18. The Early Principate, Literature, Women

When did the imperial era begin? What were the 2 phases?

Begins when Augustus defeats Mark Antony 

• 1. Principate era

• 2. Dominate era

Augustus wants to hand to his successor his prestige with who (4 groups of people)?

1. The senate 

2. The Equestrians 

3. The Roman people and provincials 

4. The army 

Who is Tiberius?

• Augusutus’ successor 

What did Augusuts will have say about Tiberus’ nephew?

• TIberius could only be heir if Tiberius named his nephew, Germanicus, the next heir 

Why did Germanicus die?

• They found in his house that messages in syrian were painted all over his walls as some sort of witchcraft

What did Tiberius’ unpopularity lead to? 

• Criticizing the majesty became a crime 

• These became the majesty trials 

Delatores def

• Someone who provides evidence in a criminal case 

Who is Sejanus?

• The head of the Praetorian Guards 

• Close friend of tiberius 

Why did Tiberius hate Sejanus after?

• Found out that Sejanus and his sons daughter in law were having an affair 

• Sejanus was trying to become emperor 

• Tiberius executed him and his whole family and retired 

What is this scene?

• Two gods overwatching tiberius who is shaking hands with a soldier 

• Tiberius is depicted as Jupiter (king of gods)

What was the Military Policy like when Tiberius led?

• The roman army would be of fixed size 

• Therefore, if you wanted to take troops and have them attack outside of the roman empire, you were NOT allowed to increase the military budget to increase the amount of troops 

• Instead, you could only get troops if you could withdraw them from somewhere else in the roman empire 

What is the German Question?

• How to handle Germany who would often try to enter the Roman Republic 

• The question was, should they invade or should they let it be and maintain peace? 

• Tiberius answered the question with NO 

Who succeeds Tiberius after his death?

• Because Germanicus died before he could become emperor, his son Caligula

What were Caligula's early policies like? 

• Painted himself as an “anti tiberius” 

• Lowered taxes 

• Held expensive public entertainment 

• Stopped the Majesty trials and stopped delatores

• Said would start LARGE scale military expeditions 

What was the odd madness/illness that affected Caligula?

• Half way through his reign, he started to go crazy 

• He spent so much money that he bankrupt the Treasury 

How did Caligula die?

• Assassinated by his Praetorian Guard 

After Caligula' s death, who was the new successor?

• The senate believed there were no more men in the bloodline 

• However they were wrong, the brother of Germanicus, Claudius, was still alive 

Why was Claudius forgotten? Who nominated him?

• Was kept out of sight because he suffered many health issues and disabilities 

• The praetorian guard who assassinated Caligula nominated him

What was Claudius’ administration of the empire like?

• He first invaded Britain ~ successfully

• Built new harbour in Rome

Who did Claudius rely on for advice?

• His wives and ex-slaves

• This was considered an insult to the roman aristocracy 

The story of Claudius and Messalina

• Messalina cheated on Claudius whom he really loved 

• Everyone was too scared to tell Claudius so she took advantage of that

• His best advisors told him while he was drunk and made him execute her

Claudius and Agrippina 

• After death of Messalina, Claudius was depressed 

• He then ended up marrying Agrippina, daughter of Germanius, to help feel better

What is this a depiction of? 

• Depicting the roman conquest of britain 

• This was on the roman public building 

Who is the successor after Claudius?

• Agrippina convinced Claudius to not make his own son (with Messalina) the heir, but her son she had from her first marriage the heir

• So, Claudius’ step son, Nero, ends up being the new heir

What does Nero do to Claudius’ actual son, Britannicus?

• Nero poisons Britannicus 

What does this image depict?

• Nero and his mother staring at each other 

The story of Nero and his mother, Agrippina

• Agrippina was so controlling over every part of Nero’s life that he started to resent her

• He made a plan to create a collapsable boat so that once it hits water, it will slowly disintegrate while she is on it 

• She swims all the way to shore and makes it back home and writes a letter to Nero pretending that nothing happened 

• Nero panicked then planted evidence that Agrippina was trying to conspire against him 

• He tried to execute her 

• Agrippina said “stab me in the womb where I gave birth to that snake” and then she died 

What is the Neronia? 

• A theatrical+ athletic competition 

What is the Great fire?

• A fire that torched about ⅔ of the city of rome 

• A rumour started that Nero was behind it so he could use it as a backdrop for his plays

What is the Conspiracy plot?

• Roman senators were trying to kill Nero and he found out 

How did Nero die?

• A rebellion started in spain which panicked nero so he fled rome 

• Rebellions then increased which nero could not handle 

• He then committed suicide 

• The dynasty is now over

Civil war after the end of the the julius-claudian dynasty 

• In the year after Nero's death, there is civil war within the roman empire 

• 4 different military commanders, none relation to julio claudians , were called by their own troops and fought to be emperor 

Who was the winner of the fight to become emperor?

• The military commander of Judaea 

• One of the reasons he won was because the Jews were rebellious 

What was the result of a fixed empire?

• Cities sprang up wherever an army would be posted 

What was the switch in the economy that the army brought about?

• Agrarian (live on their own farms and produce their resources) to commodity/modern economy (trading the service you specialize in) 

What was the interaction of veterans and native tribes?

• Veterans would retire and settle in various parts of the roman empire which initiated interaction between romans and native tribes

What was the introduction of Roman civilization to the empire like?

• Introduced large scale civil engineering projects 

What is this? 

• Roman styled jewelry and pots found in Arabia 

What is this? 

• Mosaic 

• A river god 

• Depicted in roman style

Marriage 

What was the main primary source used?

• Tombstones 

What was considered the role/goal for women?

• To be married, have children and be a wife 

Marriage in the hand vs without the hand 

• In the hand: wife becomes part of husband's family and owns her, her dowry is given to husband 

• Without the hand: Wife was not considered to be part of the family and she keeps her dowry 

How did divorce proceedings go?

• Easy for either the husband or wife to get

• The husband and wife have to spend 3 nights apart and the contract is over

How would a marriage be officially recognized by Roman law?

• Both must be roman citizens 

What was their marriage ceremony like?

• Bride would make her own dress that is white with an orange veil 

• In the middle of her dress, there would be a knot, which would then be unraveled by husband 

• The romans would also exchange rings 

• Wife would smear animal hat on husbands door 

• Husband would carry woman into house so that she wouldn't trip (considered bad luck) 

• They would spend first night together in atrium of house 

What is the univira

• The ideal marriage

• A woman who only has one husband 

• If the husband dies, the woman never remarries and raises the children 

What is the testimony of the epitaphs

• Epitaphs: inscriptions on tombstones honouring the person 

• Often had good things to say about a husband/wife to on another 

What is this?

• Epitaph

What is this? 

• Tombstone

• Set up by former owner of a slave 

What did Roman moralists think about marriage?

• Looked down on marriage 

Ceremonies after childbirth

• The baby would be placed on the floor of the atrium 

• If father picked up baby, then he is acknowledging it is his own

What was adoption like?

• Very common 

• Only restriction in adoption was that a younger person cant adopt an older person 

What is this?

• Depicting childbirth 

What was the guardian of a woman?

• A guardian was someone who signed contracts on behalf of a woman 

• Woman could choose their guardians which made this rule seem silly 

What is the visibility of women in the republican era vs the imperial era?

• Republic: Not really involved/ talked about unless they played the “role” of women

• Imperial: Transgressive women 

What is this? 

• Hairstyles of women in the imperial era 

• On the right, there are removable hair pieces 

What does “stylish” mean?

• A person can take something to identify their personality in a way that provokes emotion 

What is the precision literary style?

• Make point first, then explain 

What is the cinematographic style?

• Present language as if you are painting a picture 

• Words are presented as action develops 

What is the juxtaposition style?

• The word order does not matter

• Basically jumbled words