Rome suffered a long series of internal conflicts , conspiracies and civil wars from the late second century BC onward , while greatly extending its power beyond Italy . This was the period of the Crisis of the Roman Republic . Towards the end of this era , in 44 BC , Julius Caesar was briefly perpetual dictator before being assassinated . The faction of his assassins was driven from Rome and defeated at the Battle of Philippi in 42 BC by an army led by Mark Antony and Caesar 's adopted son Octavian . Antony and Octavian 's division of the Roman world between themselves did not last and Octavian 's forces defeated those of Mark Antony and Cleopatra at the Battle of Actium in 31 BC , ending the Final War of the Roman Republic . In 27 BC the Senate and People of Rome made Octavian '' princeps '' ( " first citizen " ) with proconsular '' imperium '' , thus beginning the Principate ( the first epoch of Roman imperial history , usually dated from 27 BC to 284 AD ) , and gave him the name " Augustus " ( " the venerated " ) . Though the old constitutional machinery remained in place , Augustus came to predominate it . Although the republic stood in name , contemporaries of Augustus knew it was just a veil and that Augustus had all meaningful authority in Rome . Since his rule ended a century of civil wars and began an unprecedented period of peace and prosperity , he was so loved that he came to hold the power of a monarch '' de facto '' if not '' de jure '' . During the years of his rule , a new constitutional order emerged ( in part organically and in part by design ) , so that , upon his death , this new constitutional order operated as before when Tiberius was accepted as the new emperor
assassinated
Assassination of Julius Caesar
Roman Empire