The Age of Augustus Caesar
Transcript of The Age of Augustus Caesar
The Age of Augustus Caesar (31 B.C. 14 A.D.)
• The Augustan Political Settlement – Augustus, 27 B.C. 14 A.D. – Princeps (First Citizen) – Imperator – Paterfamilias of Rome – Duties:
• Defense and expansion of imperial territory • Administration of justice and provision of good government, through public infrastructure
• The New Order – Senate subordinated to Princeps – Augustus elected Pontifex Maximus (“chief pontif,” supervisor of religious worship), 12 B.C.
• Spielvogel, p. 139, The Achievement of Augustus – Augustus’ Autobiography, Res Gestae
The Age of Augustus Caesar (31 B.C. 14 A.D.)
• The Army – Standing army of 28 legions; 150,000 men • Legion = 5400 men
– Auxiliaries, 130,000 men who were non citizens
– Praetorian Guard • 9 cohorts of elite troops; 9,000 men
Roman Provinces and Frontiers
• Provinces of the Princeps – Governed by legates – Governors of ability and loyalty
• Provinces of the senate – Governed by proconsuls and propraetors
• Governors – Supported by local elites
• Client kingdoms • Expansion into Germany
– Teutoburg Forest, 9 A.D.
Augustan Society • The Senatorial Class
– Possess property worth 1,000,000 sesterces
– Reduced to 600 men under Augustus
• The Equestrian Class – Roman citizens – Property of 400,000 sesterces
• Lower Class • Cult of the Emperor
– Augustus as a deity • Social legislation for morality – Restoration of virtue
Golden Age of Latin Literature • Virgil (7019 B.C.) – Aeneid
– (Writing Assignment #2) • Horace (658 B.C.) – Satires • Ovid (43 B.C.18 A.D.) – Art of Love
– Spielvogel, p. 143 • Livy (59 B.C.17 A.D.) – History of Rome
Augustus’ Successors
• Lack of an arrangement for orderly succession
• Theoretically, with the death of Augustus, power should go back to the Senate
• Augustus selected his stepson Tiberius as his successor
• Tiberius was proclaimed princeps by the Senate upon Augustus’ death in 14 A.D.
The Early Empire, 14180 A.D. • _______________, 1468 A.D.
– Descendants of the family of Augustus (the Julian clan) and Livia (Claudian clan)
• Tiberius, 1437 A.D. • Caligula, 3741 A.D. • Claudius, 4154 A.D.
– Adds Britain to the Empire • Nero, 5468 A.D.
– Fire in Rome, 64 A.D. Caligula
Nero
Tiberius
Claudius
After the JulioClaudians
• The Year of the Four Emperors – Galba, Otho, Vitellius, Vespasian – The Fate of Cremona in the Year of the Four Emperors, Spielvogel, p. 144 • What does this passage tell us about the nature of civil war in the Roman Empire? What were its results?
• The Flavians, 6996 A.D. – Vespasian, 6979 A.D. – Titus, 7981 A.D. – Domitian, 8196 A.D.
Vespasian
• Emperor selected by the Senate • Adopted the man most qualified to succeed him
• 1 st of the 5 Good Emperors = Nerva, 96 98
• Succeeded by Trajan (98117) – Conquest of new territory: Dacia, Mesopotamia
The Five “Good Emperors,” 96180 A.D.
The Five “Good Emperors,” 96180 A.D.
• Trajan adopts Hadrian (117138) – Consolidating the borders of the Empire
• Hadrian adopts Antoninus Pius (138161)
• Antoninus Pius adopts Marcus Aurelius (161180)
Portrait bust of Hadrian
Equestrian statue of Marcus Aurelius
Marcus Aurelius, 161180
• Stoic philosophy – Zeno, Hellenistic Athenian philosopher
– Materialistic view of the universe – Universe is not chaos but rather functions according to a plan of goodness
– Harmony and happiness achieved by striving for virtue rather than pleasure
– Universal appeal
• Succeeded by son Commodus (180192)
Trade Routes and Products in the Roman Empire, c. 200
The Pax Romana (The Roman Peace), 31 B.C. – 192 A.D.
• Prosperity in the Early Empire • Manufacturing and trade • Silk Road • Agriculture • Gulf between rich and poor • The Army during the Pax Romana
– Defense and protection – Socialization
• Agent of Romanization
• Cities and towns – Spread of culture, law, and Latin language
The Pax Romana
• Seneca, c. 4 B.C.65 A.D. – Stoicism
• Petronius, ? 66 A.D. – Satyricon
• Tacitus, c. 56120 – Annals, Histories, Germania
• Juvenal, c. 55c. 128 – Satires – “Nowadays, with no vote to sell, their motto is ‘couldn’t care less.’ Time was when their vote elected generals, heads of state, commanders of legions: but now they’ve pulled in their horns, there’s only two things that concern them: Bread and Circuses.”
The Silver Age of Latin Literature
• Greek style Sculpture • Architectural Forms:
– Arch – Vault – Dome – Aqueducts – Sewage systems – 50,000 miles of Roads
• Civic Architecture and Monuments
Art and Architecture in the Early Empire
• Rome, population c. 1 million • Insulae (apartments) • Public buildings
– Markets – Temples – Baths – Arenas
• Fire of 64 A.D. • Pompeii
– Destroyed by eruption of Vesuvius, 79 A.D.
Imperial Rome
Daily Life in a Roman City
• Baths and Bathing Culture – Spielvogel, p. 153: Public Baths of the Roman Empire
Daily Life in a Roman City
• “Bread and Circuses” • Chariot races
– Circus Maximus • Largest sports edifice ever created; 200,000 seats
The Third Century Crisis, 235284 A.D.
• Commodus, 180192 A.D.
• Severan Dynasty, 193235 A.D. – Septimius Severus
• “Pay the soldiers and ignore everyone else”
• Weak emperors – Civil wars – Military monarchs
• “Barracks Emperors” – 22 emperors in 49 years
• Invasions – Sassanid Persians
• Emperor Valerian loses to the Persians (260 A.D.)
– Germanic tribes • Monetary problems
– Inflation
The Third Century Crisis, 235284 A.D.
• Religious World of the Roman Empire – Roman state religion – GrecoRoman gods – Romans tolerant of other religions – Household and rural cults – Problems with Roman religion – people’s desire for a more emotional experience
– Mystery religions • Mithraism
• The Jewish Background – Sadducees, Essenes, Zealots – Apocalypticism
Transformation of the Roman World: The Development of Christianity
The Rise of Christianity • Jesus of Nazareth (c. 6 B.C.29 A.D.)
– Sources for the biography of Yeshua (Joshua) son of Yoseph • NT gospels (AD 7090) = earliest accounts of his life
• The Historical Jesus – Grew up in Galilee – important center of the militant Zealots
– Teacher and healer – Baptism by John the Baptist who preached a message of the need for repentance for sins in the face of the coming final judgment
– John was executed by Herod Antipas (4 BC AD 39) son of Herod the Great, whom the Romans supported as ruler of Galilee • Herod feared John’s apocalyptic preaching might provoke riots
– Jesus took up John’s mission
The Rise of Christianity
• Jesus of Nazareth (c. 6 B.C.29 A.D.) – The Sermon on the Mount, Spielvogel, p. 160 • To whom does the message appeal? • What would Romans find threatening about the message?
The Rise of Christianity
• Gospels • Agape • Increasing role of the bishops over presbyters
• Roman criticisms of Christianity • Persecution
• Salvation • Universal appeal
– Appeal to all classes – Women
• Another mystery religion – Initiation by baptism
• Community • Constantine and toleration
The Popularity of Christianity