Download Pax Romana - Mr. Weiss

14 AD Augustus died. His Son, Tiberius became the
new emperor .
The Roman Principate:
27 BC- AD 312
27 BC-AD 14:
Augustus
14-68: Julio-Claudian
Emperors.
69-96: Flavian
Emperors
30 AD Jesus was crucified by the Romans for treason.
However, his followers began to spread Christianity
throughout the Roman Empire.
43 AD Emperor Claudius invaded Britain
68 AD The Flavian family began its rule of the empire.
79 AD Mount Vesuvius erupted completely
covering the city of Pompeii.
96-180: Five Good
Emperors
96 AD The Antoinens family began its rule of
the empire.
180-284: Crisis of the
Third Century
106 AD Emperor Trajan seized Dacia (now part of
Hungary and Romania).
284-378: Reforms of
the Late Empire
161 AD Marcus Aurelius became the emperor. He
defended the empire from attacks by Germanic tribes
Tiberius was one of Rome's greatest
generals, whose campaigns in
Pannonia, Illyricum, Rhaetia and
Germania laid the foundations for the
northern frontier. But he came to be
remembered as a dark, reclusive, and
sombre ruler who never really desired
to be emperor; Pliny the Elder called
him tristissimus hominum, "the
gloomiest of men."[1] After the death
of Tiberius’ son Julius Caesar Drusus
in 23, the quality of his rule declined
and ended in a terror. In 26, Tiberius
exiled himself from Rome and left
administration largely in the hands of
his unscrupulous Praetorian Prefects
Lucius Aelius Sejanus and Quintus
Naevius Sutorius Macro. Caligula,
Tiberius’ adopted grandson,
succeeded the Emperor upon his
death.
TIBERIUS
Gaius Julius Caesar Augustus Germanicus
(August 31, 12 – January 24, 41), more
commonly known by his nickname Caligula, was
the third Roman Emperor and a member of the
Julio-Claudian dynasty, ruling from 37 to 41 A.D.
In general, only some details of his life are known.
What is known, however, is that during his brief
reign, Caligula focused much of his attention on
ambitious construction projects and territorial
expansion. He worked to increase the authority of
the principate and struggled to maintain his
position against several conspiracies to overthrow
him. He was eventually assassinated in 41 by
several of his own guards in a conspiracy
involving the Roman Senate.
Though Caligula was popular with the Roman
public throughout his reign, the scarce surviving
sources focus upon anecdotes of his alleged
cruelty, extravagance and sexual perversity,
presenting him as an insane tyrant.
CALIGULA
Despite his lack of political experience,
Claudius proved to be an able
administrator and a great builder of
public works. His reign saw an
expansion of the empire, including the
conquest of Britain. He took a personal
interest in the law, presided at public
trials, and issued up to twenty edicts a
day; however, he was seen as
vulnerable throughout his rule,
particularly by the nobility. Claudius was
constantly forced to shore up his
position—resulting in the deaths of
many senators. Claudius also suffered
tragic setbacks in his personal life, one
of which may have led to his murder.
These events damaged his reputation
among the ancient writers. More recent
historians have revised this opinion.
CLAUDIUS
Imperator Caesar Vespasianus
Augustus (born November 17, 9,
died June 23, 79), known originally as
Titus Flavius Vespasianus and
usually referred to in English as
Vespasian, was emperor of Rome
from 69 to 79. Vespasian was the
founder of the short-lived Flavian
dynasty, and was succeeded as
emperor by his sons Titus and
Domitian. He ascended the throne at
the end of the tumultuous Year of the
Four Emperors. Vespasian's reign is
best known for his reforms following
the demise of the Julio-Claudian
Dynasty, the campaign against
Judaea, and for starting the
construction of the Colosseum.
VESPASIAN
Prior to becoming emperor Titus gained renown as a military
commander, serving under his father in Judaea during the First
Jewish-Roman War, which was fought between 67 and 70.
When Vespasian was declared emperor on December 21, 69,
Titus was left in charge of ending the Jewish rebellion, which he
did in 70, successfully besieging and destroying the city and the
Temple of Jerusalem. For this achievement Titus was bestowed
with a triumph; the Arch of Titus which commemorates this
victory until this day.
Under the rule of his father, Titus gained infamy in Rome serving
as prefect of the Roman imperial bodyguard, known as the
Praetorian Guard, and for carrying on a controversial relationship
with the Jewish queen Berenice of Cilicia. Despite concerns over
his character however, Titus ruled to great acclaim following the
death of Vespasian on June 23, 79, and was considered a good
emperor by Suetonius and other contemporary historians. In this
role he is best known for his public building program in Rome—
completing the Flavian Amphitheatre otherwise known as the
Colosseum—and for his generosity in relieving the suffering
caused by two disasters, the Mount Vesuvius eruption of 79 and
the fire of Rome of 80. After barely two years in office, Titus died
of a fever on September 13, 81. He was deified by the Roman
Senate and succeeded by his younger brother Domitian.
TITUS
Vespasian died on 23 June 79 and was succeeded
by Titus, whose brief reign came to an unexpected
end on 13 September 81. The following day,
Domitian was declared emperor by the Praetorian
Guard, and began a reign which lasted more than
fifteen years—longer than any man who had
governed Rome since Tiberius.
Traditional views hold that Domitian was a cruel
and paranoid tyrant. Among ancient authors, he
ranks among the most reviled rulers in Roman
history, earning comparison to such emperors as
Caligula and Nero. Many of these views however,
were propagated by hostile contemporary authors
such as Tacitus, Pliny the Younger and Suetonius,
a small but highly vocal minority who exaggerated
Domitian's harshness, in favour of the highly
regarded Five Good Emperors which followed.
Modern history has rejected these views,[1] instead
characterizing Domitian as a ruthless but efficient
autocrat, whose cultural, economic and political
programme was a precursor to the peaceful 2nd
century, rather than the twilight of the tumultuous
1st century.
DOMITIAN
On September 18 96, Domitian was
assassinated in a palace conspiracy
involving members of the Praetorian Guard
and several of his freedmen. The same day,
Nerva was declared emperor by the Roman
Senate.
As the new ruler of the Roman Empire, he
vowed to restore liberties which had been
curtailed during the paranoid tyranny of
Domitian, however Nerva's brief reign was
marred by financial difficulties and his
inability to assert his authority over the
Roman army. A revolt by the Praetorian
Guard in October of 97 all but forced him to
adopt the more popular Marcus Ulpius
Traianus—commonly known as Trajan—as
his heir and successor. After barely two
years in office, Nerva died of natural causes
on January 27 98. Upon his death he was
succeeded and deified by his adopted son
Trajan.
NERVA
As a civilian administrator, Trajan maintained
good relations with the Roman Senate, and is
TRAJAN
best known for his extensive public building
program, which reshaped the city of Rome and
left multiple enduring landmarks such as Trajan's
Forum, Trajan's Market and Trajan's Column. It
was as a military commander however that
Trajan celebrated his greatest triumphs. In 101,
he launched a punitive expedition into the
kingdom of Dacia against king Decebalus,
defeating the Dacian army near Tapae in 102,
and finally conquering Dacia completely in 105.
In 107, Trajan pushed further east and
conquered Nabatea, gaining the short-lived
province of Arabia Petraea. After a period of
relative peace within the Empire, he launched his
final campaign in 113 against Parthia, advancing
as far as the city of Susa in 116, and expanding
the Roman Empire to its greatest extent. During
this campaign Trajan was struck by illness, and
late in 117, while sailing back to Rome, he died
of edema on August 8, in the city of Selinus.
Despite his own great stature as a military
administrator, Hadrian's reign was marked by a
general lack of major military conflicts, apart from the
Second Roman-Jewish War. He surrendered
Trajan's conquests in Mesopotamia, considering
them to be indefensible. There was almost a war
with Parthia around 121, but the threat was averted
when Hadrian succeeded in negotiating a peace.
The peace policy was strengthened by the erection
of permanent fortifications along the empire's
borders (limites, sl. limes). The most famous of these
is the massive Hadrian's Wall in Great Britain, and
the Danube and Rhine borders were strengthened
with a series of mostly wooden fortifications, forts,
outposts and watchtowers, the latter specifically
improving communications and local area security.
To maintain morale and keep the troops from getting
restive, Hadrian established intensive drill routines,
and personally inspected the armies. Although his
coins showed military images almost as often as
peaceful ones, Hadrian's policy was peace through
strength, even threat.[10]
HADRIAN
On his accession, Antoninus' name
became "Imperator Caesar Titus Aelius
Hadrianus Antoninus Augustus Pontifex
Maximus". One of his first acts as
Emperor was to persuade the Senate to
grant divine honours to Hadrian, which
they had at first refused; his efforts to
persuade the Senate to grant these
honours is the most likely reason given
for his title of Pius (dutiful in affection;
compare pietas). Two other reasons for
this title are that he would support his
aged father-in-law with his hand at
Senate meetings, and that he had saved
those men that Hadrian, during his period
of ill-health, had condemned to death. He
built temples, theaters, and mausoleums,
promoted the arts and sciences, and
bestowed honours and salaries upon the
teachers of rhetoric and philosophy.
ANTONIUS PIUS
Marcus Aurelius Antoninus Augustus
(Rome, April 26, 121[2] – Vindobona or
Sirmium, March 17, 180) was Roman Emperor
from 161 to his death in 180. He was the last of
the "Five Good Emperors", and is also
considered one of the most important stoic
philosophers.
His tenure was marked by wars in Asia against
a revitalized Parthian Empire, and with
Germanic tribes along the Limes Germanicus
into Gaul and across the Danube. A revolt in the
East, led by Avidius Cassius, failed.
Marcus Aurelius' work Meditations, written on
campaign between 170–180, is still revered as
a literary monument to a government of service
and duty and has been praised for its "exquisite
accent and its infinite tenderness."
MARCUS AURELIUS