The Principate and Imperial Rome

The Pax Romana

Despite the degree of peace and order achieved in the Roman

Empire from the time of Augustus, the central government was inherently unstable and had

frequent abuses of power and violent changes of rule.

(31 BCE-180 CE)

• I. Octavian Caesar as First Citizen of Rome (Princeps Augustus) and imperator

• II. Imperial Institutions Replaced Republican Institutions (A Republican Façade)

• III. Pax Romana and succession struggles for emperor

II. Imperial Institutions Replaced Republican Institutions

• 1. Controlling Legislation: The citizen assembly no longer legislated

• 2. The Army

• 3. Praetorian Guard

• 4. Bureaucracy: Imperial administrators

• 5. The Cult of the Emperor

III. Pax Romana and Succession Struggles

• 1. Final incorporation of the Provinces (212 CE)

• 2. Practice of Dynastic Inheritance– Julio-Claudian Dynasty

• 3. Acclamation by the Army– Year of the Four Emperors 69 CE

• 4. Appointing a Successor: Non-dynastic – The Five Good Emperors (96-180 CE)

Emperors of Rome

• Octavian/Augustus (27 BCE-14 CE)

• Tiberius (14-37)• Gaius/Caligula (37-41• Claudius (41-54)• Nero (54-68)• Civil War (68-69)• Vespasian (69-79)

• Titus (79-81)• Domitian (81-96)• Five Good Emperors• Nerva• Trajan (Not a Roman or

even Italian)• Hadrian• Antoninus Pius• Marcus Aurelius