Question 19
Question 1
Senate and Optimates
Militeray reform
Military commander and
Populares
Structure + content
Language
Total
Question 2
/4
/4
Land
Citizenship
/6
/6
/4
/5
/3
/20
Structure and content /5
Language
/3
Total
/20
The Age of Augustus
(44 BC – 14 AD)
CLAB06H3, Week 6
Feb. 11, 2009
Outline
1. Sources
1. The Year after Caesar’s Death (44-43 BC)
2. The Second Triumvirate and its Aftermaths
(43-30 BC)
3. Octavian-Augustus’ Reign (30 BC – 14 AD)
1. Sources
1. Sources
• Literary
– Cicero
– Appian’s Civil War
– Suetonius (Augustus, Tiberius)
– Plutarch’s Life of Antony
– Cassius Dio’s History
1. Sources
• Papyrological (Egypt)
• Epigraphical
– Augustus’ Res gestae
– Monumental inscriptions
– Funerary stelae
• Archaeological
• Iconographical
2. The Year after Caesar’s Death (4443 BC)
2. The Year after Caesar’s Death
(44-43 BC)
• Mar. 15: Caesar’s murder
• Mar. 17: Antony’s compromise
– No action against the murderers
– No reversal of Caesar’s measures
2. The Year after Caesar’s Death
(44-43 BC)
Caesar’s public funerals
Massive outcry against the assassins
Mid-April: Brutus and Cassius away from Rome
August: Governors of Crete + Cyrene
Cleopatra and Caesarion back to Egypt
Caesar’s Will
• Roman people
– Extensive property
– 300 sesterces per individual
• Gaius Octavius (Octavian)
– Sole heir
– Gaius Julius Caesar Octavianus
Caesar’s Will
• Roman people
– Extensive property
– 300 sesterces per individual
• Gaius Octavius (Octavian)
– Sole heir
– Gaius Julius Caesar Octavianus
Antony
vs
Octavian
Octavian
• Born Sept. 63 BC
• Son of Caesar’s niece Atia
+ Gaius Octavius (novus homo)
• 45: With Caesar in Spain
• 44: Studies in Apollonia (Illyricum)
– Back to Rome
Marc Antony
• Born 83 BC son of M. Antonius
(equites)
• 57-54: Cavalry commander in
Palestine + Egypt
• 53-50: With Caesar in Gaul
• 51: Quaestor
• 49: Tribune of the plebs
• 44: Consuls
Lepidus
•
•
•
•
49: Quaestor, supports Caesar
46: Consul
46-44: Magister equitum
44: Supports Antony
• Pontifex Maximus
44-43 BC
• Spring 44: Lepidus in Gaul and Nearer Spain
– Vs Sextus Pompey
• Nov. 44: Antony towards Cisalpine Gaul
– Besieges Mutina
44-43 BC
• Jan 43: Anti-Antony campaign (Cicero)
– Philippics
– 2 pro-senate consuls
– Octavian propraetor + place in the Senate
Antony and Octavian
• April 43:
– Antony’s defeat at Mutina + alliance with Lepidus
– Octavian hailed as imperator
Antony and Octavian
• August 43:
– Octavian consul (19 yrs old)
• Secures rewards for his veterans
• Caesar’s assassins + Sextus Pompey condemned +
outlawed
3. The Second Triumvirate and its
Aftermath (43-30 BC)
3. The Second Triumvirate (43-30 BC)
Private meeting in Bononia
Triumviri reipublicae constituendae
=
Triumvirs for the restoration of the State
3. The Second Triumvirate (43-30 BC)
• Legalized settlement:
– Authority to make laws without reference to Senate or
people
– Juridiction without appeal
– Authority to name all magistrates
– Antony + Octavian = 20 legions each
– Division of the Roman World (West)
Wars
a. Caesaricides (42)
b. Perusine War (41-40)
c. Sextus Pompey (39-36)
d. Antony vs Octavian (36-30)
a. War against the Cesaricides
Need for money (soldiers)
?
a. War against the Cesaricides
Need for money (soldiers)
Confiscations (18 towns)
+
Proscriptions
a. War against the Cesaricides
Need for money (soldiers)
Confiscations (18 towns)
+
Proscriptions
Political cleansing
Battle of Philippi (42)
Brutus + Cassius + 100,000
vs
Antony + Octavian + 100,000
Battle of Philippi (42)
Brutus + Cassius + 100,000
vs
Antony + Octavian + 100,000
End of the Republican cause
After Philippi
• Octavian: Italy
– Veterans’ discharge
– More confiscations
– Sextus’ blockades Rome’s supply
• Antony: East
– Cleopatra
Misery +
Famine + violence
in Italy
b. Perusine War (41-40 BC)
Why?
Discontent against Octavian (confiscations)
Who?
Antonius (consul) + Fulvia vs Octavian
Where?
Perusa
Outcome? Octavian’s victory (spring)
b. Perusine War (41-40 BC)
Brundisium Agreement (40 BC)
• Summer:
– End of Anthony’s govenorship
– Octavian takes Gaul + Spain
Brundisium Agreement (40 BC)
• September: Octavian + Antony meet at Brundisium
– Antony marries Octavia
– Territorial agreement
• Octavian = West
• Antony: East
• Lepidus: Africa
b. War against Sextus Pompey (39-36)
• Summer 39: Agreement (Misenum)
– Sextus: Corsica + Sardinia + Peloponese for 5 years
• Fall 39: Octavian divorces
• 38: Sextus’ victories at Cumae + Messina
b. War against Sextus Pompey (39-36)
– 37: Triumvirate renewed (Tarentum)
• Antony’s help (120 warships)
– 36: Marcus Vipsanius Agrippa’s victory
• Naulochus (N Sicily)
– 35: Sextus killed in Asia Minor
Octavian vs Lepidus
• Lepidus wants Sextus’ land forces
• Octavian gains the recongnition of Lepidus’ troop
Octavian vs Lepidus
• Lepidus wants Sextus’ land forces
• Octavian gains the recongnition of Lepidus’
troop
Naulochus = turning point
Sextus + Lepidus
Octavian vs Lepidus
• Lepidus wants Sextus’ land forces
• Octavian gains the recongnition of Lepidus’ troop
Naulochus = turning point
Sextus + Lepidus
Antony vs Octavian
Antony in the East (42-30)
• 41: Tarsus (Cleopatra VII)
• 40: Parthian invasion of Syria + Asia Minor
• 40-39: Marries Octavia
• Spring 37: Tarentum = renewal of the triumvirate
Antony in the East (42-30)
• 37: Syria with Cleopatra
• 36: Counterattack against Parthia
– Defeat
– Important losses
• 35-34: Subdues Armenia
– Octavian embarassing plan
d. Antony vs Octavian
• 34: Donation of Alexandria
• 33: Antony and Cleopatra in Greece
• 32: Antony divorces Octavia
d. Antony vs Octavian
• 32: Octavian’s propaganda
– Cleopatra declared an enemy of Rome
– Exhibition of Antony’s will
– Oath of loyalty
• 31: Actium battle
What was the issue of the Actium
Battle?
a. Octavian won
b. Antony and Cleopatra won
c. Cleopatra switched side and helped Octavian
win
d. All sank
e. Actually, this battle never happened
Augustus’ Reign (30 BC – 14 AD)
Octavian-Augustus
(30 BC – 14 AD)
a.
b.
c.
d.
e.
f.
Octavian and the Republic
Military reform
Provincial + external policies
Urbanism
Literature
Augustus’ succession
How did Augustus manage to keep the
power for so long?
a.
b.
c.
d.
He killed all potential opponents
He imposed himself as a king
He used the army to strengthen his power
He used the traditional institutions of the
Republic
e. He abolished all old institutions and created
new political rules
a. Octavian and the Republic
Basis of Octavian’s strategy to exert + keep power
=
Use of traditional Republican institutions
a. Octavian and the Republic
Basis of Octavian’s strategy to exert + keep power
=
Use of traditional Republican institutions
X dynastic or divinely-based power
X military based power
The first Years
• 30:
Still rules as triumvir
• 31-23:
Consul every year
• 28:
Agrippa and him coequal consuls
• Jan. 27: Hands back all his authority to the
Roman people but…
The First Settlement
• Octavian:
– Consul of Spain, Gaul, Cilicia, Cyprus, Syria, Egypt
for 10 yrs
• Legati
– Named Augustus, ‘revered’
The First Settlement (27 BC)
• Octavian:
– Consul of Spain, Gaul, Cilicia, Cyprus, Syria, Egypt for
10 yrs
• Legati
– Named Augustus, ‘revered’
Restoration of the Republic
+
Octavian-Augustus turns away from his violent past
The Second Settlement (23 BC)
• Augustus resigns consulship but
• Keeps
– Provinces
– Imperium
• Gains
– Imperium maius
– Tribunicia potestas
Other ‘Honors’
• 19:
• 12:
• 2:
Consul insigna
Pontifex maximus
Pater patriae
Senate
•
•
•
•
From 1,000 to 600 members (Sulla)
Entry condition: Quaestor (Sulla)
Fortune: 400,000 to 1,000,000 sesterces
Cursus honorum respected
– Augustus’ control
New offices
• 5 BC:
Consulship = 6 months = Suffect consuls
• 2 BC:
Praetorian cohorts (supervised by 2 equestrian prefects)
• 6 AD:
Vigiles (3,500, freedman status)
• 7-8 AD: Annona prefecture (5-6 AD = famines)
• 13 AD: Urban cohorts
How did Augustus
retain effective power?
a.
b.
c.
d.
e.
Through force
Through intimidation
Through briberies
Through his influence
Through flattery
How did Augustus
retain effective power?
a.
b.
c.
d.
e.
Through force
Through intimidation
Through briberies
Through his influence
Through flattery
Unauthoritative leadership
Some Important Latin Words…
New cognomen (family name) taken by Octavian in
27 BC, which later became an imperial title. It has a
semi-religious connotation and means ‘revered’.
a.Auctoritas
b.Princeps
c. Augustus
d.Imperium
e. Imperator
Some Important Latin Words…
Unofficial influence exerted by, and prestige enjoyed
by, those individuals or corporate bodies whose
advice and recommendations gain special respect.
a.Auctoritas
b.Princeps
c. Augustus
d.Imperium
e. Imperator
Some Important Latin Words…
Originally a title for successful military commanders.
From Augustus’ time it was used of the ‘emperor’
and from the Flavians (68 on) onwards it was a
regular imperial title.
a.Auctoritas
b.Princeps
c. Augustus
d.Imperium
e. Imperator
Some Important Latin Words…
From the verb imperare, ‘to command’. Supreme authority in
Rome’s affairs vested in certain officeholders, who could alone
command troops and impose the death penalty. The one held
by emperors was made maius (‘greater’) so that it outranked
that of all other holders.
a.Auctoritas
b.Princeps
c. Augustus
d.Imperium
e. Imperator
Some Important Latin Words…
Lit. ‘leading figure’. During the Republic, an informal general
term for the senators who carried the greatest weight in
matters of state. It appealed to Augustus as the unassuming
term that best fitted the position which he developed for
himself.
a.Auctoritas
b.Princeps
c. Augustus
d.Imperium
e. Imperator
b. Military Reforms
• Size (Expenses)
– At least 300,000 men discharged
– Land and $ for veterans
• Control + allegiance
– Almost all in imperial provinces
– Rise of centurions’ pay
– Oath in the name of Augustus + his family
b. Military Reforms
• 6 AD: Aerarium militare = fund for veterans
– Tax on inheritance + sales
• 13 AD: Professionalization
– Volunteer citizens
– Military service = 20 years and +
– Bounty: $, land
c. Provincial + External Policies
• Doubled Empire’s size:
– Egypt
– Whole Iberian peninsula
– Up to the Rhine (Raetia, Noricum, Dalmatia,
Pannonia, Moesia)
– All the Alps
– Galatia
– Judaea
c. Provincial + External Policies
• Doubled Empire’s size:
– Egypt
– Whole Iberian peninsula
– Up to the Rhine (Raetia, Noricum, Dalmatia, Pannonia,
Moesia)
– All the Alps
– Galatia
– Judaea
Diplomatic relationships with Parthia
Augustean Empire
• Reached natural boundaries
Augustean Empire
• 2 types of provinces
– Senatorial
– Imperial
Augustean Empire
• Senatorial provinces
– Stable ones
– Not a lot of soldiers
– Governed by proconsuls
• former consuls or praetors
Augustean Empire
• Imperial provinces
– instable + new ones
– Bulk of the soldiers
– Governed by legati Augusti pro praetore equestrian
• Former consuls or praetors
• With an equestrian procurator ($)
d. Urbanism
•
•
•
•
•
3 new aqueducts
Senate house (Curia Julia)
New forum + temple to Mars Avenger
Extensive development of the Campus Martius
Augustus’ mausoleum + Ara pacis
Which one of the following was not an
aim of Augustus’ urban projects?
a.
b.
c.
d.
e.
To give work to masses of unemployed men
To glorify Augustus
To glorify Rome
To glorify the Senate
To bring prosperity back to Rome
e. Literature
• Literary boom:
– Patronage
– Biased
– Model = Greece
e. Literature
• Literary boom:
– Lucretius (~94-54 BC) = philosophy
– Catullus (~84-54 BC) = love poems
– Virgil (70-19 BC) = epic poem, Aeneid
– Horace (65 BC- 8 AD) = poems
– Propertius (47 BC – 15 AD) = poems
– Ovid (43 BC – 17 AD) = poems
e. Culture
• Augustus’ Res gestae
– For admiration
– Self-representation = restraint, responsibility,
honor, pacifier
f. Augustus’ Succession
• Succession = constant issue
• 2 wives:
– 39: Scribonia
Julia
– 38 - : Livia Drusilla
• Tiberius Claudius Nero (42 BC)
• Drusus (38 BC)
Strategy 1:
Natural grandson adopted as son
• 21: Agrippa + Julia
– Gaius (20 BC)
– Lucius (17 BC)
Adopted by Augustus
Strategy 2:
Another natural grandson
• 12 BC: Agrippa dies
– Asks Tiberius to marry Julia
• Dead born child
• 6 BC: Tiberius = imperium + tribunicia potestas
• Soon after: Gaius favored + Tiberius out of Rome
Step 3: Tiberius
• 2 BC: Julia exiled + Lucius dies
• 1 AD: Gaius dies
• 4 AD: Tiberius adopted
• 13 AD: Powers equal to Augustus’
• 14 AD: Augustus dies