The Conspirators' Republic

On the Ides of March in 44 BC, Julius Caesar, the dictator perpetuo of the Roman Republic, was assassinated by the Liberators, members of the Roman Senate disenchanted with his authoritarian rule. Incorrectly assuming that their actions would be met with popular acclaim, the Liberators were forced to flee to Macedonia, where they gathered an army and awaited reprisals from Rome. Caesar's successors, the triumvirate of his lieutenant Marcus Antonius, his great-nephew Octavian, and the general M. Aemilius Lepidus, engaged the Liberators in battle at Philippi in 42 BC. During the battle, the triumvirate's forces were defeated decisively.

Returning triumphantly to Rome, the Liberators restored the traditional institutions of the Republic and instituted measures that prohibited dictatorship-for-life. Though the triumvirs had fled the Republic, their allies were not purged by Caesar's assassins, who instead urged them to support the newly-elected Consuls, Liberators Gaius Cassius Longinus and Marcus Junius Brutus. Known as the "Philippid Republic", the new government managed to attain sufficient levels of popular support to stay in power.

Costly conflicts with the Parthian Empire in the East resulted in a period of economic decline. Taking advantage of disenchantment with the Philippids, Octavian returned to Italy, and the Republic's generals refused to fight him. The Senate transferred power to Octavian, who established himself as First Consul, with Marcus Junius Brutus as Second Consul.

Various reforms, including the creation of a firm executive branch and the granting of five-year terms to Consuls, were implemented under Octavian. Under Octavian's successor as the dominant Roman politician, Tiberius, the Republic witnessed the growth of a splinter sect of Judaism in the Middle East. The followers of this faith, which professed belief in the teachings of Jesus Christ, were small in number at this time, but by AD 120 would exercise certain amounts of influence in Rome. Before 320 AD, various Consuls authorized persecutions of the Christians, but the accession of Consul Flavius Valerius Constantinus in that year would see official tolerance of the religion.