His nephew Octavian outmaneuvered or killed all rival claimants, and assumed near absolute power and the honorary name "Augustus". While Caesar's assassins claimed to be acting on behalf of the restoration of the Republic, a power struggle broke out over the inheritance of Caesar. Caesar started transforming the Republic into a dictatorship, but was betrayed and assassinated in 44 BC. Julius Caesar was a military leader who conquered Gaul (today's France) and other territories, won a civil war against the Senate, and introduced the Julian Calendar - which forms the base of the calendar used today in the Western world. The military became more powerful, and the republic became increasingly corrupt. Rome rose as a great power in the 3rd and 2nd centuries BC, as they defeated and annexed Etruria, Carthage and Ancient Greece. Some plebians rose to wealth and political prominence, from which they challenged the old system. Besides wars with other powers (notably Carthage), the Republican era was characterized by conflicts between the old aristocracy (patricians) and the common people (plebians). The Roman Republic was established in or around 509 BC. Tradition has it that there were seven kings of Rome with Romulus, the founder, being the first and Tarquinius Superbus falling to a republican uprising led by Brutus, but modern scholars doubt many of those stories and even the Romans themselves acknowledged that the sack of Rome by the Gauls in 387 BCE destroyed many sources on their early history.
The Roman Empire in 117 AD at the time of its greatest territorial extensionĪs with many ancient civilizations, Rome began as a city-state, founded, according to tradition, in 753 BC as an elective kingdom. The Roman Empire left a huge and lasting impact on the civilisations of Europe, North Africa and the Middle East, and Roman cultural influences continue to be evident in these civilisations and beyond. In 286 AD, it was effectively split into a western empire, ruled from Rome and an eastern (later, Byzantine) empire, ruled from Constantinople, which continued to exist until Constantinople was taken by the Ottoman Turks in 1453. At the height of its power in 117 AD, it ruled over considerable parts of Europe, as well as much of North Africa and the Middle East. It served as a base for Roman land and sea operations in the reconquest of Bruttium and the western Italiote cities.The Roman Empire was the greatest ancient empire of Europe. Indeed, Hannibal never secured all of Bruttium and western Magna Graecia, because Rhegion, which commanded the Straits of Messina, remained loyal to Rome throughout the war. It would take nearly a year to capture Petelia and Consentia, and only after these cities capitulated did Hannibal's commanders begin to gain the support of western Italiote cities such as Locri and Croton.
But some Bruttian communities, including the important cities of Petelia and Consentia, remained loyal to Rome, at least initially. Most of the Bruttians appear to have come over to the Carthaginians quite readily, though whether they did so before Mago's or Hanno's arrival is not clear. In the meantime, Hanno took over operations in Bruttium, though his forces did not reach the area until August at the earliest. Thence, Mago marched into Bruttium to encourage rebellion, and finally returned to Carthage and reported Hannibal's victories to the Carthaginian senate. At this point Hannibal divided his forces and marched into Campania, leaving part of his army with Mago to secure the loyalty of any remaining pro-Roman settlements ‘of that region’ ( regionis eius). After Cannae, Hannibal waited a few days in Apulia and then proceeded to Samnium there he gained the loyalty of Compsa as the pro-Roman aristocracy fled the city.
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