With the rise to power of Caesar Augustus, Rome entered a period of almost 200 years of internal peace. However, challenges remained for the Roman Empire. The challenges of unifying a multi-ethnic empire and struggles over morality troubled the Romans during the Pax Romana. In the third century B.C.E., economic and political problems shook the empire to its very foundations as the military gained in power. Two great rulers, Diocletian and Constantine struggled to hold the empire together with innovative reforms. Finally, the birth of a new religion transformed Roman society and culture. Romans initially ignored and even persecuted Christians, but eventually the empire itself embraced Christianity.

In Chapter 5, the students learn

about the formation of the Second Triumvirate, the civil war that followed Julius Caesar's death, and the ascendancy of Octavian (Augustus Caesar).

that Octavian's triumph coincided with the end of the Hellenized kingdoms.

how Cleopatra influenced events in Rome.

that one reason for Octavian's success as a ruler was his ability to appeal to traditional Roman values, including piety and patriotism.

how Augustus established the "Pax Romana."

that Augustus' long reign and his title of "first citizen" lent a sense of permanence to the system he established and that after his death, a successor with ties to his family would need to be recognized.

that the spread of the Roman empire meant the spread of Roman culture.

how the Romans "Romanized" a diverse empire as a way of controlling it.

about the attempts to improve social mores through legislation.

how the empire faced a series of crises, and the solutions its rulers attempted to impose.

that the center of the Roman empire, partly as a consequence of the drain of hard currency, shifted to the east.

that crisis led many Romans to consider new religions and philosophical movements.

about the emergence of Christianity, the Roman responses to it, and the reasons why it spread.

how early Christians struggled with the question of how best to live a Christian life.

that, once it emerged as an open, tolerated religion, Christianity faced the problem of establishing just what its orthodoxy was, and how to handle dissent from that orthodoxy.

that the growing importance of monasticism as an answer to some of these problems.

about the interactions, particularly through trade, of the Roman empire and China under the Han dynasty.