Succession Flashcards
(28 cards)
Who became emperor of Rome by holding most power and auctoritas?
Augustus
Augustus set it up as a monarchy, legally ratified through the FCS/SCS.
What privilege allowed Gaius to inherit the imperial position?
Privilege of birth and his family
How did Claudius become emperor?
He belonged to the imperial family
What was Nero’s claim to the throne based on?
His mother and his bloodline
What legal power was crucial for Augustus’s succession?
Tribunician potestas
What does the Res Gestae indicate about Augustus’s power?
He “should have the tribunician power for the rest of my life”
What does the denarius of Augustus and Agrippa from 13 BC signify?
Agrippa as a potential successor
especially since tribune potestas in 18BC and 13BC.
Who had tribunician potestas before ascending to power? [Tacitus]
Tiberius
What did Tiberius do after Germanicus died? [Tacitus]
Gave Drusus tribunician potestas
Why did Tiberius make Sejanus think he would share tribunician potestas? [Suetonius]
To not make him suspect anything
How does the ascension of Gaius counter the importance of the Tribunician Potestas? [Dio]
Gaius had the right lineage so “in a single day he took all the honours which Augustus had been slow to accept”
first to do this but after him all emperors do it
What was Tiberius’s role in the military as emperor?
Commander
What did Augustus do with the weaker provinces and why? [Cassius Dio]
“he handed over the weaker provinces to the senate” so that “the senators should be unarmed and unprepared for war”
What was the first thing Augustus did after gaining power? [Cassius Dio]
Made the Praetorian Guard and paid them twice what the normal army got as “So genuine was his desire to lay down absolute power”
What does the denarius of 37 AD link Gaius to?
Germanicus since Gaius had no military prestige of his own
What was significant about Nero’s ascension to emperor? [Tacitus]
He was declared emperor by the Praetorian Guard before the senate
What happened to Nero at the end of his reign? [Dio]
“He had been deserted by all without exception”
Who were influential women in the succession of emperors?
Agrippina, Livia, Julia
What did Dio say about Livia’s influence?
She killed Marcellus
What did Tacitus say about Livia’s actions?
She killed Gaius and Lucius
What was the role of Agrippina in Nero’s succession?
Manipulated Claudius to name Nero his heir
What did Tacitus say about the opposition Augustus faced?
“He faced no opposition since the bravest souls had died in battle”
What did Claudius accept upon his rise to power? [Cassius Dio]
All the honours voted to him except the title of ‘Father of the Fatherland’ which he accepted at a later date
Who conferred power to Augustus?
The senate
