ABSTRACT
The Roman republic and the Roman empire – this historical division separates volumes of textbooks, determines course offerings at universities, and is featured in most time lines of western and even world civilization. The facts of the change from one system to another appear simple. At the end of the first century B.C.E. the republic collapsed in a series of civil wars. Octavian, the adopted heir of Julius Caesar, emerged as final victor in 30 B.C.E., changed his name to Augustus, and became the first emperor. Augustus founded the imperial system, which passed successfully to his chosen heir upon his death in 14 C.E. But how did it really happen? How, in less than half a century, was a 500-year-old oligarchic system replaced by a new and stable imperial government, which itself lasted centuries? What is the nature of the change in the res publica, literally, “the public thing,” between the Roman republic and the empire?
