The Crisis of the Republic

In the 1^st century BC, the Republic was weakened by significant social and political crises.

Social crisis: the powerful class profited most from the conquests, receiving large plots of land and buying slaves. On the other hand, peasants were ruined because they had to serve in the army and could not compete with large landowners. This caused social conflicts.

Political crisis: to prevent disorder, the military formed triumvirates, i.e. alliances of the men who shared the power. The first triumvirate was formed by Julius Caesar, Crassus and Pompey. However, they soon disagreed and a civil war broke out. Julius Caesar won and was appointed perpetual dictator. In 44 BC, he was assassinated by a group of senators and supporters of the Republic. The second triumvirate was formed by three of Caesar's supporters: Mark Antony, Lepidus and Octavian. Octavian took control after several wars, and in 27 BC, the Senate gave him maximum powers.

As you can see, this is probably one of the most fascinating periods in History. This is the reason why tv series, books, comics, etc. based on this fascinating period succeed. Let's mention HBO's Rome, for example.

Let's delve into the intrigues of that time by means of three activities. For that, divide the class into three groups and each group will choose one activity.