The Roman Empire Flashcards
Describe Augustus’ position and authority. How did Augustus present the base of his power to his subjects? And how did the position of the Senate change in the Augustan and post-Augustan era?
In 30 BC, Augustus was elected consul several years in a row and had old powers from the Triumvirate. Moreover, he had support from the armies and aristocrats to end the civil war, which was an informal authority.
In 28 BC, he held censor duties.
In 27 BC he was emperor of proconsul in the three imperial provinces and received the title of Augustus.
This was also the year the Senate returned.
In 23 BC, he received the powers of tribune for life and supreme authority over the governors of the senatorial provinces.
In 19 BC, he received the powers of consul for life, the titles tribune and emperor proconsular, which gave him a legal and official basis of imperial power.
He presented the base of his power by wrapping it in legal powers derived from traditional offices and anchored in old republican state institutions.
In the post-Augustan era, important discussions were held and decisions prepared in the consilium principis (advisory council of the emperor) and no longer in the senate.
Popular assemblies fell into deep disrepair.
The Senate apparently gained more power: Senate decisions were given legal force. In practice, the senate followed the emperor. Senators were dependent on the emperor, who decided their careers. The power threshold set at 1 million sesterces. There were all kinds of new positions to be held in thecursus honorum.
What role did Roman civil law play in spreading the power of the Roman Empire? How did Roman law contribute to safeguarding the rights of individuals?
Because former soldiers of the auxiliary troops and their wives and children were given citizenship, Roman citizenship spread in the border provinces, causing the number of Roman citizens to rapidly multiply. In addition, Roman citizenship also spread rapidly among the elite in the cities. Sometimes the emperor granted citizenship to an entire city or region at once. In the upper class, obtaining citizenship led to increased opportunities for social advancement. In Roman justice there was class justice: slaves could be tortured, citizens could not
How was the Roman economy set up? What were its most notable structural characteristics? What role did cities play within this economy? Were there differences between the East and the West, and if so, what were they?
Economy set up:
- 80-90% of the population of the Roman Empire was involved in the production, processing and transport of agricultural produce
- Trade mainly local, but trade routes did extend to Scandinavia, central Asia, India, Further India, Arabia and East and West Africa.
- 40% of the population consisted of slaves and freedmen.
- Cities were hubs of economy activity
East and the west:
- The Greek-speaking eastern half of the empire experienced a period of unrest and impoverishment in the second and first centuries bc
What were the major religions within the Roman Empire? Do what extent did freedom of religion exist? How did early Christianity differ from previously existing religions?
Major religions
* Roman Polytheism
* Judaism
* Early christianity
Freedom of religion
* Introduction of foreign gods into the roman pantheon does show tolerance- e.g. Hercules from Greece, cult of the fertility goddess Cybele of Asia Minor, Persian god Mithras
* Persecution of christians- Paul was a strong opponent of Christianity at first. He even participated in the persecution of the first Christian community in Jerusalem. He later converted to Christianity
Early Christianity:
* Monotheism
* Moral and ethical focus- According to Greco-Roman ethics you were supposed to help your friends and harm your enemies. Jesus, however, taught his followers to love their enemies, too. And in the cities, wealthy benefactors would be lavishly honoured with statues, honorary inscriptions and seats of honour in the theatres, whereas according to Jesus, acts of goodness should be performed in modest silence.
* Slaves and women probably felt attracted to Christianity because in God’s eyes they were equal to the other faithful in the Christian communities and they shared equally in the sacraments. Things were often quite different in other contemporary religions. In the Christian communities even a slave could become a presbyter or a bishop (but a woman could not).
* clear views on life after death. Paradise awaited those who persevered in their faith and this knowledge gave them the strength to undergo torture
Define Principate
The Romans of the first centuries of the imperial age used the title princeps, meaning first citizen or English ‘prince’, which was not an official term but rather a form of address to the emperor. The word ‘principate’, which is often used to refer to the Roman monarchy as it was in the first two and a half centuries of the imperial age, is derived from this. It marked a transition from the Roman Republic to a centralised autocracy, where the emperor held significant power yet often retained republican trappings.
Define Tacitus
At around 100 AD, Tacitus (AD 55-120) was one of the most famous authors and historians in Rome. He wrote about the emperors who had ruled between AD 14-96 and about Germany and Britain. Tacitus believed the monarchy was the only possible form of government, but he criticised its shortcomings and regretted the loss of republican freedom. His works included “Annals” and “Histories”, which provided critical insights into the politics and society of the early Roman Empire, emphasising moral and political decline.
Define Mithras
Mithras, a deity, was a heroic fighter against evil. He is often depicted slaying a bull in a cave with a dagger in one hand and represents loyalty to the empire, life over death, and good over evil. Mithras came from the east and was originally a Persian or Indian god, but the cult of Mithras became popular in Imperial Rome and the 1st- 4th centuries CE, particularly in military camps. The cult was confined to men.
Define Romanisation
Romanisation was the process by which Roman culture, language, and customs were spread and adopted in conquered territories. It often involved the assimilation of local populations into Roman society and the promotion of Roman values. In Italy, this started early in 300 BC and was accelerated by urbanisation in 88 BC. Romanisation had successfully begun in southern and eastern Spain in the second century and gradually spread across the entire peninsula in the subsequent period except for north-western Spain, which underwent Romanisation under emperor Augustus.
Define Limes
Limes, in Rome, was originally a path that marked the boundary between plots of land. Later, it referred to roads along which troops advanced into unfriendly territory. The word came to mean a Roman military road fortified with watchtowers and forts. Finally, limes acquired the sense of frontier, either natural or artificial; continuous barriers often replaced the military road between them. The limes can be seen best in the Rhine area of Germany and Great Britain. It was used commonly in the 1st- 5th centuries CE.
The Year of the Four Emperors
The Year of the Four Emperors was in 69 CE. It was a period of Roman civil war and political instability following the death of Nero, the last emperor of the Julio-Claudian dynasty, who had died without appointing a successor, and four rival pretenders to the throne were fighting one another at the head of their armies. They were Galba, Otho, Vitellius, and Vespasian, and it was Vespasian eventually emerged as the victor and established the Flavian Dynasty.
Era of the Seven Kings
‘715-509’ BCE: The first 200 years of Roman history occurred under a monarchy. Rome was ruled by seven kings over this period of time, and each of their reigns were characterized by the personality of the ruler in question. Each of these kings is credited either with establishing a key Roman tradition, or constructing an important building. None of the seven kings were known to be dynasts, and no reference is made to the hereditary nature of kingdom until after the fifth king, Tarquinius Priscus
