Roman History Final review

Life of Livia

Period: 58 BCE to 29

Caesar Augustus’s devoted and influential wife who counseled him on affairs of state and who, in her efforts to secure the imperial succession for her son Tiberius, was reputed to have caused the deaths of many of his rivals

Reign of Augustus

Period: 27 BCE to 14

Augustus was the founder of the Roman Principate and considered the first Roman emperor, controlling the Roman Empire from 27 BC until his death in AD 14

Life of Sejanus

Period: 20 BCE to 31

-Chief administrator of the Roman Empire for the emperor Tiberius
-Alleged murderer of Tiberius’ only son, Drusus Caesar
-Suspect in a plot to overthrow Tiberius and become emperor himself

Life of Seneca the Younger

Period: 4 BCE to 65

As a young man, Seneca fell very ill and visited Egypt to recover. He returned to Rome in 31 AD and began a career in politics. Seneca soon fell foul of Emperor Caligula, who only let him live because he was told that Seneca's health meant that he would probably die soon anyway.
- Accused of adultery with the emperor's niece, Julia Livilla, Seneca was banished to Corsica in 41 AD
- Famous as a writer and thinker

Life of Tiberius

Period: 14 to 37

Tiberius was a Roman Emperor from 14 AD to 37 AD. Born Tiberius Claudius Nero, a Claudian, Tiberius was the son of Tiberius Claudius Nero and Livia Drusilla.

Life of Vitellius

Period: 15 to 69

Third of the four emperors who ruled the Roman Empire in the year 69 AD
- Son of Lucius Vitellius, a consul and former governor of Syria, and a noblewoman Sextilia
- Accused of high treason

Reign of Caligula

Period: 37 to 41

Rome’s most tyrannical emperor
- Initially hugely popular - he was the son of Germanicus, had the blood of Augustus in his veins, and was a welcome change from the dour, absent Tiberius
- Provided lavish games for the Romans to enjoy, and abolished the sales tax

Life of Nero

Period: 37 to 68

-Ended secret trials and gave the Senate more independence
-Banned capital punishment, reduced taxes, and allowed slaves to sue unjust owners
-Provided assistance to cities that had suffered disasters, gave aid to the Jews, and established open competitions in poetry, drama, and athletics

Reign of Claudius

Period: 41 to 54

Left disfigured by a serious illness when he was very young, Claudius was also clumsy and coarse, and was the butt of his family’s jokes
Reluctant and afraid to become emperor
Supported mainly by soldiers and courtiers, he had a rocky relationship with the Senate

Life of Pliny the Younger

Period: 61 to 113

Successful politician, public servant, and advisor to the Emperor Trajan
- Born into a wealthy family who lived in northern Italy
- Completed his army service in Syria and began to practice law

Reign of Galba

Period: 68 to 69

In 68, believing that the emperor Nero was planning his assassination, Galba accepted an invitation from Vindex, the governor of Lugdunensis in Gaul, to head a rebellion against Nero
- Recruited an additional new legion in Spain and built up a large following in many other regions of the empire, though Vindex himself was defeated in a battle with the Rhine armies

Reign of Otho

Period: 69 to 69

Born into a family that had held the consulship under Augustus
- Married Poppaea Sabina, but when the emperor Nero took Poppaea for his mistress (later became his wife) Otho was sent from Rome to govern Lusitania (58) for ten years
- In 68, Otho joined the rebellion against Nero led by Galba

Reign of Vespasian

Period: 69 to 79

Vespasian was Roman emperor from AD 69 to AD 79. Vespasian founded the Flavian dynasty that ruled the Empire for twenty-seven years. Vespasian was from an equestrian family that rose into the senatorial rank under the Julio–Claudian emperors.

Life of Titus

Period: 79 to 81

• After service in Britain and Germany, Titus commanded a legion under his father, Vespasian, in Judaea (67)
• Following the emperor Nero’s death in June 68, Titus was energetic in promoting his father’s candidacy for the imperial crown
• Immediately on being proclaimed emperor in 69, Vespasian gave Titus charge of the Jewish war, and a large-scale campaign in 70 culminated in the capture and destruction of Jerusalem in September

Reign of Domitian

Period: 81 to 96

Second son of Vespasian
During the civil war of 69 AD over the imperial crown, Domitian remained unharmed in Rome
On December 18 he took refuge in the Capitol with his uncle Flavius Sabinus to escape the supporters of Vitellius
Princeps juventutis (an imperial prince) and was consul six times in Vespasian’s lifetime

Life of Nerva

Period: 96 to 98

• First of the Five Good Emperors
• Member of a distinguished senatorial family
• Related by marriage to the Julio-Claudian house

Life of Trajan

Period: 98 to 117

• Second of the Five Good Emperors
• Former army commander, senator, and governor of Upper Germany
• First emperor to have been born outside Italy (from southern Spain)

Life of Bar Kokhba

Period: 100 to 135

• Leader of the Jewish revolt against Rome between 132 and 135 AD
• United his army in Judea and led the Jews in battle
• Rebellion later became known as the Bar-Kokhba revolt

Reign of Hadrian

Period: 117 to 138

Hadrian was Roman emperor from 117 to 138. He is known for building Hadrian's Wall, which marked the northern limit of Britannia. He also rebuilt the Pantheon and constructed the Temple of Venus and Roma.

Bar Kokhba Revolt

Period: 132 to 136

a rebellion of the Jews of the Roman province of Judea, led by Simon bar Kokhba, against the Roman Empire

Reign of Antoninus Pius

Period: 138 to 161

• Fourth of the Five Good Emperors
• Family originated in Gaul
• Father and grandfathers had all been consuls
• After serving as consul in 120, Antoninus was assigned by Hadrian to assist with judicial administration in Italy

Life of Clodius Albinus

Period: 150 to 197

Roman general
- Candidate for the imperial title in the years 193–197
- Born in Roman Africa
- Became a senator in the last years of the reign of the emperor Marcus Aurelius
- Soon after 180 Albinus distinguished himself in a campaign somewhere north of Dacia (now in Romania)

Reign of Lucius Verus

Period: 161 to 169

Emperor jointly with Marcus Aurelius
- Equal constitutional status and powers
- Did not have equal authority - less authority than Aurelius
- Son of a senator, Lucius Ceionius Commodus, whom the emperor Hadrian adopted as his successor under the name Lucius Aelius Caesar

Life of Julia Maesa

Period: 165 to 224

Sister-in-law of the Roman emperor Septimius Severus
- Managed to make two of her grandsons emperors
- Daughter of the hereditary high priest Bassianus at Emesa in Syria (Maesa was her Syrian name)

Life of Julia Domna

Period: 170 to 217

Second wife of the Roman emperor Septimius Severus
- Syrian (Domna being her Syrian name)
- Daughter of the hereditary high priest Bassianus at Emesa (present-day Ḥimṣ) in Syria and elder sister of Julia Maesa
- As the emperor’s wife, she received the titles of augusta (193) and “mother of the army camps” (195)

Reign of Marcus Aurelius

Period: 177 to 180

Chosen by Emperor Hadrian to be his eventual successor
- Dedicated student, learning Latin and Greek
- Discourses, written by a former slave and Stoic philosopher Epictetus, had a great deal of influence over Marcus Aurelius

Life of Commodus

Period: 177 to 192

Commodus was Roman Emperor from AD 180 to 192. He also ruled as co-emperor with his father Marcus Aurelius from 177 until his father's death in 180.

Reign of Pescennius Niger

Period: 193 to 194

Equestrian army officer from Italy
- Promoted to senatorial rank about 180
- Most of his earlier service had been in the eastern provinces, but in 185–186 he commanded an expeditionary force against deserters who had seized control of a number of cities in southern Gaul

Reign of Septimius Severus

Period: 193 to 211

Founded a personal dynasty
- Converted the government into a military monarchy
- Reign marks a critical stage in the development of the absolute despotism that characterized the later Roman Empire

Reign of Carcalla

Period: 198 to 217

Caracalla, formally Marcus Aurelius Severus Antoninus Augustus, was Roman emperor from AD 198 to 217. A member of the Severan Dynasty, he was the eldest son of Septimius Severus and Julia Domna.

Reign of Geta

Period: 209 to 211

Emperor from 209 to 211 jointly with his father, Septimius Severus and his brother, Caracalla
- Younger son of Septimius Severus and Julia Domna
- Given the title caesar on Jan. 28, 198, when his elder brother Caracalla became joint emperor with their father

Antonine Constitution

212

an edict issued by the Roman Emperor Caracalla declaring that all free men in the Roman Empire were to be given theoretical Roman citizenship and that all free women in the Empire were to be given the same rights as Roman women

Reign of Macrinus

Period: 217 to 218

First man to rule the empire without having achieved senatorial status
- Skills as a lawyer helped him to rise rapidly in an equestrian career (a step below the senatorial career in status)
- Became a praetorian prefect under the emperor Caracalla

Reign of Elagabalus

Period: 218 to 222

Elagabalus was Roman emperor from 218 to 222. A member of the Severan dynasty, he was Syrian, the second son of Julia Soaemias and Sextus Varius Marcellus.

Reign of Severus Alexander

Period: 222 to 235

Weak rule collapsed in the civil strife that engulfed the empire for the next 50 years
- Succeeded to power without incident
- During his reign the real authority was held by his grandmother and his mother

Life of Zenobia

Period: 240 to 274

Queen of the Roman colony of Palmyra, in present-day Syria, from 267 or 268 to 272
Conquered several of Rome’s eastern provinces before she was subjugated by the emperor Aurelian
Husband was Odaenathus, Rome’s client ruler of Palmyra

Reign of Valerianus

Period: 253 to 260

• Consul under Severus Alexander
• Played a leading role in inducing the Senate to risk support for Gordian I’s rebellion against the emperor Maximinus (238)
• Under Gallus, Licinius Valerianus held a command on the Upper Rhine and was summoned to bring the northern armies to aid in the struggle against the rival emperor Aemilian

Reign of Aurelian

Period: 270 to 275

• Established himself as an army officer when, about 260, from outside pressure and internal fragmentation of authority, the frontiers of the empire suddenly collapsed
• With his compatriot Claudius, Aurelian led the cavalry of the emperor Gallienus and, upon Gallienus’s assassination in 268, Claudius became emperor

Reign of Diocletian

Period: 284 to 305

Born to a family of low status in the Roman province of Dalmatia, Diocletian rose through the ranks of the military to become cavalry commander to the Emperor Carus. After the deaths of Carus and his son Numerian on campaign in Persia, Diocletian was proclaimed emperor. The title was also claimed by Carus' other surviving son, Carinus, but Diocletian defeated him in the Battle of the Margus. Diocletian's reign stabilized the empire and marks the end of the Crisis of the Third Century.

Reign of Maximian

Period: 285 to 286

• Became in theory the colleague of Diocletian, but his role was always subordinate
• Assigned the government of the West, Maximian defeated native revolts and a German invasion in Gaul, but he failed to suppress the revolt of Carausius in Gaul and Britain

Reign of Galerius

Period: 293 to 305

Became augustus (senior emperor) of the East, ruling the Balkans and Anatolia
Arranged the appointment of two of his favorites, Maximinus (his nephew) and Flavius Valerius Severus, to be caesars in both East and West
When Constantius Chlorus died in 306, Galerius insisted that Severus govern the West as augustus, but he grudgingly conceded the subordinate title of caesar to Chlorus’s son, Constantine, who was suspected of Christian sympathies
Supremacy was short-lived

Edict on maximum prices

301

Diocletian
All coins in the Decrees and the Edict were valued according to the denarius, which Diocletian hoped to replace with a new system based on the silver argenteus and its fractions. The argenteus seems to have been set at 100 denarii, the silver-washed nummus at 25 denarii, and the bronze radiate at 4 or 5 denarii. The copper laureate was raised from 1 denarius to 2 denarii. The gold aureus, was revalued at at least 1,200 denarii.

Reign of Constantine

Period: 306 to 337

• First Roman emperor to profess Christianity
• Son of Flavius Valerius Constantius, an army officer, and his wife (or concubine) Helena
• In 293 AD his father was raised to the rank of Caesar, or deputy emperor
• In 289 Constantius had separated from Helena in order to marry a stepdaughter of Maximian, and Constantine was brought up in the Eastern Empire at the court of the senior emperor Diocletian at Nicomedia

Reign of Licinius

Period: 308 to 324

In 308 AD Licinius was, on the behest of his old friend Galerius, suddenly raised to the rank of Augustus, adopted by Diocletian and was granted the territories of Pannonia
Licinius promotion to Augustus, without having previously held the rank of Caesar, ran contrary to the ideals of the tetrarchy and quite literally ignored the greater claims of Maximinus II Daia and Constantine

Constantine defeated Maxentius

312

In the power struggle that began following the collapse of the Tetrarchy around 309, Constantine consolidated his position in Britain, Gaul, the Germanic provinces, and Spain
Believing himself to be the rightful emperor of the Western Roman Empire, he assembled his army and prepared for an invasion of Italy in 312