Civ IN- PowerPoint from Lecture 7
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Lecture 7A: The Early Empire
I)
Second Triumvirate
II)
Principate
III)
Flavian Dynasty
IDs:
Octavian
Marc Antony
Princeps
Augustus
Pax Romana
Praetorian Guard
Pontifex Maximus
Virgil
Aeneid
Ovid
Tiberius
Caligula
Claudius
“Year of 4 Emperors”
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Nero
“bread and circuses”
Octavian
Julius Caesar’s nephew and stepson
Just 18 years old
Named as heir by Julius Caesar
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Second Triumvirate
Octavian
- Julius Caesar’s nephew and stepson
Marc Antony
- Caesar’s comrade
Lapidus
- Caesar’s deputy
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Marc Antony’s funeral oration
Friends, Romans, countrymen, lend me your ears;
I come to bury Caesar, not to praise him;
The evil that men do lives after them,
The good is oft interréd with their bones,
So let it be with Caesar….
The noble Brutus
Hath told you Caesar was ambitious:
If it were so, it was a grievous fault,
And grievously hath Caesar answered it….
Here, under leave of Brutus and the rest,
(For Brutus is an honourable man;
So are they all; all honourable men)
Come I to speak in Caesar's funeral….
He was my friend, faithful and just to me:
But Brutus says he was ambitious;
And Brutus is an honourable man….
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2nd Triumvirate
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Rule of Octavian/Augustus
Undermines Marc Antony
Elected consul in 31 BC
Victory at Actium (vs. Antony) by 31 BC
Octavian as “Princeps” in 27 BC
- “1st citizen”
Also becomes emperor as “Augustus”- 27 BC
- end of republic/start of empire
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II) The Principate
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The Principate
Political reforms:
Cooperation w/ Senate
Mutual recognition
Popular reforms:
Roman fire department,
police
Military reforms:
Reduced size, Praetorian Guard
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The Principate
Political reforms:
Cooperation w/ Senate
Mutual recognition
Popular reforms:
Roman fire department,
Military reforms:
Reduced size, Praetorian Guard
Main appeal- stability
Pax Romana
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The Two Caesars:
Augustus:
“I restored, I completed, I built, I gave”
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“Divine Augustus”
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Projecting Pax Romana
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Ara Pacis (Altar of Peace) 9 BC
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The Principate
Main appeal- Pax Romana
- stability
Literary patronage
police
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Propertius, Elegies (p. 153)
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Vergil’s Aeneid
“When I had said this, over my breadth of shoulder
And bent neck, I spread out a lion skin
For tawny cloak and stooped to take his weight.
Then little Iulus put his hand in mine
And came with shorter steps beside his father.
My wife fell in behind.”
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The Aeneid, Book II lines 936- 942
Revision the origins of Rome (vs. Romulus)
- what’s added, what’s lost?
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Virgil on Roman destiny (from The Aeneid)
“Others shall plead cases better and others will better
Track the course of the heavens and announce the rising stars.
Remember Romans, your task is to rule the peoples
This will be your art: to teach the habit of peace,
To spare the defeated and subdue the haughty.”
Vs. Ovid
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III) Julio-Claudian Dynasty
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Julio-Claudian Dynasty
Succession?
Tiberius
Gaius (Caligula)
Claudius
Nero
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Tiberius
(r. 14-37 AD)
General under Augustus
Divorce and remarriage
“Stern and irascible”
Unhappiness
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Emperor Gaius (37-41 AD)
Great-grandson of Augustus Caesar
Nicknamed “Caligula”
Cruel and violent
Killed by the Praetorian Guard in 41 AD
Return to a republic?
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Emperor Claudius (41-54 AD)
Bribed the Praetorian Guard
Eliminated any rivals
Died in 54 AD
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Emperor Nero
(54-68 AD)
Emperor at 16
Public festivals
Relations with the Senate
Persecution of Christians
Paraniod
Military rebellion in 68 AD
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69 AD- “The Year of the Four Emperors”
Invasion of Rome from 4 provincial generals
Quick scramble for power
Civic apathy
How are Emperors like the weather?
“We just to wait for bad ones to pass and hope for good ones to appear.” --Tacitus
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Flavian Dynasty
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Lecture 7B- Imperial Issues
I)
The Antonines
II)
The Third-Century Crisis
IDs:
Antonine dynasty
Marcus Aurelius
Septimus Severus
Debasement
Barracks emperors
Sassanids
West Germanic Revolution
Goths
Provincial revolts
banditry
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Arch of Titus (81 AD)
I chanced to stop in at a midday show, expecting fun, wit, and some relaxation, when men’s eyes take
respite from the slaughter of their fellow men. It was just the reverse. The preceding combats were
merciful by comparison; now all trifling is put aside and it is pure murder. The men have no protective
covering. Their entire bodies are exposed to the blows, and no blow is ever struck in vain. . . .
In the morning men are thrown to the lions and the bears, at noon they are thrown to the spectators.
The spectators call for the slave to be thrown to those who in turn will slay him, and they detain the
victor for another butchering. The outcome for the combatants is death; the first is waged with sword
and fire. This goes on while the arena is free. ‘But one of them was a highway robber, he killed a man!’
Because he killed he deserved to suffer this punishment, granted. . . .‘Kill him! Lash him! Burn him! Why
doesn’t he kill boldly? Why doesn’t he die game? Whip him to meet his wounds! Let them trade blow
for blow, chests bare and within reach!’ And when the show stops for intermission, ‘Let’s have men
killed meanwhile! Let’s not have nothing going on!’
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The Antonines (96- 193 AD)
Military leaders
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The Antonines (96- 193 AD)
Military leaders
Tradition of succession
Ended with Marcus Aurelius
Commodus
- overthrown
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II) Third-Century Crisis
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The Third-Century Crisis
Problems:
From Above
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Pertinax
Successor to Commodus
Appointed by Praetorian Guard
Career soldier
Killed by Praetorian Guard after 3 months
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Emperor Septimus Severus
(r. 193-211)
Pertinax succeeds Commodus
- killed by Praetorian Guard
Declining plunder
Confiscations from Senators
Military rule
“Enrich the army, boys, and scorn the rest.”
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Caracalla
(r. 211-217)
and debasement
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“Barracks emperors”
Praetorian Guard
Financial problems
“Raised and destroyed”:
17 of the 20 emperors between 235 and 284 AD are killed by their own troops or other Romans