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Chapter 6:
The Roman Empire
The Age of Augustus (31 BC - AD14)
27 BC – Octavian proclaimed his victories against Antony had
restored the Republic
Knowing that the republic could not be restored to its old form, he
worked to find a compromise
– The senate gave him the title of “Augustus” - the revered one
– He preferred “princeps” – first among equals
The system he established is sometimes called a principate
– A constitutional monarch as co-ruler w/ the senate
The title of princeps itself held no power
– Until 23 BC, Augustus also held the consulship, giving him imperium
– After 23 BC, he gave up the consulship and was granted maius imperium
“greater imperium than all others”
– Also given the power of a tribune without actually holding the office
– Able to propose legislation and also veto any item of public business
Officials continued to be elected, but since Augustus held more
authority
– Caused involvement in elections to decline and eventually the popular
assemblies cease to have any real authority
The Army
Peace in the empire & security of the princeps depended on the
army
Primarily responsible guarding the frontiers & maintain domestic
order in the provinces
The standing army was 28 legions
– A legion consisted of 5400 soldiers (150,000 total troops)
– Not large by modern terms or for the size of the empire (50 million total pop.)
Legionaries served 20 years, recruited only from the citizenry and
(under Augustus) mainly from Italy
Auxiliares numbered 130,000; noncitizens; served 24 year terms;
they and their families received citizenship after they finished
The Praetorian Guard
roughly 9000 elite soldiers
Tasked w/ protecting the princeps
Recruited from Italian citizens & served 16 yr tours
Would become important in making & deposing emperors
Victorious generals were hailed as imperator (emperor)
– although we refer to Augustus as emperor, it didn’t become common
for a Roman ruler until Vespasian (69-79)
Provinces and Frontiers
Under Augustus, provincial governors received a regular
salary, so corruption was not as big a problem
Since governors had few assistants, the policy of working
with local elite and a degree of self-government by locals
became policy
By 15 BC, Augustus began looking to expand north
– 9 BC – reached the Elbe River in eastern Germany
– AD 9 – General Varus lost 3 entire legions after a massacre led by
Arminius (a German tribal leader, despite being a Roman scout and
citizen)
– Defeat muted Augustus’s desire to advance in central Europe
Roman historians blame Varus completely for the defeat
Augustan Society
The Social Order
Augustus adopted a senatorial order as a ruling class
– Must own 1 million sesterces in property to belong to the senatorial
class
– Reduced the senate from 1000 to 600, but added new families from
across Italy
Equestrian order expanded
– Opened up to all Roman citizens in good standing & possessing
400,000 sesterces in property
– Could hold military & political offices but less important than
positions of senatorial class
– At the end of their career, could be awarded membership in
senatorial class
Citizens not of either class belonged to the lower class
– Majority of population
– Lost most political power, given free grain & public spectacles to
keep them from causing problems
Augustus’ Reforms
Created an imperial cult to strengthen the tie between religion
and the state
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Never claimed to be a god
Allowed the veneration of Julius Caesar as a deity
Allowed the building of temples to Augustus and Roma
Deified following his death in A.D. 14
Augustus believed that Roman morals had been corrupted during
the late republic
– Created social legislation to slow/halt decline
– Luxury had undermined roman morality
– easy divorce, declining birthrate in upper class, hedonistic behavior
Made divorce near impossible, limits on banquet expenses,
adultery became a crime, tax laws penalized the unmarried and
small families
– Exiled his own daughter for adultery
Golden Age of Latin Literature
Augustan literature is considered the peak of Latin literature
Augustus patronized the greatest writers in the empire to
exemplify the qualities of duty, piety & faithfulness
Virgil (70 – 19 BC)
greatest of all Roman poets
greatest work – Aeneid (epic poem about the founding of Rome)
other poems:
– Georgics (about farming life)
– Eclogues (a series of stories told by a group of shepherds talking to each
other)
Horace (65 BC – 8 BC??)
best known for his Odes (4 books of poems about various subjects
concerning Roman society)
– sexual immorality, greed, laziness, & job dissatisfaction
– Odes I, 11 – “carpe diem”
Also wrote a collection of short stories called Satires
– Attacked movements in society, not people individually
– (contains one story called “Town Mouse, Country Mouse”)
Ovid (43 BC - AD 14)
Part of the privileged upper class, ridiculed Augustus’s morality
policies
supported by Augustus until he wrote Art of Love
– a collection of lewd & explicit stories
Refused to heed Augustus’s wishes, implicated in the same
scandal that caused the emperor’s daughter to be exiled from
Rome
died in exile in a small town on the coast of the Black Sea
Livy (59 BC – AD 17)
Most famous prose work of the golden age
Celebrated Rome’s greatness
Masterpiece was a history of Rome from foundation to 9 BC
– 142 total books, only 35 have survived
Not overly concerned w/ accuracy of his stories but was a fine
story teller
Despite flaws, his work remained the standard for Roman history
for generations
The Early Empire (14-180)
No real opposition to Augustus’s choice of successor, Tiberius
– Established the Julio-Claudian dynasty
Tiberius (14-37)
– Augustus’s stepson
– Competent general, able administrator, tried to get Senate involved
Caligula (37-41)
– Great-grandson of Augustus
– Tyrannical, erratic, perverse, insane by most accounts
– Killed by his Praetorian guard
Claudius (41-54)
– Great-nephew of Augustus
– Physically disabled but well educated & competent ruler
Nero (54-68)
– Spoiled, neglectful of the military
– Eliminated anything/body that stood in his way
Dynasty fell during the reign of Nero
Became emperor at 16, advised by his tutor, Seneca
Soon became interested in anything but ruling (acting, violin
playing, singing, horse racing, other more “Caligula-like”
activities)
Gained the animosity of the senate and Roman people by
eliminating several prominent figures
– a popular general, his mother, political “thorns”, had Seneca kill
himself to test his convictions
– believed to have had an entire series of city blocks burned to expand
his palace
68 - His guards abandoned him during a revolt; without
protection, Nero chose to stab himself in the throat
– “What an artist the world is losing in me.”
The Flavians (69-96)
Civil war broke out following the revolt
in 68.
– Galba replaced Nero, but was defeated
by Otho, then Vitellius and finally
Vespasian took control
– know as the Year of the Four Emperors
– The Flavians dropped the title of
princeps and used imperator
Vespasian’s (69-79) ascension proved
that an emperor could be chosen
outside of Rome and did not have to be
descended from Julius Caesar
– Reformed the economy after Nero’s
extravagance and the civil wars of 6869
– Followed by his sons, Titus (79-81) and
Domitian (81-96)
The Five Good Emperors (96-180)
The benefits of the Pax Romana were most evident during the
rule of the “five good emperors”
– Absolute monarchs, but known for tolerance & diplomacy
Nerva (96-98) - chosen by the Senate to succeed Domitian
– Old when he become emperor, adopted Trajan to have an heir
Marcus Ulpius Nerva Trajan (98-117) was succeeded by his 2nd
cousin, Hardian
– Hadrian traveled extensively, also known as a great builder
(Hadrian’s Wall, the Parthenon)
Hardian adopted Antoninus Pius (138-161)
– Considered the most productive of the five
– Chose to stay close to Rome and made great use of the Senate
– Agiain, w/o an heir, Pius adopted Marcus Aurelius
Marcus Aurelius (161-180)
– Considered by many to be a philospher-king like Plato spoke of
– Stoic author of Meditations – about the stoic ideal as a religious
concept
Frontiers and Provinces
At its height in 2nd cent. AD, the Roman Empire covered 3.5 million
sq. mi and had a pop. of over 50 million
While imperial administration provided a degree of unity, local
customs were given a great deal of leeway
– 212 – Caracalla granted all free inhabitants citizenship
– Latin was the language of the West, Greek in the East
– Local languages still existed, many inhabitants spoke neither Latin nor
Greek
Augustus had advised against future expansion & most 1st cent
emperors followed his example
– 54 BC - Claudius annexed Britain
– Trajan broke w/ the policy; annexing Dacia (Romania), Mesopotamia,
& Sinai peninsula
– Hadrian withdrew from Mesopotamia and began fortifying the frontier
– The glaring weakness of the empire was apparent: no strategic
reserve
– If revolt broke, out troops had to be moved from one frontier to another
Role of the Army
AD 14 – 25 legions; 30 by 117
By 200 - 400,000 total troops (standing & auxiliary)
Legionaries had to be citizens, so Augustus’ army was primarily
Italian
– By AD 100, the Italian reluctance to serve in the army led to recruitment
in the provinces
– By this time, only 1 In 5 soldiers were Italian
Military camps became centers of cultural diffusion in the
provinces
– Spread the Latin language & Roman institutions to the conquered
– Presence of large # of troops and their women & slaves encouraged the
development of trade in those regions
– Cities grew up around the camps or nearby colonies
Local officials chosen from the upper-class
– No pay, but conferred citizenship on officials & tied them to the Rome
– Led to a distinct change in the Senate
– 50 – few non-Italian senators; 200 – less than ½ of senators Italian
The Silver Age of Latin Literature
Literature from the 150 yrs following the reign of Augustus is
referred to the “silver” age
– good but not equal to the “golden” age
Seneca (4 BC-AD 65)
– Stoic philosopher, tutor to Nero & advisor early in Nero’s reign
– Considered the greatest Roman stoic, but didn’t always live
according to his words
– Ordered by Nero to take his own life to test his commitment
Tacitus (56-120)
– greatest historian of the silver age
– author of Annals and Histories
– felt it was his duty to display the corruption & decadence of Rome’s
upper class
Juvenal (55-128)
– Considered the best poet of the silver age
– Satirist, attacked the fickleness of Roman women, abuse of slaves,
excess of emperors, immigration, his own poverty & inequality in society
Imperial Rome
Largest city in the empire (close to 1 million by 32 BC)
– Nationalities from all over the empire, often with entire
neighborhoods inhabited by specific groups
Overcrowded & noisy, wagon traffic was banned during the
day
Crime was an issue especially in the poorer neighborhoods
Rich lived in comfortable villas, poor lived in apartment
blocks called insulae
– Made of concrete w/ wooden walls; prone to collapse and fire
Many great public buildings (temples, baths, amphitheatres,
govt. buildings)
Rome was also a great parasite
– 200,000 poor received free grain (6 million sacks/year)
– Had to import food from all over the empire
– Aqueducts carried water from many miles away to supply the city
The Gladiatorial Spectacles
In addition to food, entertainment was
provided by prominent figures
– Political in purpose: kept the “mob”
distracted from how miserable their
lives were
– 3 main types: chariot races, plays, &
gladiatorial matches
– Spectacles were focused around
Roman religious festivals
– Over 100 state holidays in the
Roman calendar
Many sporting events were held in
large amphitheaters.
Most famous was the gladiatorial
matches
– In provinces & during some periods
in Rome fights were to the death
earliest discovered amphitheater
was in Pompeii (75 BC)
– best known of all amphitheaters was
the Colosseum in Rome
– It held 50,000 spectators (roughly
the size of larger sports arenas
today)
– Largest amphitheater was Circus
Maximus (held about 200,000
spectators)
Roman society was violent and
brutal & thus was their entertainment
Gladiators were trained fighters,
usually slaves or criminals
– Games were from dawn to dusk
– Some free men fought in hope of
fame & fortune
– Most were one on one, refereed &
scripted
– Some events might involve unarmed
criminals and wild animals
Disaster in Southern Italy
79 – Mt. Vesuvius erupts, burying Pompeii in volcanic ash and
Herculaneum in mudslides
– Providing modern archeologists with insight as to the daily lives of
Romans from this period
Roman Law
Cornerstones of modern legal principals come from this time
period
– Concept of natural rights, Innocent until proven guilty, defendant’s
right to defend themselves in court, judges expected to weigh
evidence before judging
Political & Military Woes
Commodus’ assassination led to a period of civil war
– Replaced by Septimus Severus (193-211)
Severan dynasty created a military monarchy
– Army expanded, pay increased & officers promoted to important
govt. positions
The Late Roman Empire (p.166Reforms of Diocletian & Constantine
Diocletian restructured the empire
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# of provinces increased by over 100
Provinces grouped into 12 dioceses
Dioceses grouped into 4 prefectures, each w/ a governor
The empire was split into halves: West (Roman) & East (Byzantine)
Each prefecture ruled by an “Augustus” or “Caesar” but Diocletian
retained control
Diocletian had decided that Rome was too big to be run by
one person
– tetrarchy – rule of four
– Each half ruled by an Augustus; assisted by the Caesar or viceemperor
312 – Constantine took control of the west; 324 – defeated
fellow emperor, Licinius, and assumed total control
Between 324-330, Constantine moved the capital from
Rome to the eastern city of Byzantium, renaming it
Constantinople
312 – Constantine converted to Christianity
313 – Edict of Milan – legalized Christian worship
– Theodosius adopted Christianity as the official religion
378 – Visigoth revolt routs a Roman army
402 – western capital moved to Ravenna
410 – Visigoths sack Rome
– Also, all Roman legions are pulled out of Britain
455 – Rome breaks a treaty with the Vandals; Alaric orders
the sack of Rome
476 – Master of the Soldiers, Odacer, deposes the emperor,
Romulus Augustulus
– Considered by historians as the fall of the western (Roman) empire
– Eastern empire (Byzantine) would continue on until 1453