The Roman World 44 BC - AD 180

405 Pages·2016·2.44 MB·English

by  Goodman M.

THE ROMAN WORLD
44 BC–AD 180
ROUTLEDGE HISTORY OF
THE ANC.IENT WORLD
General Editor: Fergus Millar
THE ANCIENT NEAR EAST
Amélie Kuhrt
THE GREEK WORLD 479–323 BC
Simon Hornblower
THE BEGINNINGS OF ROME
T.J.Cornell
THE MEDITERRANEAN WORLD IN LATE ANTIQUITY
AD 395–600
Averil Cameron
GREECE IN THE MAKING 1200–479 BC
Robin Osborne
THE ROMAN WORLD
44 BC–AD 180
Martin Goodman
with the assistance of Jane Sherwood
London and New York
First published 1997
by Routledge
11 New Fetter Lane, London EC4P 4EE

Simultaneously published in the USA and Canada
by Routledge
29 West 35th Street, New York, NY 10001

Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group

This edition published in the Taylor & Francis e-Library, 2003.

© 1997 Martin Goodman
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or
reproduced or utilized in any form or by any electronic,
mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter
invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any
information storage or retrieval system, without permission in
writing from the publishers.

British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

Library of Congress Cataloguing in Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book has been requested

ISBN 0-203-40861-6 Master e-book ISBN

ISBN 0-203-71685-X (Adobe eReader Format)
ISBN 0-415-04969-5 (hbk)
0-415-04970-9 (pbk)
For Sarah

CONTENTS
List of plates xiii
List of figures xv
Preface xvii
List of dates xx
List of abbreviations xxii
Part I Introduction
1 SOURCES AND PROBLEMS 3
The evidence 4
From city to empire 8
2 THE ROMAN WORLD IN 50 BC 10
The sphere of Roman influence 10
The city of Rome in 50 BC 16
Part II Élite politics
3 THE POLITICAL LANGUAGE OF ROME 21
Political power 21
Political methods 24
4 CAESAR TO AUGUSTUS, 50 BC–AD 14 28
Last years of Julius Caesar 28
Augustus 31
5 JULIO-CLAUDIANS, AD 14–68 47
Tiberius 47
Gaius 52
Claudius 54
Nero 55
vii
CONTENTS
6 CIVIL WAR AND FLAVIANS, AD 68–96 58
Galba 58
Otho 59
Vitellius 60
Vespasian 62
Titus 64
Domitian 64
7 NERVA TO MARCUS AURELIUS, AD 96–180 67
Nerva 67
Trajan 67
Hadrian 69
Antoninus Pius 71
Marcus Aurelius and Lucius Verus 73
Commodus 75
Part III The state
8 MILITARY AUTOCRACY 81
Power of the army 81
The praetorian guard 84
State terror 85
9 THE OPERATION OF THE STATE IN ROME 87
Imperial bureaucracy 87
Urban crowds 93
The senate 94
Magistrates and the courts 96
State finances 99
10 THE OPERATION OF THE STATE IN THE PROVINCES 100
Taxes 100
Provincial governors 101
Expansion of frontiers 104
Administration 107
Client kings 110
11 THE ARMY IN SOCIETY 113
Professional soldiers 113
Military life and pay 115
Soldiers and civilians 121
12 THE IMAGE OF THE EMPEROR 123
Augustus: the model emperor 123
The emperor as a god 129
The creation of the image 133
viii
CONTENTS
13 THE EXTENT OF POLITICAL UNITY 135
Allies or subjects? 135
Roman citizenship 136
Acceptance of Roman rule? 137
Provincial co-operation 138
The emperor as unifier 139
14 THE EXTENT OF ECONOMIC UNITY 142
Flourishing private enterprise 142
The role of the state in promoting trade 143
Slaves and freedmen 147
Agricultural produce 148
15 THE EXTENT OF CULTURAL UNITY 149
‘Graeco-Roman’ culture 149
Architecture and art 150
Literary culture 152
Dominance of Greek culture in second century AD 155
Part IV Society
16 REACTIONS TO IMPERIAL RULE 159
Types of evidence 160
Accommodation 160
Dissociation 161
Opponents of the state 162
Mass insurrection 163
17 THE CITY OF ROME: SOCIAL ORGANIZATION 165
The imperial court 167
Senators 167
Equites 172
Plebs 174
Women 175
Slaves 177
18 THE CITY OF ROME: CULTURE AND LIFE 179
Literature 179
Painting, sculpture and architecture 185
Ordinary tastes 187
19 ITALY AND SICILY 190
Italy 190
Sicily 195
ix