Introductory lecture from the Later Roman Empire module at the University of Liverpool.

1. CLAH266: The Later Roman Empire
28 th September 2012
Dr Jamie Wood

2.  To introduce you to the structure,
administration and assessment of the
module
 To introduce you to the main figures
and events from the Antonine and
Severan dynasties
 To pick out some key historical
themes of this period
 To raise some questions about the
nature of these dynasties
 To set the scene for the lecture next
Friday – the 3rd Century Crisis –
putting it in its broader historical
context

3.  Administration
 Themes
 The Antonines
 The Severans
 Summary

4.  Assessment
 Essay: 2000 words, 60% of module mark (see handbook, pp. 3-4 for
questions and advice)
 Exam: 1 gobbet question + one essay question (see handbook, p. 4)
 Syllabus
 Chronological lectures
 Thematic lectures
 Seminars
 (Short-ish) readings will be assigned each week for the following
week
 Bibliography
 Primary sources (collections and specific sources, incl. online
resources): handbook, pp. 6-8
 Secondary sources (textbooks and thematic sections): handbook, pp.
9-18
 Note the advice at top of p. 6 and end of p. 18 on how to find
resources

7.  Source issues
 Lack of ‘reliable’ extended narratives of these reigns
 Sources we do have are often problematic (e.g. Historia
Augusta; Cassius Dio)
 Succession = key
 Adoption; family ties; co-emperorship used to give best
possible chance for secure succession
 Military = key
 Military success key to an emperor’s prestige
 Towards the end of period: imp. to have the army on side
 Elite = key
 Need to keep the elite on side; build alliances/ consensus
 Towards the end of period: move to sideline Senate
 Provinces = key

9.  If a man were called to fix the period in the history of the world,
during which the condition of the human race was most happy
and prosperous, he would, without hesitation, name that which
elapsed from the death of Domitian to the accession of
Commodus. The vast extent of the Roman empire was governed by
absolute power, under the guidance of virtue and wisdom. The
armies were restrained by the firm but gentle hand of four
successive emperors, whose characters and authority commanded
involuntary respect. The forms of the civil administration were
carefully preserved by Nerva, Trajan, Hadrian, and the Antonines,
who delighted in the image of liberty, and were pleased with
considering themselves as the accountable ministers of the laws.
Such princes deserved the honour of restoring the republic, had
the Romans of their days been capable of enjoying a rational
freedom. (Edward Gibbon, The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, 1.3.2)

10.  Titus Aelius Hadrianus Antoninus Augustus
Pius (19 September 86 – 7 March 161)
 Ruled 138 to 161
 From Nemausus (modern Nîmes), southern
Gaul – provincial emperor (cf. Hadrian and
Trajan from southern Spain)
 Adopted son of Hadrian
 Called Pius: possibly because he forced the
Senate to deify Hadrian (note: Hadrian’s
somewhat strained relations with Senate)
"Portrait of the emperor Antoninus
 Largely governed in continuity with policies Pius [Roman] (33.11.3)". In
of Hadrian Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History.
New York: The Metropolitan
Museum of Art, 2000–.
http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/
works-of-art/33.11.3 (October 2006)

11.  Law:
 Leniency and humanity in interpreting the law, like Hadrian
 E.g. in use of torture
 Also repealed some of Hadrian’s harsh laws against Jews
 Further development of distinction between upper classes
(honestiores) and the rest (humiliores):
 E.g. ‘Whoever steals gold or silver from the imperial mines is
punished, according to an edict of the Divine Pius, with exile or the
mines, depending on his personal status.’ (Digest 48.13.8)
 Enforcing rights of property owners
 E.g. ‘the power of masters over slaves must remain intact and no man
must have his right diminished’ (Digest 1.6.2)
 = a social conservative?

12.  Military:
 Minimal expansion: e.g. into southern Scotland in 140s
 Campaigns conducted by legates rather than emperor in person
 Reinforcement of the German limes (frontier)
 Provinces:
 Communications improved
 Public works continued
 Particular attention to repair and maintenance (continuity)
 Economy:
 Effective/ frugal financial management
 Left the treasury with a massive surplus
BUT
 Last emperor to reside permanently in Rome
 Clear move away from cosmopolitanism of Hadrian’s reign

13. • Built by AP to
honour his deified
wife Faustina (d.
141 )
• After AP died in
161 the temple was
rededicated to
them both
• Now the church
of San Lorenzo in
Miranda
Dedicatory inscription:
DIVO ANTONINO ET / DIVAE FAUSTINAE
EX S(enatus) C(onsulto)
To the deified Antoninus and the deified
Faustina, by decree of the Senate.
(ILS 348 = CIL 6.1005)

14. • Stone and turf fortification across
central Scotland
• Began in 142 at the order of AP
• Possible reasons: Caledonian
pressure to north/ military opinion/
demonstrate AP’s military credentials
• 39 miles (63 km) long; ten feet (3 m)
high and fifteen feet (5 m) wide, deep
ditch on north side
• abandoned after only 20 years, and
troops relocated to Hadrian's Wall
• in 208 Emperor Septimius Severus
re-established legions at the wall and
ordered refortification; abandoned
permanently a few years later

15. Kinneil
Seabegs Wood
West of Rough Castle

16.  Marcus Aurelius Antoninus Augustus
(26 April 121 – 17 March 180)
 Ruled 161 to 180
 Born in Rome, but family origins in
southern Spain (cf. provincial origins
of previous emperors)
 Married to Antoninus’s daughter
 From 161-169 ruled alongside Lucius
Verus, his adoptive brother
 MA retained title of Pontifex
Maximus but all other offices shared

17.  Verus waged a successful
war against Parthia and
Column of Marcus Aurelius captured the capital,
Ctesiphon, in 166; but…
 Plague brought back by
army causes famine
 Troops moved east weaken
northern frontier
 167: mass break through
of Danube frontier by
Germanic tribes

18.  Marcomannic Wars (167–175 and 177-180)
 Incessant warfare with the Germanic tribes
(Marcommani and Quadi) along Upper Danube
frontier
 170: massive Roman invasion ends with barbarian
counter-invasion of north Italy and breaching of
lower Danube frontier; some raiders reach as far as
Greece
 172: Roman dominated peace treaty, coins proclaim
‘the subjection of Germany’ (GERMANIA SUBACTA)
 175: rebellion of governor of Syria leads to peace
treaty
 177: Quadi and Marcommani again rebel
 178-180: series of decisive Roman victories; MA dies
in March 180 in camp at Vindobona (modern
Vienna)

19.  Victory becomes dominant in official
art and coinage
 Conquests commemorated by
triumphal arches and monumental
columns in Rome
 Constant campaigns are a drain on
imperial revenues Arch of Constantine – reused reliefs from Arch of Marcus
Aurelius: the presentation of a captured enemy chieftain to
the emperor; enemy prisoners being led to the emperor
A by-product of success?
• Effective management of previous
emperors makes Rome an attractive
target; means it has resources to fight
• The result of earlier expansion
north of Danube- Dacian conquest
OR: The result of short-term
Roman weakness: plague etc.?

20.  Wrote his Meditations (original title: ‘To Myself’) in Greek as
a source for his own guidance and self-improvement while on
campaign
 Drew heavily on Stoic philosophy and spirituality, especially
the Stoic emphasis on duty
 MA described as a ‘philosopher emperor’
 Legal rulings reflect his leniency and humanity (continuing H
and AP)
 Admired by legal professionals for his skill in the law
 BUT – worldview essentially conservative:
 In law he reinforced class distinctions (continuing AP)
 Leniency/ humanity traditional attributes of a good ruler in
Graeco-Roman tradition = conservative

21.  Marcus Aurelius Commodus
Antoninus Augustus (31
August 161-31 December 192)
 Ruled 180 to 192
 Co-emperor with his father
from 177-180
 Acceded automatically on
death of his father, inheriting
his administration
 Things looking good…

22. Or maybe not…
 Soon abandoned campaigns on
Danube frontier , withdrew Roman
forces from Germania and returned
to Rome - no secure settlement on
the frontier
 Orderly transition from his father’s
regime quickly overturned
Historia Augusta, 3.1-3: His father's older
attendants he dismissed, and any friends
that were advanced in years he cast aside.
The son of Salvius Julianus, the
commander of the troops, he tried to
lead into debauchery, but in vain, and he
thereupon plotted against Julianus. He
degraded the most honourable either by
insulting them directly or giving them
offices far below their deserts.

23.  2.6-7: The more honourable of those
appointed to supervise his life he could
not endure, but the most evil he
retained, and, if any were dismissed, he
yearned for them even to the point of
falling sick. When they were reinstated
through his father's indulgence, he
always maintained eating-houses and
low resorts for them in the imperial
palace. He never showed regard for
either decency or expense.

24.  “from a kingdom of gold to one
of rust and iron” (Cassius Dio
72.36.4)
 Alienated Senate and own
family
 Governed by means of favourites –
power concentrates in their hands
 Taxed the senatorial order
 Identified himself with the semi-
divine hero Hercules (tradition
among the Antonines but C takes
it further)
 Took part in gladiatorial games,
partly to imitate Hercules
Bust of Commodus as Hercules,
Capitoline Museum, Rome

25.  Historia Augusta
 11.10-12: He engaged in gladiatorial combats, and accepted the
names usually given to gladiators with as much pleasure as if he
had been granted triumphal decorations. He regularly took part
in the spectacles, and as often as he did so, ordered the fact to
be inscribed in the public records. It is said that he engaged in
gladiatorial bouts seven hundred and thirty-five times.
 15.3: At gladiatorial shows he would come to watch and stay to
fight, covering his bare shoulders with a purple cloth.
 Cassius Dio, Roman History
 73.7.2: […] he used to contend as a gladiator; in doing this at
home he managed to kill a man now and then, and in making
close passes with others, as if trying to clip off a bit of their hair,
he sliced off the noses of some, the ears of others, and sundry
features of still others; but in public he refrained from using
steel and shedding human blood.

26.  But he was popular with army and people (who don’t write
our sources…)
 Raised soldiers’ pay; paid donatives to army and distributed
funds to people; funded games
 Relatively peaceful reign, but internal troubles
 Devaluation of currency on accession; treasury empty after
wars; paying troops and for games is costly
 Governs indirectly, e.g. through favourites
 Conspiracies throughout reign; e.g. in 182 orchestrated by
sister, Lucilla, then praetorian prefects
 Rebellions in the provinces, e.g. Britain in 184 – legions refuse
to advance into Scotland
 Assassinated in 192

27.  Antonine period overall characterised by continuity and
conservatism
 Rulers concerned to establish secure succession
 Contingent factors can destabilise things rapidly; e.g.
invasion/ plague/ war depleting the treasury/ conspiracies
 Do successes of earlier emperors – e.g. expansion under
Trajan – create problems for later ones?
 Dealing with systemic and short-term problems pushes
military to the fore
 Emperors project their military effectiveness symbolically
 Soldiers’ pay again becomes a big issue
 Emperors who can reward the soldiers do well => emperors
raised from the army or provinces with many army units; e.g.
Septimius Severus from Pannonia (= Danube frontier)

30.  According to the Historia Augusta,
 Why was Clodius Albinus popular?
 Why was Severus unpopular?
 How do the author(s) of the Historia Augusta use other
sources in their account of Clodius Albinus?
 What does this extract tell us about the role of
 the Roman Senate in the late second century?
 the Roman Emperor in the late second century?
 the military in the late second century?
 You have 15 minutes to work on these questions in small
groups

31. • Septimius Severus: 193-211
• Caracalla (born Bassianus and
renamed Marcus Aurelius Antoninus):
211-217
• Macrinus: 217-218
• Elagabalus (Varius Avitus Bassianus):
218-222
• Severus Alexander: 222-235 (next
week)

32. Instability after the
assassination of
Commodus
Publius Helvius Pertinax,
assassinated 28 March 193
Marcus Didius Julianus
Gains city of Rome after
Pertinax’s death Septimius
marches on Rome in early June
with support of the Praetorian
Guard
Gaius Pescennius Niger
Proclaimed emperor in Syria;
Uses Byzantium as his base;
Killed while fleeing Antioch in
Late 193 or January of 194

33. After 5 years
of civil war
in East and
West
Septimius
Severus
becomes
undisputed
emperor

34. Septimius Severus
(193-211)

35. Who was Septimius Severus?
• Reign reflects the broadened political franchise and
economic development of the Roman empire in late
2nd C
• Born 145, a member of a leading native family of
Leptis Magna in North Africa (also known as Leptis
Magna and Neapolis; now Al Khums, Libya)
• 187: allies himself with a prominent Syrian family
by marriage to Julia Domna
• 191: given command of legions in Pannonia by
Commodus

36. What did he do?
• Cultivated army: soldiers’ pay increased by half;
allowed to marry while in service; greater
promotion opportunities into officer ranks and civil
service.
• Supported equestrians: equestrian officers
replace senators in key administrative positions.
• Developed imperial administration throughout
empire : abolished standing juries of Republican
times, consolidating power of imperial
bureaucracy.

37. Severus
in the
East
Triumphal arch of Septimius Severus, Roman Forum, commemorating victories
against Parthia and its allies in 197-198; reasons for activity in East:
+ Syrian legions had supported Pescennius Niger
+ shores up his position in the East (both on frontier and in provinces)
+ it’s what all great Roman generals do!

38. Arch of Septimius Severus, details Fight near
Nisibis
Surrender of
Abgar VIII
Severus captures Ctesiphon Severus captures Seleucia

39. In ca. 196 CE,
Septimius began
a reconstruction
of Lepcis that
was not
completed until
216, five years
after his death.
Theatre at Lepcis Magna, Libya
Severus in
Africa

40. Satellite image of Lepcis Magna

41. Plan of Lepcis Magna;
harbours, forum, palaestra,
baths, Severan Arch, theatre,
market, decumanus
Severus renovated and
embellished numerous
monuments; built a
grandiose new temple-
forum-basilica complex
on an unparalleled scale;
the city is re-invented as
the birthplace of an
emperor.

42. Palace of Septimius Severus (Domus Severiana) on
the Palatine Hill, Rome

43. SEVERUS AND ROMAN LAW
• Severus consolidated emperor's position as
ultimate appeals judge
• Severus brought jurists to greater prominence:
• During 2nd C, a career path for legal
experts was established
• Emperor came to rely heavily on consilium,
an advisory panel of experienced jurists
• Severus’ reign ushered in the golden age of
Roman jurisprudence; his court employed 3 of
the greatest Roman lawyers: Papinian, Paul
and Ulpian.

44. Julia Domna, wife of Septimius Severus.
Early third century A.D.
Aureus of Septimius Severus,
with portrait of Julia Domna,
ca. 193–96 AD

45. Three Coins from Thrace:
Continuity in the Severan Dynasty
Septimius Severus (193-211 A.D.)
Geta (198-211 A.D.)
Caracalla (198-217 A.D.)

46. On February 4, A.D.
211, Septimus
Severus died at York.
Geta, son of
His sons, Caracalla
Septimius and Geta, were meant
Severus, in
the guise of to share power, but
Apollo
Caracalla murdered
Roman
marble
his brother and seized
statue, ca. the throne
209-212 CE,
from Albano /
Albanum

47. A Happy family?
Roman tondo, 200
CE: portraits of the
Emperor Septimius
Severus and his
family. Geta’s face
has been obliterated
from the painting.
After his death he
seems to have been
the target of
damnatio memoriae.

48. Caracalla (Marcus Aurelius
Antoninus): 211-217
• removed all distinctions between
Italians and provincials by
enacting Constitutio Antoniniana
in 212 CE
• extended Roman citizenship to all
free inhabitants of the empire
• huge impact legally/ in terms of
people’s rights
• built the Baths of Caracalla in
Rome; design served as an model
Caracalla for later public buildings.
• assassinated in 217 A.D. by
(211-217) Macrinus (praetorian prefect), the
first non-senatorial emperor

49. Aerial view of the Baths of Caracalla,
begun in 212 AD

50. Varius Avitus Bassianus (Elagabalus): 218-222

51.  Cousin of Caracalla
 His grandmother, Julia
Maesa, instigated a
revolt among the Third
Legion to have E, in his
early teens, replace
Macrinus Coin from Sidon, with Julia Maesa
and Astarte – chief goddess of
 Relationship to Caracalla various E. Mediterranean peoples
stressed in order to throughout antiquity
legitimise rule
 Family/ continuity
important again

52.  Devalued currency
 Decreased silver purity of the denarius from 58% to
46.5%
 Took coins (e.g. Antoninianus) out of circulation
 Raised mother and grandmother to senate
 Julia Soaemias: clarissima
 Julia Maesa: mater castrorum et Senatus ("Mother of
the army camp and of the Senate")
 Sex scandals
 Married and divorced 5 times
 Homosexual relationships; including with chariot
driver Hierocles
 Transgender/ trans-sexual?

53.  Family held hereditary rights to the priesthood of the
Syrian sun god Elagabal; role as oriental priest
problematic; image is hung over statue of Victoria in
the senate; Elagabal raised to main god of Roman
pantheon as Sol Invictus; temple built on Palatine Hill
to house Elagabal; sacred relics transferred to this
Elagabalium (no other god could be worshipped
except in company with Elagabal)
 Provincial origins/ connections important in being
made emperor, but potentially alienating of Roman
traditionalists

54.  Key themes:
1. The succession ; stress on family and continuity– vitally
important
2. The provinces – emperors come from provinces
(provinces make emperors/ intervene in the centre/
receive benefits – a reciprocal relationship)
3. The army – paying troops and being successful
militarily
4. The emperor – must live up to traditional expectations
 But also see shift in iconography of the emperors, from
Antonine ‘beardy Greek philosophers’ to Severan ‘crew-cut
Roman soldiers’ (even though they are all military leaders
and builders)

55.  The period points out some of the strengths and
weaknesses of the imperial system
 If (1) succession is clear; (2) there are no accidents
(internal or external); and (3) the emperor is ‘good’ [=
an effective manager of the system, successful militarily,
able to pay the troops] then business can be continued
as usual
 If any of these conditions do not apply then things get
tricky

56. 1. Read the following article
 BLOIS, L. DE (2002), “The Crisis of the Third Century A.D. in
the Roman Empire: A Modern Myth?” in L. de Blois and J.
Rich, eds., The Transformation of Economic Life under the
Roman Empire (Leiden: Brill), pp. 204-217.
 Available here: http://www.phil-fak.uni-
duesseldorf.de/fileadmin/Redaktion/Institute/Historis
ches_Seminar/Dateien/Blois__The_crisis_of_the_third_
century.pdf
2. Pick out 3 key points that you think the author is making,
write them down and bring them to class ready for
discussion