Augustus and the Early

Empire

Assassination of J. Caesar

Suetonius, The Twelve Caesars (excerpt)

Who will rule after Julius Caesar?

• Marc Antony• A brilliant soldier; J.

Caesar’s top lieutenant; popular w/ Roman populace.

• Octavian• Grandnephew & adopted

son of J. Caesar• Strengths = determination,

Caesar’s name & $$, timing, shrewdness

• Weaknesses =Unhealthy, inexperienced, young

How will Augustus avoid Caesar’s fate?

• He is clearly the dominant figure in Rome by 31 BC; and he knows Rome is close to more civil war.

• Yet he does not want to be “king” or “dictator”

• Solution: • Renovate > Innovate• Find traditional ways to cloak his power

Octavian’s solution: the Principate

• Imperator: supreme military commander• Princeps: First citizen• Pater patriae: “Father of the fatherland”• Pontifex maximus: chief priest• Tribune-for-life• Control of provincial appointments• Control of state finances• Praetorian Guard• Adoption of the name Augustus

What’s in a statue?

Cuirass = military authority

Ad locutio gesture = rhetorical authority

Cupid = familial authority (Aeneas)

Pose = pseudo-Greek

What role is Augustus assuming in each pose?

How did Augustus control Rome?

• Appearance of deferring to the Senate• Colonies of foreign soldiers and Romanization of

provinces• Traditional Roman family values/virtues (e.g., Julia)

• Religion• Deification, “Rome and Augustus”

• Sponsored poets, playwrights• Virgil, Horace (but not Ovid)

• “Bread and Circuses” (public amusement)• Gladiators, horse races, public baths

Primary Sources about Augustus

• Augustus himself

• Suetonius

• Tacitus

• DioCassius

• Archaelogical artifacts

• Law codes

• Art/Architecture

Roman Empire under Augustus

Noble, p. 176

The problem of the succession

• The problems:• the princeps was not a specific office, but a

combination of prestige, military authority, religious aura.

• Augustus outlives his adopted son Marcellus, his son-in-law Agrippa, his grandsons Lucius and Gaius, leaving him with only his stepson Tiberius.

• Romans are still opposed to hereditary monarchy.

• Solution: adopt another man as son….

Julio-Claudian Dynasty (14-68 AD)

• 14-37 CE: Tiberius (murdered by)

• 37-41: Caligula (murdered)

• 41-54: Claudius (murdered by the mother of)

• 54-68: Nero (murdered)

Pax Romana/Roman Peace(1st & 2nd c. AD)

• Five Good Emperors (96-180)

• Nerva, Trajan, Hadrian, Antoninus Pius, Marcus Aurelius

• Silver and Golden Ages of literature

• Economic growth• Sturdy border defense

and peace• Mass citizenship• Romanization

• Language, army service, architecture, names

Roman Culture

• Sport• Gladiators, chariot racing

• Literature/History• Virgil, Horace, Tacitus, Livy

• Religion• Paganism, Imperial Religion & Deification of

Emperors, Christianity, Mystery Religions

Gladiators in RomeWhat do you already know?

Types of Gladiators

Secutor

Retiarius, & Lanista

Types of Gladiators

Bestiarus (low relief)

Thracian (mosaic)

History & Purpose of Gladiatorial Games

• Originated as funeral games (264 BC) to honor ancestors

• J. Caesar offered 320 pairs in silver armor, in 65 BC

• Held in amphitheatres, arenas, and even the Circus Maximus to allow for crowds

• “gladius” = sword• Gladiators = mix of criminals, POWs, slaves,

mercenaries. Infamis.• Oaths:

– “uri, vinciri, verberari, ferroque necari (I will endure to be burned, to be bound, to be beaten, and to be killed by the sword)

– Ave Caesar! Mortuturi te salutamus! (Hail, Caesar! We who are about to die salute you!)

Gladiators today