The Augustan Principate

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 SPQR
Senatus Populusque Romanus

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 CURSUS HONORUM
Office Number Min. Age

Consul 2 42

Praetor 8 39

Aedile 4 36

Tribune 10 Unfixed

Quaestor 20 30

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Prorogation / Promagistrates

• prorogatio imperii

• Proconsul (pro consule)

• Propraetor (pro praetore)

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This image is in the public domain. Source: Wikimedia Commons.
This image is in the public domain. Source: Wikimedia Commons.

Marius Sulla
157 - 86 138 - 78 7
This image is in the public domain. Source: Wikimedia Commons.

Pompey the Great

106 – 48 8
This image is in the public domain. Source: Wikimedia Commons.

Gaius Julius Caesar

100 – 44 BC
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Le Glay, Marcel, Jean-Louis Voisin, Yann Le Bohec, et al. A History of Rome. 3rd ed. Wiley-Blackwell, 2005. © Wiley-Blackwell. All rights reserved. This content is excluded from our
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 © 2003 Ancient World Mapping Center. Released under CC BY-NC 3.0.

49 BC – Crossing of the Rubicon 11

48 BC – Battle of Pharsalus
 Caesar 49: Dictator I (to oversee elections)
Dictator
47: Consul II
Dictator II for a year after Pharsalus

46: Consul III

Dictator III annually renewed for 10 yrs.

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45: Consul IV – sole consul – resigned in Fall

see https://ocw.mit.edu/help/faq-fair-use/.

Dictator IV

44: Consul V
Dictator in perpetuity
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The Assassination of Caesar
Ides of March, 44 BC

© The Trustees of the British Museum. License CC BY-NC-SA 4.0.

Denarius of Brutus, 43-42 BC

© Trustees of the British Museum

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 44 – 30 BC
Dramatis Personae

“Liberators” and Pompeians Supporters of Caesar

Brutus and Cassius M. Antonius

Cicero M. Aemilius Lepidus

Sextus Pompey

Gaius Julius Caesar Octavianus

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TRESVIRI REIPUBLICAE CONSTITUENDAE

Commission of Three for the Organization of the Republic
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42 BC – Battle of Philippi ➔ Death of Brutus & Cassius

36 BC – Battle of Naulochus
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➔ Death of Sextus Pompey; Lepidus ‘retires’

 Marcus Vipsanius Agrippa

Image courtesy of Barbara F. McManus on VRoma. License CC BY-NC.

Tribune 43
Praetor 40
Propraetor (Gaul) 38
Consul 37
Photo: Wikipedia / Shakko. License CC BY.

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 44 – 30 BC
Dramatis Personae
“Liberators” and Pompeians Supporters of Caesar

Brutus and Cassius M. Antonius

– Died in 42

Cicero M. Aemilius Lepidus

– Killed in 43 - Retired in 36

Sextus Pompey
– Killed in 35

Gaius Julius Caesar Octavianus 18

Antony and Octavia
Married 40 BC – 33 BC

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 Cleopatra

Cleopatra VII Philopator

Queen of Egypt – 51-30 BC

The Berlin Cleopatra

Altes Museum, Berlin 20

Image courtesy of Anagoria on Wikimedia Commons. License CC BY.

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31 BC – Battle of Actium ➔ Death of Marc Antony

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 Image courtesy of the Trustees of the British Museum. License CC BY-NC-SA.

Denarius of 28 BC (BM 1860,0328.114)

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 753 BC (April 21) - Foundation of Rome
REGAL PERIOD

509 BC – Birth of Republic

REPUBLIC

27 BC - Augustus

EMPIRE This image is in the public domain. Source: Wikimedia Commons.

AD 284 – Reforms of Diocletian

LATE EMPIRE
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AD 476 – Deposition of Romulus Augustulus

 Evolution of Augustan Power

1) First ‘constitutional settlement’ – 27 BC

2) Second ‘constitutional settlement’ – 23 BC

3) Grant of consular power – 19 BC

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 Res Gestae, 34

“In my sixth and seventh consulships (28–

27 BC), after I had extinguished the civil
wars, having become master of everything
by the consent of all, I transferred the
republic from my power [potestas] to the
control of the senate and the Roman
people.”
M.G.L. Cooley, ed. The Age of Augustus. Translated by B.W.J.G. Wilson. Cambridge University Press, 2003. © Cambridge University Press. All rights reserved. This
content is excluded from our Creative Commons license. For more information, see https://ocw.mit.edu/help/faq-fair-use/.

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 Ancient World Mapping Center 2003

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Settlement of 27 BC
• Proconsular Imperium for 10 years
• (later renewed; eventually effectively permanent)
• Control of ‘imperial’ provinces of:
• Most of Spain; all of Gaul; Syria with Cilicia and Cyprus; Egypt
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 Suetonius, Augustus 47

“The more important provinces, and

those which could not easily or safely be
ruled by magistrates with an annual term
of command, he himself took charge of,
while the others he left to the proconsuls
to be distributed by lot.”
Suetonius. Lives of the Caesars. Translated by Catharine Edwards. Oxford University Press, 2000. © Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. This content is excluded from our
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 Cassius Dio 53.12
“(Octavian’s) professed motive in this
was that the senate might fearlessly
enjoy the finest portion of the empire,
while he himself had the hardships and
the dangers; but his real purpose was
that by this arrangement the senators
should be unarmed and unprepared for
battle, while he alone had arms and
maintained soldiers.”
Dio, Cassius. Roman History, Vol. 6. Loeb Classical Library Edition, 1917. This text is in the public domain.

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 Augustus’ Honors in 27 BC

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The corona civica

Image courtesy of Bibi Saint-Pol on Wikimedia Commons.

This image is in the public domain.
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Munich Glyptothek
 Augustus’ Honors in 27 BC
Image courtesy of Marjaara on Wikimedia Commons. License CC BY.

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The clipeus virtutis

Arles, Musée départemental

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 Consulships
of 43 – Cos. I
Octavian/Augustus 33 – Cos. II*

Image courtesy of Peter E on Flickr. License CC BY-NC-SA.

31 – Cos. III
30 – Cos. IV
29 – Cos. V
28 – Cos. VI
27 – Cos. VII
26 – Cos. VIII
25 – Cos. IX
24 – Cos. X
23 – Cos. XI

5 – Cos. XII
2 – Cos. XIII
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 Ancient World Mapping Center 2003

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Settlement of 27 BC
• Proconsular Imperium for 10 years
• (later renewed; eventually effectively permanent)
• Control of ‘imperial’ provinces of: 32

• Most of Spain; all of Gaul; Syria with Cilicia and Cyprus; Egypt
Image courtesy of ArdadN on Wikimedia Commons. This image is in the public domain. Andrei nacu
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- Wikimedia
 Evolution of Augustan Power

1) First ‘constitutional settlement’ – 27 BC

2) Second ‘constitutional settlement’ – 23 BC

3) Grant of consular power – 19 BC

34
 Consulships
of 43 – Cos. I
Octavian/Augustus 33 – Cos. II*

31 – Cos. III
Image courtesy of Peter E on Flickr. License CC BY-NC-SA.

30 – Cos. IV
29 – Cos. V
28 – Cos. VI
27 – Cos. VII
26 – Cos. VIII
25 – Cos. IX
24 – Cos. X
23 – Cos. XI

5 – Cos. XII
2 – Cos. XIII
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 The Augustan Principate
‘CONSTITUTIONAL’ POWERS:

From 27 BC:
- Proconsular imperium

From 23 BC:
- Imperium maius
- Tribunicia potestas – powers of a tribune for life

From 19 BC:
- Powers of a consul for life
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 The Augustan Principate
MILITARY POWER:

• 24 Legions spread around the empire

• Praetorian Guard at Rome – 9,000 men

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Mausoleum of Augustus, Rome

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Image courtesy of GIACOMO BRINGS on Flickr. License CC BY-NC.
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© The University of Chicago.
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Commons license.
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 Boatwright, Mary Taliaferro. Hadrian and the City of Rome. Princeton University Press, 1987. © Princeton University Press. All rights reserved. This content is
excluded from our Creative Commons license. For more information, see https://ocw.mit.edu/help/faq-fair-use/. © Steinby, Eva Margareta, ed. Lexicon Topographicum Urbis Romae, Vol. 3. Oxford University
Press, 1997. © Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. This content is excluded from our
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Reconstruction by Gatti (1934)

von Hesberg, Henner, and Silvio Panciera. Das Mausoleum des Augustus: Der Bau und seine Inschriften. Verlag der Bayerischen Akademie
der Wissenschaften, 1994. © Verlag der Bayerischen Akademie der Wissenschaften. All rights reserved. This content is excluded from our
Creative Commons license. For more information,
see https://ocw.mit.edu/help/faq-fair-use/. Steinby, Eva Margareta, ed. Lexicon Topographicum Urbis Romae, Vol. 3. Oxford University
Press, 1997. © Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. This content is excluded from our
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Reconstruction by von Hesberg
Image courtesy of Stelios ZACHARIAS on Flickr. License CC BY-NC-SA. Temple of Augustus and Rome
Ankara, Turkey
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