8.3: The Roman Republic

8.3.1: The Establishment of the Roman Republic

Learning Objective

Explain why and how Rome transitioned from a
monarchy to a republic

Key Points

• The Roman
  monarchy was overthrown around 509 BCE, during a political revolution that
  resulted in the expulsion of Lucius Tarquinius Superbus, the last king of Rome.
• Despite waging a
  number of successful campaigns against Rome’s neighbors, securing Rome’s
  position as head of the Latin cities, and engaging in a series of public works,
  Tarquinius was a very unpopular king, due to his violence and abuses of power.
• When word spread
  that Tarquinius’s son raped Lucretia, the wife of the governor of Collatia, an uprising
  occurred in which a number of prominent patricians argued for a change in
  government.
• A general
  election was held during a legal assembly, and participants voted in favor of
  the establishment of a Roman republic.
• Subsequently, all Tarquins were exiled from Rome and an interrex and two
  consuls were established to lead the new republic.

Key Terms

interrex

Literally, this translates to mean a ruler that
presides over the period between the rule of two separate kings; or, in other
words, a short-term regent.

plebeians

A
general body of free Roman citizens who were part of the lower strata of
society.

patricians

A
group of ruling class families in ancient Rome.

The Roman monarchy was
overthrown around 509 BCE, during a political revolution that resulted in the
expulsion of Lucius Tarquinius Superbus, the last king of Rome. Subsequently,
the Roman Republic was established.

Background 

Tarquinius was the son of
Lucius Tarquinius Priscus, the fifth king of Rome’s Seven Kings period. Tarquinius was married to Tullia Minor, the daughter of Servius Tullius, the sixth king of Rome’s Seven
Kings period. Around 535 BCE, Tarquinius and his wife, Tullia
Minor, arranged for the murder of his father-in-law. Tarquinius became king
following Servius Tullius’s death.

Tarquinius waged a number of
successful campaigns against Rome’s neighbors, including the Volsci, Gabii, and
the Rutuli. He also secured Rome’s position as head of the Latin cities, and
engaged in a series of public works, such as the completion of the Temple of
Jupiter Optimus Maximus. However, Tarquinius remained an unpopular king for a
number of reasons. He refused to bury his predecessor and executed a number of
leading senators whom he suspected remained loyal to Servius. Following these
actions, he refused to replace the senators he executed and refused to consult the
Senate in matters of government going forward, thus diminishing the size and
influence of the Senate greatly. He also went on to judge capital criminal
cases without the advice of his counselors, stoking fear among his political
opponents that they would be unfairly targeted.

The Rape of Lucretia and An
Uprising

Tarquin and Lucretia

Titian’s Tarquin and Lucretia (1571).

Titian’s painting shows Tarquinius attacking Lucretia, who is naked in her bed. Tarquinius clutches Lucretia’s right arm with his left hand while wielding a dagger in his right hand.

During Tarquinius’s war with
the Rutuli, his son, Sextus Tarquinius, was sent on a military errand to
Collatia, where he was received with great hospitality at the governor’s
mansion. The governor’s wife, Lucretia, hosted Sextus while the governor was
away at war. During the night, Sextus entered her bedroom and raped her. The next
day, Lucretia traveled to her father, Spurius Lucretius, a distinguished
prefect in Rome, and, before witnesses, informed him of what had happened.
Because her father was a chief magistrate of Rome, her pleas for justice and
vengeance could not be ignored. At the end of her pleas, she stabbed
herself in the heart with a dagger, ultimately dying in her own father’s arms.
The scene struck those who had witnessed it with such horror that they
collectively vowed to publicly defend their liberty against the outrages of
such tyrants.

Lucius Junius Brutus, a
leading citizen and the grandson of Rome’s fifth king, Tarquinius Priscus, publicly
opened a debate on the form of government that Rome should have in place of the
existing monarchy. A number of patricians attended the debate, in which Brutus
proposed the banishment of the Tarquins from all territories of Rome, and the
appointment of an interrex to nominate new magistrates and to oversee an
election of ratification. It was decided that a republican form of government
should temporarily replace the monarchy, with two consuls replacing the king
and executing the will of a patrician senate. Spurius Lucretius was elected
interrex, and he proposed Brutus, and Lucius Tarquinius Collatinus, a leading
citizen who was also related to Tarquinius Priscus, as the first two consuls.
His choice was ratified by the comitia
curiata, an organization of patrician families who primarily ratified
decrees of the king.

In order to rally the
plebeians to their cause, all were summoned to a legal assembly in the forum, and Lucretia’s body was paraded through the streets. Brutus gave a speech and a
general election was held. The results were in favor of a republic. Brutus left
Lucretius in command of the city as interrex, and pursued the king in Ardea
where he had been positioned with his army on campaign. Tarquinius, however,
who had heard of developments in Rome, fled the camp before Brutus arrived, and
the army received Brutus favorably, expelling the king’s sons from their
encampment. Tarquinius was subsequently refused entry into Rome and lived as an
exile with his family.

The Establishment of the
Republic

Brutus and Lucretia

The statue shows Brutus holding the knife and swearing the oath, with Lucretia.

Although there is no
scholarly agreement as to whether or not it actually took place, Plutarch and
Appian both claim that Brutus’s first act as consul was to initiate an oath for
the people, swearing never again to allow a king to rule Rome. What is known
for certain is that he replenished the Senate to its original number of 300
senators, recruiting men from among the equestrian class. The new consuls
also created a separate office, called the rex sacrorum, to carry out and oversee
religious duties, a task that had previously fallen to the king. 

The two consuls continued to be elected annually by Roman citizens and
advised by the senate. Both consuls were elected for one-year terms and could
veto each other’s actions. Initially, they were endowed with all the powers of
kings past, though over time these were broken down further by the addition of
magistrates to the governmental system. The first magistrate added was the praetor,
an office that assumed judicial authority from the consuls. After the praetor,
the censor was established, who assumed the power to conduct the Roman census.

8.3.2: Structure of the Republic

Learning Objective

Describe the political structure of the Roman Republic

Key Points

• The Constitution of the Roman Republic was a set of guidelines and principles passed down, mainly through precedent. The constitution was largely unwritten and uncodified, and evolved over time.
• Roman citizenship was a
  vital prerequisite to possessing many important legal rights.

  The Senate passed decrees that were called senatus consulta, ostensibly “advice” from the senate to a magistrate. The focus of the Roman Senate was usually foreign policy.

• There were two types of legislative assemblies. The first was the comitia (“committees”), which were assemblies of all Roman citizens. The second was the concilia (“councils”), which were assemblies of specific groups of citizens.
• The comitia centuriata was the assembly of the centuries (soldiers), and they elected magistrates who had imperium powers (consuls and praetors). The comitia tributa, or assembly of the tribes (the citizens of Rome), was presided over by a consul and composed of 35 tribes. They elected quaestors, curule aediles, and military tribunes.
• Dictators were sometimes elected during times of military emergency, during which the constitutional government would be disbanded.

Key Terms

patricians

A
group of ruling class families in ancient Rome.

plebeian

A general body of free Roman citizens who were part of the lower strata of society.

Roman Senate

A political institution in the ancient Roman Republic. It was not an elected body, but one whose members were appointed by the consuls, and later by the censors.

The Constitution of the Roman Republic was a set of guidelines and principles passed down, mainly through precedent. The constitution was largely unwritten and uncodified, and evolved over time. Rather than creating a government that was primarily a democracy (as was ancient Athens), an aristocracy (as was ancient Sparta), or a monarchy (as was Rome before, and in many respects after, the Republic), the Roman constitution mixed these three elements
of governance into their overall political system. The democratic element took the form of legislative assemblies; the aristocratic element took the form of the Senate; and the monarchical element took the form of the many term-limited consuls.

The Roman SPQR Banner

“SPQR” (senatus populusque romanus) was the Roman motto, which stood for “the Senate and people of Rome”. 

The Roman Senate

The Senate’s ultimate authority derived from the esteem and prestige of the senators, and was based on both precedent and custom. The Senate passed decrees, which were called senatus consulta, ostensibly “advice” handed down from the senate to a magistrate. In practice, the magistrates usually followed the senatus consulta. The focus of the Roman Senate was usually foreign policy. However, the power of the Senate expanded over time as the power of the legislative assemblies declined, and eventually the Senate took a greater role in civil law-making. Senators were usually appointed by Roman censors, but during times of military emergency, such as the civil wars of the 1^st century BCE, this practice became less prevalent, and the Roman dictator, triumvir, or the Senate itself would select its members.

Curia Iulia – The Roman Senate House

The Curia Julia in the Roman Forum, the seat of the imperial Senate.

Legislative Assemblies

Roman citizenship was a vital prerequisite to possessing many important legal rights, such as the rights to trial and appeal, marriage, suffrage, to hold office, to enter binding contracts, and to enjoy special tax exemptions. An adult male citizen with full legal and political rights was called optimo jure. The optimo jure elected assemblies, and the assemblies elected magistrates, enacted legislation, presided over trials in capital cases, declared war and peace, and forged or dissolved treaties. There were two types of legislative assemblies. The first was the comitia (“committees”), which were assemblies of all optimo jure. The second was the concilia (“councils”), which were assemblies of specific groups of optimo jure.

Citizens on these assemblies were organized further on the basis of
curiae
(familial groupings), centuries
(for
military purposes), and tribes (for civil purposes), and each would each gather into their own assemblies.
The
Curiate Assembly served only a symbolic purpose in the late Republic, though
the assembly was used to ratify the powers of newly elected magistrates by
passing laws known as leges curiatae. The comitia centuriata was the assembly of the centuries (soldiers). The president of the comitia centuriata was usually a consul, and the comitia centuriata would elect magistrates who had imperium powers (consuls and praetors). It also elected censors. Only the comitia centuriata could declare war and ratify the results of a census. It also served as the highest court of appeal in certain judicial cases.

The assembly of the tribes, the comitia tributa, was presided over by a consul, and was composed of 35 tribes. The tribes were not ethnic or kinship groups, but rather geographical subdivisions. While it did not pass many laws, the comitia tributa did elect quaestors, curule aediles, and military tribunes. The Plebeian Council was identical to the assembly of the tribes, but excluded the patricians. They elected their own officers, plebeian tribunes, and plebeian aediles. Usually a plebeian tribune would preside over the assembly. This assembly passed most laws, and could also act as a court of appeal.

Since
the tribunes were considered to be the embodiment of the plebeians, they were
sacrosanct. Their sacrosanctness was enforced by a pledge, taken by the plebeians,
to kill any person who harmed or interfered with a tribune during his term of
office. As such, it was considered a capital offense to harm a tribune, to
disregard his veto, or to interfere with his actions. In times of military
emergency, a dictator would be appointed for a term of six months. The
constitutional government would be dissolved, and the dictator would be the
absolute master of the state. When the dictator’s term ended, constitutional
government would be restored.

Executive Magistrates

Magistrates were the
elected officials of the Roman republic. Each magistrate was vested with a
degree of power, and the dictator, when there was one, had the highest level of
power. Below the dictator was the censor (when they existed), and the consuls, the
highest ranking ordinary magistrates. Two were elected every year and wielded
supreme power in both civil and military powers. The ranking among both consuls
flipped every month, with one outranking the other.

Below the consuls were
the praetors, who administered civil law, presided over the courts, and
commanded provincial armies. Censors conducted the Roman census, during which
time they could appoint people to the Senate. Curule aediles were officers
elected to conduct domestic affairs in Rome, who were vested with powers over
the markets, public games, and shows. Finally, at the bottom of magistrate
rankings were the quaestors, who usually assisted the consuls in Rome and the
governors in the provinces with financial tasks. Plebeian tribunes and plebeian
aediles were considered representatives of the people, and acted as a popular
check over the Senate through use of their veto powers, thus safeguarding the
civil liberties of all Roman citizens.

Each magistrate could
only veto an action that was taken by an equal or lower ranked magistrate. The
most significant constitutional power a magistrate could hold was that of imperium
or command, which was held only by consuls and praetors. This gave the
magistrate in question the constitutional authority to issue commands, military
or otherwise. 

Election to a magisterial
office resulted in automatic membership in the Senate for life, unless
impeached. Once a magistrate’s annual term in office expired, he had to wait at
least ten years before serving in that office again. Occasionally, however, a
magistrate would have his command powers extended through prorogation, which effectively
allowed him to retain the powers of his office as a promagistrate.

8.3.3: Roman Society Under the Republic

Learning Objective

Describe the relationship between the government
and the people in the time of the Roman Republic

Key Points

• A number of
  developments affected the relationship between Rome’s republican government and
  society, particularly in regard to how that relationship differed among
  patricians and plebeians.
• In 494 BCE, plebeian
  soldiers refused to march against a wartime enemy, in order to demand the right
  to elect their own officials.
• The passage of
  Lex Trebonia forbade the co-opting of colleagues to fill vacant positions on
  tribunes in order to sway voting in favor of patrician blocs over plebeians. 
• Throughout the
  4th century BCE, a series of reforms were passed that required all laws
  passed by the plebeian council to have the full force of law over the entire
  population. This gave the plebeian tribunes a positive political impact over the
  entire population for the first time in Roman history.
• In 445 BCE, the
  plebeians demanded the right to stand for election as consul. Ultimately, a
  compromise was reached in which consular command authority was granted to a
  select number of military tribunes.
• The Licinio-Sextian
  law was passed in 367 BCE; it addressed the economic plight of the plebeians
  and prevented the election of further patrician magistrates.
• In the decades following the passage of the Licinio-Sextian law, further legislation was enacted that granted
  political equality to the plebeians. Nonetheless, it remained difficult for a
  plebeian from an unknown family to enter the Senate, due to the rise of a new
  patricio-plebeian aristocracy that was less interested in the plight of the
  average plebeian.

Key Terms

plebeian

A general body of free Roman citizens who were
part of the lower strata of society.

patricians

A group of ruling class families in ancient
Rome.

In the first few centuries
of the Roman Republic, a number of developments affected the relationship
between the government and the Roman people, particularly in regard to how that
relationship differed across the separate strata of society.

The Patrician Era (509-367
BCE)

The last king of Rome,
Lucius Tarquinius Superbus, was overthrown in 509 BCE. One of the biggest
changes that occurred as a result was the establishment of two chief
magistrates, called consuls, who were elected by the citizens of Rome for an
annual term. This stood in stark contrast to the previous system, in which a
king was elected by senators, for life. Built in to the consul system were
checks on authority, since each consul could provide balance to the decisions
made by his colleague. Their limited terms of office also opened them up to the
possibility of prosecution in the event of abuses of power. However, when
consuls exercised their political powers in tandem, the magnitude and influence
they wielded was hardly different from that of the old kings.

In 494 BCE, Rome was at war
with two neighboring tribes, and plebeian soldiers refused to march against the
enemy, instead seceding to the Aventine Hill. There, the plebeian soldiers took
advantage of the situation to demand the right to elect their own officials. The
patricians assented to their demands, and the plebeian soldiers returned to
battle. The new offices that were created as a result came to be known as “plebeian
tribunes,” and they were to be assisted by “plebeian aediles.” 

In the early years of the
republic, plebeians were not permitted to hold magisterial office. Tribunes and
aediles were technically not magistrates, since they were only elected by fellow
plebeians, as opposed to the unified population of plebeians and patricians.
Although plebeian tribunes regularly attempted to block legislation they
considered unfavorable, patricians could still override their veto with the
support of one or more other tribunes. Tension over this imbalance of power led
to the passage of Lex Trebonia, which forbade the co-opting of colleagues to
fill vacant positions on tribunes in order to sway voting in favor of one or
another bloc. Throughout the 4th century BCE, a series of reforms were
passed that required all laws passed by the plebeian council to have equal force over the entire population, regardless of status as patrician or
plebeian. This gave the plebeian tribunes a positive political impact over the
entire population for the first time in Roman history.

Gaius Gracchus

This 18th century drawing shows Gaius Gracchus, tribune of the people, presiding over the plebeian council.

In 445 BCE, the plebeians
demanded the right to stand for election as consul. The Roman Senate initially refused
them this right, but ultimately a compromise was reached in which consular command
authority was granted to a select number of military tribunes, who, in turn, were
elected by the centuriate assembly with veto power being retained by the
senate. 

Around 400 BCE, during a
series of wars that were fought against neighboring tribes, the plebeians
demanded concessions for the disenfranchisement they experienced as
foot soldiers fighting for spoils of war that they were never to see. As a result,
the Licinio-Sextian law was eventually passed in 367 BCE, which addressed the
economic plight of the plebeians and prevented the election of further
patrician magistrates.

The Conflict of the Orders
Ends (367-287 BCE)

In the decades following the passage of the Licinio-Sextian law, further legislation was
enacted that granted political equality to the plebeians. Nonetheless, it
remained difficult for a plebeian from an unknown family to enter the Senate.
In fact, the very presence of a long-standing nobility, and the Roman population’s
deep respect for it, made it very difficult for individuals from unknown
families to be elected to high office. Additionally, elections could be
expensive, neither senators nor magistrates were paid for their services, and
the Senate usually did not reimburse magistrates for expenses incurred during
their official duties, providing many barriers to the entry of high political
office by the non-affluent. 

Ultimately, a new
patricio-plebeian aristocracy emerged and replaced the old patrician nobility.
Whereas the old patrician nobility existed simply on the basis of being able to
run for office, the new aristocracy existed on the basis of affluence. Although
a small number of plebeians had achieved the same standing as the patrician
families of the past, new plebeian aristocrats were less interested in the
plight of the average plebeian than were the old patrician aristocrats. For a time,
the plebeian plight was mitigated, due higher employment, income, and patriotism
that was wrought by a series of wars in which Rome was engaged; these things eliminated the
threat of plebeian unrest. But by 287 BCE, the economic conditions of the
plebeians deteriorated as a result of widespread indebtedness, and the
plebeians sought relief. Roman senators, most of whom were also creditors, refused
to give in to the plebeians’ demands, resulting in the first plebeian secession
to Janiculum Hill.

In order to end the plebeian secession, a dictator, Quintus Hortensius,
was appointed. Hortensius, who was himself a plebeian, passed a law known as
the “Hortensian Law.” This law ended the requirement that an auctoritas patrum
be passed before a bill could be considered by either the plebeian council or
the tribal assembly, thus removing the final patrician senatorial check on the
plebeian council. The requirement was not changed, however, in the centuriate
assembly. This provided a loophole through which the patrician senate could still deter
plebeian legislative influence.

8.3.4: Art and Literature in the Roman Republic

Learning Objective

Recognize the wide extent of art and literature created during the Roman Republic

Key Points

• Roman literature was, from its very inception, influenced heavily by Greek authors. Some of the earliest works we possess are of historical epics that tell the early military history of Rome. However, authors diversified their genres as the Republic expanded.
• Cicero is one of the most famous Republican authors, and his letters provide detailed information about an important period in Roman history.
• Romans
  typically produced historical sculptures in relief, as opposed to Greek
  free-standing sculpture. Small sculptures were considered luxury items, while moulded
  relief decoration in pottery vessels and small figurines were produced in great
  quantities for a wider section of the population.
• The most well-known surviving
  examples of Roman painting consist of the wall paintings from Pompeii and
  Herculaneum that were preserved in the aftermath of the fatal eruption of Mount
  Vesuvius in 79 CE.
• Veristic portraiture
  is a hallmark of Roman art during the Republic, though its use began to diminish during the 1st century BCE as civil wars threatened the empire and individual strong men began amassing more power.

Key Terms

veristic portraiture

A hyper-realistic portrayal of the subject’s facial characteristics; a common style of portraiture in the early to mid-Republic.

Cicero

A Roman philosopher, politician, lawyer, orator, political theorist, consul, and constitutionalist.

Literature

Roman literature was, from its very inception,  heavily
influenced by Greek authors. Some of the earliest works we possess are historical epics telling the early military history of Rome, similar to the Greek epic narratives of Homer,
Herodotus, and Thucydides. Virgil, though generally considered to be an Augustan poet, represents the pinnacle of Roman epic poetry.

His Aeneid tells the story of the flight of Aeneas from Troy, and his settlement of the city that would become Rome.
As the Republic expanded, authors began to
produce poetry, comedy, history, and tragedy.

Lucretius, in his De rerum natura (On the Nature of Things), attempted to explicate science in an epic poem. The genre of satire was also common in Rome, and satires were written by, among others, Juvenal and Persius. 

The Age of Cicero

Bust of Cicero

A mid-first century CE bust of Cicero, in the Capitoline Museums, Rome.

Cicero has traditionally been considered the master of Latin prose. The writing he produced from approximately 80 BCE until his death in 43 BCE, exceeds that of any Latin author whose work survives, in terms of quantity and variety of genre and subject matter. It also possesses unsurpassed stylistic excellence. Cicero’s many works can be divided into four groups: letters, rhetorical treatises, philosophical works, and orations. His letters provide detailed information about an important period in Roman history, and offers a vivid picture of public and private life among the Roman governing class. Cicero’s works on oratory are our most valuable Latin sources for ancient theories on education and rhetoric. His philosophical works were the basis of moral philosophy during the Middle Ages, and his speeches inspired many European political leaders, as well as the founders of the United States.

Art

Early Roman art was
greatly influenced by the art of Greece and the neighboring Etruscans, who were
also greatly influenced by Greek art via trade. As the Roman Republic conquered
Greek territory, expanding its imperial domain throughout the Hellenistic world,
official and patrician sculpture grew out of the Hellenistic style that many Romans
encountered during their campaigns, making it difficult to distinguish truly
Roman elements from elements of Greek style. This was especially true since much of what
survives of Greek sculpture are actually copies made of Greek originals by
Romans. By the 2nd century BCE, most sculptors working within Rome were
Greek, many of whom were enslaved following military conquests, and whose names
were rarely recorded with the work they created. Vast numbers of Greek statues
were also imported to Rome as a result of conquest as well as trade.

Rather than create
free-standing works depicting heroic exploits from history or mythology, as the
Greeks had, the Romans produced historical works in relief. Small sculptures
were considered luxury items and were frequently the object of client-patron
relationships. The silver Warren Cup and glass Lycurgus cup are examples of the
high quality works that were produced during this period. For a wider section
of the population, moulded relief decoration in pottery vessels and small figurines
were produced in great quantities, and were often of great quality.

In the 3rd century BCE, Greek art taken during wars became popular, and many Roman homes were decorated with landscapes by Greek artists.

Of the vast body of
Roman painting that once existed, only a few examples survive to the
modern-age. The most well-known surviving examples of Roman painting are the wall paintings from Pompeii and Herculaneum, that were preserved in the
aftermath of the fatal eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 CE. A large number of
paintings also survived in the catacombs of Rome, dating from the 3rd century CE to 400, prior to the Christian age, demonstrating a continuation of
the domestic decorative tradition for use in humble burial chambers.Wall
painting was not considered high art in either Greece or Rome. Sculpture and
panel painting, usually consisting of tempera or encaustic painting on wooden
panels, were considered more prestigious art forms.

A large number of Fayum
mummy portraits, bust portraits on wood added to the outside of mummies by the
Romanized middle class, exist in Roman Egypt. Although these are in some ways
distinctively local, they are also broadly representative of the Roman style of
painted portraits.

Roman portraiture during the Republic is identified by its considerable realism, known as veristic portraiture. Verism refers to a hyper-realistic portrayal of the subject’s facial characteristics. The style originated from Hellenistic Greece; however, its use in Republican Rome and survival throughout much of the Republic is due to Roman values, customs, and political life. As with other forms of Roman art, Roman portraiture borrowed certain details from Greek art, but adapted these to their own needs. Veristic images often show their male subject with receding hairlines, deep winkles, and even with warts. While the face of the portrait was often shown with incredible detail and likeness, the body of the subject would be idealized, and did not seem to correspond to the age shown in the face .

Bust of an Old Man

Veristic portraiture of an Old Man. Verism refers to a hyper-realistic portrayal of the subject’s facial characteristics.

Portrait
sculpture during the period utilized youthful and classical proportions,
evolving later into a mixture of realism and idealism. Advancements were also
made in relief sculptures, often depicting Roman victories. The Romans,
however, completely lacked a tradition of figurative vase-painting comparable
to that of the ancient Greeks, which the Etruscans had also emulated.

The Late Republic

The use of veristic portraiture began to diminish during the Late Republic in the 1st century BCE. During this time, civil wars threatened the empire and individual men began to gain more power. The portraits of Pompey the Great and Julius Caesar, two political rivals who were also the most powerful generals in the Republic, began to change the style of portraits and their use. The portraits of Pompey the Great were neither fully idealized, nor were they created in the same veristic style of Republican senators. Pompey borrowed a specific parting and curl of his hair from Alexander the Great, linking Pompey visually to Alexander’s likeness, and triggering his audience to associate him with Alexander’s characteristics and qualities.

Bust of Pompey the Great

The portraits of Pompey the Great were neither fully idealized, nor were they created in the same veristic style of Republican senators. This bust clearly shows the specific parting and curl of his hair that would have likened him to Alexander the Great.

8.3.5: Republican Wars and Conquest

Learning Objective

Describe the key results and effects of major Republican wars

Key Points

• Early Roman Republican wars were wars of both expansion and defense, aimed at protecting Rome from neighboring cities and nations, and establishing its territory within the region.
• The Samnite Wars were fought against the Etruscans and effectively finished off all vestiges of Etruscan power by 282 BCE.
• By the middle of the 3rd century and the end of the Pyrrhic War, Rome had effectively dominated the Italian peninsula and won an international military reputation.
• Over the course of the three Punic Wars, Rome completely defeated Hannibal and razed Carthage to the ground, thereby acquiring all of Carthage’s North African and Spanish territories.
• After four Macedonian Wars, Rome had established its first permanent foothold in the Greek world, and divided the Macedonian Kingdom into four client republics.

Key Terms

Punic Wars

A series of three wars fought between Rome and Carthage, from 264 BCE to 146 BCE, that resulted in the complete destruction of Carthage.

Pyrrhus

Greek general and statesman of the Hellenistic era. Later he became king of Epirus (r. 306-302, 297-272 BCE) and Macedon (r. 288-284, 273-272 BCE). He was one of the strongest opponents of early Rome. Some of his battles, though successful, cost him heavy losses, from which the term “Pyrrhic victory” was coined.

Roman Conquest of the Italian Peninsula

This map shows the expansion of Roman territory through the various wars fought during the Republican period.

The map shows the territory of Rome and her allies between 500 BCE and 272 BCE. It shows that in 500 the territory only included the city of Rome and its immediate surroundings, including Ostia and Veii. In 338, after the Latin war, the territory expanded a bit to the north and east. It also expanded more considerably to the south, encompassing Antium, Terracina, and Capua. In 298, at the start of the 3rd Samninte war, the territory expanded south to include Napolis and also expanded east in an upside U shape to include Marsi, Aequiculi, Vestini, Marrcini, Fretani, and the cities of Arpi, Luceria, and Asculum on the east coast. In 290, at the end of the 3rd Samnite war, the territory expanded to include the central interior of present-day Italy. In 272, at the end of the Pyrrhic war, the territory expanded to include all of present-day southern Italy. In 264, at the start of the 1st Punic war, the territory expanded to include large portions of present-day northern Italy, as far north as Pisae and Ariminium. Finally, at the start of the 2nd Punic war, the territory expanded farther north, in addition to covering Corsica, Sardini, and most of Siciliy.

Early Republic

Early Campaigns (458-396 BCE)

The first Roman Republican wars were wars of both expansion and defense, aimed at protecting Rome from neighboring cities and nations, as well as establishing its territory in the region. Initially, Rome’s immediate neighbors were either Latin towns and villages or tribal Sabines from the Apennine hills beyond. One by one, Rome defeated both the persistent Sabines and the nearby Etruscan and Latin cities. By the end of this period, Rome had effectively secured its position against all immediate threats.

Expansion into Italy and the Samnite Wars (343-282 BCE)

The First Samnite War, of 343 BCE-341 BCE, was a relatively short affair. The Romans beat the Samnites in two battles, but were forced to withdraw from the war before they could pursue the conflict further, due to the revolt of several of their Latin allies in the Latin War. The Second Samnite War, from 327 BCE-304 BCE, was much longer and more serious for both the Romans and Samnites, but by 304 BCE the Romans had effectively annexed the greater part of the Samnite territory and founded several colonies therein. Seven years after their defeat, with Roman dominance of the area seemingly assured, the Samnites rose again and defeated a Roman army in 298 BCE, to open the Third Samnite War. With this success in hand, they managed to bring together a coalition of several of Rome’s enemies, but by 282 BCE, Rome finished off the last vestiges of Etruscan power in the region.

Pyrrhic War (280-275 BCE)

By the beginning of the 3rd century BCE, Rome had established itself as a major power on the Italian Peninsula, but had not yet come into conflict with the dominant military powers in the Mediterranean Basin at the time: the Carthage and Greek kingdoms. When a diplomatic dispute between Rome and a Greek colony erupted into a naval confrontation, the Greek colony appealed for military aid to Pyrrhus, ruler of the northwestern Greek kingdom of Epirus. Motivated by a personal desire for military accomplishment, Pyrrhus landed a Greek army of approximately 25,000 men on Italian soil in 280 BCE. Despite early victories, Pyrrhus found his position in Italy untenable. Rome steadfastly refused to negotiate with Pyrrhus as long as his army remained in Italy. Facing unacceptably heavy losses with each encounter with the Roman army, Pyrrhus withdrew from the peninsula (thus giving rise to the term “pyrrhic victory”). 

In 275 BCE, Pyrrhus again met the Roman army at the Battle of Beneventum. While Beneventum’s outcome was indecisive, it led to Pyrrhus’s
complete withdrawal from Italy, due to the decimation of his army
following years of foreign campaigns, and the diminishing likelihood of further
material gains. These conflicts with Pyrrhus would have a positive effect on Rome. Rome had shown it was capable of pitting its armies successfully against the dominant military powers of the Mediterranean, and that the Greek kingdoms were incapable of defending their colonies in Italy and abroad. Rome quickly moved into southern Italia, subjugating and dividing the Greek colonies. By the middle of the 3^rd century, Rome effectively dominated the Italian peninsula, and had won an international military reputation.

Mid-Republic

Punic Wars

The First Punic War began in 264 BCE, when
Rome
and Carthage became interested in using settlements within Sicily to solve their own internal conflicts. The war saw land battles in Sicily early on, but focus soon shifted to naval battles around Sicily and Africa. Before the First Punic War, there was essentially no Roman navy. The new war in Sicily against Carthage, a great naval power, forced Rome to quickly build a fleet and train sailors. Though the first few naval battles of the First Punic War were catastrophic disasters for Rome, Rome was eventually able to beat the Carthaginians and leave them without a fleet or sufficient funds to raise another. For a maritime power, the loss of Carthage’s access to the Mediterranean stung financially and psychologically, leading the Carthaginians to sue for peace.

Continuing distrust led to the renewal of hostilities in the Second Punic War, when, in 218 BCE, Carthaginian commander Hannibal attacked a Spanish town with diplomatic ties to Rome. Hannibal then crossed the Italian Alps to invade Italy. Hannibal’s successes in Italy began immediately, but his brother, Hasdrubal, was defeated after he crossed the Alps on the Metaurus River. Unable to defeat Hannibal on Italian soil, the Romans boldly sent an army to Africa under Scipio Africanus, with the intention of threatening the Carthaginian capital. As a result, Hannibal was recalled to Africa, and defeated at the Battle of Zama.

Carthage never managed to recover after the Second Punic War, and the Third Punic War that followed was, in reality, a simple punitive mission to raze the city of Carthage to the ground. Carthage was almost defenseless, and when besieged offered immediate surrender, conceding to a string of outrageous Roman demands. The Romans refused the surrender and the city was stormed and completely destroyed after a short siege. Ultimately, all of Carthage’s North African and Spanish territories were acquired by Rome.

Hannibal’s Famous Crossing of the Alps

Depiction of Hannibal and his army crossing the Alps during the Second Punic War.

Macedon and Greece

Rome’s preoccupation with its war in Carthage provided an opportunity for Philip V of the kingdom of Macedonia, located in the northern part of the Greek peninsula, to attempt to extend his power westward. Over the next several decades, Rome clashed with Macedon to protect their Greek allies throughout the First, Second, and Third Macedonian Wars. By 168 BCE, the Macedonians had been thoroughly defeated, and Rome divided the Macedonian Kingdom into four client republics. After a Fourth Macedonian War, and nearly a century of constant crisis management in Greece (which almost always was a result of internal instability when Rome pulled out), Rome decided to divide Macedonia into two new Roman provinces, Achaea and Epirus.

8.3.6: Crises of the Republic

Learning Objective

Explain how crises in the 1st century BCE further destabilized the Roman Republic

Key Points

• Though the causes and attributes of individual
  crises varied throughout the decades, an underlying theme of conflict between
  the aristocracy and ordinary citizens drove the majority of actions.
• The Gracchi brothers, Tiberius and Gaius, introduced a number of populist agrarian and land reforms in the 130s and 120s BCE that were heavily opposed by the patrician Senate. Both brothers were murdered by mob violence after political stalemates.
• Political instability continued, as populist Marius and optimate Sulla engaged in a series of conflicts that culminated in Sulla seizing power and marching to Asia Minor against the decrees of the Senate, and Marius seizing power in a coup back at Rome.
• The Catilinarian Conspiracy discredited the populist party,
  in turn repairing the image of the Senate, which had come to be seen as weak
  and not worthy of such violent attack.
• Under the terms of the First Triumvirate, Pompey’s
  arrangements would be ratified and Caesar would be elected consul in 59 BCE; he subsequently served as governor of Gaul for five years. Crassus was promised
  the consulship later.
• The triumvirate crumbled in the wake of growing political
  violence and Crassus and Caesar’s daughter’s death.
• A resolution was passed by the Senate that declared that if Caesar
  did not lay down his arms by July 49 BCE, he would be considered an enemy of
  the Republic. Meanwhile, Pompey was granted dictatorial powers over the
  Republic.
• On January 10, 49 BCE, Caesar
  crossed the Rubicon and marched towards Rome. Pompey, the consuls, and the
  Senate all abandoned Rome for Greece, and Caesar entered the city unopposed.

Key Terms

Gracchi Brothers

Brothers Tiberius and Gaius, Roman plebeian nobiles who both served as tribunes in the late 2nd century BCE. They attempted to pass land reform legislation that would redistribute the major patrician landholdings among the plebeians.

plebeian

A general body of free Roman citizens who were
part of the lower strata of society.

patrician

A group of ruling class families in ancient Rome.

The Crises of the Roman Republic refers to an extended period of political instability and social unrest that culminated in the demise of the Roman Republic, and the advent of the Roman Empire from about 134 BCE-44 BCE. The exact dates of this period of crisis are unclear or are in dispute from scholar to scholar. Though the causes and attributes of individual crises varied throughout the decades,
an underlying theme of conflict between the
aristocracy and ordinary citizens drove the majority of actions.

Optimates were a traditionalist majority of the late Roman
Republic. They wished to limit the power of the popular assemblies and the
Tribune of the Plebeians, and to extend the power of the Senate, which was
viewed as more dedicated to the interests of the aristocrats. In particular,
they were concerned with the rise of individual generals, who, backed by the
tribunate, the assemblies, and their own soldiers, could shift power from the
Senate and aristocracy. Many members of this faction were so-classified because
they used the backing of the aristocracy and the Senate to achieve personal
goals, not necessarily because they favored the aristocracy over the lower
classes. Similarly, the populists did not necessarily champion the lower
classes, but often used their support to achieve personal goals.

Following a period of
great military successes and economic failures of the early Republican period,
many plebeian calls for reform among the classes had been quieted. However, many
new slaves were being imported from abroad, causing an unemployment crisis
among the lower classes. A flood of unemployed citizens entered Rome, giving
rise to populist ideas throughout the city.

The Gracchi Brothers

Tiberius Gracchus took office as a tribune of the plebeians in late 134 BCE. At the time, Roman society was a highly stratified class system with tensions bubbling below the surface. This system consisted of noble families of the senatorial rank (patricians), the knight or equestrian class, citizens (grouped into two or three classes
of self-governing allies of Rome: landowners; and plebs, or tenant
freemen, depending on the time period), non-citizens who lived outside of southwestern Italy, and at the bottom, slaves. The government owned large tracts of farm land that it had gained through invasion or escheat. This land was rented out to either large landowners whose slaves tilled the land, or small tenant farmers
who occupied the property on the basis of a sub-lease. Beginning in 133 BCE, Tiberius tried to redress the grievances of displaced small tenant farmers. He bypassed the Roman Senate, and passed a law limiting the amount of land belonging to the state that any individual could farm, which resulted in the dissolution of large plantations maintained by rich landowners on public land. 

A political back-and-forth ensued in the Senate as the other tribune, Octavius, blocked Tiberius’s initiatives, and the Senate denied funds needed for land reform. When Tiberius sought re-election to his one-year term (an unprecedented action), the oligarchic nobles responded by murdering Tiberius, and mass riots broke out in the city in reaction to the assassination. About nine years later, Tiberius Gracchus’s younger brother, Gaius, passed more radical reforms in favor of the poorer plebeians. Once again, the situation ended in violence and murder as Gaius fled Rome and was either murdered by oligarchs or committed suicide. The deaths of the Gracchi brothers marked the beginning of a late Republic trend in which tensions and conflicts erupted in violence.

Gaius Gracchus Addressing the People

Silvestre David Mirys’ rendition of the the tribune, Gaius Gracchus, addressing the people of Rome.

Marius and Sulla

The next major reformer of the time was Gaius Marius, who like the Gracchi, was a populist who championed the lower classes. He was a general who abolished the property requirement for becoming a soldier, which allowed the poor to enlist in large numbers. Lucius Cornelius Sulla was appointed as Marius’s quaestor (supervisor of the financial affairs of the state) in 107 BCE, and later competed with Marius for supreme power. Over the next few decades, he and Marius engaged in a series of conflicts that culminated in Sulla seizing power and marching to Asia Minor against the decrees of the Senate. Marius launched a coup in Sulla’s absence, putting to death some of his enemies and instituting a populist regime, but died soon after.

Bust of Sulla

The bust of Lucius Cornelius Sulla, an optimate who marched against Rome and installed himself as dictator in 82-81 BCE.

Pompey, Crassus, and the Catilinarian Conspiracy

In 77 BCE, two of Sulla’s former lieutenants, Gnaeus Pompeius
Magnus (“Pompey the Great”) and Marcus Licinius Crassus, had left Rome to put
down uprisings and found the populist party, attacking Sulla’s constitution upon
their return. In an attempt to forge an agreement with the populist party, both
lieutenants promised to dismantle components of Sulla’s constitution that the
populists found disagreeable, in return for being elected consul. The two were
elected in 70 BCE and held true to their word. Four years later, in 66 BCE, a
movement to use peaceful means to address the plights of the various classes
arose; however, after several failures in achieving their goals, the movement,
headed by Lucius Sergius Catilina and based in Faesulae, a hotbed of agrarian
agitation, decided to march to Rome and instigate an uprising. Marcus Tullius
Cicero, the consul at the time, intercepted messages regarding recruitment and
plans, leading the Senate to authorize the assassination of many Catilinarian
conspirators in Rome, an action that was seen as stemming from dubious
authority. This effectively disrupted the conspiracy and discredited the
populist party, in turn repairing the image of the Senate, which had come to be
seen as weak and not worthy of such violent attack.

First Triumvirate

In 62 BCE, Pompey returned from campaigning in Asia to find
that the Senate, elated by its successes against the Catiline conspirators,
was unwilling to ratify any of Pompey’s arrangements, leaving Pompey
powerless. Julius Caesar returned from his governorship in Spain a year later
and, along with Crassus, established a private agreement with Pompey known as
the First Triumvirate. Under the terms of this agreement, Pompey’s arrangements
would be ratified and Caesar would be elected consul in 59 BCE, subsequently
serving as governor of Gaul for five years. Crassus was promised the consulship
later.

When Caesar became consul, he saw the passage of Pompey’s
arrangements through the Senate, at times using violent means to ensure their
passage. Caesar also facilitated the election of patrician Publius Clodius
Pulcher to the tribunate in 58 BCE, and Clodius sidelined Caesar’s senatorial
opponents, Cato and Cicero. Clodius eventually formed armed gangs that
terrorized Rome and began to attack Pompey’s followers, who formed
counter-gangs in response, marking the end of the political alliance between
Pompey and Caeser. Though the triumvirate was briefly renewed in the face of
political opposition for the consulship from Domitius Ahenobarbus, Crassus’s
death during an expedition against the Kingdom of Parthia, and the death of
Pompey’s wife, Julia, who was also Caesar’s daughter, severed any remaining
bonds between Pompey and Caesar.

Beginning in the
summer of 54 BCE, a wave of political corruption and violence swept Rome,
reaching a climax in January 52 BCE, when Clodius was murdered in a gang war.
Caesar presented an ultimatum to the Senate on January 1, 49 BCE, which was
ultimately rejected. Subsequently, a resolution was passed that declared that if
Caesar did not lay down his arms by July, he would be considered an enemy of
the Republic. The senators adopted Pompey as their champion, and on January 7,
Pompey was granted dictatorial powers over the Republic by the Senate. Pompey’s
army, however, was composed mainly of untested conscripts, and on January 10,
Caesar crossed the Rubicon with his more experienced forces in defiance of
Roman laws, and marched towards Rome. Pompey, the consuls, and the Senate all
abandoned Rome for Greece, in the face of Caeser’s rapidly advancing forces, and
Caesar entered the city unopposed.

8.4: The Roman Empire

8.4.1: Julius Caesar

Julius Caesar was a late Republic statesman and general who waged civil war against the Roman Senate, defeating many patrician conservatives before he declared himself dictator.

Learning Objective

Explain the rise of Julius Caesar and his various successes

Key Points

• In 60 BCE, Julius Caesar, Marcus Licinius Crassus, and Gnaeus Pompeius Magnus (Pompey the Great) formed a political alliance, known as the First Triumvirate, that was to dominate Roman politics for several years, though their populist tactics were opposed by the conservative Senate.
• Caesar enjoyed great success as commander in the Gallic Wars. Upon conclusion of the wars, he refused to return to Rome as ordered by the Senate, and instead, crossed the Rubicon in 49 BCE with a legion, entering Roman territory under arms.
• Caesar fought in a civil war against his old colleague, Pompey, who had aligned himself with conservative interests in the Senate. Caesar quickly defeated his rival and many other Senate conservatives who had previously opposed him.
• With most of his enemies gone, Caesar installed himself as dictator in perpetuity. As dictator, he instituted a series of reforms and, most notably, created the Julian calendar.
• Caesar was assassinated in 44 BCE by his remaining enemies in the Senate, throwing Rome into another period of chaos and civil war.

Key Terms

dictator

During Caesar’s time, in the late Roman Republic, ruler for life. In the early Republic, by contrast, a dictator was a general appointed by the Senate, who served temporarily during a national emergency.

Julius Caesar

A Roman general, statesman, consul, and author, who
played a critical role in the events that led to the demise of the Roman
Republic and the rise of the Roman Empire.

Pompey

A military and political leader of the late Roman Republic, who represented the Roman Senate in a civil war against Julius Caesar.

Gaius Julius Caesar was a Roman general, statesman, consul, and notable author of Latin prose. He played a critical role in the events that led to the demise of the Roman Republic and the rise of the Roman Empire. In 60 BCE, Caesar, Marcus Licinius Crassus, and Gnaeus Pompeius Magnus (Pompey the Great) formed a political alliance, known as the First Triumvirate, that was to dominate Roman politics for several years. Caesar made the initial overtures that
led to the informal alliance. An acclaimed military commander who had also
served in a variety of political offices, Caesar sought election as consul in 59 BCE, along with two other candidates. The election was particularly
contentious, with corruption occurring on all sides. Caesar won, as well as conservative Marcus Bibulus, but saw that he could further his political
influence with Crassus and Pompey.

Their attempts to amass power through populist tactics were opposed by the conservative ruling class within the Roman Senate, among them Cato the Younger and Cicero. Meanwhile, Caesar’s victories in the Gallic Wars, completed by 51 BCE, extended Rome’s territory to the English Channel and the Rhine River. Caesar became the first Roman general to cross both when he built a bridge across the Rhine and conducted the first invasion of Britain.

These achievements granted Caesar unmatched military power and threatened to eclipse the standing of his colleague, Pompey, who had realigned himself with the Senate after the death of Crassus in 53 BCE. With the Gallic Wars concluded, the Senate ordered Caesar to step down from his military command and return to Rome. Caesar refused and marked his defiance in 49 BCE by crossing the Rubicon (shallow river in northern Italy) with a legion.
In doing so, he deliberately broke the law on
imperium and engaged in an open act of insurrection and treason.

Civil War ensued, with Pompey representing the Roman Senate forces against Caesar, but Caesar quickly defeated Pompey in 48 BCE, and dispatched Pompey’s supporters in the following year. During this time, many staunch Senate conservatives, such as Cato the Younger, were either killed or committed suicide, thereby greatly decreasing the number of optimates in Rome.

Caesar as Dictator

Bust of Julius Caesar

Gaius Julius Caesar was a Roman general, statesman, consul, and notable author of Latin prose.

After assuming control of the government upon the defeat of his enemies in 45 BCE, Caesar began a program of social and governmental reforms that included the creation of the Julian calendar. He centralized the bureaucracy of the Republic and eventually proclaimed himself “dictator in perpetuity.”  It is important to note that Caesar did not declare himself rex (king), but instead, claimed the title of dictator. Contrary to the negative connotations that the modern use of the word evokes, the Roman dictator was appointed by the Senate during times of emergency as a unilateral decision-maker who could act more quickly than the usual bureaucratic processes that the Republican government would allow. Upon bringing the Roman state out of trouble, the dictator would then resign and restore power back to the Senate. Thus, Caesar’s declaration ostensibly remained within the Republican framework of power, though the huge amounts of power he had gathered for himself in practice set him up similar to a monarch.

Caesar used his powers to fill the Senate with his own partisans. He also increased the number of magistrates who were elected each year, which created a large pool of experienced magistrates and allowed Caesar to reward his supporters. He used his powers to appoint many new senators, which eventually raised the Senate’s membership to 900. All the appointments were of his own partisans, which robbed the senatorial aristocracy of its prestige and made the Senate increasingly subservient to him. To minimize the risk that another general might attempt to challenge him, Caesar passed a law that subjected governors to term limits. All of these changes watered down the power of the Senate, which infuriated those used to aristocratic privilege. Such anger proved to be fuel for Caesar’s eventual assassination.

Despite the defeat of most of his conservative enemies, however, underlying political conflicts had not been resolved. On the Ides of March (March 15) 44 BCE, Caesar was
scheduled
to appear at a session of the Senate, and a group of senators led by Marcus
Junius Brutus and Gaius Cassius Longinus conspired to assassinate him. Though
some of his assassins may have had ulterior personal vendettas against Caesar,
Brutus is said to have acted out of concern for the Republic in the face of
what he considered to be a monarchical tyrant. Mark Antony, one of Caesar’s
generals and administrator of Italy during Caesar’s campaigns abroad, learned
such a plan existed the night before, and attempted to intercept Caesar, but the
plotters anticipated this and arranged to meet him outside the site of the
session and detain him him there. Caesar was stabbed 23 times and lay dead on
the ground for some time before officials removed his body.

A new series of civil wars broke out following Caesar’s assassination, and the constitutional government of the Republic was never restored. Caesar’s adopted heir, Octavian, later known as Augustus, rose to sole power, and the era of the Roman Empire began.

8.4.2: Founding of the Roman Empire

Augustus rose to power after Julius Caesar’s assassination, through a series of political and military maneuvers, eventually establishing himself as the first emperor of Rome.

Learning Objective

Explain the key features of Augustus’s reign and the reasons for its successes

Key Points

• Following the assassination of his maternal great-uncle Julius Caesar in 44 BCE, Caesar’s will named Octavian as his adopted son and heir when Octavian was only 19 years old.
• By ingratiating himself with his father’s legions, Octavian was able to fulfill the military demands of the Roman Senate. He quickly gained both power and prestige and formed the Second Triumvirate with Antony and Lepidus in 43 BCE.
• By 31 BCE, Octavian had emerged as the sole ruler of Rome, upon the political and military defeat of the two other triumvirs.

Key Terms

Mark Antony

Julius Caesar’s right hand man, and a member of the Second Triumvirate. He was eventually defeated by Octavian at the Battle of Actium in 31 BCE.

Augustus

The founder of the Roman Empire, known as Octavian during his early years and during his rise to power.

Augustus is regarded by many scholars as the founder and first emperor of the Roman Empire. He ruled from 27 BCE until his death in 14 CE.

Rise to Power

Augustus was born Gaius Octavius, and in his early years was known as Octavian. He was from an old and wealthy equestrian branch of the plebeian Octavii family. Following the assassination of his maternal great-uncle, Julius Caesar, in 44 BCE, Caesar’s will named Octavian as his adopted son and heir when Octavian was only 19 years old. The young Octavian quickly took advantage of the situation and ingratiated himself with both the Roman people and his adoptive father’s legions, thereby elevating his status and importance within Rome. Octavian found Mark Antony, Julius Caesar’s
former colleague and the current consul of Rome,
in an uneasy truce with Caesar’s assassins, who had been granted general amnesty
for their part in the plot. Nonetheless, Antony eventually succeeded in driving
most of them out of Rome, using Caesar’s eulogy as an opportunity to mount
public opinion against the assassins.

Mark Antony began amassing political support, and
Octavian set about rivaling it. Eventually, many Caesarian sympathizers began to
view Octavian as the lesser evil of the two. Octavian allied himself with
optimate factions, despite their opposition to Caesar when he was alive. The
optimate orator, Marcus Tullius Cicero, began attacking Antony in a series of
speeches, portraying him as a threat to the republican order of Rome. As public
opinion against him mounted, Antony fled to Cisalpine Gaul at the end of his
consular year.

Octavian further established himself both politically and militarily in the following months. He was declared a senator and granted the power of military command, imperium, in 43 BCE, and was further able to leverage his successes to obtain the vacant consulships left by the two defeated consuls of that year. 

Octavian eventually reached an uneasy truce with Mark Antony and Marcus Lepidus in October 43 BCE, and together, the three formed the Second Triumvirate to defeat the assassins of Caesar. Following their victory against Brutus at Phillipi, the Triumvirate divided the Roman Republic among themselves and ruled as military dictators. Relations within the Triumvirate were strained as the various members sought greater political power. Civil war between Antony and Octavian was averted in 40 BCE, when Antony married Octavian’s sister, Octavia Minor. Despite his marriage, Antony continued a love affair with Cleopatra, the former lover of Caesar and queen of Egypt, further straining political ties to Rome. Octavian used Antony’s relationship with Cleopatra to his own advantage, portraying Antony as less committed to Rome. With Lepidus expelled in 36 BCE, the Triumvirate finally disintegrated in the year 33. Finally, disagreements between Octavian and Antony erupted into civil war in the year 31 BCE. 

The Roman Senate, at Octavian’s direction, declared war on Cleopatra’s regime in Egypt  and proclaimed Antony a traitor. Antony was defeated by Octavian at the naval Battle of Actium the same year. Defeated, Antony fled with Cleopatra to Alexandria where they both committed suicide. With Antony dead, Octavian was left as the undisputed master of the Roman world. Octavian would assume the title Augustus, and reign as the first Roman Emperor.

Augustus of Prima Porta

The statue of Augustus of Prima Porta is perhaps one of the best known images of the Emperor Augustus. It portrays the emperor as perpetually youthful, and depicts many of the key propaganda messages that Augustus put forth during his time as emperor.

8.4.3: The Pax Romana

The Pax Romana, which began under Augustus, was a 200-year period of peace in which Rome experienced minimal expansion by military forces.

Learning Objective

Describe the key reasons for and characteristics of the Pax Romana

Key Points

• The Pax Romana was established under Augustus, and for that reason it is sometimes referred to as the Pax Augusta.
• Augustus closed the Gates of Janus three times to signify the onset of peace: in 29 BCE, 25 BCE, and 13 BCE, likely in conjunction with the Ara Pacis ceremony.
• The Romans regarded peace not as an absence of war, but as the rare situation that existed when all opponents had been beaten down and lost the ability to resist. Thus, Augustus had to persuade Romans that the prosperity they could achieve in the absence of warfare was better for the Empire than the potential wealth and honor acquired when fighting a risky war.
• The Ara Pacis is a prime example of the propaganda Augustus employed to promote the Pax Romana, and depicts images of Roman gods and the city of Rome personified amidst wealth and prosperity.

Key Terms

Pax Romana

The long period of relative peace and minimal expansion by military force experienced by the Roman Empire in the 1st and 2nd centuries CE. Also sometimes known as the Pax Augusta.

Ara Pacis Augustae

The Altar of Augustan Peace, a sacrificial altar that displays imagery of the peace and prosperity Augustus achieved during the Pax Romana.

Augustus’s Constitutional Reforms

After the demise of the Second Triumvirate, Augustus restored the
outward facade of the free Republic with governmental power vested in the Roman
Senate, the executive magistrates, and the legislative assemblies. In reality,
however, he retained his autocratic power over the Republic as a military
dictator. By law, Augustus held powers granted to him for life by the Senate,
including supreme military command and those of tribune and censor. It took several
years for Augustus to develop the framework within which a formally republican
state could be led under his sole rule.

Augustus passed a series of laws between the years 30 and 2 BCE that
transformed the constitution of the Roman Republic into the constitution of the
Roman Empire. During this time, Augustus reformed the Roman system of taxation,
developed networks of roads with an official courier system, established a
standing army, established the Praetorian Guard, created official police and
fire-fighting services for Rome, and rebuilt much of the city during his reign.

First Settlement

During the First Settlement, Augustus modified the Roman
political system to make it more palatable to the senatorial classes, eschewing
the open authoritarianism exhibited by Julius Caesar and Mark Anthony. In 28
BCE, in a calculated move, Augustus eradicated the emergency powers he held as
dictator and returned all powers and provinces to the Senate and the Roman
people. Members of the Senate were unhappy with this prospect, and in order to
appease them, Augustus agreed to a ten-year extension of responsibilities over
disorderly provinces. As a result of this, Augustus retained imperium over the provinces where the
majority of Rome’s soldiers were stationed. Augustus also rejected
monarchical titles, instead calling himself princeps civitatis (“First Citizen”). The
resulting constitutional framework became known as the Principate, the first
phase of the Roman Empire.

At this time, Augustus was given honorifics that made his
full name Imperator Caesar divi filius
Augustus. Imperator stressed
military power and victory and emphasized his role as commander-in-chief. Divi filius roughly translates to “son
of the divine,” enhancing his legitimacy as ruler without deifying him completely.
The use of Caesar provided a link
between himself and Julius Caesar, who was still very popular among lower
classes. Finally, the name Augustus raised associations to Rome’s illustrious
and majestic traditions, without creating heavy authoritarian overtones.

By the end of the first settlement, Augustus was in an ideal
political position. Although he no longer held dictatorial powers, he had
created an identity of such influence that authority followed naturally.

Second Settlement

In the wake of Augustus’s poor health, a second settlement
was announced in 23 BCE. During this time, Augustus outwardly appeared to rein
in his constitutional powers, but really continued to extend his dominion
throughout the Empire. Augustus renounced his ten-year consulship, but in
return, secured the following concessions for himself.

• A seat on the consuls’s platform at the front of the Curia

• The right to speak first in a Senate meeting, or ius primae relationis

• The right to summon a meeting of the Senate, which was a
  useful tool for policy making

• Care of Rome’s grain supply, or cura annonae, which gave him sweeping patronage powers over the plebs

Augustus was also granted the role of tribunicia potestas, which enabled him to act as the guardian of
the citizens of Rome. This position came with a number of benefits, including
the right to propose laws to the Senate whenever he wanted, veto power of laws,
and the ability to grant amnesty to any citizen accused of a crime. Though the
role of tribunicia potestas effectively
gave Augustus legislative supremacy, it also had many positive connotations
hearkening back to the Republic, making Augustus’s position less offensive to
the aristocracy. Beyond Rome, Augustus was granted maius imperium, meaning greater (proconsular) power. This position
enabled him to effectively override the orders of any other provincial governor
in the Roman Empire, in addition to governing his own provinces and armies.

Augustus and the Pax Romana

The Pax Romana (Latin for “Roman peace”) was a long period of relative peace and minimal expansion by military forces experienced by the Roman Empire in the 1^st and 2^nd centuries CE. Since
this
period was initiated during

Augustus’s reign, it is sometimes called Pax Augusta. Its span was approximately 206 years (27 BCE to 180 CE).

The Pax Romana started after Augustus, then Octavian, met and defeated Mark Antony in the Battle of Actium in 31 BCE. Augustus created a junta of the greatest military magnates and gave himself the titular honor. By binding together these leading magnates into a single title, he eliminated the prospect of civil war. The Pax Romana was not immediate, despite the end of the civil war, because fighting continued in Hispania and in the Alps.
Despite continuous wars of imperial expansion on the Empire’s frontiers
and one year-long civil war over the imperial succession, the Roman world was
largely free from large-scale conflict for more than two centuries. Augustus
dramatically enlarged the Empire, annexing Egypt, Dalmatia, Pannonia, Noricum,
and Raetia, expanded possessions in Africa as well as into Germania, and
completed the conquest of Hispania. Beyond Rome’s frontiers, he secured the
Empire with a buffer region of client states, and made peace with the
troublesome Parthian Empire through diplomacy.

Augustus closed the Gates of Janus (the set of gates to the Temple of Janus, which was closed in times of peace and opened in times of war) three times. The first time was in 29 BCE and the second in 25 BCE. The third closure is undocumented, but scholars have persuasively dated the event to 13 BCE during the Ara Pacis ceremony, which was held after Augustus and Agrippa jointly returned from pacifying the provinces.

Augustus faced some trouble making peace an acceptable mode of life for the Romans, who had been at war with one power or another continuously for 200 years prior to this period. The Romans regarded peace not as an absence of war, but the rare situation that existed when all opponents had been beaten down and lost the ability to resist. Augustus’s challenge was to persuade Romans that the prosperity they could achieve in the absence of war was better for the Empire than the potential wealth and honor acquired from fighting. Augustus succeeded by means of skillful propaganda. Subsequent emperors followed his lead, sometimes producing lavish ceremonies to close the Gates of Janus, issuing coins with Pax on the reverse, and patronizing literature extolling the benefits of the Pax Romana.

The Ara Pacis Augustae

The Ara Pacis Augustae, or Altar of Augustan Peace, is one of the best examples of Augustan artistic propaganda and the prime symbol of the new Pax Romana. It was commissioned by the Senate in 13 BCE to honor the peace and bounty established by Augustus following his return from Spain and Gaul.
The theme of peace is seen most notably in the east
and west walls of the Ara Pacis, each of which had two panels, although only
small fragments remain for one panel on each side. On the east side sits an
unidentified goddess presumed by scholars to be Tellus, Venus, or Peace within
an allegorical scene of prosperity and fertility. Twins sit on her lap along
with a cornucopia of fruits. Personifications of the wind and sea surround her,
each riding on a bird or a sea monster. Beneath the women rests a bull and
lamb, both sacrificial animals, and flowering plants fill the empty space. The
nearly incomplete second eastern panel appears to depict a female warrior,
possibly Roma, amid the spoils of conquest.

The Tellus Mater Panel of the Ara Pacis

The eastern wall of the Ara Pacis, which depicts the Tellus Mater surrounded by symbols of fertility and prosperity.

Augustus died in 14 CE at the age of 75. He
may have died from natural causes, although unconfirmed rumors swirled that
his wife Livia poisoned him. His adopted son (also stepson and former
son-in-law), Tiberius, succeeded him to the throne.

8.4.4: The Julio-Claudian Emperors

The Julio-Claudian emperors expanded the
boundaries of the Roman Empire and engaged in ambitious construction projects. However, they were met with mixed public reception due to their unique ruling methods.

Learning Objective

Describe the reigns of the emperors who followed
Augustus

Key Points

• Tiberius was the
  second emperor of the Roman Empire, and was considered one of Rome’s greatest
  generals. 
• Tiberius
  conquered Pannonia, Dalmatia, Raetia, and temporarily, parts of Germania. His
  conquests laid the foundations for the northern frontier.
• When Tiberius
  died on March 16, 37 CE, his estate and titles were left to Caligula and
  Tiberius’s grandson, Gemellus. However, Caligula’s first act as Princeps was to
  to void Tiberius’s will and have Gemellus executed.
• Although
  Caligula is described as a noble and moderate ruler during the first six months
  of his reign, sources portray him as a cruel and sadistic tyrant, immediately
  thereafter.
• In 38 CE,
  Caligula focused his attention on political and public reform; however, by 39
  CE, a financial crisis had emerged as a result of Caligula’s use of political
  payments, which had overextended the state’s treasury. Despite financial
  difficulties, Caligula began a number of construction projects during this
  time.
• In 41 CE,
  Caligula was assassinated as part of a conspiracy by officers of the Paretorian
  Guard, senators, and courtiers.
• Claudius, the
  fourth emperor of the Roman Empire, was the first Roman Emperor to be born
  outside of Italy.
• Despite his lack
  of experience, Claudius was an able and efficient administrator, as well as an
  ambitious builder. He constructed many roads, aqueducts, and canals across the
  Empire.
• Claudius’s appointment as emperor by the Praetorian Guard damaged his reputation. This was amplified when Claudius became the first
  emperor to resort to bribery as a means to secure army loyalty. Claudius also
  rewarded the Praetorian Guard that had named him emperor with 15,000 sesterces.

Key Terms

Julio-Claudian dynasty

The first five Roman emperors who ruled the
Roman Empire, including Augustus, Tiberius, Caligula, Claudius, and Nero.

Praetorian Guard

A force of bodyguards used by the Roman
emperors. They also served as secret police, and participated in wars.

Tiberius

Tiberius was the second
emperor of the Roman Empire and reigned from 14 to 37 CE. The previous emperor,
Augustus, was his stepfather; this officially made him a Julian. However, his
biological father was Tiberius Claudius Nero, making him a Claudian by birth.
Subsequent emperors would continue the blended dynasty of both families for the
next 30 years, leading historians to name it the Julio-Claudian Dynasty.
Tiberius is also the grand-uncle of Caligula, his successor, the paternal uncle
of Claudius, and the great-grand uncle of Nero.

Tiberius is considered one
of Rome’s greatest generals. During his reign, he conquered Pannonia, Dalmatia,
Raetia, and temporarily, parts of Germania. His conquests laid the foundations
for the northern frontier. However, he was known by contemporaries to be dark,
reclusive, and somber—a ruler who never really wanted to be emperor. The tone
was set early in his reign when the Senate convened to validate his position as
Princeps. During the proceedings, Tiberius attempted to play the part of the
reluctant public servant, but came across as derisive and obstructive. His
direct orders appeared vague, inspiring more debate than action and leaving the
Senate to act on its own. After the death of Tiberius’s son in 23 CE, the
emperor became even more reclusive, leaving the administration largely in the
hands of his unscrupulous Praetorian Prefects.

Tiberius

Tiberius, Romisch-Germanisches Museum, Cologne

Bust of Tiberius

Caligula

When Tiberius died on March
16, 37 CE, his estate and titles were left to Caligula and Tiberius’s grandson,
Gemellus, with the intention that they would rule as joint heirs. However,
Caligula’s first act as Princeps was to to void Tiberius’s will and have
Gemellus executed. When Tiberius died, he had not been well liked. Caligula, on
the other hand, was almost universally heralded upon his assumption of the
throne. There are few surviving sources on Caligula’s reign. Caligula’s first
acts as emperor were generous in spirit, but political in nature. He granted
bonuses to the military, including the Praetorian Guard, city troops, and the
army outside of Italy. He destroyed Tiberius’s treason papers and declared that
treason trials would no longer continue as a practice, even going so far as to
recall those who had already been sent into exile for treason. He also helped
those who had been adversely affected by the imperial tax system, banished
certain sexual deviants, and put on large public spectacles, such as
gladiatorial games, for the common people. 

Although he is described as
a noble and moderate ruler during the first six months of his reign, sources
portray him as a cruel and sadistic tyrant immediately thereafter. The
transitional point seems to center around an illness Caligula experienced in
October of 37 CE. It is unclear whether the incident was merely an illness, or
if Caligula had been poisoned. Either way, following the incident, the young
emperor began dealing with what he considered to be serious threats, by killing
or exiling those who were close to him. During the remainder of his reign, he worked
to increase the personal power of the emperor during his short reign, and
devoted much of his attention to ambitious construction projects and luxurious
dwellings for himself. 

In 38 CE, Caligula focused
his attention on political and public reform. He published the accounts of
public funds, which had not been done under Tiberius’s reign, provided aid to
those who lost property in fires, and abolished certain taxes. He also allowed
new members into the equestrian and senatorial orders. Perhaps most
significantly, he restored the practice of democratic elections, which
delighted much of the public but was a cause for concern among the aristocracy.

By 39 CE, a financial crisis
had emerged as a result of Caligula’s use of political payments, which had
overextended the state’s treasury. In order to to restock the treasury,
Caligula began falsely accusing, fining, and even killing individuals in order
to seize their estates. He also asked the public to lend the state money, and
raised taxes on lawsuits, weddings, and prostitution, as well as auctioning the
lives of gladiators at shows. Wills that left items to Tiberius were also
reinterpreted as having left said items to Caligula. Centurions who had
acquired property by plunder were also forced to turn over their spoils to the
state, and highway commissioners were accused of incompetence and embezzlement
and forced to repay money that they might not have taken in the first place. Around
the same time, a brief famine occurred, possibly as a result of the financial
crisis, though its causes remain unclear. 

Despite financial
difficulties, Caligula began a number of construction projects during this
time. He initiated the construction of two aqueducts in Rome, Awua Claudia and
Anio Novus, which were considered contemporary engineering marvels. In 39 CE,
he ordered the construction of a temporary floating bridge between the resort
of Baiae and the port of Puteoli, which rivaled the bridge Persian king Xerxes
had constructed across the Hellespont. Caligula had two large ships constructed
for himself that were among the largest constructed in the ancient world. The larger of the two was essentially an elaborate floating palace with marble floors
and plumbing. He also improved the harbors at Rhegium and Sicily, which allowed
for increased grain imports from Egypt, possibly in response to the famine Rome
experienced. 

During his reign, the Empire
annexed the Kingdom of Mauretania as a province. Mauretania had previously been
a client kingdom ruled by Ptolemy of Mauretania. Details on how and why
Mauretania was ultimately annexed remain unclear. Ptolemy was had been invited
to Rome by Caligula and suddenly executed in what was seemingly a personal
political move, rather than a calculated response to military of economic needs.
However, Roman possession of Mauretania ultimately proved to be a boon to the
territory, as the subsequent rebellion of Tacfarinas demonstrated how exposed the
African Proconsularis was on its western borders. There also was a northern
campaign to Britannia that was aborted during Caligula’s reign, though there is not a
cohesive narrative of the event.

In 39 CE, relations between
Caligula and the Senate deteriorated. Caligula ordered a new set of treason
investigations and trials, replacing the consul and putting a number of senators
to death. Many other senators were reportedly treated in a degrading fashion and
humiliated by Caligula. In 41 CE, Caligula was assassinated as part of a
conspiracy by officers of the Praetorian Guard, senators, and courtiers. The
conspirators used the assassination as an opportunity to re-institute the
Republic, but were ultimately unsuccessful.

Caligula

Emperor Caligula, Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek.

Bust of Caligula

Claudius

Claudius, the fourth emperor
of the Roman Empire, was the first Roman Emperor to be born outside of Italy.
He was afflicted with a limp and slight deafness, which caused his family to
ostracize him and exclude him from public office until he shared the consulship
with his nephew, Caligula, in 37 CE. Due to Claudius’s afflictions, it is likely
he was spared from the many purges of Tiberius and Caligula’s reigns. As a
result, Claudius was declared Emperor by the Praetorian Guard after Caligula’s
assassination, due to his position as the last man in the Julio-Claudian line. 

Despite his lack of
experience, Claudius was an able and efficient administrator, as well as an
ambitious builder; he constructed many roads, aqueducts, and canals across the
Empire. His reign also saw the beginning of the conquest of Britain.
Additionally, Claudius presided over many public trials, and issued up to 20
edicts a day. However, in spite of his capable rule, Claudius continued to be viewed
as vulnerable by the Roman nobility throughout his reign, forcing Claudius to
constantly defend his position. He did so by emphasizing his place within the
Julio-Claudian family, dropping the cognomen, Nero, from his name, and replacing
it with Caesar.

Nonetheless, his appointment as emperor by the Praetorian Guard caused
damage to his reputation, and this was amplified when Claudius became the first
emperor to resort to bribery as a means to secure army loyalty. Claudius also
rewarded the Praetorian Guard that had named him emperor with 15,000 sesterces.

Claudius

Bust of Emperor Claudius.

8.4.5: The Last Julio-Claudian Emperors

Nero’s consolidation of personal power led to rebellion,
civil war, and a year-long period of upheaval, during which four separate
emperors ruled Rome.

Learning Objective

Explain how Nero and other factors contributed
to the fall of the Julio-Claudian Dynasty

Key Points

• Nero reigned as
  Roman Emperor from 54 to 68 CE, and was the last emperor in the Julio-Claudian Dynasty.
• Very early in
  Nero’s rule, problems arose, due to his mother, Agrippina the Younger’s competition for influence with Nero’s two main advisers, Seneca and Burrus.
• Nero minimized
  the influence of all of his advisers and effectively eliminating all rivals to his
  throne. He also slowly removed power from the Senate, despite having promised
  to grant them with powers equivalent to those they had under republican rule.
• In March 68,
  Gaius Gulius Vindex, the governor of Gallia Lugdunensis, rebelled against Nero’s
  tax policies and called upon the support of Servius Sulpicius Galba, the
  governor of Hispania Tarraconensis, who not only joined the rebellion, but also
  declared himself emperor in opposition to Nero. Galba would become the first
  emperor in what was known as the Year of the Four Emperors.
• Vespasian was the fourth and final emperor to rule in the year 69 CE, and
  established the stable Flavian Dynasty, that was to succeed the
  Julio-Claudians.

Key Terms

Praetorian Guard

A force of bodyguards used by the Roman
emperors. They also served as secret police and participated in wars.

Julio-Claudian
dynasty

The first five Roman emperors who ruled the
Roman Empire, including Augustus, Tiberius, Caligula, Claudius, and Nero.

Flavian dynasty

A Roman imperial dynasty that ruled the Roman
Empire from 69 to 96 CE, encompassing the reigns of Vespasian and his two sons,
Titus and Domitian.

Nero

Nero reigned as Roman
Emperor from 54 to 68 CE, and was the last emperor in the Julio-Claudian Dynasty. Nero focused on diplomacy, trade, and enhancing the cultural life of
the Empire during his rule. He ordered theaters to be built and promoted
athletic games. However, according to Tacitus, a historian writing one
generation after Nero’s rule, Nero was viewed by many Romans as compulsive and
corrupt. Suetonius, another historian writing a generation after Nero’s rule,
claims that Nero began the Great Fire of Rome in 64 CE, in order to clear land
for a palatial complex he was planning. 

Nero

A marble bust of Nero, at the Antiquarium of the Palatine.

Early Rule

When Claudius died in 54,
Nero was established as the new emperor. According to some ancient historians,
Agrippina the Younger, Nero’s mother, poisoned Claudius in order to make Nero
the youngest Roman emperor (at the age of 17). Very early in Nero’s rule,
problems arose due to Agrippina’s competition for influence with Nero’s two
main advisers, Seneca and Burrus. For example, in the year 54, Agrippina caused
a scandal by attempting to sit with Nero while he met with the Armenian envoy,
an unheard of act, since women were not permitted to be in the same room as men
while official business was being conducted. The next year, Agrippina attempted
to intervene on behalf of Nero’s wife, Octavia, with whom Nero was dissatisfied
and cheating on with a former slave. With the help of his adviser, Seneca, Nero
managed to resist his mother’s interference yet again.

Sensing his resistance to
her influence, Agrippina began pushing for Britannicus, Nero’s stepbrother, to
become emperor. Britannicus was still shy of 14 years old, and legally still a
minor, but because he was the son of the previous emperor, Claudius, by blood,
Agrippina held hope that he would be accepted as the true heir to the throne.
Her efforts were thwarted, however, when Britannicus mysteriously died one day
short of becoming a legal adult. Many ancient historians claim that Britannicus
was poisoned by his stepbrother, Nero. Shortly thereafter, Agrippina was ordered
out of the imperial residence.

Consolidation of Power

Over time, Nero began
minimizing the influence of all advisers and effectively eliminating all rivals
to his throne. Even Seneca and Burrus were accused of conspiring against, and
embezzling from the emperor; they were eventually acquitted, reducing their
roles from careful management of the government to mere moderation of Nero’s
actions on the throne. In 58 CE, Nero became romantically involved with Poppaea
Sabina, the wife of his friend and future emperor, Otho. Because divorcing his
current wife and marrying Poppaea did not seem politically feasible with his
mother still alive, Nero ordered Agrippina’s murder the following year.

Nero’s consolidation of
power included a slow usurpation of authority from the Senate. Although he had
promised the Senate powers equivalent to those it had under republican rule,
over the course of the first decade of Nero’s rule, the Senate was divested of all
its authority, which led directly to the Pisonian Conspiracy of 65. Gaius
Calpurnius Piso, a Roman statesman, organized the conspiracy against Nero with
the help of Subrius Flavus, a tribune, and Sulpicius Asper, a centurion of the
Praetorian Guard, in order to restore the Republic and wrest power from the
emperor. However, the conspiracy failed when it was discovered by a freedman, who reported the details to Nero’s secretary. This led to the execution of all
conspirators. Seneca was also ordered to commit suicide after he admitted to
having prior knowledge of the plot.

Vindex and Galba’s Revolt

In March 68, Gaius Gulius
Vindex, the governor of Gallia Lugdunensis, rebelled against Nero’s tax
policies and called upon the support of Servius Sulpicius Galba, the governor
of Hispania Tarraconensis, who not only joined the rebellion, but also declared
himself emperor in opposition to Nero. Two months later, Vindex’s forces were
defeated at the Battle of Vesontio, and Vindex committed suicide. The legions
that defeated Vindex then attempted to proclaim their own commander, Verginius,
as emperor, but Verginius refused to act against Nero. Meanwhile, public
support for Galba grew despite his being officially declared a public enemy. In
response, Nero began to flee Rome only to turn back when the army officers that
were with him refused to obey his commands. When Nero returned, he received
word that the Senate had declared him a public enemy and intended to beat him
to death—although in actuality, the Senate remained open to mediating an end to
the conflict, and many senators felt a sense of loyalty to Nero, even if only
on account of him being the last of the Julio-Claudian line. However, Nero was
unaware of this and convinced his private secretary to help him take his own
life. 

Year of the Four Emperors

The suicide of Emperor Nero
was followed by a brief period of civil war. Then, between June 68 and December
69, four emperors ruled in succession: Galba, Otho, Vitellius, and Vespasian. 

Galba was recognized as
emperor following Nero’s suicide, but he did not remain popular for long. On
his march to Rome, he either destroyed or took enormous fines from towns that
did not accept him immediately. Once in Rome, Galba made many of Nero’s reforms
redundant, including ones that benefited important people within Roman
society. Galba executed many senators and equites without trial, in a paranoid
attempt to consolidate his power, which unsettled many, including the
Praetorian Guard. Finally, the legions of Germania Inferior refused to swear
allegiance and obedience to Galba, instead proclaiming the governor Vitellius
as emperor. 

This caused Galba to panic
and name Lucius Calpurnius Piso Licinianus, a young senator, as his successor.
This upset many people, but especially Marcus Salvius Otho, who had coveted
after the title for himself. Otho bribed the Praetorian Guard to support him
and embarked upon a coup d’etat, during which Galba was killed by the
Praetorians. Otho was recognized as emperor by the Senate the same day and was
expected by many to be a fair ruler. Unfortunately, soon thereafter, Vitellius
declared himself Imperator in Germania, and dispatched half his army to march on
Italy.

Otho attempted to broker a
peace, but Vitellius was uninterested, especially because his legions were some
of the finest in the empire, which gave him a great advantage over Otho.
Indeed, Otho was eventually defeated at the Battle of Bedriacum, and rather
than flee and attempt a counterattack, Otho committed suicide. He had been emperor
for little more than three months. Vitellius was recognized as emperor by the
Senate. Very quickly thereafter, he proceeded to bankrupt the imperial treasury
by throwing a series of feasts, banquets, and triumphal parades. He tortured
and executed money lenders who demanded payment and killed any citizens who
named him as their heir. He also lured many political rivals to his palace in
order to assassinate them.

Meanwhile, many of the legions in the African province of Egypt, and the
Middle East provinces of Iudaea and Syria, including the governor of Syria,
acclaimed Vespasian as their emperor. A force marched from the Middle East to
Rome, and Vespasian traveled to Alexandria, where he was officially named
Emperor. From there, Vespasian invaded Italy and won a crushing victory over
Vitellius’s army at the Second Battle of Bedriacum. Vitellius was found by
Vespasian’s men at the imperial palace and put to death. The Senate
acknowledged Vespasian as emperor the next day, marking the beginning of the
Flavian Dynasty, which was to succeed the Julio-Claudian line. Vespasian
remained emperor for the rest of his natural life.

Vespasian

A plaster cast of Vespasian in the Pushkin Museum, after an original held in the Louvre.  

8.5: The Flavian Dynasty

8.5.1: The Flavian Dynasty

The Flavian Dynasty, which began under the rule of Vespasian during the Year of the Four Emperors, is known for several significant historic, economic, and military events.

Learning Objective

Analyze how Vespasian consolidated control over the empire

Key Points

• Vespasian, a general for the Roman army, founded the Flavian Dynasty, which ruled the Empire for 27 years.
• While Vespasian besieged Jerusalem during the Jewish rebellion, emperor Nero committed suicide and plunged Rome into a year of civil war, known as the Year of the Four Emperors. 
• After Galba and Otho perished in quick succession, Vitellius became the third emperor in April 69 CE.
• The Roman legions of Roman Egypt and Judaea reacted by declaring Vespasian, their commander, emperor on July 1, 69 CE.
• In his bid for imperial power, Vespasian joined forces with Mucianus, the governor of Syria, and Primus, a general in Pannonia, leaving his son, Titus, to command the besieging forces at Jerusalem; Primus and Mucianus led the Flavian forces against Vitellius, while Vespasian took control of Egypt. 
• On December 20, 69, Vitellius was defeated, and the following day, Vespasian was declared Emperor by the Senate.
• Little information survives about the government during Vespasian’s ten-year rule; he reformed the financial system at Rome after the campaign against Judaea ended successfully, and initiated several ambitious construction projects.

Key Terms

Colosseum

Also known as the Flavian Amphitheater, an oval amphitheater in the center of the city of Rome, Italy, built of concrete and sand. The largest amphitheater ever built, used for gladiatorial contests and public spectacles, such as mock sea battles, animal hunts, executions, re-enactments of famous battles, and dramas based on Classical mythology.

Year of the Four Emperors

A year in the history of the Roman Empire, 69 CE, in which four emperors ruled in succession: Galba, Otho, Vitellius, and Vespasian.

Praetorian Guard

A force of bodyguards used by Roman Emperors, who also served as secret police and participated in wars.

Overview

The Flavian Dynasty was a Roman imperial dynasty that ruled the Roman Empire between 69 CE and 96 CE, encompassing the reigns of Vespasian (69-79 CE), and his two sons Titus (79-81 CE) and Domitian (81-96 CE). The Flavians rose to power during the civil war of 69, known as the Year of the Four Emperors. After Galba and Otho died in quick succession, Vitellius became emperor in mid 69 CE. His claim to the throne was quickly challenged by legions stationed in the Eastern provinces, who declared their commander, Vespasian, emperor in his place. The Second Battle of Bedriacum tilted the balance decisively in favor of the Flavian forces, who entered Rome on December 20. The following day, the Roman Senate officially declared Vespasian emperor of the Roman Empire, thus commencing the Flavian Dynasty. Although the dynasty proved to be short-lived, several significant historic, economic, and military events took place during their reign.

The Flavians initiated economic and cultural reforms. Under Vespasian, new taxes were devised to restore the Empire’s finances, while Domitian revalued the Roman coinage by increasing its silver content. A massive building program was enacted to celebrate the ascent of the Flavian Dynasty, leaving multiple enduring landmarks in the city of Rome, the most spectacular of which was the Flavian Amphitheater, better known as the Colosseum.

Rise to Power

On June 9, 68 CE, amidst growing opposition of the Senate and the army, Nero committed suicide, and with him the Julio-Claudian Dynasty came to an end. Chaos ensued, leading to a year of brutal civil war, known as the Year of the Four Emperors, during which the four most influential generals in the Roman Empire—Galba, Otho, Vitellius and Vespasian—successively vied for imperial power. News of Nero’s death reached Vespasian as he was preparing to besiege the city of Jerusalem. Almost simultaneously the Senate had declared Galba, then governor of Hispania Tarraconensis (modern Spain), as Emperor of Rome. Rather than continue his campaign, Vespasian decided to await further orders and send Titus to greet the new Emperor. Before reaching Italy however, Titus learned that Galba had been murdered and replaced by Otho, the governor of Lusitania (modern Portugal). At the same time, Vitellius and his armies in Germania had risen in revolt, and prepared to march on Rome, intent on overthrowing Otho. Not wanting to risk being taken hostage by one side or the other, Titus abandoned the journey to Rome and rejoined his father in Judaea.

Roman Empire in 69 CE

The Roman Empire during the Year of the Four Emperors (69 CE). Purple areas indicate provinces loyal to Vespasian and Gaius Licinius Mucianus. Green areas indicate provinces loyal to Vitellius.

The map shows that Dalmatia (one of four historical regions of Croatia), Pannonia (an ancient province of the Roman Empire bounded north and east by the Danube, coterinumus westward with Noricum and upper Italy, and southward with Dalmatia and upper Moesia), Moesia (an ancient region and later Roman province situatioed in the Balkans, along the south bank of the Danube River), Aegyptus (the Roman province of Egypt), Iudaea (an area that incorporated the regions of Judea, Samaria, and Idumea, and extended over parts of the former regions of the Hasmonean and Herodian kingdoms of Israel), and Syria were loyal to Vespasian.

Otho and Vitellius realized the potential threat posed by the Flavian faction. With four legions at his disposal, Vespasian commanded a strength of nearly 80,000 soldiers. His position in Judaea further granted him the advantage of being nearest to the vital province of Egypt, which controlled the grain supply to Rome. His brother, Titus Flavius Sabinus II, as city prefect, commanded the entire city garrison of Rome. Tensions among the Flavian troops ran high, but as long as Galba and Otho remained in power, Vespasian refused to take action. When Otho was defeated by Vitellius at the First Battle of Bedriacum however, the armies in Judaea and Egypt took matters into their own hands, and declared Vespasian emperor on July 1, 69. Vespasian accepted, and entered an alliance with Gaius Licinius Mucianus, the governor of Syria, against Vitellius. A strong force drawn from the Judaean and Syrian legions marched on Rome under the command of Mucianus, while Vespasian himself travelled to Alexandria, leaving Titus in charge of ending the Jewish rebellion.

Meanwhile in Rome, Domitian was placed under house arrest by Vitellius, as a safeguard against future Flavian aggression. Support for the old emperor was waning however, as more legions throughout the empire pledged their allegiance to Vespasian. On October 24, 69, the forces of Vitellius and Vespasian clashed at the Second Battle of Bedriacum, which ended in a crushing defeat for the armies of Vitellius. In despair, he attempted to negotiate a surrender. Terms of peace, including a voluntary abdication, were agreed upon with Titus Flavius Sabinus II, but the soldiers of the Praetorian Guard—the imperial bodyguard—considered such a resignation disgraceful, and prevented Vitellius from carrying out the treaty. After several skirmishes between the factions, eventually Vitellius was killed and on December 21, the Senate proclaimed Vespasian emperor of the Roman Empire.

Although the war had officially ended, a state of anarchy and lawlessness pervaded in the first days following the demise of Vitellius. In early 70 AD, order was properly restored by Mucianus, who headed an interim government with Domitian as the representative of the Flavian family in the Senate. Upon receiving the tidings of his rival’s defeat and death at Alexandria, the new Emperor at once forwarded supplies of urgently needed grain to Rome, along with an edict or a declaration of policy, in which he gave assurance of an entire reversal of the laws of Nero, especially those relating to treason. However, in early 70, Vespasian was still in Egypt, continuing to consolidate support from the Egyptians before departing. By the end of the year, he finally returned to Rome, and was properly installed as Emperor.

Vespasian’s Rule

Little factual information survives about Vespasian’s government during the ten years he was Emperor. Vespasian spent his first year as a ruler in Egypt, during which the administration of the empire was given to Mucianus, aided by Vespasian’s son, Domitian. Modern historians believe that Vespasian remained there, in order to consolidate support from the Egyptians. In mid-70, Vespasian first came to Rome and immediately embarked on a widespread propaganda campaign to consolidate his power and promote the new dynasty. His reign is best known for financial reforms following the demise of the Julio-Claudian Dynasty, such as the institution of the tax on urinals, and the numerous military campaigns fought during the 70s. The most significant of these was the First Jewish-Roman War, which ended in the destruction of the city of Jerusalem by Titus. In addition, Vespasian faced several uprisings in Egypt, Gaul, and Germania, and reportedly survived several conspiracies against him. Vespasian helped rebuild Rome after the civil war, adding a temple of peace, and beginning construction of the Flavian Amphitheater, better known as the Colosseum.

Many modern historians note the increased amount of propaganda that appeared during Vespasian’s reign. Stories of a supernatural emperor, who was destined to rule, circulated in the empire. Nearly one-third of all coins minted in Rome under Vespasian celebrated military victory or peace. The word vindex was removed from coins so as not to remind the public of rebellious Vindex. Construction projects bore inscriptions praising Vespasian and condemning previous emperors. A temple of peace was constructed in the forum as well. Vespasian approved histories written under his reign, ensuring biases against him were removed.

Vespasian also gave financial rewards to writers. The ancient historians who lived through the period, such as Tacitus, Suetonius, Josephus, and Pliny the Elder, speak suspiciously well of Vespasian, while condemning the emperors who came before him. Tacitus admits that his status was elevated by Vespasian, Josephus identifies Vespasian as a patron and savior, and Pliny dedicated his Natural Histories to Vespasian’s son, Titus.

Those who spoke against Vespasian were punished. A number of stoic philosophers were accused of corrupting students with inappropriate teachings and were expelled from Rome. Helvidius Priscus, a pro-republic philosopher, was executed for his teachings.

Vespasian died of natural causes on June 23, 79, and was immediately succeeded by his eldest son, Titus.

Bust of Vespasian

Vespasian founded the Flavian Dynasty, which ruled the Empire for twenty-seven years.

A statue bust of Vespasian.

8.5.2: Military Achievements of the Flavians

The Flavian Dynasty’s military witnessed the siege and destruction of Jerusalem by Titus in 70 CE, and substantial conquests in Great Britain under command of Gnaeus Julius Agricola between 77 and 83 CE.

Learning Objective

Describe some of the military achievements and challenges of the Flavian emperors

Key Points

• The most significant military campaign undertaken during the Flavian period was the siege and destruction of Jerusalem in 70 CE by Titus; it was a response to a failed Jewish rebellion in 66.
• Contemporary estimates claimed that 1,100,000 people were killed during the siege, of which a majority were Jewish.
• Substantial conquests were made in Great Britain under command of Gnaeus Julius Agricola, between 77 and 83.
• The military campaigns undertaken during Domitian’s reign were usually defensive in nature, as the Emperor rejected the idea of expansionist warfare, and the few battles were mainly fought with Germanic tribes, especially the Dacians. 

Key Terms

Limes Germanicus

A line of frontier fortifications that bounded the ancient Roman provinces of Germania Inferior, Germania Superior and Raetia, dividing the Roman Empire and the unsubdued Germanic tribes, from the years 83 to about 260 CE.

Torah

The central text of the religious Judaic tradition, often referring specifically to the first five books of the twenty-four books of the Tanakh.

the Forum

A a rectangular forum (plaza) surrounded by the ruins of several important ancient government buildings at the center of the city of Rome, originally a large marketplace.

Overview

The Flavian Dynasty’s military witnessed the siege and destruction of Jerusalem by Titus in 70 CE, following the failed Jewish rebellion of 66. Substantial conquests were made in Great Britain under command of Gnaeus Julius Agricola between 77 and 83, while Domitian was unable to procure a decisive victory against King Decebalus in the war against the Dacians. In addition, the Empire strengthened its border defenses by expanding the fortifications along the Limes Germanicus.

Siege of Jerusalem

The most significant military campaign undertaken during the Flavian period was the siege and destruction of Jerusalem in 70 by Titus. The destruction of the city was the culmination of the Roman campaign in Judaea following the Jewish uprising of 66. The Second Temple was completely demolished, after which Titus’s soldiers proclaimed him imperator, an honorific meaning “commander,” in honor of the victory. Jerusalem was sacked and much of the population killed or dispersed. Josephus claims that 1,100,000 people were killed during the siege, of which a majority were Jewish. 97,000 were captured and enslaved, including Simon Bar Giora and John of Gischala. Many fled to areas around the Mediterranean. 

Titus reportedly refused to accept a wreath of victory, as there is “no merit in vanquishing people forsaken by their own God.” Upon his return to Rome in 71, Titus was awarded a triumph. Accompanied by Vespasian and Domitian, he rode into the city, enthusiastically saluted by the Roman populace, and preceded by a lavish parade containing treasures and captives from the war. Josephus describes a procession with large amounts of gold and silver carried along the route, followed by elaborate re-enactments of the war, Jewish prisoners, and finally the treasures taken from the Temple of Jerusalem, including the Menorah and the Torah. Leaders of the resistance were executed in the Forum, after which the procession closed with religious sacrifices at the Temple of Jupiter. The triumphal Arch of Titus, which stands at one entrance to the Forum, memorializes the victory of Titus.

Siege of Jerusalem

This relief from the Arch of Titus depicts Roman soldiers carrying treasures from the Temple of Jerusalem, including the Menorah. The city was besieged and destroyed by Titus in 70 CE.

A stone relief showing Roman soldiers carrying treasure from the sack of Jerusalem, including a menorah.

Conquest of Britain

The conquest of Britain continued under command of Gnaeus Julius Agricola, who expanded the Roman Empire as far as Caledonia, or modern day Scotland, between 77 and 84 AD. In 82, Agricola crossed an unidentified body of water and defeated peoples unknown to the Romans until then. He fortified the coast facing Ireland, and Tacitus recalled that his father-in-law often claimed the island could be conquered with a single legion and a few auxiliaries. He had given refuge to an exiled Irish king whom he hoped he might use as the excuse for conquest. This conquest never happened, but some historians believe that the crossing referred to was in fact a small-scale exploratory or punitive expedition to Ireland. The following year, Agricola raised a fleet and pushed beyond the Forth into Caledonia. To aid the advance, an expansive legionary fortress was constructed at Inchtuthil. In the summer of 84, Agricola faced the armies of the Caledonians, led by Calgacus, at the Battle of Mons Graupius. Although the Romans inflicted heavy losses on the Calidonians, two-thirds of their army managed to escape and hide in the Scottish marshes and Highlands, ultimately preventing Agricola from bringing the entire British island under his control.

Other Military Activity

The military campaigns undertaken during Domitian’s reign were usually defensive in nature, as the Emperor rejected the idea of expansionist warfare. His most significant military contribution was the development of the Limes Germanicus, which encompassed a vast network of roads, forts, and watchtowers constructed along the Rhine river to defend the Empire from the unsubdued Germanic tribes. Nevertheless, several important wars were fought in Gaul, against the Chatti, and across the Danube frontier against the Suebi, the Sarmatians, and the Dacians. Led by King Decebalus, the Dacians invaded the province of Moesia around 84 or 85, wreaking considerable havoc and killing the Moesian governor Oppius Sabinus. Domitian immediately launched a counteroffensive, which resulted in the destruction of a legion during an ill-fated expedition into Dacia. Their commander, Cornelius Fuscus, was killed, and the battle standard of the Praetorian Guard lost.

In 87, the Romans invaded Dacia once more, this time under command of Tettius Julianus, and finally managed to defeat Decebalus late in 88, at the same site where Fuscus had previously been killed. An attack on Dacia’s capital was cancelled, however, when a crisis arose on the German frontier. This forced Domitian to sign a peace treaty with Decebalus that was severely criticized by contemporary authors. For the remainder of Domitian’s reign, Dacia remained a relatively peaceful client kingdom, but Decebalus used the Roman money to fortify his defenses, and continued to defy Rome. It was not until the reign of Trajan, in 106, that a decisive victory against Decebalus was procured. Again, the Roman army sustained heavy losses, but Trajan succeeded in capturing Sarmizegetusa and, importantly, annexed the gold and silver mines of Dacia.

8.5.3: Eruptions of Vesuvius and Pompeii

The eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 CE was one of the most catastrophic volcanic eruptions in European history, with several Roman settlements obliterated and buried, and thereby preserved, under ash.

Learning Objective

Describe the events surrounding the Eruption of Mount Vesuvius

Key Points

• The eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 CE, during the reign of Emperor Titus, was one of the most catastrophic volcanic eruptions in European history. 
• Historians have learned about the eruption from the eyewitness account of Pliny the Younger, a Roman administrator and poet.
• Mount Vesuvius spewed a deadly cloud of volcanic gas, stones, and ash to a height of 21 miles, ejecting molten rock and pulverized pumice at the rate of 1.5 million tons per second, ultimately releasing a hundred thousand times the thermal energy of the Hiroshima bombing.
• Several Roman settlements were obliterated and buried underneath massive pyroclastic surges and ashfall deposits, the most well known of which are Pompeii and Herculaneum.
• The preserved remains of about 1,500 people have been found at Pompeii and Herculaneum, but the overall death toll is still unknown.

Key Terms

Pliny the Younger

A lawyer, author, and magistrate of Ancient Rome who witnessed the eruption of Mount Vesuvius.

pyroclastic surge

A fluidized mass of turbulent gas and rock fragments, ejected during some volcanic eruptions.

Pompeii

An ancient Roman town-city near modern Naples, in the Campania region of Italy, destroyed during the eruption of Mount Vesuvius.

Overview

Although his administration was marked by a relative absence of major military or political conflicts, Titus faced a number of major disasters during his brief reign. On August 24, 79 CE, barely two months after his accession, Mount Vesuvius erupted, resulting in the almost complete destruction of life and property in the cities and resort communities around the Bay of Naples. The cities of Pompeii and Herculaneum were buried under meters of stone and lava, killing thousands of citizens. Titus appointed two ex-consuls to organize and coordinate the relief effort, while personally donating large amounts of money from the imperial treasury to aid the victims of the volcano. Additionally, he visited Pompeii once after the eruption and again the following year. 

The city was lost for nearly 1,700 years before its accidental rediscovery in 1748. Since then, its excavation has provided an extraordinarily detailed insight into the life of a city at the height of the Roman Empire, frozen at the moment it was buried on August 24, 79. The Forum, the baths, many houses, and some out-of-town villas, like the Villa of the Mysteries, remain surprisingly well preserved. Today, it is one of the most popular tourist attractions of Italy and a UNESCO World Heritage Site. On-going excavations reveal new insights into the Roman history and culture.

The Eruption

Reconstructions of the eruption and its effects vary considerably in the details but have the same overall features. The eruption lasted for two days. The morning of the first day, August 24, was perceived as normal by the only eyewitness to leave a surviving document, Pliny the Younger, who at that point was staying at Misenum, on the other side of the Bay of Naples, about 19 miles from the volcano, which may have prevented him from noticing the early signs of the eruption. He was not to have any opportunity, during the next two days, to talk to people who had witnessed the eruption from Pompeii or Herculaneum (indeed he never mentions Pompeii in his letter), so he would not have noticed early, smaller fissures and releases of ash and smoke on the mountain, if such had occurred earlier in the morning. 

Around 1:00 p.m., Mount Vesuvius violently exploded, throwing up a high-altitude column from which ash began to fall, blanketing the area. Rescues and escapes occurred during this time. At some time in the night or early the next day, August 25, pyroclastic flows in the close vicinity of the volcano began. Lights seen on the mountain were interpreted as fires. People as far away as Misenum fled for their lives. The flows were rapid-moving, dense, and very hot, knocking down wholly or partly all structures in their path, incinerating or suffocating all population remaining there and altering the landscape, including the coastline. These were accompanied by additional light tremors and a mild tsunami in the Bay of Naples. By evening of the second day the eruption was over, leaving only haze in the atmosphere, through which the sun shone weakly.

Pliny the Younger wrote an account of the eruption:

Broad sheets of flame were lighting up many parts of Vesuvius; their light and brightness were the more vivid for the darkness of the night… it was daylight now elsewhere in the world, but there the darkness was darker and thicker than any night.

Casualties

In Pompeii, the eruption destroyed the city, killing its inhabitants and burying it under tons of ash. Evidence for the destruction originally came from a surviving letter by Pliny the Younger, who saw the eruption from a distance and described the death of his uncle, Pliny the Elder, an admiral of the Roman fleet, who tried to rescue citizens. The site was lost for about 1,500 years until its initial rediscovery in 1599, and broader rediscovery almost 150 years later by Spanish engineer Rocque Joaquin de Alcubierre in 1748. The objects that lay beneath the city have been preserved for centuries because of the lack of air and moisture. These artifacts provide an extraordinarily detailed insight into the life of a city during the Pax Romana. During the excavation, plaster was used to fill in the voids in the ash layers that once held human bodies. This allowed archaeologists to see the exact position the person was in when he or she died.

Pompeii’s “Garden of the Fugitives”

Plaster casts of victims still in situ; many casts are in the Archaeological Museum of Naples.

Image of the preserved remains of people killed in the eruption of Mount Vesuvius, lying on the ground.

By 2003, around 1,044 casts made from impressions of bodies in the ash deposits had been recovered in and around Pompeii, with the scattered bones of another 100. The remains of about 332 bodies have been found at Herculaneum (300 in arched vaults discovered in 1980). The percentage these numbers represent of the total dead, or the percentage of the dead to the total number at risk, remain completely unknown.

Thirty-eight percent of the 1,044 were found in the ash fall deposits, the majority inside buildings. These are thought to have been killed mainly by roof collapses, with the smaller number of victims found outside buildings probably killed by falling roof slates, or by larger rocks thrown out by the volcano. This differs from modern experience, since over the last four hundred years only around 4% of victims have been killed by ash falls during explosive eruptions. The remaining 62% of remains found at Pompeii were in the pyroclastic surge deposits, and thus were probably killed by them. It was initially believed that due to the state of the bodies found at Pompeii, and the outline of clothes on the bodies, it was unlikely that high temperatures were a significant cause. But in 2010, studies indicated that during the fourth pyroclastic surge–the first surge to reach Pompeii–temperatures reached 572 °F. Volcanologist Giuseppe Mastrolorenzo, who led the study, noted that “[The temperature was] enough to kill hundreds of people in a fraction of a second.” In reference as to why the bodies were frozen in suspended action, he said, “The contorted postures are not the effects of a long agony, but of the cadaveric spasm, a consequence of heat shock on corpses.”

Ring Lady

The skeletal remains of a young woman killed by the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 CE. The skeleton, unearthed from the ruins of Herculaneum in 1982, was named the “Ring Lady” because of the emerald and ruby rings found on the woman’s left hand. Two gold bracelets and gold earrings were also found by the woman’s side.

An image of a skeleton in ash preserved after the eruption of Mount Vesuvius.

8.5.4: Flavian Architecture

Under the Flavian Dynasty, a massive building program was undertaken, leaving multiple enduring landmarks in the city of Rome, the most spectacular of which was the Flavian Amphitheater, better known as the Colosseum.

Learning Objective

Identify some of the key structures erected by the Flavian emperors

Key Points

• Perhaps the most enduring legacy of the Flavian Dynasty was their massive building program, which not only erected new buildings to celebrate their successes, but also renovated buildings, statues, and monuments throughout Rome.
• The most spectacular of these buildings was the Flavian Amphitheater, better known as the Colosseum, built from the spoils of the Siege of Jerusalem.
• The Colosseum was used for gladiatorial contests and public spectacles, such as mock sea battles, animal hunts, executions, re-enactments of famous battles, and dramas based on Classical mythology.
• The bulk of the Flavian construction projects was carried out during the reign of Domitian, who spent lavishly to restore and embellish the city of Rome.

Key Terms

Apollo

One of the most important and complex of the Olympian deities, variously recognized as a god of music, truth and prophecy, healing, the sun and light, plague, poetry, and more.

Flavian Amphitheatre

Better known as the Colosseum, an oval amphitheater in the center of the city of Rome, Italy; used for gladiatorial games, among other activities.

Overview

The Flavian Dynasty is perhaps best known for its vast construction program on the city of Rome, intended to restore the capital from the damage it had suffered during the Great Fire of 64, and the civil war of 69. Vespasian added the temple of Peace and the temple to the deified Claudius. In 75, a colossal statue of Apollo, begun under Nero as a statue of himself, was finished on Vespasian’s orders, and he also dedicated a stage of the theater of Marcellus. Construction of the Flavian Amphitheater, presently better known as the Colosseum (probably after the nearby statue), was begun in 70 CE under Vespasian, and finally completed in 80 under Titus. In addition to providing spectacular entertainments to the Roman populace, the building was also conceived as a gigantic triumphal monument to commemorate the military achievements of the Flavians during the Jewish wars. Adjacent to the amphitheater, within the precinct of Nero’s Golden House, Titus also ordered the construction of a new public bath-house, which was to bear his name. Construction of this building was hastily finished to coincide with the completion of the Flavian Amphitheater.

The bulk of the Flavian construction projects was carried out during the reign of Domitian, who spent lavishly to restore and embellish the city of Rome. Much more than a renovation project however, Domitian’s building program was intended to be the crowning achievement of an Empire-wide cultural renaissance. Around 50 structures were erected, restored, or completed, a number second only to the amount erected under Augustus. Among the most important new structures were an odeum, a stadium, and an expansive palace on the Palatine Hill, known as the Flavian Palace, which was designed by Domitian’s master architect, Rabirius. The most important building Domitian restored was the Temple of Jupiter on the Capitoline Hill, which was said to have been covered with a gilded roof. Among those he completed were the Temple of Vespasian and Titus, the Arch of Titus, and the Colosseum, to which he added a fourth level and finished the interior seating area.

The Colosseum

The Colosseum is an oval amphitheater in the center of the city of Rome, Italy. Built of concrete and sand, it is the largest amphitheater ever built. The Colosseum is situated just east of the Roman Forum. Construction began under the emperor Vespasian in 72 CE, and was completed in 80 CE under his successor and heir, Titus. Further modifications were made during the reign of Domitian (81-96).

The Colosseum could hold, it is estimated, between 50,000 and 80,000 spectators, with an average audience of some 65,000; it was used for gladiatorial contests and public spectacles, such as mock sea battles (for only a short time, as the hypogeum was soon filled in with mechanisms to support the other activities), animal hunts, executions, re-enactments of famous battles, and dramas based on Classical mythology.

Construction was funded by the opulent spoils taken from the Jewish Temple after the Great Jewish Revolt in 70 CE led to the Siege of Jerusalem. According to a reconstructed inscription found on the site, “the emperor Vespasian ordered this new amphitheater to be erected from his general’s share of the booty.” Along with the spoils, estimated 100,000 Jewish prisoners were brought back to Rome after the war, and many contributed to the massive workforce needed for construction. The slaves undertook manual labor, such as working in the quarries at Tivoli where the travertine was quarried, along with lifting and transporting the quarried stones 20 miles from Tivoli to Rome. Along with this free source of unskilled labor, teams of professional Roman builders, engineers, artists, painters and decorators undertook the more specialized tasks necessary for building the Colosseum.

The Flavian Amphitheater

The most enduring landmark of the Flavian Dynasty was the Flavian Amphitheater, better known as the Colosseum. Its construction was begun by Vespasian, and ultimately finished by Titus and Domitian, financed from the spoils of the destruction of the Second Jerusalem Temple.

A photo of the Colosseum as it stands today, lit up at dusk.

8.5.5: Fall of the Flavian Emperors

Domitian, the last of the Flavian emperors, was a ruthless autocrat who had many enemies, some of whom eventually assassinated him, giving rise to the long-lived Nerva-Antonine Dynasty.

Learning Objective

Analyze the factors that led to the fall of the Flavian Dynasty

Key Points

• Flavian rule came to an end on September 18, 96, when Domitian was assassinated and was succeeded by the longtime Flavian supporter and advisor Marcus Cocceius Nerva, who founded the long-lived Nerva-Antonine Dynasty.
• Domitian’s government exhibited totalitarian characteristics, which caused disapproval of the Roman Senate, among others.
• He dealt with several revolts during his rule, the last one being a successful assassination.
• The Senate rejoiced at the death of Domitian, and immediately following Nerva’s accession as Emperor, passed damnatio memoriae on his memory: his coins and statues were melted, his arches were torn down, and his name was erased from all public records.

Key Terms

Marcus Cocceius Nerva

Succeeded Domitian as emperor the same day as his assassination. Founded the Nerva-Antonine Dynasty.

Roman Senate

A political institution in ancient Rome, and one of the most enduring institutions in Roman history, established in the first days of the city. By the time of the Roman Empire,it had lost much of its political power as well as its prestige.

damnatio memoriae

Latin for “condemnation of memory,” a form of dishonor that could be passed by the Roman Senate on traitors or others who brought discredit to the Roman State; the intent was to erase the malefactor from history, a task somewhat easier in ancient times, when documentation was limited.

Flavian rule came to an end on September 18, 96, when Domitian was assassinated. He was succeeded by the longtime Flavian supporter and advisor, Marcus Cocceius Nerva, who founded the long-lived Nerva-Antonine Dynasty.

Opposition to Domitian

Domitian’s government exhibited totalitarian characteristics; he saw himself as the new Augustus, an enlightened despot destined to guide the Roman Empire into a new era of brilliance. Religious, military, and cultural propaganda fostered a cult of personality, and by nominating himself perpetual censor, he sought to control public and private morals. As a consequence, Domitian was popular with the people and army, but considered a tyrant by members of the Roman Senate.

Since the fall of the Republic, the authority of the Roman Senate had largely eroded under the quasi-monarchical system of government established by Augustus, known as the Principate. The Principate allowed the existence of a de facto dictatorial regime, while maintaining the formal framework of the Roman Republic. Most Emperors upheld the public facade of democracy, and in return the Senate implicitly acknowledged the Emperor’s status as a de facto monarch.

Some rulers handled this arrangement with less subtlety than others. Domitian was not so subtle. From the outset of his reign, he stressed the reality of his autocracy. He disliked aristocrats and had no fear of showing it, withdrawing every decision-making power from the Senate, and instead relying on a small set of friends and equestrians to control the important offices of state.

The dislike was mutual. After Domitian’s assassination, the senators of Rome rushed to the Senate house, where they immediately passed a motion condemning his memory to oblivion. Under the rulers of the Nervan-Antonian Dynasty, senatorial authors published histories that elaborated on the view of Domitian as a tyrant. Modern revisionists have instead characterized Domitian as a ruthless but efficient autocrat, whose cultural, economic, and political program provided the foundation of the peaceful 2nd century.

Assassination

Domitian dealt with several revolts during his rule, the last of which was a successful plot to assassinate him. Domitian was assassinated on September 18, 96, in a palace conspiracy organized by court officials. A highly detailed account of the plot and the assassination is provided by Suetonius, who alleges that Domitian’s chamberlain, Parthenius, was the chief instigator behind the conspiracy, citing the recent execution of Domitian’s secretary, Epaphroditus, as the primary motive. The murder itself was carried out by a freedman of Parthenius, named Maximus, and a steward of Domitian’s niece Flavia Domitilla, named Stephanus.

The precise involvement of the Praetorian Guard is less clear. At the time, the Guard was commanded by Titus Flavius Norbanus and Titus Petronius Secundus, and the latter was almost certainly aware of the plot. Cassius Dio, writing nearly a hundred years after the assassination, includes Domitia Longina among the conspirators, but in light of her attested devotion to Domitian—even years after her husband had died—her involvement in the plot seems highly unlikely.

Dio further suggests that the assassination was improvised, while Suetonius implies a well-organized conspiracy. For some days before the attack took place, Stephanus feigned an injury so as to be able to conceal a dagger beneath his bandages. On the day of the assassination, the doors to the servants’ quarters were locked while Domitian’s personal weapon of last resort, a sword he concealed beneath his pillow, had been removed in advance.

Domitian and Stephanus wrestled on the ground for some time, until the Emperor was finally overpowered and fatally stabbed by the conspirators; Stephanus was stabbed by Domitian during the struggle and died shortly afterward. Around noon, Domitian, just one month short of his 45th birthday, was dead. His body was carried away on a common bier, and unceremoniously cremated by his nurse Phyllis, who later mingled the ashes with those of his niece Julia, at the Flavian temple.

The End of the Flavian Dynasty

The same day as Domitian’s death, the Senate proclaimed Marcus Cocceius Nerva to be emperor. Despite his political experience, this was a remarkable choice. Nerva was old and childless, and had spent much of his career out of the public light, prompting both ancient and modern authors to speculate on his involvement in Domitian’s assassination.

According to Cassius Dio, the conspirators approached Nerva as a potential successor prior to the assassination, suggesting that he was at least aware of the plot. He does not appear in Suetonius’ version of the events, but this may be understandable, since his works were published under Nerva’s direct descendants, Trajan and Hadrian. To suggest the dynasty owed its accession to murder would have been less than sensitive.

On the other hand, Nerva lacked widespread support in the Empire, and as a known Flavian loyalist, his track record would not have recommended him to the conspirators. The precise facts have been obscured by history, but modern historians believe Nerva was proclaimed emperor solely on the initiative of the Senate, within hours after the news of the assassination broke. The decision may have been hasty so as to avoid civil war, but neither appears to have been involved in the conspiracy.

The Senate nonetheless rejoiced at the death of Domitian, and immediately following Nerva’s accession as Emperor, passed damnatio memoriae on his memory: his coins and statues were melted, his arches were torn down, and his name was erased from all public records. Domitian and, over a century later, Publius Septimius Geta, were the only emperors known to have officially received a damnatio memoriae, though others may have received de facto ones. In many instances, existing portraits of Domitian, such as those found on the Cancelleria Reliefs, were simply recarved to fit the likeness of Nerva, which allowed quick production of new images and recycling of previous material. Yet the order of the Senate was only partially executed in Rome, and wholly disregarded in most of the provinces outside Italy.

Although Nerva’s brief reign was marred by financial difficulties and his inability to assert his authority over the Roman army (who were still loyal to Domitian), his greatest success was his ability to ensure a peaceful transition of power after his death, thus founding the Nerva-Antonine Dynasty.

Domitian

Domitian as Emperor (Vatican Museums), possibly recut from a statue of Nero.

An image of a full-body statue of Domitian holding up his right hand with a scroll.

8.6: Nerva-Antonine Dynasty

8.6.1: The Nerva-Antonine Dynasty

The Golden Age of Rome was a period of prosperity that fell under the “Five Good Emperors” of the Nerva-Antonine Dynasty: Nerva, Trajan, Hadrian, Antoninus Pius, and Marcus Aurelius.

Learning Objective

Describe the characteristics of the Golden Age and the achievements of the Five Good Emperors

Key Points

• The first five of the six successions within the Nerva-Antonine Dynasty were notable in that the reigning emperor adopted the candidate of his choice to be his successor, rather than choosing a biological heir.
• Although much of his life remains obscure, Nerva was considered a wise and moderate emperor by ancient historians. Nerva’s greatest success was his ability to ensure a peaceful transition of power after his death, thus founding the Nerva-Antonine Dynasty.
• Trajan is remembered as a successful soldier-emperor who presided over the greatest military expansion in Roman history, and led the empire to attain its maximum territorial extent by the time of his death.
• Hadrian was known to be a humanist and a philhellene, renowned for his building projects and commitment to his military lifestyle.
• Marcus Aurelius, the philosopher-emperor, enjoyed not only military successes during his reign, but also authored a defining Stoic tome on equanimity in the midst of conflict.

Key Terms

Marcus Aurelius

Roman Emperor from 161 to 180 CE, as well as a notable Stoic philosopher.

Hadrian

Roman Emperor from 117 to 138 CE. Known for his grand building projects and his philhellenism.

Trajan

Roman emperor from 98 CE until 117 CE. Officially declared by the Senate as optimus princeps, and known for his bold expansion of Roman borders.

Nerva-Antonine Dynasty

The Nerva-Antonine Dynasty was a dynasty of seven Roman Emperors who ruled over the Roman Empire during a period of prosperity from 96 CE to 192 CE. These emperors are Nerva, Trajan, Hadrian, Antoninus Pius, Marcus Aurelius, Lucius Verus, and Commodus.

The first five of the six successions within this dynasty were notable in that the reigning emperor adopted the candidate of his choice to be his successor. Under Roman law, an adoption established a bond legally as strong as that of kinship. As such, the second through sixth Nerva-Antonine emperors are also called Adoptive Emperors.

The importance of official adoption in Roman society has often been considered as a conscious repudiation of the principle of dynastic inheritance, and has been deemed as one of the factors of the period’s prosperity. However, this was not a new practice. It was common for patrician families to adopt, and Roman emperors had adopted heirs in the past; Emperor Augustus had adopted Tiberius, and Emperor Claudius had adopted Nero. Julius Caesar, dictator perpetuo and considered to be instrumental in the transition from Republic to Empire, adopted Gaius Octavius, who would become Augustus, Rome’s first emperor. Moreover, there was a family connection, as Trajan adopted his first cousin once removed and great-nephew by marriage, Hadrian. Hadrian made his half-nephew by marriage, and heir Antoninus Pius, adopt both Hadrian’s second cousin three times removed, and half-great-nephew by marriage, Marcus Aurelius, also Antoninus’ nephew by marriage, and the son of his original planned successor, Lucius Verus. The naming by Marcus Aurelius of his son, Commodus, was considered to be an unfortunate choice and the beginning of the Empire’s decline.

With Commodus’ murder in 192, the Nerva-Antonine Dynasty came to an end; it was followed by a period of turbulence, known as the Year of the Five Emperors.

The Five Good Emperors

The rulers commonly known as the “Five Good Emperors” were Nerva, Trajan, Hadrian, Antoninus Pius, and Marcus Aurelius. The term was coined by the political philosopher, Niccolò Machiavelli, in 1503:

From the study of this history we may also learn how a good government is to be established; for while all the emperors who succeeded to the throne by birth, except Titus, were bad, all were good who succeeded by adoption, as in the case of the five from Nerva to Marcus. But as soon as the empire fell once more to the heirs by birth, its ruin recommenced. Titus, Nerva, Trajan, Hadrian, Antoninus, and Marcus had no need of praetorian cohorts, or of countless legions to guard them, but were defended by their own good lives, the good-will of their subjects, and the attachment of the Senate.

An alternative hypothesis posits that adoptive succession is thought to have arisen because of a lack of biological heirs. All but the last of the adoptive emperors had no legitimate biological sons to succeed them. They were thus obliged to pick a successor somewhere else; as soon as the Emperor could look towards a biological son to succeed him, adoptive succession was set aside. Nonetheless, this period was a time of peace and prosperity. 

Nerva

In 96 CE, Domitian was assassinated in a palace conspiracy involving members of the Praetorian Guard and several of his freedmen. On the same day, Nerva was declared emperor by the Roman Senate. This occasion marked the first time the Senate elected a Roman Emperor.

Nerva’s brief reign was marred by financial difficulties and his inability to assert his authority over the Roman army. A revolt by the Praetorian Guard in October 97 essentially forced him to adopt an heir. After some deliberation, Nerva chose Trajan, a young and popular general, as his successor. After barely fifteen months in office, Nerva died of natural causes in 98, and upon his death, he was succeeded and deified by Trajan. Although much of his life remains obscure, Nerva was considered a wise and moderate emperor by ancient historians. Nerva’s greatest success was his ability to ensure a peaceful transition of power after his death, thus founding the Nerva-Antonine Dynasty.

Trajan

Trajan was Roman emperor from 98 CE until his death in 117 CE. Officially declared by the Senate as optimus princeps (“the best ruler”), Trajan is remembered as a successful soldier-emperor who presided over the greatest military expansion in Roman history, and led the empire to attain its maximum territorial extent by the time of his death. He is also known for his philanthropic rule, and oversaw extensive public building programs and implemented social welfare policies.

Bust of Trajan

Bust of the Emperor Trajan, who ruled from 98-117 CE.

Hadrian

Hadrian was Roman Emperor from 117 to 138 CE. Known for his grand building projects, he re-built the Pantheon and constructed the Temple of Venus and Roma. He is also known for building Hadrian’s Wall, which marked the northern limit of Roman Britain. During his reign, Hadrian traveled to nearly every province of the Empire. An ardent admirer of Greece, he sought to make Athens the cultural capital of the empire, and created a popular cult in the name of his Greek lover, Antinous. He spent extensive amounts of his time with the military; he usually wore military attire and even dined and slept amongst the soldiers.

Bust of Hadrian

Bust of the Emperor Hadrian, who ruled from 117-138 CE.

Marcus Aurelius

Hadrian was succeeded by Antoninus Pius, who was subsequently succeeded by Marcus Aurelius, who was Roman Emperor from 161 to 180 CE. He ruled with Lucius Verus as co-emperor from 161 until Verus’ death in 169. He was the last of the Five Good Emperors and was a practitioner of Stoicism. His untitled writing, commonly known as the Meditations, is the most significant source of our modern understanding of ancient Stoic philosophy.

Marcus Aurelius was an effective military commander, and Rome enjoyed various military successes against outsiders who were beginning to threaten the Empire. During his reign, the Empire defeated a revitalized Parthian Empire in the East: Aurelius’ general, Avidius Cassius, sacked the capital Ctesiphon in 164. In central Europe, Aurelius fought the Marcomanni, Quadi, and Sarmatians with success during the Marcomannic Wars, although the threat of the Germanic tribes began to represent a troubling reality for the empire. A revolt in the East led by Avidius Cassius failed to gain momentum and was suppressed immediately. 

His Meditations, written in Greek while he was on a campaign between 170 and 180, is still revered as a literary monument to a philosophy of service and duty, which describes how to find and preserve equanimity in the midst of conflict by following nature as a source of guidance and inspiration.

Bust of Marcus Aurelius

Bust of Marcus Aurelius, who ruled from 161 to 180 CE.

8.6.2: Military Successes of the Nerva-Antonine Dynasty

The Nerva-Antonine Dynasty saw the greatest military expansion in Roman history, leading the empire to attain its maximum territorial extent.

Learning Objective

Examine the military efforts of the Nerva-Antonine emperors

Key Points

• The second emperor in the dynasty, Trajan, is remembered as a successful soldier-emperor who presided over the greatest military expansion in Roman history, through the Dacian Wars.
• The conclusion of the Dacian Wars marked the beginning of a period of sustained growth and relative peace in Rome.
• Despite his own great reputation as a military administrator, Hadrian’s reign was marked by a general lack of documented major military conflicts, apart from the Second Roman–Jewish War, and instead is marked by pacifist tendencies.
• The peace policy was strengthened by the erection of permanent fortifications along the empire’s borders, the most famous of these being the massive Hadrian’s Wall in Great Britain.

Key Terms

Dacian Wars

Two military campaigns fought between the Roman Empire and Dacia during Roman Emperor Trajan’s rule.

Hadrian’s Wall

A defensive fortification in the Roman province of Britannia, begun in 122 CE during the reign of the emperor Hadrian.

Several of the Nerva-Antonine Dynasty emperors were known for their notable military successes.

Trajan and the Dacian Wars

After Nerva’s short rule, his adoptive heir, Trajan, a popular military leader, ruled as emperor from 98-117 CE. Officially declared by the Senate as optimus princeps (“the best ruler”), Trajan is remembered as a successful soldier-emperor who presided over the greatest military expansion in Roman history, leading the empire to attain its maximum territorial extent by the time of his death.

The Dacian Wars (101-102, 105-106) were two military campaigns fought between the Roman Empire and Dacia during Roman Emperor Trajan’s rule. The conflicts were triggered by the constant Dacian threat on the Danubian Roman Province of Moesia, and also by the increasing need for resources in the economy of the Roman Empire.

Dacia, an area north of Macedon and Greece, and east of the Danube, had been on the Roman agenda since before the days of Caesar, when they defeated a Roman army at the Battle of Histria. In 85 CE, the Dacians swarmed over the Danube and pillaged Moesia, and initially defeated the army that Emperor Domitian sent against them. The Romans were defeated in the Battle of Tapae in 88, and a truce was established.

Emperor Trajan recommenced hostilities against Dacia and, following an uncertain number of battles, defeated the Dacian King Decebalus in the Second Battle of Tapae in 101. With Trajan’s troops pressing towards the Dacian capital, Sarmizegetusa Regia, Decebalus once more sought truce terms. Decebalus rebuilt his power over the following years and attacked Roman garrisons again in 105. In response, Trajan again marched into Dacia, besieging the Dacian capital in the Siege of Sarmizegetusa, and razing it. With Dacia quelled, Trajan subsequently invaded the Parthian empire to the east, his conquests expanding the Roman Empire to its greatest extent. Rome’s borders in the east were indirectly governed through a system of client states for some time, leading to less direct campaigning than in the west in this period.

The conclusion of the Dacian Wars marked a triumph for Rome and its armies. Trajan announced 123 days of celebrations throughout the Empire. Dacia’s rich gold mines were secured, and it is estimated that Dacia then contributed 700 million Denarii per annum to the Roman economy, providing finance for Rome’s future campaigns, and assisting with the rapid expansion of Roman towns throughout Europe.

The two wars were notable victories in Rome’s extensive expansionist campaigns, gaining Trajan the people’s admiration and support. The conclusion of the Dacian Wars marked the beginning of a period of sustained growth and relative peace in Rome. Trajan began extensive building projects and became an honorable civil leader, improving Rome’s civic infrastructure, thereby paving the way for internal growth and reinforcement of the empire as a whole.

Dacian Wars

Fiery battle scene between the Roman and Dacian armies.

A stone relief of a battle scene between Romans and Dacians, depicting several men with shields battling and several men dead on the right hand side.

Hadrian and Hadrian’s Wall

Despite his own great reputation as a military administrator, Hadrian’s reign was marked by a general lack of documented major military conflicts, apart from the Second Roman-Jewish War. Hadrian had already surrendered Trajan’s conquests in Mesopotamia, considering them to be indefensible. In the East, Hadrian contented himself with retaining suzerainty over Osroene, which was ruled by the client king, Parthamaspates, once client king of Parthia under Trajan.

Hadrian’s abandonment of an aggressive policy was something the Senate and its historians never forgave: the fourth century historian, Aurelius Victor, charged him with being jealous of Trajan’s exploits and deliberately trying to downplay their worthiness. It is more probable that Hadrian simply considered that the financial strain to be incurred through keeping a policy of conquests was something the Roman Empire could not afford. Proof of this is the disappearance during his reigns of two entire legions. Also, the acknowledgement of the indefensible character of the Mesopotamian conquests had perhaps already been made by Trajan himself, who had disengaged from them at the time of his death.

The peace policy was strengthened by the erection of permanent fortifications along the empire’s borders. The most famous of these is the massive Hadrian’s Wall in Great Britain, built on stone and doubled on its rear by a ditch (Vallum Hadriani), which marked the boundary between a strictly military zone and the province. The Danube and Rhine borders were strengthened with a series of mostly wooden fortifications, forts, outposts, and watchtowers, the latter specifically improving communications and local area security.

To maintain morale and prevent the troops from becoming restive, Hadrian established intensive drill routines, and personally inspected the armies. Although his coins showed military images almost as often as peaceful ones, Hadrian’s policy was peace through strength, even threat, with an emphasis on discipline, which was the subject of two monetary series.

Hadrian’s Wall

Sections of Hadrian’s Wall remain along the route, though much of it has been dismantled over the years, in order to use the stones for various nearby construction projects.

A photo of a remaining portion of Hadrian’s Wall, a stone wall about 5 feet high winding along pasturelands.

8.6.3: Art and Culture Under the Nerva-Antonines

Emperor Hadrian, among other Nerva-Antonine emperors, patronized the arts, held public festivals, and influenced the culture of Rome and beyond.

Learning Objective

Describe trends in art and culture under the Nerva-Antonines

Key Points

• Trajan was known for his philanthropic rule, overseeing extensive public building programs and implementing social welfare policies, as well as hosting major public festivals in the Colosseum.
• Emperor Hadrian had a major influence on Roman culture through his love of Greek culture.
• He patronized the arts, building and rebuilding important and influential structures, such as Hadrian’s Villa. He also introduced Greek styles into public use, such as wearing a beard instead of being clean-shaven.
• As a cultural Hellenophile, Hadrian was familiar with the work of the philosophers Epictetus, Heliodorus, and Favorinus, and used their ideas to improve social welfare in Rome.

Key Terms

philhellenism

Used to describe both non-Greeks, such as Romans, who were fond of Greek culture, and Greeks who patriotically upheld their culture.

Hadrian’s Villa

A large Roman archaeological complex at Tivoli, Italy, built by Emperor Hadrian and based on Greek architectural styles.

Several of the Nerva-Antonine emperors are known for their support of the arts and culture of Rome.

Trajan

Trajan was known for his philanthropic rule, overseeing extensive public building programs and implementing social welfare policies, which earned him his enduring reputation as the second of the Five Good Emperors who presided over an era of peace and prosperity in the Mediterranean world. During a period of peace after the Dacian wars, he initiated a three-month gladiatorial festival in the great Colosseum in Rome (the precise date is unknown). Combining chariot racing, beast fights, and close-quarters gladiatorial bloodshed, this gory spectacle reputedly left 11,000 dead (mostly slaves and criminals, not to mention the thousands of wild animals killed alongside them), and attracted a total of five million spectators over the course of the festival. The care bestowed by Trajan on the managing of such public spectacles led the orator Fronto to state approvingly that Trajan had paid equal attention to entertainments as well as to serious issues. Fronto concluded that “neglect of serious matters can cause greater damage, but neglect of amusements greater discontent.”

Hadrian

Hadrian has been described—

first in an ancient anonymous source and later echoed by Ronald Syme, among others—as the most versatile of all the Roman emperors. He also liked to demonstrate knowledge of all intellectual and artistic fields. Above all, Hadrian patronized the arts. Hadrian’s Villa at Tibur was the greatest Roman example of an Alexandrian garden, recreating a sacred landscape, albeit lost in large part to the despoliation of the ruins by the Cardinal d’Este, who had much of the marble removed to build Villa d’Este. In Rome, the Pantheon, originally built by Agrippa but destroyed by fire in 80, was rebuilt under Hadrian in the domed form it retains to this day. It is among the best-preserved of Rome’s ancient buildings, and was highly influential to many of the great architects of the Italian Renaissance and Baroque periods.

Hadrian’s Villa

The ruins of Hadrian’s Villa in their present state.

A photo of Hadrian’s Villa, which includes a half-dome amphitheater and pathways around a reflecting pool.

Another of Hadrian’s contributions to popular Roman culture was the beard, which symbolised his philhellenism; Dio of Prusa had equated the generalized using of the beard with Hellenic ethos. Since the time of Scipio Africanus, it had been fashionable among the Romans to be clean-shaven. Also, all Roman emperors before Hadrian, except for Nero (also a great admirer of Greek culture), were clean shaven. Most of the emperors after Hadrian would be portrayed with beards. Their beards, however, were not worn out of an appreciation for Greek culture, but because the beard had, thanks to Hadrian, become fashionable. This new fashion lasted until the reign of Constantine the Great and was revived again by Phocas at the start of the 7th century. Notwithstanding his philhellenism, however, in all other everyday life matters, Hadrian behaved as a Roman civic traditionalist, who demanded the use of the toga by senators and knights in public, and strict separation between the sexes in the public baths and theaters.

Hadrian wrote poetry in both Latin and Greek; one of the few surviving examples is a Latin poem he reportedly composed on his deathbed . Some of his Greek productions found their way into the Palatine Anthology.

As a cultural Hellenophile, Hadrian was familiar with the work of the philosophers Epictetus, Heliodorus, and Favorinus. At home he attended to social needs. Hadrian mitigated slavery; masters were forbidden from killing their slaves unless allowed by a court to punish them for a grave offense. Masters were forbidden to sell slaves to a gladiator trainer or to a procurer, except as justified punishment. Hadrian also had the legal code humanized and forbade torture of free defendants and witnesses, legislating against the common practice of condemning free persons in order to have them tortured as a means of gathering information on their supposed activities and accomplices. He also abolished ergastula—private prisons for slaves in which kidnapped free men could also be kept.

8.7: Christianity and the Late Roman Empire

8.7.1: Crises of the Roman Empire

The Crisis of the Third Century was a period in which the Roman Empire nearly collapsed under the combined pressures of invasion, civil war, plague, and economic depression.

Learning Objective

Describe the problems afflicting the Roman Empire during the third century

Key Points

• The situation of the Roman Empire became dire in 235 CE, when emperor Alexander Severus was murdered by his own troops after defeat by Germanic tribes.
• In the years following the emperor’s death, generals of the Roman army fought each other for control of the Empire, and neglected their duties of defending the empire from invasion. As a result, various provinces became victims of frequent raids.
• By 268, the Empire had split into three competing states: the Gallic Empire, including the Roman provinces of Gaul, Britannia, and Hispania; the Palmyrene Empire, including the eastern provinces of Syria Palaestina and Aegyptus; and the Italian-centered and independent Roman Empire proper.
• One of the most profound and lasting effects of the Crisis of the Third Century was the disruption of Rome’s extensive internal trade network under the Pax Romana.
• The continuing problems of the Empire would be radically addressed by Diocletian, allowing the Empire to continue to survive in the West for over a century, and in the East for over a millennium.

Key Terms

Pax Romana

The long period of relative peacefulness and minimal expansion by the Roman military force that was experienced by the Roman Empire after the end of the Final War of the Roman Republic, and before the beginning of the Crisis of the Third Century.

coloni

A tenant farmer from the late Roman Empire and Early Middle Ages; sharecroppers.

Crisis of the Third Century

A period in which the Roman Empire nearly collapsed under the combined pressures of invasion, civil war, plague, and economic depression.

Overview

The Crisis of the Third Century, also known as Military Anarchy or the Imperial Crisis, (235-284 CE) was a period in which the Roman Empire nearly collapsed under the combined pressures of invasion, civil war, plague, and economic depression. The Crisis began with the assassination of Emperor Severus Alexander by his own troops in 235, initiating a 50-year period in which there were at least 26 claimants to the title of Emperor, mostly prominent Roman army generals, who assumed imperial power over all or part of the Empire. Twenty-six men were officially accepted by the Roman Senate as emperor during this period, and thus became legitimate emperors.

By 268, the Empire had split into three competing states: the Gallic Empire, including the Roman provinces of Gaul, Britannia, and (briefly) Hispania; the Palmyrene Empire, including the eastern provinces of Syria Palaestina and Aegyptus; and the Italian-centered and independent Roman Empire proper, between them. Later, Aurelian (270-275) reunited the empire; the Crisis ended with the ascension and reforms of Diocletian in 284.

The Crisis resulted in such profound changes in the Empire’s institutions, society, economic life, and, eventually, religion, that it is increasingly seen by most historians as defining the transition between the historical periods of classical antiquity and late antiquity.

The Roman Empire in 271 CE

The divided Empire during the Crisis of the Third Century.

A map of the divided Roman Empire in 271 CE, showing the Gallic Empire in the North-Western Europe, Roman Empire in Italy, Middle East, and Iberia, and Palmyrine Empire in the far East.

History of the Crisis

The situation of the Roman Empire became dire in 235 CE, when Emperor Alexander Severus was murdered by his own troops. Many Roman legions had been defeated during a campaign against Germanic peoples raiding across the borders, while the emperor was focused primarily on the dangers from the Sassanid Persian Empire. Leading his troops personally, Alexander Severus resorted to diplomacy and paying tribute, in an attempt to pacify the Germanic chieftains quickly. According to Herodian, this cost him the respect of his troops, who may have felt they should be punishing the tribes who were intruding on Rome’s territory.

In the years following the emperor’s death, generals of the Roman army fought each other for control of the Empire and neglected their duties of defending the empire from invasion. Provincials became victims of frequent raids along the length of the Rhine and Danube rivers, by such foreign tribes as the Carpians, Goths, Vandals, and Alamanni, and attacks from Sassanids in the east. Climate changes and a rise in sea levels ruined the agriculture of what is now the Low Countries, forcing tribes to migrate. Additionally, in 251, the Plague of Cyprian (possibly smallpox) broke out, causing large-scale death, and possibly weakened the ability of the Empire to defend itself.

After the loss of Valerian in 260, the Roman Empire was beset by usurpers, who broke it up into three competing states. The Roman provinces of Gaul, Britain, and Hispania broke off to form the Gallic Empire. After the death of Odaenathus in 267, the eastern provinces of Syria, Palestine, and Aegyptus became independent as the Palmyrene Empire, leaving the remaining Italian-centered Roman Empire proper in the middle.

An invasion by a vast host of Goths was defeated at the Battle of Naissus in 268 or 269. This victory was significant as the turning point of the crisis, when a series of tough, energetic soldier-emperors took power. Victories by Emperor Claudius II Gothicus over the next two years drove back the Alamanni and recovered Hispania from the Gallic Empire. When Claudius died in 270 of the plague, Aurelian, who had commanded the cavalry at Naissus, succeeded him as the emperor and continued the restoration of the Empire.

Aurelian reigned (270-275) through the worst of the crisis, defeating the Vandals, the Visigoths, the Palmyrenes, the Persians, and then the remainder of the Gallic Empire. By late 274, the Roman Empire was reunited into a single entity, and the frontier troops were back in place. More than a century would pass before Rome again lost military ascendancy over its external enemies. However, dozens of formerly thriving cities, especially in the Western Empire, had been ruined, their populations dispersed and, with the breakdown of the economic system, could not be rebuilt. Major cities and towns, even Rome itself, had not needed fortifications for many centuries; many then surrounded themselves with thick walls.

Finally, although Aurelian had played a significant role in restoring the Empire’s borders from external threat, more fundamental problems remained. In particular, the right of succession had never been clearly defined in the Roman Empire, leading to continuous civil wars as competing factions in the military, Senate, and other parties put forward their favored candidate for emperor. Another issue was the sheer size of the Empire, which made it difficult for a single autocratic ruler to effectively manage multiple threats at the same time. These continuing problems would be radically addressed by Diocletian, allowing the Empire to continue to survive in the West for over a century, and in the East for over a millennium.

Impact

One of the most profound and lasting effects of the Crisis of the Third Century was the disruption of Rome’s extensive internal trade network. Ever since the Pax Romana, starting with Augustus, the Empire’s economy had depended in large part on trade between Mediterranean ports and across the extensive road systems to the Empire’s interior. Merchants could travel from one end of the Empire to the other in relative safety within a few weeks, moving agricultural goods produced in the provinces to the cities, and manufactured goods produced by the great cities of the East to the more rural provinces.

With the onset of the Crisis of the Third Century, however, this vast internal trade network broke down. The widespread civil unrest made it no longer safe for merchants to travel as they once had, and the financial crisis that struck made exchange very difficult with the debased currency. This produced profound changes that, in many ways, foreshadowed the very decentralized economic character of the coming Middle Ages.

Large landowners, no longer able to successfully export their crops over long distances, began producing food for subsistence and local barter. Rather than import manufactured goods from the Empire’s great urban areas, they began to manufacture many goods locally, often on their own estates, thus beginning the self-sufficient “house economy” that would become commonplace in later centuries, reaching its final form in the Middle Ages’ manorialism. The common free people of the Roman cities, meanwhile, began to move out into the countryside in search of food and better protection.

Made desperate by economic necessity, many of these former city dwellers, as well as many small farmers, were forced to give up hard-earned, basic civil rights in order to receive protection from large land-holders. In doing so, they became a half-free class of Roman citizen known as coloni. They were tied to the land, and in later Imperial law their status was made hereditary. This provided an early model for serfdom, the origins of medieval feudal society and of the medieval peasantry.

8.7.2: Diocletian and the Tetrarchy

Facing the pressures of civil war, plague, invasion, and economic depression, Diocletian was able to stabilize the Roman Empire for another hundred years through economic reform and the establishment of the Tetrarchy.

Learning Objective

Describe the change in attitudes towards Christians and their statuses within the Roman Empire

Key Points

• Diocletian secured the empire’s borders and purged it of all threats to his power. He separated and enlarged the empire’s civil and military services, and reorganized the empire’s provincial divisions, establishing the largest and most bureaucratic government in the history of the empire.
• Diocletian also restructured the Roman government by establishing the Tetrarchy, a system of rule in which four men shared rule over the massive Roman Empire. The empire was effectively divided in two, with an Augustus and a subordinate Caesar in each half.
• Diocletian established administrative capitals for each of the Tetrarchs, which were located closer to the empire’s borders. Though Rome retained its unique Prefect of the City, it was no longer the administrative capital.
• By 313, therefore, there remained only two emperors: Constantine in the west and Licinius in the east. The tetrarchic system was at an end, although it took until 324 for Constantine to finally defeat Licinius, reunite the two halves of the Roman Empire, and declare himself sole Augustus.

Key Terms

tetrarchy

A form of government in which power is divided between four individuals. In ancient Rome, a system of government instituted by Diocletian that split power between two rulers in the east, and two rulers in the west.

Diocletian

Roman emperor from 284 to 305 CE. Established the tetrarchy and instituted economic and tax reforms to stabilize the Roman Empire.

Diocletian and the Stabilization of the Roman Empire

Diocletian was Roman emperor from 284 to 305 CE. Born to a family of low status in the Roman province of Dalmatia, Diocletian rose through the ranks of the military to become cavalry commander to the Emperor Carus. After the deaths of Carus and his son Numerian on campaign in Persia, Diocletian was proclaimed emperor. Diocletian’s reign stabilized the empire, and marked the end of the Crisis of the Third Century. He appointed fellow officer, Maximian, as Augustus, co-emperor, in 286. Diocletian delegated further in 293, appointing Galerius and Constantius as caesars, junior co-emperors. Under this “tetrarchy,” or “rule of four,” each emperor would rule over a quarter-division of the empire. Diocletian further secured the empire’s borders and purged it of all threats to his power. 

He separated and enlarged the empire’s civil and military services and reorganized the empire’s provincial divisions, establishing the largest and most bureaucratic government in the history of the empire. He established new administrative centers in Nicomedia, Mediolanum, Antioch, and Trier, closer to the empire’s frontiers than the traditional capital at Rome had been. Building on third-century trends towards absolutism, he styled himself an autocrat, elevating himself above the empire’s masses with imposing forms of court ceremonies and architecture. Bureaucratic and military growth, constant campaigning, and construction projects increased the state’s expenditures and necessitated a comprehensive tax reform. From at least 297 on, imperial taxation was standardized, made more equitable, and levied at generally higher rates.

Illustration depicting Diocletian’s Palace (original appearance)

Reconstruction of Diocletian’s Palace in its original appearance, upon completion in 305 CE (viewed from the south-west).

While it is referred to as a “palace” because of its intended use as the retirement residence of Diocletian, the term can be misleading as the structure is massive and more resembles a large fortress: about half of it was for Diocletian’s personal use, and the rest housed the military garrison.

The Tetrarchy

The first phase of Diocletian’s government restructuring, sometimes referred to as the diarchy (“rule of two”), involved the designation of the general Maximian as co-emperor—first as Caesar (junior emperor) in 285, then Augustus in 286. This reorganization allowed Diocletian to take care of matters in the eastern regions of the empire, while Maximian similarly took charge of the western regions, thereby halving the administrative work required to oversee an empire as large as Rome’s. In 293, feeling more focus was needed on both civic and military problems, Diocletian, with Maximian’s consent, expanded the imperial college by appointing two Caesars (one responsible to each Augustus)—Galerius and Constantius Chlorus.

In 305, the senior emperors jointly abdicated and retired, allowing Constantius and Galerius to be elevated in rank to Augusti. They in turn appointed two new Caesars—Severus II in the west under Constantius, and Maximinus in the east under Galerius—thereby creating the second tetrarchy.

The four tetrarchs based themselves not at Rome but in other cities closer to the frontiers, mainly intended as headquarters for the defense of the empire against bordering rivals. Although Rome ceased to be an operational capital, it continued to be the nominal capital of the entire Roman Empire, not reduced to the status of a province, but under its own, unique Prefect of the City (praefectus urbis).

Zones of Influence in the Roman Tetrarchy

This map shows the four zones of influence under Diocletian’s tetrarchy.

The first zone is the District of Constantius as Caesar, which included Britanniae, Viennensis, and Galliae. Its capital was Trier. The second zone is the District of Maximian as Augustus, which included Hispania, Africa, and Italia. Its capital was Milan. The third zone is the District of Galerius as Caesar, which included Pannoniae, Moesiae, and Thracia. Its capital was Sirmium. The fourth zone is the District of Diocletian as Augustus, which included Asiana, Pontica, and Oriens. Its capital was Nicomedia.

In terms of regional jurisdiction, there was no precise division between the four tetrarchs, and this period did not see the Roman state actually split up into four distinct sub-empires. Each emperor had his zone of influence within the Roman Empire, but this influence mainly applied to the theater of war. The tetrarch was himself often in the field, while delegating most of the administration to the hierarchic bureaucracy headed by his respective Praetorian Prefect. The Praetorian Prefect was the title of a high office in the Roman Empire, originating as the commander of the Praetorian Guard, the office gradually acquired extensive legal and administrative functions, with its holders becoming the emperor’s chief aides.

Demise of the Tetrarchy

When, in 305, the 20-year term of Diocletian and Maximian ended, both abdicated. Their Caesares, Galerius and Constantius Chlorus, were both raised to the rank of Augustus, and two new Caesares were appointed: Maximinus (Caesar to Galerius) and Flavius Valerius Severus (Caesar to Constantius). These four formed the second tetrarchy.

However, the system broke down very quickly thereafter. When Constantius died in 306, Galerius promoted Severus to Augustus while Constantine, Constantius’ son, was proclaimed Augustus by his father’s troops. At the same time, Maxentius, the son of Maximian, who also resented being left out of the new arrangements, defeated Severus before forcing him to abdicate and then arranging his murder in 307. Maxentius and Maximian both then declared themselves Augusti. By 308, there were therefore no fewer than four claimants to the rank of Augustus (Galerius, Constantine, Maximian and Maxentius), and only one to that of Caesar (Maximinus).

In 308, Galerius, together with the retired emperor Diocletian and the supposedly retired Maximian, called an imperial “conference” at Carnuntum on the River Danube. The council agreed that Licinius would become Augustus in the West, with Constantine as his Caesar. In the East, Galerius remained Augustus, and Maximinus remained his Caesar. Maximian was to retire, and Maxentius was declared an usurper. This agreement proved disastrous: by 308 Maxentius had become de facto ruler of Italy and Africa even without any imperial rank, and neither Constantine nor Maximinus—who had both been Caesares since 306 and 305, respectively—were prepared to tolerate the promotion of the Augustus Licinius as their superior.

After an abortive attempt to placate both Constantine and Maximinus with the meaningless title filius Augusti (“son of the Augustus,” essentially an alternative title for Caesar), they both had to be recognized as Augusti in 309. However, four full Augusti all at odds with each other did not bode well for the tetrarchic system.

Between 309 and 313, most of the claimants to the imperial office died or were killed in various civil wars. Constantine forced Maximian’s suicide in 310. Galerius died naturally in 311. Maxentius was defeated by Constantine at the Battle of the Milvian Bridge in 312, and subsequently killed. Maximinus committed suicide at Tarsus in 313, after being defeated in battle by Licinius.

By 313, therefore, there remained only two emperors: Constantine in the west and Licinius in the east. The tetrarchic system was at an end, although it took until 324 for Constantine to finally defeat Licinius, reunite the two halves of the Roman Empire, and declare himself sole Augustus.

8.7.3: The Rise of Christianity

Though the early Christians were persecuted under some emperors, such as Nero and Diocletian, the religion continued to thrive and grow, eventually becoming the official religion of the Roman Empire under Constantine.

Learning Objective

Describe the challenges Christians faced in the Roman Empire

Key Points

• Christians suffered from sporadic and localized persecutions over a period of two and a half centuries, as their refusal to participate in Imperial Cult of Rome was considered an act of treason, and was thus punishable by execution.
• The Diocletianic, or Great Persecution, was the last and most severe persecution of Christians in the Roman Empire, which lasted from 302-311 CE. Galerius issued an edict of toleration in 311, which granted Christians the right to practice their religion, but did not restore any taken property back to them.
• The Edict of Milan in 313 made the empire officially neutral with regard to religious worship; it neither made the traditional religions illegal nor made Christianity the state religion.

Key Terms

the Great Persecution

The last and most severe persecution of Christians in the Roman Empire.

Edict of Milan

An agreement in 313 CE by Constantine and Licinius to treat Christians benevolently within the Roman Empire.

Persecution of Early Christians

Christianity posed a serious threat to the traditional Romans. The idea of monotheism was considered offensive against the polytheistic Roman pantheon, and came into further conflict with the Imperial Cult, in which emperors and some members of their families were worshipped as divine. As such, Christianity was considered criminal and was punished harshly.

The first recorded official persecution of Christians on behalf of the Roman Empire was in 64 CE, when, as reported by the Roman historian Tacitus, Emperor Nero blamed Christians for the Great Fire of Rome. According to Church tradition, it was during the reign of Nero that Peter and Paul were martyred in Rome. However, modern historians debate whether the Roman government distinguished between Christians and Jews prior to Nerva’s modification of the Fiscus Judaicus in 96, from which point practicing Jews paid the tax and Christians did not.

The Diocletianic or Great Persecution was the last and most severe persecution of Christians in the Roman Empire, which lasted from 302-311 CE. In 303, the emperors Diocletian, Maximian, Galerius, and Constantius issued a series of edicts rescinding the legal rights of Christians and demanding that they comply with traditional Roman religious practices. Later edicts targeted the clergy and ordered all inhabitants to sacrifice to the Roman gods (a policy known as universal sacrifice). The persecution varied in intensity across the empire—it was weakest in Gaul and Britain, where only the first edict was applied, and strongest in the Eastern provinces. Persecutory laws were nullified by different emperors at different times, but Constantine and Licinius’s Edict of Milan (313) has traditionally marked the end of the persecution.

During the Great Persecution, Diocletian ordered Christian buildings and the homes of Christians torn down, and their sacred books collected and burned during the Great Persecution. Christians were arrested, tortured, mutilated, burned, starved, and condemned to gladiatorial contests to amuse spectators. The Great Persecution officially ended in April of 311, when Galerius, senior emperor of the Tetrarchy, issued an edict of toleration which granted Christians the right to practice their religion, though it did not restore any property to them. Constantine, Caesar in the western empire, and Licinius, Caesar in the east, also were signatories to the edict of toleration. It has been speculated that Galerius’ reversal of his long-standing policy of Christian persecution has been attributable to one or both of these co-Caesars.

The Rise of Christianity

The Diocletianic persecution was ultimately unsuccessful. As one modern historian has put it, it was simply “too little and too late.” Christians were never purged systematically in any part of the empire, and Christian evasion continually undermined the edicts’ enforcement. Although the persecution resulted in death, torture, imprisonment, or dislocation for many Christians, the majority of the empire’s Christians avoided punishment. Some bribed their way to freedom or fled. In the end, the persecution failed to check the rise of the church. By 324, Constantine was sole ruler of the empire, and Christianity had become his favored religion.

By 324, Constantine, the Christian convert, ruled the entire empire alone. Christianity became the greatest beneficiary of imperial largesse. The persecutors had been routed. As the historian J. Liebeschuetz has written: “The final result of the Great Persecution provided a testimonial to the truth of Christianity, which it could have won in no other way.” After Constantine, the Christianization of the Roman empire would continue apace. Under Theodosius I (r. 378-395), Christianity became the state religion. By the 5th century, Christianity was the empire’s predominant faith, and filled the same role paganism had at the end of the 3rd century. Because of the persecution, however, a number of Christian communities were riven between those who had complied with imperial authorities (traditores) and those who had refused. In Africa, the Donatists, who protested the election of the alleged traditor, Caecilian, to the bishopric of Carthage, continued to resist the authority of the central church until after 411. The Melitians in Egypt left the Egyptian Church similarly divided.

The Edict of Milan

In 313, Constantine and Licinius announced in the Edict of Milan “that it was proper that the Christians and all others should have liberty to follow that mode of religion which to each of them appeared best,” thereby granting tolerance to all religions, including Christianity. The Edict of Milan went a step further than the earlier Edict of Toleration by Galerius in 311, and returned confiscated Church property. This edict made the empire officially neutral with regard to religious worship; it neither made the traditional religions illegal, nor made Christianity the state religion (as did the later Edict of Thessalonica in 380 CE). The Edict of Milan did, however, raise the stock of Christianity within the empire, and it reaffirmed the importance of religious worship to the welfare of the state.

8.7.4: Constantine

Constantine the Great was a Roman Emperor from 306 to 337 CE; he adopted Christianity and declared it the religion of the Roman Empire.

Learning Objective

Evaluate Constantine’s rise to power and relationship with Christianity

Key Points

• The age of Constantine marked a distinct epoch in the history of the Roman Empire, both for founding Byzantium in the east, as well as his adoption of Christianity as a state religion.
• As emperor, Constantine enacted many administrative, financial, social, and military reforms to strengthen the empire.
• Constantine experienced a dramatic event in 312 at the Battle of the Milvian Bridge, after which Constantine claimed the emperorship in the west and converted to Christianity. 
• According to some sources, on the evening of October 27, with the armies preparing for battle, Constantine had a vision of a cross, which led him to fight under the protection of the Christian god.
• The accession of Constantine was a turning point for early Christianity; after his victory, Constantine took over the role of patron of the Christian faith.

Key Terms

Battle of the Milvian Bridge

A battle that took place between the Roman Emperors, Constantine I and Maxentius, on October 28, 312, and is often seen as the beginning of Constantine’s conversion to Christianity.

Edict of Milan

The February 313 CE agreement to treat Christians benevolently within the Roman Empire, thereby ending years of persecution.

Chi-Rho

One of the earliest forms of christogram, which is used by some Christians, and was used by the Roman emperor, Constantine I (r. 306-337), as part of a military standard.

Constantine the Great was a Roman Emperor from 306-337 CE. Constantine was the son of Flavius Valerius Constantius, a Roman army officer, and his consort, Helena. His father became Caesar, the deputy emperor in the west, in 293 CE. Constantine was sent east, where he rose through the ranks to become a military tribune under the emperors Diocletian and Galerius. In 305, Constantius was raised to the rank of Augustus, senior western emperor, and Constantine was recalled west to campaign under his father in Britannia (modern Great Britain). Acclaimed as emperor by the army at Eboracum (modern-day York) after his father’s death in 306 CE, Constantine emerged victorious in a series of civil wars against the emperors Maxentius and Licinius, to become sole ruler of both west and east by 324 CE.

As emperor, Constantine enacted many administrative, financial, social, and military reforms to strengthen the empire. The government was restructured and civil and military authority separated. A new gold coin, the solidus, was introduced to combat inflation. It would become the standard for Byzantine and European currencies for more than a thousand years. As the first Roman emperor to claim conversion to Christianity, Constantine played an influential role in the proclamation of the Edict of Milan in 313, which decreed tolerance for Christianity in the empire. He called the First Council of Nicaea in 325, at which the Nicene Creed was professed by Christians. In military matters, the Roman army was reorganized to consist of mobile field units and garrison soldiers capable of countering internal threats and barbarian invasions. Constantine pursued successful campaigns against the tribes on the Roman frontiers—the Franks, the Alamanni, the Goths, and the Sarmatians—even resettling territories abandoned by his predecessors during the Crisis of the Third Century.

Constantine’s reputation flourished during the lifetime of his children and for centuries after his reign. The medieval church upheld him as a paragon of virtue, while secular rulers invoked him as a prototype, a point of reference, and the symbol of imperial legitimacy and identity. One of his major political legacies, aside from moving the capital of the empire to Constantinople, was that, in leaving the empire to his sons, he replaced Diocletian’s tetrarchy with the principle of dynastic succession.

The Battle of the Milvian Bridge

Eusebius of Caesarea, and other Christian sources, record that Constantine experienced a dramatic event in 312 at the Battle of the Milvian Bridge, after which Constantine claimed the emperorship in the west, and converted to Christianity. The Battle of the Milvian Bridge took place between the Roman Emperors, Constantine I and Maxentius, on October 28, 312. It takes its name from the Milvian Bridge, an important route over the Tiber. Constantine won the battle and started on the path that led him to end the tetrarchy and become the sole ruler of the Roman Empire. Maxentius drowned in the Tiber during the battle, and his body was later taken from the river and decapitated.

According to chroniclers, such as Eusebius of Caesarea and Lactantius, the battle marked the beginning of Constantine’s conversion to Christianity. Eusebius of Caesarea recounts that Constantine looked up to the sun before the battle and saw a cross of light above it, and with it the Greek words Ἐν Τούτῳ Νίκα (“in this sign, conquer!”), often rendered in a Latin version, “in hoc signo vinces.” Constantine commanded his troops to adorn their shields with a Christian symbol (the Chi-Rho), and thereafter they were victorious. The Arch of Constantine, erected in celebration of the victory, certainly attributes Constantine’s success to divine intervention; however, the monument does not display any overtly Christian symbolism, so there is no scholarly consensus on the events’ relation to Constantine’s conversion to Christianity.

Constantine

Missorium depicting Constantine’s son Constantius II, accompanied by a guardsman with the Chi Rho monogram depicted on his shield.

An image of Constantine atop a horse in battle gear with his son and an attendant beside him, one holding his shield with Chi-Rho symbol on it.

Following the battle, Constantine ignored the altars to the gods prepared on the Capitoline, and did not carry out the customary sacrifices to celebrate a general’s victorious entry into Rome, instead heading directly to the imperial palace. Most influential people in the empire, however, especially high military officials, had not been converted to Christianity, and still participated in the traditional religions of Rome; Constantine’s rule exhibited at least a willingness to appease these factions. The Roman coins minted up to eight years after the battle still bore the images of Roman gods. The monuments he first commissioned, such as the Arch of Constantine, contained no reference to Christianity.

Constantine and Christianity

While the Roman Emperor Constantine the Great reigned (306-337 CE), Christianity began to transition to the dominant religion of the Roman Empire. Historians remain uncertain about Constantine’s reasons for favoring Christianity, and theologians and historians have argued about which form of Early Christianity he subscribed to. There is no consensus among scholars as to whether he adopted his mother Helena’s Christianity in his youth, or (as claimed by Eusebius of Caesarea) encouraged her to convert to the faith himself. Some scholars question the extent to which he should be considered a Christian emperor: “Constantine saw himself as an ’emperor of the Christian people.’ If this made him a Christian is the subject of debate,” although he allegedly received a baptism shortly before his death.

Constantine’s decision to cease the persecution of Christians in the Roman Empire was a turning point for early Christianity, sometimes referred to as the Triumph of the Church, the Peace of the Church, or the Constantinian Shift. In 313, Constantine and Licinius issued the Edict of Milan, decriminalizing Christian worship. The emperor became a great patron of the Church and set a precedent for the position of the Christian emperor within the Church, and the notion of orthodoxy, Christendom, ecumenical councils, and the state church of the Roman Empire, declared by edict in 380. He is revered as a saint and isapostolos in the Eastern Orthodox Church and Oriental Orthodox Church for his example as a “Christian monarch.”

8.7.5: The Shift East

Constantine built a new imperial residence in Byzantium and renamed the city Constantinople after himself; the city eventually became the capital of the empire for over one thousand years.

Learning Objective

Explain why Constantine moved the capital of the empire to Constantinople, and the consequences that had for the empire as a whole

Key Points

• After defeating Maxentius and his rebellion, Constantine gradually consolidated his military superiority over his rivals in the crumbling Tetrarchy, in particular Licinius.
• Eventually, Constantine defeated Licinius, making him the sole emperor of the empire, thereby ending the tetrarchy.
• Licinius’ defeat came to represent the defeat of a rival center of Pagan and Greek-speaking political activity in the east, and it was proposed that a new eastern capital should represent the integration of the east into the Roman Empire as a whole; Constantine chose Byzantium.
• The city was thus founded in 324, dedicated on May 11, 330, and renamed Constantinople.
• The Byzantine Empire considered Constantine its founder, and the Holy Roman Empire reckoned him among the venerable figures of its tradition.

Key Terms

Byzantium

An ancient Greek colony on the site that later became Constantinople, and eventually Istanbul.

Byzantine Empire

Also referred to as the Eastern Roman Empire, was the continuation of the Roman Empire in the east during Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, when the empire’s capital city was Constantinople.

The age of Constantine marked a distinct epoch in the history of the Roman Empire. He built a new imperial residence at Byzantium, and renamed the city Constantinople after himself (the laudatory epithet of “New Rome” came later, and was never an official title). It would later become the capital of the empire for over one thousand years; for this reason the later Eastern Empire would come to be known as the Byzantine Empire.

Background: War With Licinius

After defeating Maxentius, Constantine gradually consolidated his military superiority over his rivals in the crumbling tetrarchy. In 313, he met Licinius in Milan to secure their alliance by the marriage of Licinius and Constantine’s half-sister, Constantia. During this meeting, the emperors agreed on the so-called Edict of Milan, officially granting full tolerance to Christianity and all religions in the Empire. In the year 320, Licinius allegedly reneged on the religious freedom promised by the Edict of Milan in 313, and began to oppress Christians anew, generally without bloodshed, but resorting to confiscations and sacking of Christian office-holders. 

This dubious arrangement eventually became a challenge to Constantine in the west, climaxing in the great civil war of 324. Licinius, aided by Goth mercenaries, represented the past and the ancient Pagan faiths. Constantine and his Franks marched under the standard of the labarum Chi-Rho, and both sides saw the battle in religious terms. Outnumbered, but fired by their zeal, Constantine’s army emerged victorious in the Battle of Adrianople. Licinius fled across the Bosphorus and appointed Martius Martinianus, the commander of his bodyguard, as Caesar, but Constantine next won the Battle of the Hellespont, and finally the Battle of Chrysopolis on September 18, 324. Licinius and Martinianus surrendered to Constantine at Nicomedia on the promise their lives would be spared: they were sent to live as private citizens in Thessalonica and Cappadocia, respectively, but in 325, Constantine accused Licinius of plotting against him and had them both arrested and hanged. Licinius’s son (the son of Constantine’s half-sister) was also killed. Thus, Constantine became the sole emperor of the Roman Empire.

Foundation of Constantinople

Licinius’ defeat came to represent the defeat of a rival center of Pagan and Greek-speaking political activity in the east, as opposed to the Christian and Latin-speaking Rome, and it was proposed that a new eastern capital should represent the integration of the east into the Roman Empire as a whole, as a center of learning, prosperity, and cultural preservation for the whole of the eastern Roman Empire. Among the various locations proposed for this alternative capital, Constantine appears to have toyed earlier with Serdica (present-day Sofia), as he was reported saying that “Serdica is my Rome.” Sirmium and Thessalonica were also considered. Eventually, however, Constantine decided to work on the Greek city of Byzantium, which offered the advantage of having already been extensively rebuilt on Roman patterns of urbanism, during the preceding century, by Septimius Severus and Caracalla, who had already acknowledged its strategic importance. 

The city was thus founded in 324, dedicated on May 11, 330, and renamed Constantinopolis (“Constantine’s City” or Constantinople in English). Special commemorative coins were issued in 330 to honor the event. The new city was protected by the relics of the True Cross, the Rod of Moses, and other holy relics, though a cameo now at the Hermitage Museum also represented Constantine crowned by the tyche of the new city. The figures of old gods were either replaced or assimilated into a framework of Christian symbolism. Constantine built the new Church of the Holy Apostles on the site of a temple to Aphrodite. Generations later there was the story that a divine vision led Constantine to this spot, and an angel no one else could see led him on a circuit of the new walls. The capital would often be compared to the ‘old’ Rome as Nova Roma Constantinopolitana, the “New Rome of Constantinople.” Constantinople was a superb base from which to guard the Danube River, and it was reasonably close to the eastern frontiers. Constantine also began the building of the great fortified walls, which were expanded and rebuilt in subsequent ages.

Constantinopolis Coin

Coin struck by Constantine I to commemorate the founding of Constantinople.

Image of coins from the founding of Constantinople. On the front is a soldier’s head with a helmet. On the back is an angel in battle gear.

Legacy

Historian J.B. Bury asserts that “the foundation of Constantinople […] inaugurated a permanent division between the Eastern and Western, the Greek and the Latin, halves of the empire—a division to which events had already pointed—and affected decisively the whole subsequent history of Europe.”

The Byzantine Empire considered Constantine its founder, and the Holy Roman Empire reckoned him among the venerable figures of its tradition. In the later Byzantine state, it had become a great honor for an emperor to be hailed as a “new Constantine.” Ten emperors, including the last emperor of the Eastern Roman Empire, carried the name. Monumental Constantinian forms were used at the court of Charlemagne to suggest that he was Constantine’s successor and equal. Constantine acquired a mythic role as a warrior against “heathens.”

8.7.6: The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire

The Fall of the Western Roman Empire was the period of decline during which the empire disintegrated and split into numerous successor states.

Learning Objective

Analyze, broadly, the causes of the fall of the Roman Empire

Key Points

• Throughout the 5th century, the empire’s territories in western Europe and northwestern Africa, including Italy, fell to various invading or indigenous peoples, in what is sometimes called the Migration Period.
• By the late 3rd century, the city of Rome no longer served as an effective capital for the emperor, and various cities were used as new administrative capitals. Successive emperors, starting with Constantine, privileged the eastern city of Byzantium, which he had entirely rebuilt after a siege.
• In 476, after being refused lands in Italy, Odacer and his Germanic mercenaries took Ravenna, the Western Roman capital at the time, and deposed Western Emperor Romulus Augustus. The whole of Italy was quickly conquered, and Odoacer’s rule became recognized in the Eastern Empire.
• Four broad schools of thought exist on the decline and fall of the Roman Empire: decay owing to general malaise, monocausal decay, catastrophic collapse, and transformation.

Key Terms

Migration Period

Also known as the period of the Barbarian Invasions, it was a period of intensified human migration in Europe from about 400 to 800 CE, during the transition from Late Antiquity to the Early Middle Ages.

Odoacer

A soldier, who came to power in the Western Roman Empire in 476 CE. His reign is commonly seen as marking the end of the Western Roman Empire.

The Fall of the Western Roman Empire was the process of decline during which the empire failed to enforce its rule, and its vast territory was divided into several successor polities. The Roman Empire lost the strengths that had allowed it to exercise effective control; modern historians mention factors including the effectiveness and numbers of the army, the health and numbers of the Roman population, the strength of the economy, the competence of the emperor, the religious changes of the period, and the efficiency of the civil administration. Increasing pressure from barbarians outside Roman culture also contributed greatly to the collapse. The reasons for the collapse are major subjects of the historiography of the ancient world, and they inform much modern discourse on state failure.

By 476 CE, when Odoacer deposed Emperor Romulus, the Western Roman Empire wielded negligible military, political, or financial power and had no effective control over the scattered western domains that could still be described as Roman. Invading “barbarians” had established their own polities on most of the area of the Western Empire. While its legitimacy lasted for centuries longer and its cultural influence remains today, the Western Empire never had the strength to rise again.

It is important to note, however, that the so-called fall of the Roman Empire specifically refers to the fall of the Western Roman Empire, since the Eastern Roman Empire, or what became known as the Byzantine Empire, whose capital was founded by Constantine, remained for another 1,000 years. Theodosius was the last emperor who ruled over the whole empire. After his death in 395, he gave the two halves of the empire to his two sons, Arcadius and Honorius; Arcadius became ruler in the east, with his capital in Constantinople, and Honorius became ruler in the west, with his capital in Milan, and later Ravenna.

Rome in the 5th Century CE

Throughout the 5th century, the empire’s territories in western Europe and northwestern Africa, including Italy, fell to various invading or indigenous peoples in what is sometimes called the Migration Period, also known as the Barbarian Invasions, from the Roman and South European perspective. The first migrations of peoples were made by Germanic tribes, such as the Goths, Vandals, Angles, Saxons, Lombards, Suebi, Frisii, Jutes and Franks; they were later pushed westwards by the Huns, Avars, Slavs, and Bulgars.

Although the eastern half still survived with borders essentially intact for several centuries (until the Muslim conquests), the Empire as a whole had initiated major cultural and political transformations since the Crisis of the Third Century, with the shift towards a more openly autocratic and ritualized form of government, the adoption of Christianity as the state religion, and a general rejection of the traditions and values of Classical Antiquity.

The reasons for the decline of the Empire are still debated today, and are likely multiple. Historians infer that the population appears to have diminished in many provinces (especially western Europe), judging from the diminishing size of fortifications built to protect the cities from barbarian incursions from the 3rd century on. Some historians even have suggested that parts of the periphery were no longer inhabited, because these fortifications were restricted to the center of the city only. By the late 3rd century, the city of Rome no longer served as an effective capital for the emperor, and various cities were used as new administrative capitals. Successive emperors, starting with Constantine, privileged the eastern city of Byzantium, which he had entirely rebuilt after a siege. Later renamed Constantinople, and protected by formidable walls in the late 4th and early 5th centuries, it was to become the largest and most powerful city of Christian Europe in the Early Middle Ages. Since the Crisis of the Third Century, the empire was intermittently ruled by more than one emperor at once (usually two), presiding over different regions.

The Latin-speaking west, under dreadful demographic crisis, and the wealthier Greek-speaking east, also began to diverge politically and culturally. Although this was a gradual process, still incomplete when Italy came under the rule of barbarian chieftains in the last quarter of the 5th century, it deepened further afterward, and had lasting consequences for the medieval history of Europe.

In 476, after being refused lands in Italy, Orestes’ Germanic mercenaries, under the leadership of the chieftain Odoacer, captured and executed Orestes and took Ravenna, the Western Roman capital at the time, deposing Western Emperor Romulus Augustus. The whole of Italy was quickly conquered, and Odoacer’s rule became recognized in the Eastern Empire. Meanwhile, much of the rest of the Western provinces were conquered by waves of Germanic invasions, most of them being disconnected politically from the east altogether, and continuing a slow decline. Although Roman political authority in the west was lost, Roman culture would last in most parts of the former western provinces into the 6th century and beyond.

Romulus Augustus Resigns the Crown

Charlotte Mary Yonge’s 1880 artist rendition of Romulus Augustus resigning the crown to Odoacer.

Theories on the Decline and Fall

The various theories and explanations for the fall of the Roman Empire in the west may be very broadly classified into four schools of thought (although the classification is not without overlap):

• Decay owing to general malaise
• Monocausal decay
• Catastrophic collapse
• Transformation

The tradition positing general malaise goes back to the historian, Edward Gibbon, who argued that the edifice of the Roman Empire had been built on unsound foundations from the beginning. According to Gibbon, the fall was—in the final analysis—inevitable. On the other hand, Gibbon had assigned a major portion of the responsibility for the decay to the influence of Christianity, and is often, though perhaps unjustly, seen as the founding father of the school of monocausal explanation. On the other hand, the school of catastrophic collapse holds that the fall of the empire had not been a pre-determined event and need not be taken for granted. Rather, it was due to the combined effect of a number of adverse processes, many of them set in motion by the Migration Period, that together applied too much stress to the empire’s basically sound structure. Finally, the transformation school challenges the whole notion of the ‘fall’ of the empire, asking instead to distinguish between the fall into disuse of a particular political dispensation, anyway unworkable towards its end; and the fate of the Roman civilization that under-girded the empire. According to this school, drawing its basic premise from the Pirenne thesis, the Roman world underwent a gradual (though often violent) series of transformations, morphing into the medieval world. The historians belonging to this school often prefer to speak of Late Antiquity, instead of the Fall of the Roman Empire.

Ostrogothic Kingdom

The Ostrogothic Kingdom, which rose from the ruins of the Western Roman Empire.

The map shows that, at its zenith, the Ostrogothic kingdom stretched from modern France in the west to modern Serbia in the southeast.