Download The Oligarch Reaction 77-67 A. The Empire in Revolt a. Spain i

The Oligarch Reaction 77-67
A. The Empire in Revolt
a. Spain
i. Roman General Didius tricked would be land owners by pretending to
register them for distribution of land and had them massacred
ii. A Roman Officer (from Sabine) Sertorius went over to the Spaniards and
created a rebel kingdom from 80-72
iii. Pompeii eventually defeated the army after Sertorius was assassinated.
b. Spartacus 73i. 70,000 slaves from center of Italy hid on Mt Vesuvius and raided towns
ii. Spartacus tries to march toward the Alps
iii. Harassed Rome for three years
iv. He was pinned by two armies, Pompeii returning from Spain and Crassus
from Rome
v. Seeing the Situation hopeless he plunged into battle and died
vi. Crassus has 6000 crucified from Capua to Rome
B. Pompeii and Crassus
a. Pompey was sent to quell the rebellion in Spain 77-72
i. Favorable settlement earned him clients in Spain.
b. Crassus was fighting the slave revolts
i. Crassus became rich by buying property during the Proscriptions of Sulla
ii. He used his wealth to launch his political career
iii. Fighting Spartacus offered him a chance for glory.
1. Tarnished by Pompeii interference.
c. Pompeii and Crassus became Consul in 70
i. The undid Sulla’s reforms
ii. Renewed war with Mitradates
1. Who was supporting pirates
2. These pirates disrupted grain shipments
3. Pompeii was chosen to deal with them
4. He was given increased authority in the provinces, and the sea
5. He was also to oversee the grain supply for five years.
6. He defeated the pirates in 3 months and settled them in Siciliy as
farmers, more clients for himself.
d. The Second Mitrhadatic War
i. Pompeii turns sight to the East
ii. He defeated Mith. And reorganized the Roman East
iii. He basically acted as an absolute monarch in the east.
iv. Forging alliances, reorganizing provinces
v. He returned to Rome.
C. Crassus
a. He tried to stifle Pompeii’s popularity
b. He financially backed a young nobleman, Ceasar (born in 100)
i. He became praetor and pontifex maximus, ( head of religion)
D. Catalina Conspiracy 63 bce
a. Lucius Sergius Catalina, had lost consul appointments 3 times
b. He then tried armed insurrection
c. People suspected Crassus was behind it trying to undermine Pompeii
d. Cicero, consul in 63 uncovered the plot.
e. Catalina was killed in battle, it speaks of how unstable politics had become.
E. The First Triumvirate
a. Pompeii Returns
i. Disbanded Army and retired
b. Cato the Younger, Senator
i. Pompeii Tried to get land for his troops and the Senate to ratify his
reorganization of the East.
ii. Led by Cato, the Senate resisted
c. Caesar
i. Had been governor of Spain, returned in 60
ii. Convinced Pompeii and Crassus in an alliance against the Senate
iii. Now the three most ruthless people in Rome were working together.
iv. The arranged for Cesar to be consul in 59.
d. Cesar the Consul
i. His election was marked with violence and intimidation
ii. Caesars legislation was passed by force.
1. He assigned himself to a five-year command in Gaul and Illyria
2. He would command five legions at the time of his office ended
3. Pompeii received land for his troops and his settlements ratified
4. Crassus, also got favorable legislation
F. The Gallic Wars 58-50
G. Trouble in the Triumvirate
a. The Senate attempted to drive a wedge in the Alliance, which was the most
powerful force in politics
b. Caesar calls a meeting in 56.
i. Caesar got five more years in Gaul
ii. Pompeii became absentee governor of Spain
iii. Crassus got 5 year command in Syria, he wanted military glory that his
allies had.
1. Crassus was killed in 54 BC in battle of Carrhae
c. Pompeii, wife (Caesars daughter) died in childbirth, severing their connections
H. The Civil Wars 49-45
a.
b.
c.
d.
Despite being outnumbered Caesar drove Pompeii out of Italy in 49
Fought him Pharsalus in Northern Greece and Caesar won. ‘
Pompeii flees to Egypt where he is murdered.
Caesar in Egypt (winter 48-47)
i. He was embroiled in dynastic politics
ii. Love Affair with Cleopatra
1. The affair produced a son, Caesarion, born in 47 BC.
e. Caesar Cleans Up
i. Pursued supporters of Pompeii, in Asia, Africa and Spain
ii. By 45 he was master of the Roman World.
I. The First Caesar
a. Caesar enacted a policy of sparing his captured opponents (clementia), which was
a shrewd political maneuver to place them forever under an obligation to him. He
placed some of his spared opponents in positions of responsibility in his new
regime (e.g., C. Cassius Longinus was praetor in 44 BC).
b. He was essentially a dictator
i.
Ignoring its hateful associations with Sulla, Caesar employed the
dictatorship, in conjunction with frequent consulships, as his office of
choice. In 49 BC Caesar was dictator for only eleven days, long enough to
organize consular elections and see himself installed as consul for 48 BC.
In 47 BC he resumed the dictatorship and held it continuously from then
until his death.
ii.
His consulships also ran annually from 46–44 BC.
iii.
His dictatorship was made increasingly more permanent in his last years.
It was extended to a ten-year duration in 46 BC, and to lifetime tenure in
February 44 BC.
iv.
He declared the Republic a mere word without form or substance.
v.
On one occasion, he greeted the senators while seated like a despot. The
Senate, in response, acted with abject sycophancy in voting him honors,
including even deification.
vi. In 44 BC the infamous “crown-offering” incident occurred, which was
taken by many as a sign that Caesar’s ultimate goal was kingship itself.
c. Legislation
i. Did not try to cure the problems of the state
ii. Rather he was planning invasion of Parthia when he was killed.
d. The Death of Caesar
i. Alarmed by Caesar’s openly autocratic behavior, a group of nobles led by
C. Cassius Longinus conspired to assassinate the tyrant. It carried out the
act on 15 March 44 BC.
ii. Following the “crown-offering” affair in February of 44 BC, some nobles
decided that Caesar had to be eliminated.
iii. Numbering perhaps eighty members, the conspiracy focused only on the
elimination of Caesar. This limited focus of “The Liberators” proved their
greatest mistake.
iv. At a Senate meeting in Pompey’s theater on the Ides of March in 44 BC,
Caesar was surrounded by a group of conspirators and cut down with
twenty-three stab wounds at the foot of Pompey’s statue.
v. Declaring the tyrant justly killed, the conspirators rushed from the scene
believing they had restored the Republic to liberty. Events were to prove
them mistaken.
J. Mark Anthony and Octavian
a. The power struggle for Rome was between Mark Anthony Caesar’s right-hand
man, and Octavian, Caesar’s adopted heir.
b. The Second Triumvirate
i. After a lengthy political and military struggle they formed an alliance
ii. Mark Anthony met his intrigues with Cleopatra
iii. Octavian won
K. Octavian – The Imperator Augustus Caesar 31bc-14ad
a. The Creation of the Principate
i. 31-27 – he is consul
ii. 27 – he made his position permanent
1. First Constitutional settlement 13 January 27BC
a. He announced he was retiring,
b. Senate asked him to reconsider
c. This was staged.
d. They confirmed numerous powers on him.
e. More over his 31 year rule.
b. The Principate
i. The Roman Republican system and administration remained intact.
1. Consulship, Senate Meetings, etc
2. Augustus was given defacto control over all of it
3. Offices would remain in place, the highest powers were left for
him.
ii. Several characteristics of the new system warrant attention.
1. All of Augustus’ powers and titles were, officially, granted to him
voluntarily by the Senate and people of Rome.
2. The twin powers of imperium maius in the provinces and tribunicia
potestas in Italy gave Augustus an avenue into all regions of the
empire and all wings of administration.
3. The familiar and traditional Republican forms were maintained:
consuls continued to be elected, senatorial meetings held, popular
votes taken. In essence, Augustus was grafted on top of the old
Republican institutions.
L. Problems of Succession
a. Powers were technically personally given to Augustus
b. They would “technically” lapse upon his death.
c. He named 5 successors.
d. Tiberius Emerged as Next Emperor.
M. The Julio-Claudian Dynasty
a. The Julio-Claudian dynasty ruled from AD 14–68 and encompasses four
emperors.
i. Tiberius (14–37), Augustus’ stepson, was a manic-depressive whose reign
was unpopular but generally successful.
ii. The reign of Gaius, a.k.a. Caligula (37–41), who was Tiberius’ greatnephew, was an unmitigated catastrophe. The young man was either
corrupted by absolute power or crazy and was the first emperor to be
assassinated.
iii. Claudius (41–54) was Caligula’s uncle. He ruled well and efficiently, even
if he was unpopular with the ruling classes.
iv. Nero (54–68), Claudius’ stepson and adopted son, was another disaster.
He spent his time in idle pursuits while persecuting his family and
members of the elite. An army revolt ousted him in the summer of AD 68
and brought the dynasty to an end.
b. Consolidation
i. During the Dynasty power was officially consolidated