Roman Empire Terms 10/1

Exemplum

Definition: Example/model. Context: A past Roman person/action to imitate. Significance: Romans judged leaders by whether they followed good precedents.

monumentum

Definition: Reminder/memorial. Context: Something that preserves a person or event’s memory. Significance: Augustus used monuments to shape how Rome remembered him.

Libertas

Definition: Freedom/liberty. Context: Freedom from a king or tyrant. Significance: Augustus had to look like he protected freedom, not destroyed it.

privatus

Definition: Private citizen. Context: Someone without official public power. Significance: Augustus sometimes presented himself as an ordinary citizen, not a monarch.

Comitia

Definition: Assembly. Context: Roman citizens’ voting assemblies. Significance: Their survival made Augustus’s government still look Republican.

officia amicorum

Definition: Duties of friends. Context: Friends owed each other favors and support. Significance: Roman politics ran heavily on personal connections.

Recusatio

Definition: Refusal. Context: Publicly refusing power or honors. Significance: Made Augustus look modest instead of power-hungry.

mos maiorum

Definition: Custom of the Ancestors Context: Traditional Roman values and customs. Significance: Augustus claimed he was restoring old Rome, not creating something new.

Res Gestae Divi Augusti

Defenition: the things I did, divine augustus Context: Augustus’s account of his own achievements. Significance: Shows exactly how Augustus wanted people to remember his rule.

SPQR

Definition: Senatus Populusque Romanus = Senate and People of Rome. Context: Traditional name/symbol of the Roman state. Significance: Reinforced the idea that Rome was still run by Senate + people.

Princeps

Definition: First/first citizen. Context: Augustus’s preferred title. Significance: Let him be #1 without calling himself king because ROMANS HATE KINGS!

Principate

Definition: Rule of the princeps. Context: Augustus’s new political system. Significance: One-man rule disguised by Republican institutions (An example is how Claudius wanted to marry his cousin and told the people the senate forced him to)

Rex

Definition: King. Context: A title Romans hated. Significance: Augustus avoided it because Romans associated kings with tyranny.

civilis/civilitas

Definition: Citizen-like/civil behavior. Context: Acting like an equal citizen instead of a king. Significance: Helped Augustus make his power seem less threatening.

Superbia

Definition: Arrogance/excessive pride. Context: King-like, tyrannical behavior (a quality of the hellenistic kings) Significance: Exactly what Augustus wanted to avoid appearing to have

ambivalence

Two things can be true ambo= both, valence= “valėre” to be strong or right Augustus tried to be both cool and relatable but also a king

Metriotēs vs. moderatio

Metriotēs= NOT Tyranny (held back by rules) moderatio= Restraint (Held back by customs)

Numismatics

The study or collection of currency Coins spread Augustus’s image and messages everywhere.

Obverse

The heads side of a coin Spread Augustus’s face throughout the empire.

Reverse

The tails side of a coin Basically a tiny political advertisement.

Saeculum aureum/ “golden age”

Definition: Golden Age. Context: Augustus supposedly created a new age of peace/prosperity. Significance: Made his rule seem like Rome’s rebirth.

Parthians

Definition: Rome’s major eastern rival. Context: They had captured Roman military standards. Significance: Augustus recovered the standards and turned it into a huge prestige win.

Standards / signa

Definition: Military standards/symbols. Context: Sacred symbols carried by Roman legions. Significance: Losing them = humiliation; recovering them = restored Roman honor.

Pietas

Definition: Duty/devotion. Context: Duty to gods, family, ancestors, and Rome. Significance: Major virtue Augustus claimed to embody.

Augustus

Definition: Revered/venerable. Context: Title given to Octavian. Significance: Made him sound special and sacred without saying “king.”

Res Publica

Republic Context: The Roman state/Republic. Significance: Augustus claimed he was protecting and restoring it.

Gens Iulia

Definition: Julian family/clan. Context: Caesar’s family, which Augustus joined through adoption. Significance: Connected Augustus to Caesar, Aeneas, and supposedly Venus.

Battle of Actium

Definition: Octavian’s 31 BCE victory over Antony and Cleopatra. Context: Decisive battle ending their struggle. Significance: Left Octavian as Rome’s dominant ruler

rostrum/rostra

Definition: Speaker’s platform. Context: Public speaking platform in the Forum. Significance: Symbol of traditional Republican public politics.

Victory

Definition: Victory. Context: Military success + goddess/personification of victory. Significance: Helped Augustus present himself as Rome’s victorious savior.

Res publica restituta

Definition: Republic restored. Context: Augustus claimed he returned Rome to normal Republican government. Significance: The key Augustan claim: “I didn’t end the Republic—I saved it.”

Laurel trees/wreaths

Definition: Symbol of victory. Context: Associated with triumph and Apollo. Significance: Connected Augustus with victory and divine favor.

Oak wreath/corona civica

Definition: Civic/oak crown. Context: Awarded for saving Roman citizens. Significance: Suggested Augustus had “saved” Rome.

Clipeus virtutis

Definition: Shield of Virtue. Context: Shield honoring Augustus’s good qualities. Significance: Advertised him as the ideal Roman leader, not just the most powerful one.