Transcript The Augustan Principate

Chapter 5
The Roman Empire
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Copyright © 2010 Pearson Education, Inc., Upper Saddle River, NJ 07458. All rights reserved.
The Augustan Principate
Princeps - the democratic-evoking title adopted by
Octavian, meaning “first citizen,” which
somewhat mitigated the monarchial analogue of
his position.
In 27 B.C.E., the Senate, at Octavian’s bequest,
granted him imperium maius, the greatest
proconsular power, and the tribunician power,
which allowed him to conduct business in the
Senate and veto Senate decisions. He also gained
the semireligious title Augustus, implying
veneration, holiness, and majesty.
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Administration
Augustus brought prosperity to Rome by
reforming its administration.
Augustus purged the Senate of undesirable
members and set its limit at 600.
Augustus controlled the Senate elections to ensure
that promising young men would join the Senate
after a period of magistracy.
Installed the first Roman police department, fire
department, controlled grain distribution, and
monitored aquatics.
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The Army and Defense
After a barbarian defeat in 9 B.C.E., Augustus
abandoned defense of the northern frontier.
Augustus reformed the Army to include twenty
year enlistments, good pay, occasional bonuses
and a pension.
Over time, Romanized provinces became buffers
against the barbarians outside the provinces.
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Religion and Morality
Introduced laws curbing divorce,
encouraging early marriage, and
encouraging procreation.
Augustus built many temples, revived old
cults, and banned the worship of new,
foreign gods.
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Civilization of the Ciceronian
and Augustan Ages
The high point of Roman culture came in
the last century of the Republic, and during
the Principate of Augustus.
The periods evince both dominant Greek
influence and uniquely Roman qualities.
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The Late Republic
Cicero was a famous orator who believed in a world
governed by natural laws that humans could interpret.
His writings were an important legacy in the Middle
Ages and were reinterpreted in the Renaissance.
Much of the work of the great Roman historian Sallust
is lost, but the military accounts of Julius Caesar
survive.
The Roman legal code was developed by praetors and
eventually adopted the view that law was natural.
The poetry of Lucretius aimed to save society from
fear and superstition. The aristocratic Catullus wrote
personal, sometimes autobiographical, poetry.
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The Age of Augustus
Virgil’s poetry glorified the civil greatness, peace,
and prosperity that Augustus brought to Rome.
Horace was a great lyric poet. Ovid wrote about the
sexual licentiousness of the Roman aristocracy,
which prompted his exile by Augustus.
Livy gathered a host of sources into an impressive
narrative of Rome’s birth to the present.
Architecture in the Augustan period was influenced
by the Greek classical style. Augustus beautified
Rome with many new buildings, rebuilt the Roman
forum, and built a forum of his own.
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Imperial Rome, 14–180 C.E.
The successors of Augustus were known by
the title imperator, or emperor.
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The Emperors
Tiberius, Gaius, Claudius, and Nero succeeded Augustus and
were descended from either him or Livia, his wife.
The Praetorian Guard assassinated the unruly Caius,
commonly remembered as Caligula, and established Claudius
as imperator.
Nero’s unpopularity led to rebellion in 68 C.E. and military
conflict ensued from which Vespasian emerged victorious.
After the death of Vespasian’s two sons, who succeeded him
as emperor, the “five good Emperors” ruled, each was
appointed by the Senate.
The death of Marcus Aurelius and the elevation of his son to
emperor ended the reign of “five good Emperors” and had
unfortunate results.
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Administration of the Empire
Romans left towns in charge of councils of citizens who gained Roman
citizenship by serving in the government.
Jews found their religion incompatible with Roman demands and were
savagely repressed.
Trajan initiated alimenta, a welfare program for the children of the
poor.
As cities prospered, the countryside suffered from lack of resources
and attention.
Trajan captured Dacia, Hadrian fortified Roman holdings, and Marcus
Aurelius spent much of his time fighting barbarians in the east and on
the Danube.
Eventually coloni, lower class tenant farmers, replaced slave as the
source of Roman agricultural labor.
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Copyright © 2010 Pearson Education, Inc., Upper Saddle River, NJ 07458. All rights reserved.
Copyright © 2010 Pearson Education, Inc., Upper Saddle River, NJ 07458. All rights reserved.
Copyright © 2010 Pearson Education, Inc., Upper Saddle River, NJ 07458. All rights reserved.
Women of the Upper Classes
Women conducted salons, took part in
literary groups, and, sometimes, conducted
free sexual lives.
Several women close to emperors had great
influence on their policies, lives, and,
sometimes, deaths.
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Life in Imperial Rome:
The Apartment House
Rome had at least 500,000 and perhaps as
many as one million people.
Living space was cramped, so residents
lived in five- or six-story apartments.
The wooden buildings were fire hazards and
sanitary conditions were not pleasant.
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Copyright © 2010 Pearson Education, Inc., Upper Saddle River, NJ 07458. All rights reserved.
The Culture of the Early Empire
The literary period between the death of Augustus
and the time of Marcus Aurelius is known as the
Silver Age; writers were known for their gloom,
negativity, and pessimism.
The Romans designed two new buildings: the
large public bath and the amphitheatre. During this
time, the Pantheon was built.
Gladiator battles were a popular pastime as people
increasingly turned away from public service and
the Roman population declined.
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The Rise of Christianity
Christianity emerged, spread and conquered
the Roman Empire despite its humble
origins.
It faced a great deal of opposition from the
Empire, mystery religions and other
sources, but still managed to succeed.
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Jesus of Nazareth
Jesus taught that the Day of Judgment was at hand
and that the messiah would come. Many believed
he was the son of God.
He preached abandoning sin and worldly
concerns, and wanted people to embrace love,
humility and charity.
The Roman governor mistakenly thought Jesus
and his followers were revolutionaries and
crucified him around 30 C.E. He is said to have
been resurrected three days later.
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Paul of Tarsus
Paul converted from Judaism and reconciled early
Christianity’s Jewish beginnings by abandoning
features that would make the new religion difficult
to follow.
Paul thought Christians should be evangelists, or
messengers of God.
He also taught that the Day of Judgment would
come soon and that all who asked for God’s
salvation would receive it.
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Organization
Christian communities were notable for the
way each member of the community took
care of one another.
Christian customs included baptism, agape
(love feasts), and Eucharist (Thanksgiving).
Churches gradually grew in power and
bishops kept order in the community.
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The Persecution of Christians
The Roman government distrusted
Christians because they were an
independent association.
Mobs disliked Christians for having their
own belief system, which may have
appeared smug to the average citizen.
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The Emergence of Catholicism
The Catholic was a body of orthodox, i.e.
“correct” beliefs about Christianity.
Over time, holy books and knowledge were
incorporated into the Christian Orthodoxy,
including the Old Testament, the Gospels, and the
Epistles of Paul.
By the second century, one had to accept the
authority of the Catholic doctrine to be a
Christian.
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Barbarian Invasions
In the East, the Sassanians pressured the Romans
and captured Mesopotamia.
The Goths, Franks, and Alemanni were
Germanic tribes that pressured the northern and
western frontier of Rome.
The Roman army was not equipped to deal with
these threats despite increased conscription.
Septimius Severus was a military usurper who
was beloved by his soldiers and planned to create
a military monarchy.
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Economic Difficulties
To raise money, the emperors invented new
taxes, debased the coinage, and even sold the
palace furniture, but they still could not raise
troops.
Even Septimius’ meritocratic reforms could
not attract men into the army.
The empire had to compel people to provide
food, supplies, money, labor, and for upper
classes to serve on city councils.
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The Social Order
Society began to take on an increasingly
military appearance.
Septimius formally established a difference
between the honestiores (upper classes) and
the humilores (lower classes). As time
passed, social climbing became more
difficult.
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Civil Disorder
Turmoil engulfed the empire’s leadership between
the death of Commodus in 192 C.E. and the rise
of Gothicus in 268 C.E.
Gothicus and Aurelian drove back barbarians and
stamped out internal disorder. They built heavy
walls and changed Rome’s military policy to one
of defense.
Mercenaries largely made up their armies.
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The Late Empire
During the fourth and fifth centuries, the
Romans faced a number of both internal and
external challenges.
The hard and dangerous times may have
helped the rise of Christianity.
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The Fourth Century and Imperial
Reorganization
Diocletian divided the empire into a tetrarchy: four sections
each ruled by a different person.
After his death, Constantine, the son of one of the four
tetrarchs, gained complete control of the Empire and
established a capital in Constantinople, present-day Istanbul.
Constantine reorganized the civilian bureaucracy and
separated it from the military for security.
Valentinian and Valens ruled as co-emperors in the West
and East to defend the Empire against barbarians.
Barbarians overran the western empire, whose members
retreated into the countryside as Roman order collapsed.
In the East, the Byzantine Empire flourished culturally and
militarily.
Copyright © 2010 Pearson Education, Inc., Upper Saddle River, NJ 07458. All rights reserved.
Copyright © 2010 Pearson Education, Inc., Upper Saddle River, NJ 07458. All rights reserved.
Copyright © 2010 Pearson Education, Inc., Upper Saddle River, NJ 07458. All rights reserved.
Copyright © 2010 Pearson Education, Inc., Upper Saddle River, NJ 07458. All rights reserved.
Copyright © 2010 Pearson Education, Inc., Upper Saddle River, NJ 07458. All rights reserved.
Triumph of Christianity
Manichaeism was a rival of Christianity that depicted
the world as a struggle between good and evil.
Christians were persecuted and made scapegoats for
much of the first three centuries C.E. In 311, Galerius
issued the Edict of Toleration, permitting Christian
worship.
Constantine made Christianity the official religion of
the Empire.
Doctrinal battles within Christianity created much
conflict in the future.
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Copyright © 2010 Pearson Education, Inc., Upper Saddle River, NJ 07458. All rights reserved.
Arts and Letters in the Late
Empire
Classical culture was preserved.
Christian historians re-interpreted history as
God’s will.
Augustine believed faith is essential and
primary but is not a substitute for human
reason.
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Copyright © 2010 Pearson Education, Inc., Upper Saddle River, NJ 07458. All rights reserved.
The Fall of the Rome:
Interpretations
Rome’s conquest fueled its expansion until
it could not expand anymore and had to
retract.
Other historians look for a combination of
socioeconomic factors like exhaustion of
soil, plague, climate change.
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