These notes provide detailed knowledge of the reign of Augustus and aligns with the OCR Ancient History A-level spec. These notes also have source reliability for all the prescribed source and include source quotations from all of the historians to hit the high grades. These notes took me a long ti...
Ancient Rome Revision
Source Reliability
Res Gestae
● Full of detailed statistics
● Summary of Augustus’ achievements written by him
● Linked to other inscription of prominent roman nobles tombs
Cassius Dio
● Made a successful position in the North
● Does not recognize that individual rule came slowly
● Places too much importance and emphasis in the praetorian guard
● Makes black and white judgements
● Writes from a critical senatorial perspective
● Dio is born in 160 AD and is the latest writer
Paterculus
● He served in the army under Gaius
● Paterculus has excessive patriotism and loyalty to the regimes of Tiberius and Augustus
● Born in 29 BC
● Owed his careers to the emperors
● Provides a useful balance to more cynical writers
● Gives a contemporary insight into the relationship between senators and the emperors
Seneca the Younger
● Born in 1BC and spent his childhood in Rome
● Originally from Spain
● Started a senatorial career
● The works of seneca are philosophical in nature amd generally focus on aspects of good
leadership.
● He was sent into exile under Claudius on changes of Adultery but returned under the
influence of Nero’s mother
● Became Nero’s advisor but was forced to commit suicide
Suetonius
● His biographies were detailed and complete
● Wrote 50 years after the death of Nero
● Close to the imperial archives
● Use the records of speech in the senate
● Does not explain chronologically, but theme by theme
● Compares the achievements and downfall of each emperor
● Indicates his own doubts about gossip
● Rely on anecdotal stories from rumour and gossip
Tacitus
● Tacutus was born in 56Ad in Gaul
● He came to Rome and forged a political career
● Writes as a member of the Senatorial class
● Claims ‘without anger and bias ‘
● Large chunks of the Annal’s are missing ‘
● Provides a contrast to more flattering emperor’s
● Served under the emperor Domitin who had bad relations
Ovid
● From an elite italian family
● Had a political career
● Wrote controversial poems about augustus
● Wrote many poems about Augustus’s milestones
● Talks about the cult of Augustus
, Strabo
● Born in 64AD, travelled wildly
● Helpful for understanding the workings of the empire
● Seems to write from a neutral pov
● 17 books of geography compiled during the reign of Augustus and Tiberius, provides ion
account of the whole world known to the Romans
Pliny the Elder
● Born in 23AD, was a prominent equestrian
● Commanded a roman fleet
● Voiced his own opinion
● Largely talks about the natural world but there are so,e extras relating to emperors and empire
Virgil
● Born in 70BC in Northern Italy
● Show’s divinity of Augustus’ rule
● Augustus wanted himself to be seen
● Tells us little in terms of historical detail but is for understanding the historical and religious
content
Horace
● Born in 65 BC son of a freedmen
● Fought on the side of Mark Antony during the civil War
● Wrote about the benefits of the Golden age during the reign of Augustus
Augustus
The presentation of the battle of Actium - 31 BC
● Agippa led the opposition against Mark Antony and Cleopatra, took place in Greece,
Augustus stayed in a tent far away from the battle. It was a major failure as well as a success
as Mark Antnoy and Cleopatra managed to escape despite being completely surrounded.
Cleopatra’s and Mark Antony’s men switched sides. Downplayed the fact that it was a civil
war and Mark Antony was a roman and not a foreign enemy
● Sources’- The res Gestae ‘the whole of Italy of its own accord swore an oath’
Suetonius- ‘He was so anxious to save Cleopatara as an ornament for his triumphs
The Constitutional Settlements of 27BC and 23BC
● Augustus’ image as a grand military victor became an unwelcome reminder of the civil war
● His image needed to be changed to show how he now held balanced power between the
auctoritaties and the potestas
● Augustus needed to formal allocation of powers by the senate on the behalf of the people to
prevent any possible resentment
● The senate offered him the autocratic powers in light of the need for a strong governance.
● First rejecting these powers and then accepting them on the Senate insistence. This became
known as the first settlement.
● The first settlement marks the beginning of the principate. Augustus was given the title, the
revered one. His doorstep was to be decorated with laurel and awarded the civic crown and
the award of the shield of virtue.
● Augustus was given the power to redistribute the provinces however Augustus only
controlled key provinces notably those with a military presence.
● One was a super province comprising Gaul, Syria and Spain. The others were designated
public provinces and were administered by the Senate. Augustus justified this by claiming
that his areas still needed pacification and that he wished to reduce the workload of the
Senate. With his control of the army, position as consul, Augustus was made supreme
commander.
● However, this authority was only granted for 10 years, and the first settlement was unsuitable,
and another one was agreed. The second settlement occurred in 23 BC.
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