ROMAN EMPIRE (27 B.C – end of 2nd century A.D)
44-27 BC: struggle for power (2d triumvirate: Antony, Octavian, Lepidus)
44-27 BC: struggle for power (2d triumvirate: Antony, Octavian, Lepidus)
31 BC: victory of Octavian ( battle of Actium)
27: Octavian becomes Augustus→ TRANSITION FROM REPUBLIC TO EMPIRE
1) Political system
a) Augustan Reforms:
His power base:
- Proconsular power
- Tribunician power
→power in Rome and the provinces
His reforms:
- in the senate
- in the administration
- in the army→ professionalization
- in legislation and morality
→Fiction of the restauration of the Republic and beginning of the Empire.
The Roman Emperors:
27 B.C-69 A .D. (Julio-Claudian dynasty): Augustus, Tiberius, Caligula, Claudius, Nero
69-96 (the Flavian dynasty): Vespasian, Titus, Domitian
96-180 (Nervan- Antoninan ‘5 Good Emperors’): Nerva, Trajan, Hadrian, Antoninus, Marcus Aurelius
27 B.C-
69-96 (the Flavian dynasty): Vespasian, Titus, Domitian
96-180 (Nervan- Antoninan ‘5 Good Emperors’): Nerva, Trajan, Hadrian, Antoninus, Marcus Aurelius
2) Expansion of Rome:
Walls of Rome:
Provincial administration:
- imperial provinces and senatorial provinces (eg. Bithynia)
-role of the provincial elites
-economic role of the provinces (food and goods for the capital)
-citizenship extended to all inhabitants of the Empire in 212.
3) Social changes and mobility
-Aristocracy of land owners
-Trade for equestrians and freedmen
- Rise of the freedmen (eg Trimalchio in Petronius’ novel)
4) Roman Gods:
-Mystery cults (Isis, Mithra) / Christianity
