In the previous lecture, we saw the end of the Flavian dynasty with the death of Domitian. In this lecture, we pick up where we left off and begin with a new dynasty that would rule for 180 years, the Nerva-Antonine dynasty. The first five of these emperors were termed by Edward Gibbon “The Five Good Emperors.” The final emperor in this dynasty was an apple that would fall far from the tree, a man named Commodus, whose death, as we shall see, would put Rome on a path for civil war.

In the previous lecture, we examined the Year of the Four Emperors, a period in which four Roman emperors vied for power. This was the result of the power vacuum after Nero’s death in 68 and lasted until Vespasian came to the throne in December 69, having been declared emperor by the Senate and the people. Vespasian ushered in a period known as the Flavian dynasty. They shall be the subject of this lecture. While this dynasty was short-lived, it was both effective and good for the Roman state. As we shall see Vespasian and his two sons, Titus and Domitian actively tried to improve the Roman state and brought in a period of peace and stability after nearly a year of civil war up until the assassination of Domitian.

In the last lecture, we saw the rise and fall of the Julio-Claudian dynasty. Nero was the last in this line. His suicide was welcomed by the Roman elites, but it also created a new host of problems that would lead to civil war, the first civil war since the death of Antony some 80 years earlier. This civil war would be short lived, it would begin shortly after Nero’s death in 68 and continue until the rise of Vespasian in 69. Between this short period, just one year, four Romans would become emperor. Three would die shortly after and one, Vespasian, would usher in a new dynasty, the Flavians.

In the previous lecture, we examined the reforms that Augustus instituted during his reign. In this lecture, I want to look at the final years of his life and the beginning of the so-called Julio-Claudian dynasty of Roman emperors. As we will see, Augustus was something of a zenith in the early years of the Roman Empire. In this lecture, we are going to examine those who followed Augustus as Princeps of Rome. The period that we are looking at in Roman history is often referred to as the Early Principate, that is, the early period of what we call the Roman Empire. What does the term Principate mean? It comes from the Latin word Princeps, which literally means “The First.” This is the title that the Julio-Claudians assumed. They were the “First among Citizens.” The Principate is the realm that the Princeps oversees. In other words, Princeps, is the Emperor, and Principate is the government of the Empire.

In the previous lecture, we saw the rise of Augustus. We saw how a young, adopted son of Caesar out-smarted some of the greatest minds the Roman state had to offer. He and Mark Antony briefly allied in the Second Triumvirate to avenge the death of Caesar, but their alliance was short lived. While Antony ruled in the East, Augustus ruled in the West. This dichotomy and Antony’s love for Cleopatra and Alexandrian life, allowed Augustus to lure the Roman elites away from Antony. After a brief war, which culminated at the Battle of Actium in 31 BCE (followed by the suicide of Antony), Augustus became the sole ruler of Rome. In this lecture, I want to speak a bit more about the reforms Augustus instituted. We spoke briefly in the last lecture about Pax Romana, or Roman Peace, a period of stability that Augustus brought about. During this period of peace, Augustus was able to reform the Roman state and make necessary changes that set it up for its full transformation to an Empire. These reforms are roughly categorized into a few forms: Moral, Bureaucratic, Financial, Architectural, and Religious. In this lecture, I want to highlight the moral, bureaucratic, and architectural reforms in particular.

In the previous lectures, we saw the rise and fall of the First Triumvirate and the assassination of Julius Caesar. Caesar came to power through civil war, in which he challenged the Roman state and campaigned against his former ally, Pompey. In the end Caesar was successful, that is, until he was assassinated by his fellow Roman aristocrats who viewed him as a threat to the state. Remember, Rome still viewed their system of a Republic as intact, despite the fact that Caesar declared himself dictator in perpetuity. Even after his death, they still viewed the Republic as salvageable. What they did not realize, is that they had far outgrown the bounds of the Republic. In this lecture (and the next), we see how one man comes to power and changes the Roman state to better facilitate its size. Such changes require a single individual to have central authority. This lecture marks the beginning of Rome’s transition from Republic to Empire under Augustus, the aristocrat formerly known as Octavian.

In this lecture, I want to discuss the immediate effects of these reforms by looking at two individuals, Marius, the man responsible for these reforms, and Sulla. If humans have archenemies, Sulla was Marius’. In other words, we are going to look at the effects of these Marian Reforms and the reaction to those effects. What should become clear by the end of this lecture, is that Romans used the precedents of the second century, specifically the events surrounding Scipio Aemilianus and the Gracchi, to gain personal glory, honor, power, and wealth. In other words, they placed the individual over the state. 

In the past lectures, we’ve seen the political results of these developments. In this lecture, I want to focus on the militaristic results, that is, how these changes in Rome affected the military. Remember, to be in the Roman military, one had to be somewhat wealthy because it was a self-funded enterprise. What will happen to the military when their ranks dwindle because fewer can join? This is a question Rome faced in the second century and one that we shall discuss in this lecture.

This Rise of the Individual, as I call it, is both the natural result of Roman expansion and increased wealth and a testament to the strength of the Roman Republic but it is also the beginning of the end of the Roman Republic. Beginning in the second century, Rome had outgrown the institutions that it had. One theme that I will continue to emphasize over the next eight lectures is that Rome would not, or more likely, could not change their political and social structures quickly enough to accommodate for their rapid expansion. As a result, that would allowed them to emerge so quickly in the Western Mediterranean as a dominate force would ultimately be their undoing as they drifted into civil war at the end of the first millennium. This lecture marks the beginning of that story.

In the past few lectures, we have discussed the ways in which Rome expanded. We saw them first attack their neighbors and expand their empire across Italy. Next, we saw them turn their attention to Sicily resulting in the First Punic War. The First Punic War forced Rome to rapidly and effectively produce a navy capable of defeating the chief naval power of the Mediterranean, Carthage. With a navy and the control of important islands, Rome began to expand into the western and then eastern portions of the Mediterranean through the Second and Second Punic Wars and the Macedonian Wars. At the end of these lectures, I tried to briefly discuss some of the radical changes these wars and this expansion wrought. I would like to expand on these ideas during this lecture.