The Roman Empire, which was built after the end of the Republic, corresponded to the period of greatest splendor of Civilization Roman, with major urbanization and beautification works in cities, in addition to a great incentive to cultural and artistic.
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Empire (27 a. Ç. – 476 d. Ç.)
The struggles existing in the Second Triumvirate, during the Republic, centralized power in otavio. Victorious, he became emperor of Rome, receiving the title of august, which means divine. With that, the Roman emperors started to be worshiped as gods. The main dynasties of the Roman Empire were the Julius-Claudiana (14-68), the Flavios (69-96), the Antoninos (96-192) and the Severos (192-235).
Between 235 and 476, several emperors alternated in power, including Diocletian, Constantine, Julian and Theodosius. Constantine it gave freedom of worship to Christians in 313, seeking the support of the large portion of the population that had adhered to the new religion. He also had the city of constantinople, where there used to be the Greek colonization village Byzantium, transferring the capital of the Empire there.
During the Empire, the Roman Civilization knew its political and cultural apogee. The end of expansion wars, a situation known as Pax Romana, led to the greatest territorial extension that the Romans achieved. This situation also provided investment in the arts, literature, philosophy, architecture and law. They built cities, roads, aqueducts and other series of buildings.
But Pax Romana created problems, as the lack of slave labor increased with the end of the expansion wars. Food production declined, raising prices and forcing governments to raise taxes.
It was also during the Empire that Christianity was strengthened and became a danger to the Roman social order, as Christians refused to worship Roman deities. The freedom of worship instituted by Constantine was a concession to Christians.
Another problem faced by the Romans was the invasions of the barbarian peoples who inhabited the frontier regions of the Empire. These invasions began with the Germans in the third century d. a., taking to the later crisis that would bring about the aim of the Empire.
In 395, Emperor Theodosius decided to divide the Empire into two: The Western Roman Empire, with its capital in Rome, and the Eastern Roman Empire, with its capital in Constantinople. The aim was to facilitate defense against the pressure of barbarian invasions.
But at the beginning of the fifth century, the invasions intensified. First with the Visigoths, who broke through the military defenses at the borders, sacked Rome and later settled in the Iberian Peninsula. From then on, several other peoples invaded the Empire, such as the Ostrogoths, the Vandals, the Burgundians, the Swabians and the Huns.
The Western Roman Empire would completely collapse in 476, when Odoacer, king of the Heruli, deposed Romulus Augustulus, the last Roman emperor of the West. However, the Eastern Roman Empire would exist for another thousand years yet, maintaining the Roman legacy until the year 1453, when the Ottoman Turks invaded Constantinople.
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