Augustus' legacy Flashcards
(21 cards)
When did people try to overthrow Augustus?
2BC
8AD
Describe the role of principate:
- Not a hereditary position
- There was no set plan for what happened and who got to rule when Augustus died
Why would Augustus want to secure the succession of power?
- The last time there had been a power vacuum in Rome (when JC died) there had been decades of instability and civil war
- Increase the prestige of his family- by ensuring he was succeeded by a relative he made sure his family was preeminent in the Roman world
How did Augustus encourage a smooth transition of power?
- He used formal adoption to signal his intentions to the people
- He carefully managed the images of his potential heirs
Describe Julia’s marriage and children:
- She was forced to marry Agrippa
- They had two sons together, Gaius and Lucius
- Julia gave birth to a third son after Agrippa’s death, Agrippa Posthumus, as well as at least one daughter
When did Augustus adopt Gaius and Lucius?
17BC
Why were Gaius and Lucius ideal candidates to be adopted?
- Related to Augustus by blood
- Agrippa, their father, had a reputation for political and military excellence
When was Gaius presented to the public?
13BC
What did Gaius do in 13BC?
He took part in the Troy game- an ancient ritual that involved young noblemen showing off their horse-manship
What did Gaius’ appearance in the Troy Game show?
- Stressed his nobility and also his links with the ancestors of the Julian clans
When was Lucius presented?
A couple years later to troops stationed by the Rhine
He also took part in an equestrian pageant
When did Gaius and Lucius die, and how?
- Lucius became ill in 2AD whilst on campaign in Gaul and died
- Gaius was killed on campaign in Armenia in 4AD
What did Augustus do after the deaths of Gaius and Lucius?
- He adopted Agrippa Postumus in 4AD
What happened to Agrippa Postumus?
- He was exiled from Rome in 6AD
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Who else was adopted in 4AD?
- Tiberius, Livia’s son from her previous marriage
- According to almost all ancient sources, he did this with great reluctance
What did Augustus plan for Tiberius and why?
- He was never Augustus’ favourite, and he had arranged for him to become a general in the army alongside his younger brother Drusus.
- The pair had been sent on several campaigns at the edges of the Empire
Where did Tiberius and Drusus go on campaigns?
Parthia
Alps
The Rhine and Germany
What was Tiberius like, but what did he still do?
- He was a hugely succesful general, having been victorious in campaigns against Germanic tribes in the Alps, the Rhineland and on the Danube frontier
- he also played a key part in retrieving Crassus’ standards
- He went into self-imposed exile to Rhodes in 6BC
Why might Tiberius have gone into exile?
- He was resentiful of Augustus’ preference for Gaius and Lucius
- It was in protest over his arranged marriage to Julia the Elder following Agrippa’s death
Who was another possible successor of Augustus?
Marcus Claudius Marcellus
- The son of Augustus’ sister Octavia, so his nephew
What happened to Marcus Claudius Marcellus?
- He fell ill and died in 23BC, at the age of 19
