The chosen gobbet is an extract from Historia Augusta or 'The Augustan history' and is a collection of the biographies of the roman Emperors during the period from 117 to 284. It was originally thought that the collection was written by a collection of several different writers which were known as the Scriptores Historia Augustae consisting of "Aelius Spartianus", "Iulius Capitolinus", "Vulcacius Gallicanus", "Aelius Lampridius", "Trebellius Pollio", and "Flavius Vopiscus" There is and was much debate as to who, when, why and legitimacy of the Historia Augusta. Isaac Casaubon produced the first translated edition in 1603 but it was Hermann Dessau in 1889 in his essay, "Über Zeit und Persönlichkeit der Scriptor Historiae Augustae" that suggested that the six scriptores were in fact an alias, and that the work was indeed written much later; he put forward evidence for this amongst which was that the life of Septimus Severus was copied from Aurelius Victor, that the life of Marcus Aurelius contained material from Eutropius. Studies of the works have revealed that there is a continuity of style and as a result today most of academia concludes that the author of Historia Augusta is a single person not a collective.
"During a happy period of more than fourscore years, the public administration was conducted by the virtue and abilities of Nerva, Trajan, Hadrian, and the two Antonines. It is the design of this and of the two succeeding chapters to describe the prosperous condition of their empire, and afterwards, from the death of Marcus Antoninus, to deduce the most important circumstances of its decline and fall, a revolution which will ever be remembered and is still felt by the nations of the earth." This was the conclusion to the ...
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...The Roman Empire : Augustus to Hadrian. In The Roman Empire : Augustus to Hadrian (pp. 180-203). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Wells, C. (1992). The Roman Empire. In C. Wells, The Roman Empire. London: Fontana Press.
Works Cited
Gibbon, E. (2004). The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire. In E. Gibbon, The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire. London: Wildside Press.
http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/ancient/aelius-hadrian.html.
Potter, D. (2009). Rome in the Ancient world From Romulus to Justinian. In D. Potter, Rome in the Ancient world From Romulus to Justinian (pp. 207-210). London: Thames and Hudson.
Sherk, E. a. (1994). The Roman Empire : Augustus to Hadrian. In The Roman Empire : Augustus to Hadrian (pp. 180-203). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Wells, C. (1992). The Roman Empire. In C. Wells, The Roman Empire. London: Fontana Press.
From ages past, the actions of conquerors, kings and tyrants had brought the Roman Republic to a stance that opposed any idea of a singular leader, of a single man that held total power over the entirety of the state. Their rejection of the various ruthless Etruscan rulers that had previously dictated them brought the Republic to existence in 509 BC , and as a republic their prominence throughout the provinces of the world exponentially expanded. Throughout these years, the traditions of the Romans changed to varying degrees, most noticeably as a result of the cultural influence that its subject nations had upon the republic, as well as the ever-changing nature of Roman society in relation to then-current events. However, it was not until the rise of Augustus, the first of a long line of succeeding emperors, that many core aspects of the Republic were greatly changed. These were collectively known as the “Augustan Reforms”, and consisted of largely a variety of revisions to the social, religious, political, legal and administrative aspects of the republic’s infrastructure. Through Augustus, who revelled in the old traditional ways of the past, the immoral, unrestraint society that Rome was gradually falling to being was converted to a society where infidelities and corruption was harshly looked upon and judged. The Roman historian Suetonius states, “He corrected many ill practices, which, to the detriment of the public, had either survived the licentious habits of the late civil wars, or else originated in the long peace” . Through Augustus and his reforms, the Republic was transformed into an Empire, and through this transformation, Rome experienced one of its greatest and stabl...
T.J. Cornell, The Beginnings of Rome: Italy and Rome from the Bronze Age to the Punic Wars (c. 1000-264 BC), London and New York: Routledge, 1995
Livy’s The Rise of Rome serves as the ultimate catalogue of Roman history, elaborating on the accomplishments of each king and set of consuls through the ages of its vast empire. In the first five books, Livy lays the groundwork for the history of Rome and sets forth a model for all of Rome to follow. For him, the “special and salutary benefit of the study of history is to behold evidence of every sort of behaviour set forth as on a splendid memorial; from it you may select for yourself and for your country what to emulate, from it what to avoid, whether basely begun or basely concluded.” (Livy 4). Livy, however, denies the general populace the right to make the same sort of conclusions that he made in constructing his histories. His biased representation of Romulus and Tarquin Superbus, two icons of Roman history, give the readers a definite model of what a Roman should be, instead of allowing them to come to their own conclusion.
414-443. Antony Kamm The Romans: An Introduction Second Edition, Published in 2008, pages 47, 93. Dio Cassius Roman History (as presented in Antiquity 2). Augustus (Octavian) Res Gestae Divi Augusti (as presented in Antiquity 2). Eck, The Age of Augustus, p.45 (as presented in Antiquity 2).
The Roman Empire: In the First Century." PBS. Accessed May 06, 2014. http://www.pbs.org/ 7 empires/romans/empire/julius_caesar.html. The Roman Empire:
In the early first century AD, the Roman Empire was subject to autocratic rule and the old Republic was long dead. Augustus had been ruling for forty years and most of that time he was loved and praised by the Senate and the people of Rome. Throughout his reign, Augustus had the one lingering problem of finding a successor to take over the role of Emperor. He had chosen 3 different heirs in his time of rule; however, they all passed before they had the chance to inherit Augustus’ esteemed power. His fourth choice, Tiberius, was the one to succeed Augustus. He was often referred to, by Augustus, as an outstanding general and the only one capable of defending Rome against her enemies. The statement, ‘Tiberius is condemned by many ancient historians (including Tacitus), and his reign is often portrayed as being detrimental to the welfare of the Roman Empire’ is invalid as he treated the senate fairly, created strong economics and security in the state and boosted the empire into an unprecedented state of prosperity. This hypothesis will be proven through this essay by analyzing factors such as Tiberius’ administration of the Empire, his relationship with the senate, his financial control, the effect of Sejanus over his rule and why were his last years as Emperor referred to as a ‘reign of terror’ by Tacitus.
In my opinion this book is not the evaluation of how approximately fifty million people from two thousand years ago thought about the world that they lived in at the time, but about how a few dozen men wrote about it, in a viewpoint illustrative of only a few thousand. In order to support her view, Edith Hamilton tries to bring these people together, threading together their common thoughts and ideologies. Save for the fact that this book only represents a handful of Roman citizens and the way that they saw the world in which they lived, I do feel like I got a better understanding of the “Roman Way” and the way that life was back then. Along with the history that I learned in class on the subject it makes me be able to picture it better in my mind’s-eye.
Res Gestae is a bibliographical source written from the point of view of Augustus during his reign as Emperor of the Roman Empire. It was used as a way of remembering and glorifying his rule, and it is therefore important to remember that there is heavy bias towards the greatness of Augustus throughout the entire piece. It is written in the first person, which greater emphasizes exactly how much the Res Gestae was used as a piece of propaganda, as it emphasizes the personal contribution of Augustus to each donation he
Dio, Cassius. "Roman History - Book 50." 17 June 2011. University of Chicago. 31 October 2011 .
Marcel Le Glay, Jean-Louis Voisin, Yann Le Bohec. A History of Rome. West Sussex, UK: Wiley-Blackwell, 2009.
This new Republican government, which was administered by the consuls, was not the easiest to transform. Because of the expansion in Italy, the government began to initiate political institutions. These institutions enforced laws and provided authority which were very similar to imperium. “The Romans had a clear concept of executive authority, embodied in their word imperium, or “the right to command” (Spielvogel 117). Since the Romans were very sensible in their actions, they made and implemented them only as needed. The most essential positions held were the few elected magistrates and the two consuls who were “chosen annually, administered the government and led the Roman army into battle” (Spielvogel 117). If the consul was otherwise occupied, either a dictator or praetor would assume responsibility for the time being.
1. Tim Cornell, John Matthews, Atlas of the Roman World, Facts On File Inc, 1982. (pg.216)
3)Gwynn, David M. The Roman Republic: A Very Short Introduction. Oxford: Oxford UP, 2012. Print.
"Rome, History of Ancient Rome From Its Founding To Collapse." World History International: World History Essays From Prehistory To The Present. Web. 16 Dec. 2009. .
R. Bruce Hitcher. (2008). Globalization Avant La Lettre: Globalization and the History of the Roman Empire. New Global Studies: Vol. 2: Iss. 2, Article 2.