Julius Caesar Gaius Julius Caesar (July 12, 100 BC March 15, 44 BC) was a Roman military and

political leader. He played an important part in the transformation of the Roman Republic into the Roman Empire. He is widely considered to be one of the greatest military geniuses of all time, as well as a brilliant politician and one of the ancient world's strongest leaders. He was proclaimed dictator for life, and he heavily centralized the government of the Republic. He was assassinated on the Ides of March in 44 BC. Caesar's military campaigns are known in detail from his own written Commentaries (Commentarii), and many details of his life are recorded by later historians. He was one of the worlds greatest soldiers, worthy to be compared with Alexander the Great, Hannibal and Napoleon. He was a statesman and lawgiver of the first order. He was greatly esteemed for his eloquence by the Romans.

Augustus

Emperor Augustus of Rome was born with the name Gaius Octavius on September 23, 63 B.C. He took the name Gaius Julius Caesar Octavianus (Octavian) in 44 B.C. after the murder of his great uncle, Julius Caesar. In his will Caesar had adopted Octavian and made him his heir. Octavian was a shrewd, brilliant and astute politician. He was able to achieve a great power in Rome. At the time of Caesar's assassination, Octavian held no official position. Rome achieved great glory under Augustus. He restored peace after 100 years of civil war; maintained an honest government and a sound currency system; extended the highway system connecting Rome with its far-flung empire; developed an efficient postal service; fostered free trade among the provinces. The empire expanded under Augustus with his generals subduing Spain, Gaul, Panonia and Dalmatia. He annexed Egypt and most of southwestern Europe up to the Danube River. After his death, the people of Rome worshipped Augustus as a god.

Titus Nero Lucius Domitius Ahenobarbus, son of The well-connected imperial woman Agrippina the Younger, was born on Dec. 15 A.D. 37, in Latium. He would become the notorious Emperor Nero. After Agrippina the Younger, sister of Caligula and niece of the Emperor Claudius, married her uncle, she persuaded Claudius to adopt her son by a previous marriage. Not only did Claudius adopt Agrippina's boy, but he seems to have given him precedence over his own flesh and blood. Thus, when Emperor Claudius died, in A.D. 54, Lucius became Emperor. . A series of treason laws in A.D. 62 and the fire in Rome of A.D. 64 helped seal Nero's reputation. Nero used the treason laws to kill anyone he considered a threat. The fire opened an opportunity for Nero to build his golden palace, the domus aurea. The next year, a conspiracy was hatched to replace him with Calpurnius Piso. The conspiracy uncovered, Seneca, Nero's former teacher, and Lucan was among those forced to commit suicide. The Senate plotted to assassinate him. Nero was obliged to commit suicide on June 9 A.D. 68 in Rome after learning of the plot to kill him. Nero is remembered as a licentious emperor. Despite inadequate evidence, Nero is also known for burning Rome. Nero blamed the disastrous fire on the Christians. Titus Flavius Caesar Vespasianus Augustus; 30 December 39 13 September 81, was Roman Emperor from 79 to 81. A member of the Flavian dynasty, Titus succeeded his father Vespasian upon his death.. In A.D. 70, September 2, his son Titus took the city of Jerusalem, after a brave defense by the Jews, who were finally betrayed by their own factions. The city was totally destroyed, and nearly half a million of the Jews perished in the siege. Those who survived, being forbidden to rebuild their city, were scattered over the empire, and each Jew was compelled to pay a yearly tax of two drachmae, which was appropriated to rebuilding the Capitoline Temple. During the reign of Titus in A.D. 79 the violent eruption of Vesuvius occurred, together with an earthquake, by which Herculaneum, Stabiae, and Pompeii, three towns on the Bay of Naples, were all destroyed. In A.D. 81 Titus dedicated the Colosseum, which was now completed, and also his famous baths in the city of Rome. Splendid games and spectacles were exhibited in honor of these events. The inauguration games at the Roman Colosseum lasted for one hundred days and during this time over 2000 gladiators and 9,000 wild animals were slaughtered.

Brutus Marcus Junius Brutus (early June 85 BC late October 42 BC), often referred to simply as Brutus, was a politician of the late Roman Republic. He is best known in modern times for taking a leading role in the assassination conspiracy against Julius Caesar. Marcus Junius Brutus was the son of Marcus Junius Brutus the Elder and Servilia Caepionis. His father was killed by Pompey the Great in dubious circumstances after he had taken part in the rebellion of Lepidus; his mother was the half-sister of Cato the Younger, and later became Julius Caesar's mistress. Some sources refer to the possibility of Caesar being his real father. Brutus' uncle, Quintus Servilius Caepio, adopted him in about 59 BC, and Brutus was known officially for a time as Quintus Servilius Caepio Brutus before he reverted to using his birth-name. However, following Caesar's assassination in 44 BC, Brutus revived his adoptive name in order to illustrate his links to another famous tyrannicide, Gaius Servilius Ahala, from whom he was descended.