The Julio-Claudians
Augustus
Everybody was tired of all this fighting
and killing. And everyone was afraid of Octavian. So when Octavian
just kept ruling almost as if he were king, nobody tried to stop him.
He made people call him Augustus (which means The Good) instead of Octavian.
But he was smarter than his uncle Julius Caesar
had been.
Augustus
He didn't call himself dictator, but First Citizen. He didn't disband
the Senate; he made the Senate do what he wanted. He had himself elected
tribune, so he could veto
whatever the Senate did that he didn't like. People
knew that Augustus was really taking over, but as long as there was
peace and he didn't SAY he was taking over, it was okay with them.
Augustus' wife Livia
Augustus lived a long time, until 14 AD.
When he died, hardly anyone could remember before he was in power, or
all they remembered was killing and blood.
His son-in-law (his daughter Julia's husband) Tiberius took over as
First Citizen. Tiberius wasn't really a very
good ruler (we call them emperors now, but they didn't call themselves
that). He spent a lot of time swimming and having big parties. He left
most of the work to his assistants. But still people thought that was
better than civil war.
Caligula
Tiberius died in 37 AD, and his nephew Germanicus' son Gaius, who
is often called Caligula, took over. Caligula wasn't too bad at first,
but he seems to have suffered from mental
illness. After a while he started doing things like trying to make
his horse a senator, and
trying to marry his sister. By 41 AD people decided he was too hard
to deal with and his own guards killed him.
More about the Julio-Claudians (page two)
For more on the Julio-Claudians, check out these books from Amazon.com or from your library:
Classical Rome, by John Clare (1993). For kids, the whole political history from beginning to end.
Oxford First Ancient History, by Roy Burrell (reissued 1997). For kids. It skips around a lot, not trying to tell everything, just highlights.
The Romans: From Village to Empire, by Mary Boatwright, Daniel Gargola, and Richard Talbert (2004). Okay, it's a little dry, but it is up to date and has all the facts you could want.
The Roman Revolution, by Ronald Syme (1960). Still a classic.
From
the Gracchi to Nero: A History of Rome from 133 B.C. to A.D. 68
by H. H. Scullard (1959, 5th edition 1990). Another classic.
More about the Julio-Claudians
Year of the Four Emperors
Main Roman history page
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