Classics Final Exam

Augustus and the Transformation of the Roman World

Augustus spends his whole career attempting to make people forget he came into power during civil war. He was emperor for 40 years. Took away power from roman people and promoted pro-himself propoganda.

The creation of the princepet/ first settlement (27BCE)

  • “agrees” to be consul

  • princep= first in line

  • imperator = emperor

  • primus interpares= 1st amonf equals

  • hands back all other authority to Cursus, Republic has been restored!

2nd settlement (23 BCE)

  • crushing realization that death comes for all of us

  • resigns the consulship

  • powers without offices: mauis imperium and tribunica potestas (everything that comes with being tribune of the plebs)

Reforms and accomplishments

  • building program/iconography

  • foriegn conquests

  • literartue

  • morality legistaltion

Religion in the Empire

men and gods are separate, this changes intially with the imperial cult The breakdown of the polytheistic roman religion and conversion to christianity.

Imperial cult (A)

  • cautionary tale; alexander the great

  • divus Julius, after cesers death he becomes a god

  • divius agustus and the cult of the imperial family, agustus follows the same since he is the “son of a god”

  • deus= god

  • divus= diefyed person

Imperial cult (B)

when men start claiming to be gods while living

  • dominatian; prints coinage claiming hes a living god

  • diolcletian the dominate; claims hes a god

  • elagabalus/aurelian; claims to be sun god

  • cult of antinous; teenage boyfriend of hadrian who becomes god

Rome and christianity

  • romans didn’t like because it was, new, unherichal, and decentralized.

  • 1st and 2nd centuerys= small scale violence

  • 64= great fire of rome, neros persecutions

  • 3rd century= state sponsored persecutions

  • 298= great persecution of diocleatian

  • 311 & 313= edicts of teleration

325= council of nicae; where Catholics were born

constantine converted to christianitu which ended classical rome

in 391, theodusius orders all peagan stuff to be burned and outlaws roman religion, burns the library of alexandria

The 5 good emperors

what makes a good emperor? by machiaveli

1) internal and external stability

2) peaceful transfer of power (handpick adopted successors)

3) prosperity of citizens

Nerva (96-98)

  • installed after domitians assasination

  • aware of suspicion

  • supports military, increases thier pay

  • alimentia program: public welfare program that increased grain distribution and included tax breaks for familys

  • 97: adopts heir, trajan, a member of spanish nobility and well renowned general

Trajan (98-117)

  • one of the most positive reputations in roman history

  • has provincial connections and military credentials which makes him seneate approved

  • fights the dacian and the parthian wars. Dacian wars were a political move for silver mines and reputtation

  • continous the alimenta program with further benifits, hosts games and festivals

  • starts a building program (Forum and Colum)

  • the biggest the empire ever gets is under his reign

Hadrian (117-138)

  • was the adopted heir of Trajan, and decides to adopt 2 generations of succesors (Pius and aurelius and lucuis)

  • had culteral curiosity and traveled to provinces, well known as an egyptphile

  • forigen policy changed, as he focused on consolodation instead of expansion. suppressing the ongoing revolts in the provinces.

  • Had no intrest in engaging with the senate

Antonius Pius (138-161)

  • so chill

  • no one called him a tyrant and he had no murder attempts

  • died from eating to much alpine cheese

  • no foreign conquest/ no civil war

  • had good administration

  • built temples and theaters and promoted rheorticians and educators

  • had not to worry about transfer of power as he had marcus areluilus and lucius versus

Marcus Aurelius (161-180)

  • shift towards shared power with adopted brother lucius and his son commodus

  • renewed attention to conquest in the macromannic wars (really defense)

  • “philosopher king” and is a known philopsher for practiving stoic and the mediations

  • names biological son heir rather than aranging a political adoption

  • son commodus ends the legacy of the 5 good emperors

The End

Commodus was a bad emperor, gets assassinated and has no heirs. What comes next ?

The barracks emperors

military institutions army, plays a large role in the structer of th state

  • period of 50 years were 25 guys get declared emperors, nobody knows whos ruler, senate gets declared usless

  • diocleation: devides the empire into a tetracrchy and geologically in half ; east and west ; with each territory having a ruler augustus and a sub ruler ceaser

  • empire offically ends when constantine converts to christianity and moved capital to constantinople

The Punica books 8-17

Book 8 & 9

  • we remeet anna from the aneid. Silius uses her to connect the story to the great roman past and to outdo virgil

  • scipio counters hannibals war elephants and mars and minerva try to join in battle by are stopped by iris

Books 10 & 11

  • juno sends a dream to delay hannibal from attacking rome

  • hannibal burys palus, showing he has respect for enemy generals

  • capua joins carthaginan forces

  • hanno is still jealous of hannibal, takes it to senate, mago stands up for hannibal

triarchy and gods in punica

good example of how cursus honorum was always flexible

  • fabius the delayer, his techiniques show no “gloria”

  • varro= aggresive fighter, silius blames everything on him instead of republics flaws

  • paulus= watches everything play out

Gods in the punica= all of the gods are thrust into battle, happens at the middle of the poem at the largest battle

Books 12 & 13

hannibal never manages to attack rome (will of the gods)

  • romans have a win in book 12

  • hannibal trys to attack rome again but is stopped by juno

  • juno stops trying to help hannibal

  • scipio the younger goes to underworld and meets prominent roman figures, women, his family, heros from other storys and sees hannibals fate of defeat and exile

Books 14 &15

  • sicilys history

  • marcellus goes into battle, his campaign is stopped by the plaugue

  • young scipio is confronted by both pleasure and virtue and chooses virtue and sails for spain

  • hasdrubula dies in the battle of metarus by nero who displays the dead head to hannibal

Books 16-17

scipio drives carthaginians out of spain, he holds funeral games for his dad and uncle, scipio gets elected consul and gets granted permission to attack carthage

  • hannibal recives summons to return to carthage

  • juno asks to spare hannibals life, if jupiter lets carthage stand

  • during battle of zama, juno turns into phanton scipio to distract hannibal from dying by real scipio

  • she turns into sheppard and decives him into following her away from battle

  • scipio returns to rome with glory and carthaginan prisoners

  • hannibal retreats to the mountains, carthaginian army collapses, hannibal vows to seek revenge in the future

  • scipio is compared to hercules, silius declares him as the son of jupiter