The Early Empire: Roman Empire

The Roman Republic had a single ruler, while the Empire was led by a strong monarch. In ancient times, there was a 200-year struggle between the wealthy and the common folk. Here is the structure of the early Roman Empire as mentioned below.

Senate

• The Senate was a powerful group that governed early Rome.
• The senate made up of wealthy Roman and Italian families who mostly belonged to the landowner class.
• Emperors were selected and judged based on how they treated the Senate.

Army

• Army was an another important part of ruling.
• They were consider as the authority after the emperor and the Senate.
• Roman soldiers were paid workers who served for a minimum of 25 years.
• By the fourth century, the army had around 600,000 soldiers and had a lot of power, even influencing who became emperor.
• How well an emperor did often depended on how much control they had over the army.

Civil Unrest

• In 69 BCE, four emperors ruled in quick succession, marking a tumultuous period.
• However, the first two centuries of the empire were relatively stable without civil wars.
• Succession to the throne followed family lineage, with natural or adopted heirs becoming the next emperor.
• This practice was strongly upheld by the army.

Augustan Age

• Regarded as the most peaceful time in the Roman Empire.
• Wars for expansion were rare, with Roman rule gradually extending by absorbing dependent kingdoms into its provinces.

The Roman Empire had two main time frames including the ‘Early Empire’ and the ‘Late Empire’. The Early Empire was from 27 BCE to the third century CE. At this time, people spoke many languages, but Latin and Greek were the most used language. Augustus started the Roman Empire in 27 BCE. They called him the ‘Principate’ or the ‘leading citizen’ to honor the Senate.

In this article, we are going to discuss The Early Empire of Rome in detail.