The Roman Empire

-Key Concepts-

I. The First Emperor: Augustus Caesar

• His Dilemma• The Solution• His Rise to

Power• The Second

Triumvirate: Octavian, Lepidus, Marc Antony

• Victory over Antony and Cleopatra at the Battle of Actium (31 BCE)

II. The Creation of the Principate

• “Restoration” of the Republic

• “Augustus”• “Princeps”• “Imperator”• Maintaining

the façade of the Republic

II. The Creation of the Principate (cont)

• “Father of the Country” (2 BCE)

• Supported by the Roman Legions-- “Praetorians”

• Some partnership with the Senate

II. Creation of the Principate (cont)

• Caesar and provincial administration

• The cult of Roma et Augustus

• “Pontifex Maximus”

• The role of his wife, Livia

II. Creation of the Principate (cont)

• Augustus’ campaigns on the frontier--Varus and the Battle of Teutoburger Forest (9 AD)

• Begins practice of adopting successor as a son: Tiberius (step-son)

III. General Characteristics of Later Roman Emperors

• Most emperors were competent, not corrupt--Nero, Caligula and Domitian

• Reduction of the power of the Senate

• The “spectacle” of Emperor Caligula

III. General Characteristics of Later Roman Emperors (cont)

• The “spectacle” of Nero

• Emperor did not have to be Italian

• Vespasian and the Flavians

• Pattern of defensive military strategy

• Keeping the peace within the Empire

III. General Characteristics of Later Roman Emperors (cont)

• Taxation within the Empire

• The “Five Good Emperors”: The Antonines--Marcus Aurelius--Commodus--Severus

• The Roman Legions as a garrison force

IV. The Pax Romana: Signs of Unity

• Peace• Trade Network• Roman Roads• Imperial

Bureaucracy• Emperor Worship• Luke 1 Census• Spread of Greco-

Roman Culture• Roman citizenship• “Acta”:

Newsheets

V. Life in the City of Rome

• Peace outside; poverty and crowding inside

• Living in insulae

• Public baths• Sanitation

problems

V. Life in the City of Rome (cont)

• Engineering problems for Insulae

• Problems of Fire and Crime

• “Bread and Circuses”--Free grain--chariot races--Circus Maximus

V. Life in the City of Rome (cont)

• Gladiatorial contests-- “Ave, Caesar, morituri te salutant”--editor--retiarius--secutor

• Other ludi• Arches built

throughout the city

V. Life in the City of Rome (cont)

• Treatment of Women and Slaves

• Roman realism versus Greek idealism

• Romans emphasized the interior of their buildings while the Greeks emphasized the exterior of their buildings

VI. Communicating the Emperor’s Image

• Coins as political advertising

• Buildings communicate the majesty and deity of the Emperor

• Idealized sculptures of Augustus Caesar

• Decline in imperial rivals

VII. Celebrated Ideals in Imperial Literature

• Golden Age of Latin Literature: 100 BCE-14 AD

• Virgil’s Aeneid—testimony to Roman greatness

• Livy’s History of Rome

• Elegant, humanistic and worldly in both content and style

VIII. Roman Medicine

• The major issue of fertility

• Roman contraceptives

• Similar to Hellenistic therapies

• Not much respect for doctors

• Most famous court physician: Galen (129-199 AD)

IX. Life as a Roman Legionnaire

• Organization and Terms of Service--Centurion

• Payment and the origins of the word “salary”--900 sesterces pay per year

• Additional units of non-citizens

• The fitness of Roman soldiers

IX. Life as a Roman Legionnaire (cont)

• The importance of the Roman roads

• Warfare with Germanic tribesmen

• Germanic warriors as auxiliary forces

• Marcus Aurelius and the settlement of Germanic people in Roman territory--The Meditations