
you will be victorious." That night he had a dream that proved his earlier vision. God told
him to use the sign he had been given as a safeguard in all of his battles. So, Constantine
converted to Christianity and ordered the symbol of his Savior to represent his army.
Constantine was victorious in the battle and continued to wear the cross of Christ against
every hostile power he faced.

His conversion helped Christianity in many ways. Persecution stopped, for one
thing. And Constantine's conversion to Christianity made sure that his subjects were
converted. He also made Sunday an official Roman holiday so more people could attend
church. Constantine made Churches tax-exempt. However, in a way, this promoted
corruption and hypocrisy because many of the things that helped Christianity spread were
disfigured; the personal significance was changed. Many people were attracted to the
Church because of the money and favorable positions available to them from Constantine
rather than from piety.

Constantine also called together and presided over the Council of Nicaea.
Three-hundred bishops attended. They dealt with the dispute over the personhood of
Christ. The Council issued a creed affirming Jesus' complete divinity. The decision was
enforced politically by Constantine.

No one really knows if Constantine's conversion happened only because he
thought that if he did then he would win all of his battles; either way, the time of his reign
was very important to the Church. This is because he declared Christianity the official
religion in the Edict of Milan, he abandoned paganism, and he made it so that Sunday was
observed, clergy were exempted of taxes, and temple treasures were confiscated. He
settled an argument about Jesus' divinity. He also funded for the construction of churches.
Most Christian leaders truly admired Constantine for what he did for the Church and
Christians.

Nero was raised by his poor mother, Agrippina, but that changed when she
married Claudius, the emperor at the time. Since then, Nero was being tutored by Seneca
the elder. Agrippina convinced Claudius to adopt Nero. In 50 AD, he became the
probable heir to the throne. In 54 AD, she murdered Claudius and Nero became the ruler
at the age of 17.

At first Nero's mother had a great deal of authority. However, Nero became
resentful of her power; so, Agrippina was removed from the palace in 55. Then the
Praetorian Prefect Burrus and Seneca took over and ruled the empire successfully. Up
until 59, Nero was known for his generosity and mildness: during this period he forbade
capital punishment and contests involving bloodshed in the circus and reduced taxes. This
side of the emperor disappeared when he ordered the murder of his mother, who was
accused of treason in 59. Burrus died in the year 62 from a throat tumor, although he
believed that Nero had poisoned him.

One of the most famous events of this reign was the fire of Rome. In 64 AD,
Nero was in Antium when the fire started in the Circus Maximus. The fire spread and raged
furiously over Rome for nine days. Nero returned and started to rebuild the city, which
caused some to suspect that he planned the fire in order to make room for a new city built
in his honor. Nero put the blame on the Christians. His brutality was exhibited through the
persecution of these early Christians. This persecution took on different forms for the
Christians, as some were torn to death by dogs while others were used as torches to light
Nero's gardens and parties.

The senate became unimpressed with him and his unfulfilled promises, so turned
against him. A group of these senators joined together in 65 to form the Pisonian
Conspiracy. Their aim was to murder Nero and replace him with C. Calpurnius Piso.
Eventually they were discovered and punished severely with the number of executions
increasing daily. One of these victims was Seneca.

Nero frequently traveled to Greece. But in 68, a food shortage and unrest
brought him back to Rome. There were many uprisings against him. Nero's reign during
the years of trial finally came to an end in 68 AD when he committed suicide with the help
of his secretary, Epaphroditus.