This new innovation allowed the civil life of the Republic to run in a much more regulated manner than it had done before. It was a solar calendar which also required an extra day (a 'leap day') every four years to compensate for the fact that an Earth year is just a little over 365 To resolve the problem, Caesar created a new calendar, called the Julian calendar, based on ideas supplied by astronomer Sosigenes of Alexandria. For the people of Rome, this meant that they were celebrated winter festivals before winter had begun.Īs time went on, the problem only became great. By the 40s BC, the traditional Roman calendar was about three months, or an entire season, out of sync. This meant that after ten years, the calendar was 50 days out of sync with the seasons. The five-day difference would accumulate over time. This meant that a year was around 360 days long, rather than 365 days. The main cause of these problems was that it was a lunar calendar, rather than a solar one. In 46 BC, Julius Caesar revamped the calendar system. By the 1st century BC, the traditional Roman calendar had many problems. Which he considered the finest city of the Mediterranean. There was another purpose for constructing major projects throughout Rome: Caesar wanted to improve the city's appearance after comparing Rome to Alexandria, The construction of these new public buildings had the additional benefit of requiring a lot of manual labour.Īs a result, many of the poor Romans were hired as builders, which helped alleviate unemployment The most famous of these was called the Forum Julium, which was named after Caesar himself. He invested money on building new meeting places which could provide a space where the people of Rome could meet to trade their goods. This provided new accommodation for the poor citizens who were living on the streets.Ĭombined with the relocation of many of them to the new colonies overseas, the pressure on Rome was significantly reduced.Īlso, Caesar rebuilt the streets and roadways in Rome to allow easier access to public places. The suburbs of Rome had become overcrowded and large areas of the city had fallen into disrepair and even slums.Ĭaesar ordered that entire sections of the city be torn down and rebuilt with new housing. Since the Senate house had been destroyed when it was used as Clodius's funeral pyre in 52 BC, Caesar He also built a number of temples and other public buildings. He built a new forum, which was the center of Roman public life. The relocation of many of the people to overseas colonies contributed to this reduction, as well as better record-keeping to truly identify who the legitimateįor those who still depended on the grain dole, Caesar tried to improve the importation and distribution of the grain by building a new harbour at Ostia andĬaesar also oversaw a number of new building projects in Rome. So, Caesar slashed the grain rations in half, by limiting the number of people who were receiving it to 150,000. Significant amount of money was being spent every day just feeding poor people. However, the number of people who had flooded into the city during the turbulent war years, and the decreasing money being made at the same time, meant that a Which sought to guarantee food to the citizens of Rome.Įvery day, each citizen was given enough grain for bread to support themselves. This had been an initiative introduced by Gaius Gracchus almost 100 years earlier One of the largest monetary pressures on the city or Rome was the free grain dole. Of life, but also socially, as deep resentments and suspicions ran deep. However, years of civil war had scarred the Roman republic both physically, in the immense loss With this victory, Julius Caesar was the undisputed ruler of Rome. The civil war lasted for several more years and eventually ended with Caesar's victory over the last Pompeiian troops at the Battle of Munda in March of 45 Even though Pompey was defeated at theīattle of Pharsalus in 48 BC and killed in Egypt soon after, his supporters continued to resist Caesar in both north Africa and Spain. This led to a civil war between Caesar and Pompey. Situation and marched on Rome at the start of 49 BC. In 53 BC, Crassus was killed in battle and Pompey became the most powerful leader of Rome.Ĭaesar, who was military governor of Gaul at the time, decided to take advantage of the Pompey and Crassus were constantly vying for power, which led to tension between the two men. However, it was not without its problems. This alliance, which was formed in 60 BC, allowed them to effectively control Rome. Julius Caesar had come to power through a political alliance with Pompey the Great, andĬrassus, which was called the First Triumvirate.
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