Transcript Bandits

Robbers and Bandits
terminology
latro, latrones = robber, bandit
 latrones famosi = infamous bandits
 factio = band
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grassatores = footpads
 rapina = robbery
 furtum = theft (absence of vis =violence)
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Review - Bandits
What was considered a ‘real bandit’?
 How widespread and frequent was
banditry in the Roman world?
 What do we know about banditry in
Roman Egypt? (Who were the bandits,
from what social class, what did they
steal?)
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Judaea
Judaea
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After death of Alexander Judaea first became part of the Ptolemaic
Kingdom
Later became part of Seleucid kingdom, based in Syria and
Mesopotamia in 202 BCE
Rome tried to assimilate Judaea into the Greek regions of empire –
supported among the Jewish ruling elite
167 BCE Seleucid king Antiochus IV Epiphanes dedicated Jehovah’s
Temple in Jerusalem to Olympian Zeus
Jews revolted – both political and religious rebellion
House of Hasmon, priest-king family, notably Judas Maccabaeus,
created the Hasmonaean or Maccabee line which won
independence for Judaea for the first time in more than 400 years,
and for last time until 20th century.
Around 100 B.C. for short time existed a Greater Judaea.
Rome and Judaea
63 CE fell to Rome; Pompey stormed Jerusalem,
killed priests in temple at altar
 Judaea became a client kingdom – was not
annexed
 King Herod the Great b. 73 BCE – 4 BCE
supported by Romans, first by Mark Antony,
then by Augustus
 Herod killed members of his own family (one
wife, and just before his death 2 of his sons)
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The Revolt in Judea (66-70)
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Relations between Judea and Rome grew from bad to worse in reign of Nero (54-68)
66 – Nero needed cash urgently; orders Gessius Florus to confiscate the temple
treasure in Jerusalem; Arrests and crucifixions; results in open revolt
67 – Nero appoints Vespasian commander in Syria; Guerilla war ensues against
various insurgent groups.
68 – Vespasian occupies Jordan Valley and Galilee.
69 – Nero driven from power; Galba emperor; Galba assassinated by Otho; Otho vs.
Vitellius; Vespasian hailed emperor by Syrian legions; Marches on Rome; Titus left to
reduce the Judean revolt.
70 (April) – Titus besieges Jerusalem; Massive casualties; Temple plundered and
destroyed; 97,000 prisoners; Jerusalem destroyed
The Start of the War
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“Moreover, as to the citizens of Jerusalem, although they took this matter very ill, yet did
they restrain their passion; but Florus acted herein as if he had been hired, and blew up
the war into a flame, and sent some to take seventeen talents out of the sacred treasure,
and pretended that Caesar wanted them. At this the people were in confusion immediately,
and ran together to the temple, with prodigious clamors, and called upon Caesar by name,
and besought him to free them from the tyranny of Florus. Some also of the seditious cried
out upon Florus, and cast the greatest reproaches upon him, and carried a basket about,
and begged some spills of money for him, as for one that was destitute of possessions,
and in a miserable condition. Yet was not he made ashamed hereby of his love of money,
but was more enraged, and provoked to get still more; and instead of coming to Cesarea,
as he ought to have done, and quenching the flame of war, which was beginning thence,
and so taking away the occasion of any disturbances, on which account it was that he had
received a reward [of eight talents], he marched hastily with an army of horsemen and
footmen against Jerusalem, that he might gain his will by the arms of the Romans, and
might, by his terror, and by his threatenings, bring the city into subjection.” (Josephus,
Jewish War, 2.293 ff. Trans. Whiston,Auburn, )
AD 69
Tacitus, Histories Book 2
 Vespasian had all but completed the Jewish war,
and only the siege of Jerusalem now remained,
an operation, the difficulty and arduousness of
which was due, rather to the character of its
mountain citadel and the perverse obstinacy of
the national superstition, than to any sufficient
means of enduring extremities left to the
besieged. As we have mentioned above,
Vespasian himself had three legions inured to
war.
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Josephus
Josephus, son of Matthias b. 37 CE – d.
after 94/5 CE, from aristocratic Jewish
family
 Military commander of army in Galilee
 Captured by Romans, joined Vespasian,
went to Rome after 70 CE, became Roman
citizen, Flavius Josephus
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Josephus’ Work
The Jewish War, in 7 books and 110
chapters
 Written in Aramaic and in Greek
 Great Revolt against Romans in 66 CE
 Sources: his own experience, eyewitness
reports, other written sources
 Writes contemporary history
 Persective Pro-Roman, anti rebels
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Masada
Chapter 6
Bulla Felix and Maternus
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Bulla Felix – context at beginning of 3rd
century crisis
Maternus – Historical Context:
Reign of Commodus (180-192)
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Reign characterized by tension with the senate (esp. men of prominence under M.
Aurelius); difficult to assess.
180 – general enthusiasm when he became emperor.
Left the German front; accused of abandoning the war; left the front in capable
hands; successfully concluded.
Dismissed his father’s advisors; fell prey to court sycophants.
Replaced many of his father’s appointees with his own amici. (friends)
182 – Perennis made Praetorian Prefect; described by HA as an enabler; described
by Dio as a good man.
Gave largess to the people and the army; paid for by a tax on senatorial property.
183 – Conspiracy of Lucilla (sister) and Crispina (wife); retributions follow.
185 – Revolt of British legions; Perennis blamed and executed; replaced by Cleander.
(Maternus incident?)
189 – Grain shortage and famine; Cleander blamed and killed by lynch mob; spate
of killings follow; disease and crime rampant.
190 – Months renamed after Commodus’ imperial titles; Legions renamed
Commodianae; Roman people renamed Commodianus etc.
192 – Failed attempt on Commodus’ life (early Dec.); Dec. 31, 192 – Commodus
assassinated; Pertinax emperor.
Bulla Felix – Historical Context
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Septimius Severus – b. in Leptis Magna (North Africa)/Married a Syrian
Wife, Julia Domna
Transition toward absolutism; Ignored the senate – relied on an advisory
council (consilium)
Campaigned in Parthia (197-202) and Britain (208-211)
D. 211 and succeeded by his sons Geta and Caracalla – Caracalla murders
Geta – calmed public anger by 1.Raising the salary of the troops,
2.Constitutio Antoniniana
217 Caracalla murdered by Praetorian Prefect , Macrinus (Emperor to 218);
army revolts against Macrinus; revolt stirred by the Severan women.
 218-22: Elagabulus (great nephew of Septimius Severus) becomes
emperor
 222: Elagabulus abandoned by the army and his family owing to his
immoral behavior and weak character; cousin Alexander Severus made
emperor (222-235); 235 – army mutinied and expelled Alexander Severus
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The Third Century Crisis:
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Roman Empire confronted by several crises
Power struggle between commanders of provincial legions.
Repeated simultaneous invasions on two fronts:
1. Attacks across the Rhine and Danube from increasingly organized and effective
German confederacies (i.e. Goths, Franks, Alemanni etc.) and across the Euphrates
2. in Eastern Empire from newly invogorated Persian Empire (Sassanid Persia);
Several devastating plagues.
Massive economic failure.
Power struggles required loyalty of troops; Raises in pay; devastation of land and
disruption trade caused by internal and external invaders reduced available
resources; debasement of coinage and hyperinflation – increases in pay for the
troops.
Short period of stability – 253-268 (Age of Gallienus)
Apuleius, author of The Golden
Ass or the Metamorphosis
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Born at Madaurus in Numidia (Modern Algeria) ca. 125 CE –
Father was a duumvir (town magistrate)
Native language Phoenician; studied Latin and Greek
Schooled in Carthage, Greece, and Rome
Studied the philosophy of Plato in Athens – Gained a reputations
as a good philosopher and orator
156 CE - Married Pudentilla, widowed mother of a colleague
158 CE – Accused of witchcraft by Pudentilla’s family, stood trial,
and was acquitted (wrote his own defence , the Apologia)
160s - After his trial, Apuleius became a priest of the imperial
cult and a devotee of Isis
The Golden Ass is about a conversion to the mysteries of Isis
The Setting of the Novel
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Setting is 2nd century Eastern Parts of the Roman
Empire: Thessaly, Greece
Although story fantastic, provides realistic historical
glimpses into the world of the Roman empire of 2nd
century AD: the wide variety of religious practices, cults,
belief in and practice of witchcraft and magic.
Many individuals of various social and economic status:
wealthy, the poor, bandits, criminals, business people,
priests, farmers, bakers, millers, slaves, and many more;
Ubiquity of banditry in everyday life evident from the
novel (see Gruenewald, Ch. 1)