Julio Claudian Emperors I
I) Intro
A) After caesar dies a civil war begins
1) End of the Republic
II) Augustus - took power after the Roman revolution
A) Background
1) had a strong army at the end of the revolution
2) had very little administration experince - not
a great speaker or writer
3) Unhappy personal life - he hated his wives -
he had a daughter Julia
i) focused entirely on his job due to
his unhappy personal life
ii) worked very hard
iii) wanted to do great things for Rome
B) Achievments
1) worked hard to make his govt. work
2) wanted to create a govt. people would want to
be apart of
i) incorporates Republican frame of
govt. (Senators, consuls, etc.)
ii) also makes Julious Caesar a god
- gives him the right on the throne - heir of a god
3) Creates praetorian gaurd
i) elite troops that protect the Emperor
and Rome (Physical Security)
4) Augustus was able to provide peace and security
i) allows trade to flourish
5) Ethical guidence
i) divorces were becoming common
a) encouraged large families
b) discouraged divorce and
adultry
ii) was able to rid Rome of homosexual
prostitutes
6) tried to convince Romans the greatest days were
in the future
i) used poets and architects to make
Rome beautiful
C) Successors
1) maursellus was his 1st choice
i) connection wan not close enough to
himself so he married his daughter Julia to him
ii) Maursellus dies before him and therefore
cant become emperor
2) Chooses Agrippa next
i) great administrator - but had no
blood connnection
ii) marries Julia to Agrippa to connnect
the blood lines
iii) he dies before Augustus again
3) Tiberuis - experinced - stepson - marries Julia
i) marries Julia again
ii) Doesn't die
*Augustus dies
III) Tiberius
A) experince in the Army and public adminisrtation
B) made up for unhappy life with work
1) was forced to marry Julia and divorce his own
wife - Julia was a cheater
C) proves to be a great administrator - military / social /
economically
D) was not the man for the job
1) Paranoid - very fearful of the army and assassination
E) Relies on Sejanus to protect him due to paranoia
1) Sejanus was head of the pratorian gaurd
2) Sejanus wanted to be rich
3) Sejanus tattles on all people who say anything
bad about the Tiberius
i) used proscription - estates - and
gained a 10% commision for thier sale
ii) wanted to be emperor
a) Drusis (son) is in the
way
b) Sejanu seducess Drusis
wife - and has Drusis's sons killed
c) was very common for people
to just drop dead during the time peroid
iii) Sejanus play on Tiberius's paranoia
a) tells him to go to Capri
and be safe from assassination
b) who will rule things
in Rome? - Sejanus will
4) Sejanus begins to put away people to secure power
5) Tiberius starts to find out about Sejanus and
his evilness
6) Tiberius sends a message to Sejanus and the Senate
i) letter is read in front of the Senate
ii) letter concludes with an arrest
and excecution of Sejanus
7) Roman People decide to kill Sejanus and all of
his familly
i) Roman law says that a virgin cannot
be executed - so they rape his 9 year old daughter first
F) Tiberius is more paranoid than ever
1) Trusts no one
2) starts killing anyone for any cause
3) more killing = more paranoia = more killing -
cycle
4) reign of terror of Roman period
G) 37 a.d. he dies
IV) Caligula 37-41 a.d.
A) Very popular
1) brought back memories of his father who was a
great general
2) people thought he would be as great as his father
B) cancels all court cases of treasonous people
C) gets rid of the sexual immorality in Rome
D) had a tramatic childhood
1) Sejanus had killed too many of his family members
2) Paranoid about everyone
3) lots of pressure - asked to be a god
i) has to prove he is a god
ii) needs a goddess for a wife - marries
his sister - which is incest
E) Drusilla (his wife) dies
1) he put to death anyone who would appear to be
happy during his time of mourning
F) Problems
1) expenses to high - butcher bill was very high
i) takes prisoners and feeds them to
the lions to save money
G) Violation of Sexual standards
1) takes some of the brides on thier wedding nights
for himself
2) steals mens wives and sleeps with them a t dinner
parties and talks about their performance in front of everyone
H) the use of torture made people fear
I) Insulted the wrong man
1) messed around with the praetorian gaurd
2) one soldier kills him for giving him the bird