Transcript Augustus & Roman Culture

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
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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
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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
Roman Culture
• Sport
• Gladiators, chariot racing
• Literature/History
• Virgil, Horace, Tacitus, Livy
• Religion
• Paganism, Imperial Religion & Deification of
Emperors, Christianity, Mystery Religions
Gladiators in Rome
What do you already know?
Types of Gladiators
Retiarius, & Lanista
Secutor
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