Chapter 6

The Roman Empire

The Age of Augustus Caesar (31 B.C.­ 14 A.D.)

• The Augustan Political Settlement – Augustus, 27 B.C.­ 14 A.D. – Princeps (First Citizen) – Imperator – Paterfamilias of Rome – Duties:

• Defense and expansion of imperial territory • Administration of justice and provision of good government, through public infrastructure

• The New Order – Senate subordinated to Princeps – Augustus elected Pontifex Maximus (“chief pontif,” supervisor of religious worship), 12 B.C.

• Spielvogel, p. 139, The Achievement of Augustus – Augustus’ Autobiography, Res Gestae

The Age of Augustus Caesar (31 B.C.­ 14 A.D.)

• The Army – Standing army of 28 legions; 150,000 men • Legion = 5400 men

– Auxiliaries, 130,000 men who were non­ citizens

– Praetorian Guard • 9 cohorts of elite troops; 9,000 men

Roman Provinces and Frontiers

• Provinces of the Princeps – Governed by legates – Governors of ability and loyalty

• Provinces of the senate – Governed by proconsuls and propraetors

• Governors – Supported by local elites

• Client kingdoms • Expansion into Germany

– Teutoburg Forest, 9 A.D.

Augustan Society • The Senatorial Class

– Possess property worth 1,000,000 sesterces

– Reduced to 600 men under Augustus

• The Equestrian Class – Roman citizens – Property of 400,000 sesterces

• Lower Class • Cult of the Emperor

– Augustus as a deity • Social legislation for morality – Restoration of virtue

Golden Age of Latin Literature • Virgil (70­19 B.C.) – Aeneid

– (Writing Assignment #2) • Horace (65­8 B.C.) – Satires • Ovid (43 B.C.­18 A.D.) – Art of Love

– Spielvogel, p. 143 • Livy (59 B.C.­17 A.D.) – History of Rome

Augustus’ Successors

• Lack of an arrangement for orderly succession

• Theoretically, with the death of Augustus, power should go back to the Senate

• Augustus selected his stepson Tiberius as his successor

• Tiberius was proclaimed princeps by the Senate upon Augustus’ death in 14 A.D.

The Early Empire, 14­180 A.D. • _______________, 14­68 A.D.

– Descendants of the family of Augustus (the Julian clan) and Livia (Claudian clan)

• Tiberius, 14­37 A.D. • Caligula, 37­41 A.D. • Claudius, 41­54 A.D.

– Adds Britain to the Empire • Nero, 54­68 A.D.

– Fire in Rome, 64 A.D. Caligula

Nero

Tiberius

Claudius

After the Julio­Claudians

• The Year of the Four Emperors – Galba, Otho, Vitellius, Vespasian – The Fate of Cremona in the Year of the Four Emperors, Spielvogel, p. 144 • What does this passage tell us about the nature of civil war in the Roman Empire? What were its results?

• The Flavians, 69­96 A.D. – Vespasian, 69­79 A.D. – Titus, 79­81 A.D. – Domitian, 81­96 A.D.

Vespasian

• Emperor selected by the Senate • Adopted the man most qualified to succeed him

• 1 st of the 5 Good Emperors = Nerva, 96­ 98

• Succeeded by Trajan (98­117) – Conquest of new territory: Dacia, Mesopotamia

The Five “Good Emperors,” 96­180 A.D.

The Five “Good Emperors,” 96­180 A.D.

• Trajan adopts Hadrian (117­138) – Consolidating the borders of the Empire

• Hadrian adopts Antoninus Pius (138­161)

• Antoninus Pius adopts Marcus Aurelius (161­180)

Portrait bust of Hadrian

Equestrian statue of Marcus Aurelius

Marcus Aurelius, 161­180

• Stoic philosophy – Zeno, Hellenistic Athenian philosopher

– Materialistic view of the universe – Universe is not chaos but rather functions according to a plan of goodness

– Harmony and happiness achieved by striving for virtue rather than pleasure

– Universal appeal

• Succeeded by son Commodus (180­192)

Trade Routes and Products in the Roman Empire, c. 200

The Pax Romana (The Roman Peace), 31 B.C. – 192 A.D.

• Prosperity in the Early Empire • Manufacturing and trade • Silk Road • Agriculture • Gulf between rich and poor • The Army during the Pax Romana

– Defense and protection – Socialization

• Agent of Romanization

• Cities and towns – Spread of culture, law, and Latin language

The Pax Romana

• Seneca, c. 4 B.C.­65 A.D. – Stoicism

• Petronius, ?­ 66 A.D. – Satyricon

• Tacitus, c. 56­120 – Annals, Histories, Germania

• Juvenal, c. 55­c. 128 – Satires – “Nowadays, with no vote to sell, their motto is ‘couldn’t care less.’ Time was when their vote elected generals, heads of state, commanders of legions: but now they’ve pulled in their horns, there’s only two things that concern them: Bread and Circuses.”

The Silver Age of Latin Literature

• Greek style Sculpture • Architectural Forms:

– Arch – Vault – Dome – Aqueducts – Sewage systems – 50,000 miles of Roads

• Civic Architecture and Monuments

Art and Architecture in the Early Empire

• Rome, population c. 1 million • Insulae (apartments) • Public buildings

– Markets – Temples – Baths – Arenas

• Fire of 64 A.D. • Pompeii

– Destroyed by eruption of Vesuvius, 79 A.D.

Imperial Rome

Daily Life in a Roman City

• Baths and Bathing Culture – Spielvogel, p. 153: Public Baths of the Roman Empire

Daily Life in a Roman City

• “Bread and Circuses” • Chariot races

– Circus Maximus • Largest sports edifice ever created; 200,000 seats

The Third Century Crisis, 235­284 A.D.

• Commodus, 180­192 A.D.

• Severan Dynasty, 193­235 A.D. – Septimius Severus

• “Pay the soldiers and ignore everyone else”

• Weak emperors – Civil wars – Military monarchs

• “Barracks Emperors” – 22 emperors in 49 years

• Invasions – Sassanid Persians

• Emperor Valerian loses to the Persians (260 A.D.)

– Germanic tribes • Monetary problems

– Inflation

The Third Century Crisis, 235­284 A.D.

• Religious World of the Roman Empire – Roman state religion – Greco­Roman gods – Romans tolerant of other religions – Household and rural cults – Problems with Roman religion – people’s desire for a more emotional experience

– Mystery religions • Mithraism

• The Jewish Background – Sadducees, Essenes, Zealots – Apocalypticism

Transformation of the Roman World: The Development of Christianity

The Rise of Christianity • Jesus of Nazareth (c. 6 B.C.­29 A.D.)

– Sources for the biography of Yeshua (Joshua) son of Yoseph • NT gospels (AD 70­90) = earliest accounts of his life

• The Historical Jesus – Grew up in Galilee – important center of the militant Zealots

– Teacher and healer – Baptism by John the Baptist who preached a message of the need for repentance for sins in the face of the coming final judgment

– John was executed by Herod Antipas (4 BC ­ AD 39) ­ son of Herod the Great, whom the Romans supported as ruler of Galilee • Herod feared John’s apocalyptic preaching might provoke riots

– Jesus took up John’s mission

The Rise of Christianity

• Jesus of Nazareth (c. 6 B.C.­29 A.D.) – The Sermon on the Mount, Spielvogel, p. 160 • To whom does the message appeal? • What would Romans find threatening about the message?

The Rise of Christianity • Paul of Tarsus (c. 5­c. 67A.D.)

– The “Second Founder” of Christianity

The Rise of Christianity

• Gospels • Agape • Increasing role of the bishops over presbyters

• Roman criticisms of Christianity • Persecution

• Salvation • Universal appeal

– Appeal to all classes – Women

• Another mystery religion – Initiation by baptism

• Community • Constantine and toleration

The Popularity of Christianity

The Rise and Spread of Christianity