Now for some more notes on Ancient Rome:
- Poet Juvenal from Rome says the way to keep plebeians happy is to give them circus' and bread.
- the bread is free grain from the state and the circus is entertainment to keep them quiet, happy, distracted, and docile.
- Tiberius Gracchus saw the advantages of courting plebeians, so the military leaders used that to their advantage.
- They lead an army to conquer the land and then give them a share in the spoils.
- Some soldiers were only loyal to their leader and not necessarily to Rome or the Republic.
- Julius Caesar (100 - 44 BC)was the greatest, he was a successful general, and conquered the huge territory of Gaul.
- He made common folk happy, made friends in high places (Pompey: a general who conquered Syria and Palestine & Crassus: the richest man in Rome, one of the richest men in all history)
- those three men formed the first triumvirate, "rule of the three men"
- Crossing the Rubicon is crossing the point of no return
- Caesar served as a consul for one year, appointed himself governor of Gaul.
- Pompey becomes jealous and turned into a rival of Caesar, their armies clash in Greece, Asia, Spain, and Egypt, & Caesar wins.
- In 44BC Caesar is named dictator for six months, then for life.
- Caesar's reforms: granted citizenship to people in provinces, expanded the Senate & adding friends, created jobs for poor & especially through public work projects, increased soldiers' pay and created colonies were those without land could have property.
- Caesar was assassinated because other Senators saw his power as a huge threat to their political viability.
- They lured him into the Senate, stabbing him 23 times, making sure all were involved, even Brutus, Caesars ally.
- The senators weren't punished, Octavian was named Julius Caesar's sole heir.
- This is basically the end of the Republic.
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