History of Augustus and the Roman Empire Flashcards
Chief Magistrates
2 consuls elected annually
Senate
advisory body made up of roman aristocrats
Popular assemblies
voted on laws
Praetors
2nd most important magistrate; could hold military command and govern province
Consuls
chief executive magistrate; governed provinces
Struggle of Orders
plebians(lower class) revolt against patricians in effort to equal political rights & obtained plebeian assembly and the right to become members of the senate, get military commands and enter state priesthoods
Optimates vs Populares
optimates sought support from the senatorial elite while populares sought support among the people
nobiles
men from senatorial families
novi homines
“new men”- first in their family to become consul
Sulla
represented optimates; became dictator 82-79 BC; cruel proscriptions
Members of the 1st Triumverate
Julius Caesar, Pompey & Crassus
first triumvirate
secret alliance to thwart the senate; was formed in 60 BC
1st Triumvirate falls apart
Crassus dies in Parthia 53BC–> major military defeat lost 3 legions & Julia dies: wife of Pompey & daughter of Caesar
Pompey vs Caesar
Pompey flees to the Greece & is defeated by Caesar in the Battle of Pharsalus in 48 BC & goes to egypt where he is killed
Julius Caesar
crosses Rubicon in 49 BC; voted dictator for life in 44 BC & killed in senatorial conspiracy led by Brutus and Cassius in 44 BC-known as the Ides of March
Aftermath of Assasination
Caesar will is read and he names Octavian as his principal heir and adopted son
Second Triumvirate
form offical alliance in 43 BC for the purpose of bringing order to the Republic; their 5 year term eventually gets extended
Proscription
brought back to get rid of enemies and to get more land; overall 300 senators and 2000 knights were killed
Treaty of Brundism
reconfirms triumvirate for its 5 yr term through 38 BC & redivded world; octavian:west, anthony:east, & lepidus: africa
Treaty of Tarentum
37 BC; octavian is to provide anthony w/ 20K legionaries for his war in Parthia & anthony provides 120 ships for octavian’s war against sextus pompeius
Battle of Naulochus
36 BC; Octavian & Agrippa defeat sextus pompeius in naval battle at naulochus
Lepidus stripped of triumvirate role
tries to claim Sicily for himself; is allowed to remain pontifex maximus
Anthony & Parthia
suffered in Parthia 36 BC B/C of betrayal by King Adria an ally of Anthony; accepted help from Cleopatra & legally recognized her children as his while still married to Octavia
31BC Outbreak of War
war is declared on Cleopatra not Anthony-making it a foreign war not a civil war; Octavian ships blockade anthony’s ships inside gulf of Ambracia for 16 weeks
Battle of Actium
Sept 2, 31BC; Cleopatra leaves with Anthony following behind her & rest of the ships sink or surrender
Death of Cleopatra
supposedly killed by venomous snake bite; buried next to Anthony
Octavian’s actions in Egypt after Cleopatra’s Death
kills Caesarion & Antyllus; anthony other children by cleopatra allowed to live & march in triumph, later raised by Octavia
Octavian Celebrates Actium
triple triumph in 29 BC; Illyricum, Actium & Alexandria; closed the doors of the Temple of Janus in 29 BC
Restoration of the Republic
returned the republic to the senate and people 28-27 BC
First Settlement of the Principate
27 BC; octavian would hold consulship continually; proconsul of Gaul, Spain & Syria for 10 yrs
Public Honors for Octavian
wreaths attached to his foor; named Augustus in 27 BC-also calle princeps; official name: Imperator Caesar Augustus
Augustus health scare
seriously ill in 23 BC leaves signet ring to Agrippa & gave list of troops to co-consul Piso
Second Settlement of the Principate
23 BC; Augustus resigns consulship; given a greater status
Social Legislation
law concerning corruption, sumptuary laws: limited expenditure on meals, clothes; laws punishing adultery, laws designed to encourage marriage & children
Secular games
17BC; also honored great roman soldier, ex. pompey
Reforms to the army
reduced # of legions to 26; state treasures went to paying army
Varus
lost 3 legions in AD9 to a tribal rebellion & commits suicide
Difficulties w/ succesion
potential succesors kepts dying
Agrippa, Gaius, and Lucius
2 AD Lucius dies in France; 4 AD Gaius dies in Lycia; Agrippa dies in 12 BC
Tiberius
forced to divorce wife Vipsania and marry Julia; 6 BC mysteriously disappears to island of Rhodes; is adopted by Augustus in 4 AD but Tiberius adopts Germanicus