The Rule of the Emperor Augustus: Despicable Tyrant Or Enlightened Despot?
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Roman Emperors
Walter Scheidel Office hours: after class & by appointment Office: 110-105 Main Quad, Building 110 Mailbox: Classics Department Office phone: (650) 723-0479 e-mail: [email protected] www.stanford.edu/~scheidel CLASS HIS 340A ROMAN EMPERORS Fall Quarter 2012 Mo 2.15-5.05 Readings and background Acquire a copy of Fergus Millar’s The emperor in the Roman world . All other required readings are available online or will be provided. You are expected to be familiar with the basic outlines of Roman history from the end of the Republic to the sixth century CE. Recommended background readings include Suetonius, Lives of the Caesars ; Tacitus, Annals ; Pliny the Younger, Panegyric ; Herodian, History; Historia Augusta ; Eusebius, Life of Constantine ; Ammianus (esp. on Julian); In Praise of Later Roman Emperors: Panegyrici Latini (trs. Nixon/Rodgers); Procopius, Secret History . This course is restricted to graduate students. Schedule and readings September 24 Introduction October 1 Traditional approaches, I: imperial biography Assigned readings Suetonius, Life of Caligula (for this and the next session) J. P. V. D. Balsdon, The emperor Gaius (Caligula) (1934), 58-95; E. J. Phillips, “The emperor Gaius’ abortive invasion of Britain,” Historia 19 (1970), 369-373; M. B. Flory, “Pearls for Venus,” Historia 37 (1988), 498-504; A. A. Barrett, Caligula: the corruption of power (1990), 125-139; D. Woods, “Caligula’s sea-shells,” Greece and Rome 47 (2000), 80-87; S. J. V. Malloch, “Gaius on the Channel Coast,” Classical Quarterly 51 (2001), 551-556 Recommended further readings For recent perspectives on the topic of the seminar, see A. -
Introduction
Cambridge University Press 978-1-107-00949-3 - The Art of Caesar’s Bellum Civile: Literature, Ideology, and Community Luca Grillo Excerpt More information Introduction “Such force dwells in him, such sharpness, and such passion that it seems that he spoke with the same vigor with which he fought” (tanta in eo vis est, id acumen, ea concitatio, ut illum eodem animo dixisse quo bellavit appareat, Quint. 10.1.114). In expressing this judgment about Caesar, Quintilian famously set forth an old truism: besides being a general and a politician, Caesar was also an orator and a man of letters.1 For instance, Cicero, who no less famously praised the style of the Commentarii (Brut. 262), anxiously awaited Caesar’s remarks on his verses: “but ho there!” – he asked his brother Quintus – “I feel you are concealing something from me: what did Caesar really think of my poetry?” (Sed heus tu! Celari videor a te. Quo modo nam, mi frater, de nostris versibus Caesar? QF 2.16.5). And Caesar, responding from Gaul, praised that poetry no less than Quintus’ service in his army, thus acting as a general, intellectual, friend, and, of course, a politician. During the Gallic war letters, the Commentarii de Bello Gallico (BG)andtheDe Analogia, which was dedicated to Cicero, helped Caesar to remain present to the aristocratic circles of leading politicians and intellectuals while appealing to the imagination of the Roman people.2 Caesar’s proven oratorical skills assisted his ambitions also at the time of the civil war: when he was working on the Commentarii de Bello Civili (BC), he kept engaging in the politico-literary debate by composing the Anticato and by appealing to his friends and to the senate with letters, which he was the first statesman to collect in book format (Suet. -
The Evolution of the Roman Calendar Dwayne Meisner, University of Regina
The Evolution of the Roman Calendar Dwayne Meisner, University of Regina Abstract The Roman calendar was first developed as a lunar | 290 calendar, so it was difficult for the Romans to reconcile this with the natural solar year. In 45 BC, Julius Caesar reformed the calendar, creating a solar year of 365 days with leap years every four years. This article explains the process by which the Roman calendar evolved and argues that the reason February has 28 days is that Caesar did not want to interfere with religious festivals that occurred in February. Beginning as a lunar calendar, the Romans developed a lunisolar system that tried to reconcile lunar months with the solar year, with the unfortunate result that the calendar was often inaccurate by up to four months. Caesar fixed this by changing the lengths of most months, but made no change to February because of the tradition of intercalation, which the article explains, and because of festivals that were celebrated in February that were connected to the Roman New Year, which had originally been on March 1. Introduction The reason why February has 28 days in the modern calendar is that Caesar did not want to interfere with festivals that honored the dead, some of which were Past Imperfect 15 (2009) | © | ISSN 1711-053X | eISSN 1718-4487 connected to the position of the Roman New Year. In the earliest calendars of the Roman Republic, the year began on March 1, because the consuls, after whom the year was named, began their years in office on the Ides of March. -
First Triumvirate and Rise of Octavian BY: Jake, Eliza and Maheen First Triumvirate
First Triumvirate and Rise of Octavian BY: Jake, Eliza and Maheen First Triumvirate • An alliance of the three most powerful men in Rome, Marcus Licinus Crassus, Gaius Julius Caesar, and Gneaus Pompey Magnus. Rome was in chaos and the 3 seized control of the Republic. • The three would dominate Roman politics for personal gains throughout the territories of the Republic. Julius Caesar • In Rome, Julius Caesar was elected as the tribune of the Plebs, military tribune, and governor of many provinces throughout the Republic. • Believed Crassus helped Julius Caesar win the election to become the Propraetor or governor of Hispania in 63 B.C.E. • Julius returned to Rome after his term as governor. Caesar had a business or political agreement with Pompey and Crassus in 60 B.C.E. Caesar was the consul while Pompey and Crassus were in the senate. • Created the First Triumvirate • After his term, Julius was in deeply in debt politically and financially to Crassus and desperately needed to raise money. Marcus Crassus • Crassus was the richest man in all the Roman Republic. He was sharp and clever in Roman politics. He would be a senator and even become consul a few times. • He was a mentor to Julius Caesar in his early career. • Gained much fame during the Spartacus rebellion but much of it was stolen by Pompey. • He was a longtime rival to Pompey Magnus and this would be his eventually downfall. He would ally with Caesar and Pompey, but strived for military victory over Pompey. He went to Parthia where he was defeated at Carrhae. -
LUCAN's CHARACTERIZATION of CAESAR THROUGH SPEECH By
LUCAN’S CHARACTERIZATION OF CAESAR THROUGH SPEECH by ELIZABETH TALBOT NEELY (Under the Direction of Thomas Biggs) ABSTRACT This thesis examines Caesar’s three extended battle exhortations in Lucan’s Bellum Civile (1.299-351, 5.319-364, 7.250-329) and the speeches that accompany them in an effort to discover patterns in the character’s speech. Lucan did not seem to develop a specific Caesarian style of speech, but he does make an effort to show the changing relationship between the General and his soldiers in the three scenes analyzed. The troops, initially under the spell of madness that pervades the poem, rebel. Caesar, through speech, is able to bring them into line. Caesar caters to the soldiers’ interests and egos and crafts his speeches in order to keep his army working together. INDEX WORDS: Lucan, Caesar, Bellum Civile, Pharsalia, Cohortatio, Battle Exhortation, Latin Literature LUCAN’S CHARACTERIZATION OF CAESAR THROUGH SPEECH by ELIZABETH TALBOT NEELY B.A., The College of Wooster, 2007 A Thesis Submitted to the Graduate Faculty of The University of Georgia in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree MASTER OF ARTS ATHENS, GEORGIA 2016 © 2016 Elizabeth Talbot Neely All Rights Reserved LUCAN’S CHARACTERIZATION OF CAESAR THROUGH SPEECH by ELIZABETH TALBOT NEELY Major Professor: Thomas Biggs Committee: Christine Albright John Nicholson Electronic Version Approved: Suzanne Barbour Dean of the Graduate School The University of Georgia May 2016 iv TABLE OF CONTENTS Page CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION .........................................................................................................1 -
History by Analogy: Cato the Younger and Caesar in Livy's Account
History by Analogy: Cato the Younger and Caesar in Livy’s Account of the Second Punic War Thomas E. Strunk Abstract: Although Livy’s account of the late Republic has been lost to modern readers and with it Livy’s interpretation of events surrounding the lives of Cato the Younger and Julius Caesar, whom the Periochae confirm figured prominently in the books covering the late Republic. Yet Cato and Caesar are not wholly absent from Livy’s surviving works. The outlines of Cato’s character can be seen in Hanno, the Carthaginian senator who plays a prominent role in opposing Hannibal during the Second Punic War. There are also a number of interesting parallels between Hannibal and Caesar. When placed alongside one another the similarities between each pair of senator and general reveals an analogous paradigm. Livy’s construction of the relationship between Hanno and Hannibal closely resembles the contentious relationship between Cato and Caesar, suggesting that Livy used the analogous historical framework of Cato and Caesar to build his narrative of the discord between Hanno and Hannibal. Livy’s history by analogy reveals the policies and behaviors that put to ruin the power of Carthage and destroyed the Roman Republic. Keywords: Cato the Younger, Caesar, Livy, Hanno, Hannibal, Punic Wars Although Livy’s account of the late Republic has been lost to modern readers, Cato the Younger and Caesar no doubt figured prominently in the books covering the late Republic.1 The Periochae, abbreviated as they are, confirm that Livy touched upon many of the moments in the lives of Caesar and Cato discussed by other writers, such as Plutarch, Dio, and Appian. -
The Late Republic in 5 Timelines (Teacher Guide and Notes)
1 180 BC: lex Villia Annalis – a law regulating the minimum ages at which a individual could how political office at each stage of the cursus honorum (career path). This was a step to regularising a political career and enforcing limits. 146 BC: The fall of Carthage in North Africa and Corinth in Greece effectively brought an end to Rome’s large overseas campaigns for control of the Mediterranean. This is the point that the historian Sallust sees as the beginning of the decline of the Republic, as Rome had no rivals to compete with and so turn inwards, corrupted by greed. 139 BC: lex Gabinia tabelleria– the first of several laws introduced by tribunes to ensure secret ballots for for voting within the assembliess (this one applied to elections of magistrates). 133 BC – the tribunate of Tiberius Gracchus, who along with his younger brother, is seen as either a social reformer or a demagogue. He introduced an agrarian land that aimed to distribute Roman public land to the poorer elements within Roman society (although this act quite likely increased tensions between the Italian allies and Rome, because it was land on which the Italians lived that was be redistributed). He was killed in 132 BC by a band of senators led by the pontifex maximus (chief priest), because they saw have as a political threat, who was allegedly aiming at kingship. 2 123-121 BC – the younger brother of Tiberius Gracchus, Gaius Gracchus was tribune in 123 and 122 BC, passing a number of laws, which apparent to have aimed to address a number of socio-economic issues and inequalities. -
Lucan's Natural Questions: Landscape and Geography in the Bellum Civile Laura Zientek a Dissertation Submitted in Partial Fulf
Lucan’s Natural Questions: Landscape and Geography in the Bellum Civile Laura Zientek A dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy University of Washington 2014 Reading Committee: Catherine Connors, Chair Alain Gowing Stephen Hinds Program Authorized to Offer Degree: Classics © Copyright 2014 Laura Zientek University of Washington Abstract Lucan’s Natural Questions: Landscape and Geography in the Bellum Civile Laura Zientek Chair of the Supervisory Committee: Professor Catherine Connors Department of Classics This dissertation is an analysis of the role of landscape and the natural world in Lucan’s Bellum Civile. I investigate digressions and excurses on mountains, rivers, and certain myths associated aetiologically with the land, and demonstrate how Stoic physics and cosmology – in particular the concepts of cosmic (dis)order, collapse, and conflagration – play a role in the way Lucan writes about the landscape in the context of a civil war poem. Building on previous analyses of the Bellum Civile that provide background on its literary context (Ahl, 1976), on Lucan’s poetic technique (Masters, 1992), and on landscape in Roman literature (Spencer, 2010), I approach Lucan’s depiction of the natural world by focusing on the mutual effect of humanity and landscape on each other. Thus, hardships posed by the land against characters like Caesar and Cato, gloomy and threatening atmospheres, and dangerous or unusual weather phenomena all have places in my study. I also explore how Lucan’s landscapes engage with the tropes of the locus amoenus or horridus (Schiesaro, 2006) and elements of the sublime (Day, 2013). -
Almatourism N.2, 2010 : C
AlmaTourism N.2, 2010 : C. Ravara Montebelli (ed.), Alea Iacta Est. Giulio Cesare in Archivio, Società Editrice «Il Ponte Vecchio» 2010 Contents liste available at Cib.Unibo AlmaTourism homepage: almatourism.cib.unibo.it ___________________________________________________________ C. Ravara Montebelli (ed.), Alea Iacta Est. Giulio Cesare in Archivio, Società Editrice «Il Ponte Vecchio» 2010 Calanca, D.∗ Faculty of Arts and Humanities, University of Bologna (Italy) The Italian State Archives are essentially a public service that provides citizens the written heritage, produced over time. It’ s important that this heritage is rooted in the territory, in order to develop a cultural policy, its conservation and promotion, and the promotion of the documentary material preserved. Therefore, «It must began, from the Archives experiences of scholars in the Archives of Rimini to understand the reasons of this book, this collection of essays is more than just a catalog, but has the ambition to be a fundamental step in the writing of the history of the relationship between Julius Caesar and the city of Rimini», so says the director of the State Archive of Rimini (p.7). In this respect, the volume, in fact, has been realized for the documentary exhibition Alea iacta est. Giulio Caesare in Archivio, curated by the same C. Ravara Montebelli, and promoted by the State Archive of Rimini, which on this occasion it participate for the third consecutive time, the European Heritage Days. Organized in collaboration with the Municipal Library Gambalunga, with the patronage of the University of Bologna, University of San Marino and the Municipality, the Province of Rimini and also of the Rubicon Filopatridi Academy, the exhibition was shown from 25 September to 25 November 2010 at the State Archive and Gambalunga Library of Rimini, and retraced the history of the city from the first century BC until the Fascist period, through historical and artistic treasures found in Piazza Tre Martiri, heart of the old town since Roman times. -
Ancient Rome
HISTORY AND GEOGRAPHY Ancient Julius Caesar Rome Reader Caesar Augustus The Second Punic War Cleopatra THIS BOOK IS THE PROPERTY OF: STATE Book No. PROVINCE Enter information COUNTY in spaces to the left as PARISH instructed. SCHOOL DISTRICT OTHER CONDITION Year ISSUED TO Used ISSUED RETURNED PUPILS to whom this textbook is issued must not write on any page or mark any part of it in any way, consumable textbooks excepted. 1. Teachers should see that the pupil’s name is clearly written in ink in the spaces above in every book issued. 2. The following terms should be used in recording the condition of the book: New; Good; Fair; Poor; Bad. Ancient Rome Reader Creative Commons Licensing This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License. You are free: to Share—to copy, distribute, and transmit the work to Remix—to adapt the work Under the following conditions: Attribution—You must attribute the work in the following manner: This work is based on an original work of the Core Knowledge® Foundation (www.coreknowledge.org) made available through licensing under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License. This does not in any way imply that the Core Knowledge Foundation endorses this work. Noncommercial—You may not use this work for commercial purposes. Share Alike—If you alter, transform, or build upon this work, you may distribute the resulting work only under the same or similar license to this one. With the understanding that: For any reuse or distribution, you must make clear to others the license terms of this work. -
Varro's Roman Seasons
HAL, Submitted 30 November 2019 Varro's Roman Seasons A. C. Sparavigna1 1 Dipartimento di Scienza Applicata e Tecnologia, Politecnico di Torino, Torino, Italy The four seasons of the Roman calendar, as described by Marcus Terentius Varro, are different from our seasons, in the sense that they start on days which differ from those that we are using today. In his Books on Agriculture, Varro shows that the Roman seasons started on the Cross Quarter-days instead than on the Quarter-days of the year as it happens today. Besides the classic subdivision in four parts, in the Books on Agriculture we can also find the year divided into eight parts, that is eight seasons having quite different lengths. In our discussion of Varro's seasons we will compare the days he mentions for the separation of seasons to the Cross Quarter- and Quarter-days that we find in Celtic calendars. Keywords: Chronology, Roman Chronology, Julian Calendar, Celtic festivals. DOI:10.5281/zenodo.3559524 Marcus Terentius Varro (116 - 27 BC) was a Roman scholar and writer. In his political career, he became tribune of the people, quaestor and curule aedile. Supporting Pompey, Varro reached the office of praetor [1,2]. He was also one of the members of the commission that carried out the agrarian plan of Julius Caesar for the resettlement of Capua and Campania (59 BC) [2]. During the civil war, Varro commanded one of Pompey's armies in Spain. After the battle of Pharsalus, he reconciled with Julius Caesar, and Caesar appointed him to oversee the public library of Rome [1]. -
Calendar of Roman Events
Introduction Steve Worboys and I began this calendar in 1980 or 1981 when we discovered that the exact dates of many events survive from Roman antiquity, the most famous being the ides of March murder of Caesar. Flipping through a few books on Roman history revealed a handful of dates, and we believed that to fill every day of the year would certainly be impossible. From 1981 until 1989 I kept the calendar, adding dates as I ran across them. In 1989 I typed the list into the computer and we began again to plunder books and journals for dates, this time recording sources. Since then I have worked and reworked the Calendar, revising old entries and adding many, many more. The Roman Calendar The calendar was reformed twice, once by Caesar in 46 BC and later by Augustus in 8 BC. Each of these reforms is described in A. K. Michels’ book The Calendar of the Roman Republic. In an ordinary pre-Julian year, the number of days in each month was as follows: 29 January 31 May 29 September 28 February 29 June 31 October 31 March 31 Quintilis (July) 29 November 29 April 29 Sextilis (August) 29 December. The Romans did not number the days of the months consecutively. They reckoned backwards from three fixed points: The kalends, the nones, and the ides. The kalends is the first day of the month. For months with 31 days the nones fall on the 7th and the ides the 15th. For other months the nones fall on the 5th and the ides on the 13th.