The FROMM INSTITUTE. FROM ROMULUS to RUIN: A BRIEF HISTORY of the ROMAN REPUBLIC and the ROMAN EMPIRE Dr. Nikolaus Hohmann

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1 TIMELINE 5 The FROMM INSTITUTE FROM ROMULUS to RUIN: A BRIEF HISTORY of the ROMAN REPUBLIC and the ROMAN EMPIRE Dr. Nikolaus Hohmann Part 5: The JULIO-CLAUDIAN Dynasty Gaius Julius Caesar OCTAVIANUS (63 BC - AD 14) -grandson of Julia Caesaris, sister of Julius Caesar -assassination of Julius Caesar ; Octavian is named heir (44 BC) -the 2nd Triumvirate (temporary alliance between Octavian and Mark Antony) -defeat of Mark Antony and Cleopatra (31-30 BC) -Octavian > AUGUSTUS -LIVIA AUGUSTA (his wife) -the AUGUSTAN SETTLEMENT (31 BC - AD 14) -imperator (commander-in-chief of all Roman armies), -proconsular command of all Roman provinces -tribune -pontifex maximus (high priest) -Princeps Civitatis -primes inter pares ( first citizen ) ( first among equals ) Literary Flowering: The Augustan Age CATULLUS (Gaius Valerius Catullus / BC? ) OVID (Publius Ovidius Naso / 43 BC - AD 17 ) -Amores, Ars Amatoris (The Art of Love), Metamorphoses HORACE (Quintus Horatius Flaccus / 65 8 BC) -Satires, Odes, Epistles (incl. Ars Poetics / The Art of Poetry) VIRGIL / VERGIL (Publius Vergilius Maro / BC) -Eclogues, Georgics, The Aeneid MAECENAS (Gaius Cilnius Maecenas / c c. 8 BC) LIVY (Titus Livius Patavinus / 59 BC - AD 17 ) -History of Rome / Ab Urbe Condita Libri VITRUVIUS (Marcus Vitruvius Pollio / c. 70 BC - AD 15) -De Architectura (On Architecture) 1

2 JUDAEA under ROMAN RULE Invasion of Judaea and capture of Jerusalem by Gen. POMPEY (64 BC) The HERODIAN Dynasty (an Edomite, non-judaic dynasty) Antipater (r BC) -installed as ruler by JULIUS CAESAR HEROD the GREAT (r BC) -made King of Judea by Mark Antony -reconfirmed by Octavian Augustus (c. 30 BC) -the fortresses, including MASADA -CAESAREA (named for Octavian Augustus; also called: Caesarea Maritima) becomes the Roman headquarters -the Augustan census (c. 5 BC) -the hostages of Jericho -death of Herod the Great (c. 4 BC) -the Herodium Herod Antipas (r. 4 BC AD 39), Tetrarch (Greek: one ruler of four) Emperor Octavian Augustus establishes the position of Prefect over Palestine (14 AD) -religious toleration for the Jews OCTAVIAN AUGUSTUS (continued) (63 BC - AD 14) -continued Roman expansion -Balkan regions [present-day Austria, Hungary, Serbia, Bulgaria, Rumania] -invasion of Germanic regions (east of Rhine river) -Arminius / Hermann defeats the invading Roman armies -Battle of the Teutoburger Forest (AD 9) -Augustus: Varus, give me back my legions -taxation policies and census in Palestine -the PAX ROMANA (the Roman Peace ) -Ara Pacis / The Altar of Peace of Augustus (still today in Rome) 2

3 The JULIO-CLAUDIAN Dynasty Death of Octavian Augustus (14 AD) TIBERIUS (Tiberius Julius Caesar Augustus / b. 42 BC / r AD) -son of Livia -appointment of Pontius Pilate -Claudia Procula, his wife (possibly a granddaughter of Augustus) -Jesus of Nazareth teachings and execution (c. 29 AD) -Tiberius retires to CAPRI CALIGULA (Gaius Julius Caesar Augustus Germanicus / b. 12 AD / r AD) -attempts to set up a statue of himself in the Temple of Jerusalem CLAUDIUS (Tiberius Claudius Caesar Augustus Germanicus / b. 10 BC / r AD) -MESSALINA Valeria (22-48 AD) -Britannicus son of Claudius, named in honor of the conquest of Britain -AGRIPPINA II (Julia Agrippina Minor / AD) -great-granddaughter of Octavian Augustus -her son by her previous husband: Nero - [ Robert Graves: I Claudius ] NERO (Nero Claudius Caesar Augustus Germanicus / b. 37 AD / r AD) -Nero s imperial advisors -his mother, Agrippina II (briefly) / the best of mothers -Burrus (head of the Praetorian Guard) -SENECA (4 BC - AD 65) -Senator and statesman, Stoic philosopher, dramatist -Medea -Apolcolocyntosis Claudii (The Pumpkinification of Claudius ) -LUCAN (39-65 AD), nephew of Seneca -Roman prize-winning poet, historian and government official -PETRONIUS ( + 66 AD) -the Roman historian Suetonius: Vices real or imagined gained him admission to the inner circle of Nero. -Satyricon : Trimalchio s Dinner -[ Frederico Fellini ( ), Satyricon ] -Nero s wives included: -Claudia Octavia -the Roman historian Tacitus: an aristocratic and virtuous wife 3

4 -POPPAEA SABINA (40-62 AD) and Otho -her mother, a famous and wealthy Roman beauty, was forced to commit suicide because of the intrigues of Messalina - Poppaea enjoyed having milk baths. She would have them daily, because she was once told therein lay the magic to dispel all diseases and to remove all flaws from her beauty [Suetonius] -Sporus (not exactly a wife... ) [Claudio Monteverdi : L Incoronazione di Poppea (1642) ] -uprising in Britain led by QUEEN BOUDICCA / BOADICEA (c. 60 AD) Britons never, never shall be slaves! -the Great Fire of Rome (64 AD) - Nero fiddles, while Rome burns -Tacitus: Of the 14 districts of Rome, only 4 remained undamaged, 3 were utterly destroyed, and in the other 7 districts of the city remained only a few mangled and half-burned traces of buildings -Christian persecutions -St. Peter and St. Paul -the catacombs -conspiracies uncovered (65 AD) -execution by suicide / judicial murders - dying in the high Roman fashion -Seneca, Lucan, Petronius and many others -Jewish uprising against the Romans in Judaea, led by Zealots (66 AD > ) -revolt of the Roman armies in Gaul, Spain & North Africa against Nero (67 AD) -Nero abandoned by the Praetorian Guard and proscribed by the Senate (68 AD) -Qualis artifex pereo! In character he was a strange mix of paradoxes: an artist and an athlete, brutal and weak, extravagant and stingy, bisexual --- and later in life almost certainly deranged Roman historians who describe Nero s reign: -TACITUS ( AD) -SUETONIUS ( AD) SENECA (1 BC - AD 65) There is no great genius without some touch of madness. Gold is tried by fire, brave men by adversity Luck is what happens when preparation meets opportunity. 4

5 { SENECA : } Courage leads to heaven; fear to death We are more often frightened than hurt; and we suffer more from imagination than from reality. My joy in learning is partly that it enables me to teach The heart is great which shows moderation in the midst of prosperity. Friendship always benefits; love sometimes injures. Time heals what reason cannot We all sorely complain of the shortness of time, and yet have much more than we know what to do with. Our lives are either spent in doing nothing at all, or in doing nothing to the purpose, or in doing nothing that we ought to do. We are always complaining that our days are few, and acting as though there would be no end of them. Enjoy present pleasures in such a way as not to injure future ones. This body is not a home but an inn, and that only briefly Life, if well lived, is long enough. Wherever there is a human being, there is an opportunity for a kindness. LUCAN (AD 30-65) To strictest justice many ills belong, And honesty is often in the wrong Delay is ever fatal to those who are prepared The mere apprehension of a coming evil has put many into a situation of the utmost danger Nobody ever chooses the already unfortunate as objects of his loyal friendship. Some men by ancestry are only the shadow of a mighty name. The prosperous man is never sure that he is loved for himself I have a wife, I have sons: all of them hostages given to fate. PETRONIUS (AD 27-66) We know that you are mad with much learning The pleasure of the act of love is gross and brief and brings loathing after it We trained hard, but it seemed that every time we were beginning to form up into teams, we would be reorganized. I was to learn later in life that we tend to meet any new situation by reorganizing; and a wonderful method it can be for creating the illusion of progress while producing confusion, inefficiency, and demoralization. 5