Important People
Famous Romans
Julius Caesar
Julius Caesar was born in 100 BC. He was a great soldier. He helped to take over new land for the Roman Empire. He made many changes like the new calendar and the starting of a daily newspaper. He also totally changed the law. He became the most powerful man and sole leader in Rome and some people thought he was too powerful and that he wanted to be king. A group of senators (led by Brutus and Cassius) decided to kill him and take his power back. They surrounded him and stabbed him with their daggers on 15th March 44 BC.

Emperor Augustus
Augustus' proper name was Octavian. He was the adopted son of Julius Caesar. After Caesar's death he took over with two other men. One of them was Mark Antony. Later on, these two fell out and Augustus beat Antony in battle. Octavian ruled on his own and was given the special name Augustus. He was a clever and fair ruler and when he died in AD14, the people did not want to go back to a republic. 

Emperor Claudius
Claudius was a wise ruler. During his reign Britain became part of the empire. He came to Britain to accept the surrender of the leaders of the tribes of south-eastern Britain at Colchester in Essex.

Emperor Constantine
After AD305, the Roman Empire was split into an eastern and a western empire. Constantine the Great managed to join the two sides together for a while. He was the first emperor to be a Christian. He moved the capital of the empire from Rome to a new city in Turkey which he called Constantinople. Today it is called Istanbul. 

 

Revolutionaries

Hannibal
Carthage was a powerful city which controlled most of the Mediterranean Sea. By the middle of the 260sBC  the Romans and the Carthaginians were at war. This went on for nearly 20 years until the Romans won a big victory.
    The Carthaginians swore to crush Rome once and for all. They gathered an army and moved westwards towards Rome. They were joined by Spanish troops and soon had an army of 40,000 men.
    The leader of the troops was Hannibal a brilliant young general. He had 40 African war elephants, trained to charge at the enemy and trample them.
The army marched North gathering even more men. But then they reached the Alps.
    The icy mountains were hard to cross and by the time he reached Italy in 218BC, a quarter of his troops and lots of elephants were dead.
    However they did win three battles and should have attacked Rome then but Hannibal decided to gather more troops and food.
    Rome rebuilt its army and sent an army to attack Carthage. Hannibal and his army had to go back to protect their capital city and were defeated there. this meant that tha nation came under Rome's control.
 

 
An Iceni Coin

Boudicca
Iceni coin
 

Boudicca became leader of the Iceni (in Norfolk) when her husband Prasutagus died. The Romans took his treasure and Roman soldiers assaulted Boudicca and her two daughters. The Iceni people were very angry and decided to revolt. Within a few weeks Boudicca was leading an army of 70,000 men. They attacked Camulodunum (Colchester) a wealthy Roman town with only a few soldiers to protect it. The people hid in a temple to Claudius. Boudicca's army rushed through the town stealing things. They then battered down the temple doors and hacked the men, women and children to pieces. Then they set fire to the town and left it smoking.
The rebels moved in on Londinium (London). Suetonius (a roman leader) set-off for London with his cavalry, leaving his infantry to follow as fast as they could. When Suetonius reached London he realised he could not win and withdrew ordering the citizens to leave town. Boudicca killed anyone they could find in London and threw many bodies into the river. Some were killed in horrible ways as sacrifices. They then set of for Verulamium (St. Albans) and took that city. She had destroyed all three of the largest towns in Roman Britain and killed 60,000 people. She decided to take on the Roman army led by Suetonius. They met half way between St. Albans and Wroxeter. Boudicca had an army of about 100,000 including women and children against a small roman army of 10,000.
The Romans killed 80,000 men, women and children and lost only 400 of their own men. Boudicca escaped and took poison before the Romans could take her prisoner. The most serious threat to the Roman conquest was over. 

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