HISTORY A (A2)
LEVEL COURSEWORK
HISTORY DEPARTMENT
Kesteven and
Teacher: Mr G. de la Bédoyère MA FSA FHA FRNS
POWER AND AUTHORITY IN EARLY
IMPERIAL
44 BC–AD 69
Online
Resources for KSHS students only (needs password: all the Powerpoints and Handouts are available for download here if
you cannot get on to the school academic portal – see me for the password).
This page supports the teaching of the Coursework
option, beginning 2009-10.
THE
BOARD
History A-Level at KSHS follows the
AQA syllabus:
1. AS outline (Units
1 and 2)
2. A2 outline (Units
3 and 4)
The Coursework is A2 Unit 4. Students
are required to produce an approximately 3500-word ‘analysis of a historical
issue’ chosen from the AQA
A-Level History Coursework Exemplars or from one devised by the school and
approved by AQA. Students must study a period of 100 years and their
coursework must show understanding of change over the century being studied. Students choose their own
key question from within the period being followed (but a number of suggested
ones are listed on this page). Guidance can be offered by teachers while the
analysis is being researched but the board’s instructions are that this
guidance ‘should cease’ when the student is able to prepare his/her final essay
plan. In other words teachers are instructed NOT to offer guidance during the
preparation of the final plan OR the writing of the 3500-word essay. This means
they cannot ‘comment’ or ‘correct’ work at this stage. In short – it has to be
YOUR own work!
You must also produce:
·
A 500-word
evaluation of your work
·
A
bibliography
ASSESSMENT
The coursework is marked by KSHS and
moderated by AQA. There are 60 marks allocated thus:
·
Enquiry:
50 marks
·
Evaluation:
10 marks
1. Enquiry: 50 Marks
AO1(a): candidates recall, select and deploy historical knowledge
appropriately and communicate knowledge and understanding of History in a clear
and effective manner.
15 marks
AO1(b): candidates demonstrate their understanding of the past through
explanation, analysis and arriving at a substantiated judgment of key concepts
such as: causation, consequence, continuity, change and significance within an
historical context; the relationships between key features and characteristics
of the period studied.
20 marks
AO2(b): candidates analyse and evaluate, in relation to the historical
context, how aspects of the past have been interpreted and represented in different
ways.
15 marks
IF YOU
EXCEED 4000 words you WILL be penalized by being placed at the lowest point in
the Level the Enquiry is marked at.
2. Source Evaluation ONLY
AO2(a): Candidates analyse and evaluate a range
of appropriate source material with discrimination.
10 marks
IF YOU
EXCEED 600 words you WILL be penalized by being placed at the lowest point in
the Level the Enquiry is marked at. Marks are awarded,
amongst other things, for ‘initiative’. The more guidance you receive early in
the preparation of your coursework, the less you can (and will) be awarded for
your initiative.
PROPORTION OF A2
A2 History is assessed as follows:
Unit 3 – The Triumph of Elizabeth: 90
marks or 30% of A-Level
Unit 4 (Coursework): 60 marks or 20%
of A-Level
Unit 4. Historical Enquiry: POWER AND AUTHORITY IN EARLY
IMPERIAL
Youtube Video resources (Augustus, Caligula and Nero
documentaries)
At KSHS we
have chosen the first century of the
This is an
over-view of our area of study. AQA Coursework must cover 100 years, and
therefore the nominal dates for our work are 31 BC to AD 69 but the work will
involve looking at the period immediately before and after the core century
under study.
In 509 BC
the Romans expelled Tarquinius Superbus,
the last of her kings, and resolved never to be ruled by a monarch again. Over
the years that followed she developed her Republican government, a system based
on an assembly of adult male citizens to pass laws, and magistrates elected
from the wealthy upper class who became members of an assembly known as the
senate that oversaw and advised the magistrates as well as passing laws. It was
dominated by the Roman elite but the system was filled with checks and balances
designed to prevent any one man having supreme power. By the 1st
century BC the system was breaking down as rival Roman generals with their
armies fought for control of the Roman world. Alliances were formed and broken.
Anarchy reigned.
By 48 BC Gaius Julius Caesar had won the civil wars and been made
dictator of
In 31 BC
the ruthless Octavian had won. He set out to ‘restore the Republic’, or so he
claimed. In 27 BC he handed over all his powers to the Senate, who promptly
gave most of them back and named him Augustus (‘the Venerable’). In 23 BC he
was awarded the power of a tribune
(see below). This was awarded to him annually thereafter, which meant he could
veto Senate legislation. It meant he was effectively in charge of everything
that went on without actually being named ‘emperor’. Augustus rebuilt much of
central
Augustus
was in every sense a king or an emperor, but he would never have allowed
himself to be described as such. Was despotism the price of ending a century of
anarchy? How successfully had Augustus created a new system? Had he just
reinvented the Republic? Or had he pulled off one of the greatest sleights of
hand in history? How did he get away with it? Tacitus
said ‘the interests of peace demanded the concentration of power in the hands
of one man’ (Histories I.1). Was this
true?
Augustus
was succeeded by his stepson Tiberius (AD 14–37), followed by other members of
his family who ruled the Empire until AD 68 (Gaius
Caligula 37–41, Claudius (41–54) and Nero (54–68). Nero committed suicide in 68
as his regime crumbled thanks to rebellions against his arbitrary and lunatic
rule.
What was
this curious system? Back in the mid-second century BC, long before the
emperors when
It was impossible even for a native to
pronounce with certainty whether the whole system was aristocratic, democratic
or monarchical. This indeed was only natural. For if one fixed one’s eyes on
the power of the consuls, the constitution seemed completely monarchical and
royal; if on that of the senate, it seemed again to be aristocratic; and when
one looked at the power of the masses, it seemed clearly to be a democracy.
Polybius, Histories VI.11.11–12
In the
days of the emperors it had become even more complex. In fact the position of
‘emperor’ theoretically did not exist. Augustus was princeps (‘first citizen’) with a
unique portfolio of powers held within the Republican system. The emperors
usually represented the people’s interests by serving as tribune of the plebs.
But they also frequently held the consulship, and were of the senatorial class,
as well as controlling the army as imperator
(‘general’). This created unique tensions in which the personality of the
emperor played the decisive role in this balancing act. His personal authority
(auctoritas)
was crucial. It was a precarious situation and an emperor’s personality could
lead to climactic events in which the lives of millions of people were
affected. Only one of the Julio-Claudians, Augustus,
died a natural death and when Nero, the last of that family, committed suicide
in 68 it was no great surprise that the Roman world dissolved into civil war
once more.
Three
emperors followed in rapid succession, supported by different parts of the
army: Galba (68–9), Otho
(69), and Vitellius (69). Tacitus
said of Galba that his elevation to the purple
revealed a secret: ‘it was possible, it seemed, for an emperor to be chosen
outside
Vitellius was in turn defeated by the general Vespasian whose triumph in suppressing the Jewish Revolt of
AD 66 had left him the most powerful man in the Roman world. Vespasian (69–79) established the short-lived Flavian dynasty of 69–96, which was then followed by a
stable succession based on adoption until AD 193. Even then, despite civil
wars, barbarian invasions and other problems, the position of emperor continued
in
It was
clear that the principle of rule by one man had become the established system
by which the
1) What factors led to the authority of a
single man becoming pre-eminent in
2) The relationship between the emperor and
the people
3) How decisive a role did control of the
army play?
4) The role and significance of key
personalities
THE HISTORICAL CONTEXT: Key Questions
The following are
suggested key questions and topics you might wish to base your research around.
There is NOTHING definitive about any of this. You can devise your own Key
Question and your own Key Topics. If you choose one of the suggested Key
Questions you can devise your own Key Topics.
3. Themes, Issues and Debates
You need to choose a theme to explore in your
Coursework. The following are some suggested themes. You do not need to follow
any of these, but they may provide you with some ideas. Although your
Coursework can focus on a particular part of the period, it MUST also
substantially (at least 20%) refer to, and take into account, the WHOLE of the
hundred years under investigation.
These are some of the underlying aspects to consider:
·
What
factors led to the authority of a single man becoming pre-eminent in
·
The
relationship between the emperor and the people
·
How
decisive a role did control of the army play?
·
The
role and significance of key personalities
Some important points:
·
Just because a question includes a quotation you should not feel that
you MUST agree with it, especially if your research and thoughts lead you to a
different conclusion.
·
You should not feel that you MUST sit on the fence when it comes to your
overall conclusion: a balanced conclusion does not have to conclude that
opposed points of view must both be agreed with. Your essay will be more
interesting to write (and read) if you – like a ‘real’ historian – draw a firm
overall conclusion of your own.
QUESTIONS
The following questions were
amongst chosen for 2010. These proved to be the most accessible for most
students. It will be possible to consider a question of your own choice, but
this will need separate and specific approval from the examination board. Here
are the 2010 questions with the Adviser’s comments:
A good question with an excellent
range of sources. You will need to
define 'name' and 'legacy' you may decide to focus on one of these factors only
as you progress your investigation.
In the main this is a clear and well
focused question, supported by a very good set of resources. You need to determine the exact wording of
the question; either 'rule' or 'maintenance of power' is acceptable, but you
need to focus specifically on one or other of the alternatives.
3. Military power was the only real basis of rule from 44 BC to AD 69.
How far do you agree with this statement?*
This question should work well. You need to avoid one pitfall, which is
describing military campaigns. The role of
military power in maintaining power needs to be evaluated against the other
factors you identify from your investigation.
An interesting question. You can demonstrate balance by considering
whether reliance on dynastic succession was a weakness at certain times. You also need to focus on other weaknesses to
provide balance; there is clearly room for debate on the relative weaknesses of
factors, but do not be sidetracked into disputing whether other factors are
really weaknesses - if you have chosen them to evaluate, you are evaluating
their relative importance as a weakness.
You should also consider whether to
consider all three features collectively or singularly. If the latter, you should be mindful of
whether you could refine your question further and focus on one feature.
Good luck.
6. ‘The varied and often bizarre characters of the emperors … were
crucial agents of political change in the principate’
(Goodman 1997, 50). Within the context of the period 44BC–AD69 how far do you
agree with this statement?*
An interesting question and one that
should lead to a rewarding investigation.
Think carefully about how you will interpret the key terms 'varied' and
'bizarre' and remember you are looking at 'character', as opposed to other
traits like (military) leadership skills, though this might be one of the
alternative factors you consider. You
should also be careful to avoid a series of mini biographies of each ruler.
3. Ancient and Modern Sources
AQA state that your enquiry should use:
·
A minimum of about 6 sources
·
Primary or secondary sources or both
·
Written, oral or visual sources
Your enquiry should show an understanding of
·
Historiography (how history is
written)
·
Different views and
interpretations
ANCIENT SOURCES (PRIMARY):
Ancient Sources are not like the sources you may be
familiar with from medieval
- COPYISTS: Ancient Sources survive only because medieval monks
copied what remained of the ancient manuscripts. There were no printed
versions produced until the Middle Ages.
- INCOMPLETE: This means that very few ancient sources are complete.
The Annals of Tacitus, our most important source for the period,
starts with Tiberius but has gaps covering the whole reign of Caligula
(37–41), part of the reign of Claudius (41–54) and part of Nero’s reign
(54–68). The History of Dio Cassius survives in
part only through summaries made by later copyists – in other words, we
don’t have the original text for some sections, just someone else’s
version of it.
- MISTAKES: It also means the sources sometimes have mistakes made by
the copyists.
- DATE OF THE SOURCE: Few of these ancient sources were eyewitnesses
or contemporaries of the time they describe. Suetonius
and Tacitus both wrote around the end of the 1st
century AD and the beginning of the 2nd century AD. Dio Cassius (or Cassius Dio)
wrote in the early 3rd century.
- Conversely, Velleius Paterculus
was a contemporary of Augustus and Tiberius, and strongly supported them.
We also have Augustus’s own Res Gestae or ‘achievements of his life’ which of
course paints a very attractive picture of those achievements.
- BIAS: Ancient Sources, like any other sources, are obviously
subject to bias. Tacitus was a senator and he
lived under the emperors and this affected his views.
- In some cases the bias amounts to outright falsification, or
deliberate manipulation of the record. In Tacitus’s
case it is believed that his portrayal of Tiberius (14–37) as a paranoid,
arbitrary recluse, was in reality a veiled criticism of Domitian (81–96) under whom Tactius
had grown up and had seen his father-in-law, Agricola,
ruined. Tacitus wrote under Trajan
(98–117), considered by him to be a benign ruler.
- LITERATURE/HISTORIOGRAPHY: Ancient Sources are not always
‘histories’ as we understand them. Tacitus and
others were concerned with producing literature and that meant modifying
the story by exaggerating events and obscuring others to make a more
literary or artistic account.
- BIOGRAPHERS: Suetonius wrote pen
portraits of Julius Caesar and the first eleven emperors (‘The Twelve
Caesars’) but he produced a hotch-potch of
historical fact, scurrilous rumour, anecdotes
and fantasy. He was in this sense a biographer and his concern was to
produce a colourful and memorable account of the
emperors and their personalities.
- TRANSLATIONS: Ancient Sources have had to be translated from Latin
or Greek. Translations are often paraphrases of the original, since Latin
and Greek expressions are quite different from English. Take a look at
this, which is Tacitus’s damning observation of
the short-lived emperor Galba (AD 68–9) (Histories I.49):
Omnium consensu capax imperii nisi imperasset.
In English, a
translation might be:
‘By
common consent he was capable of ruling if only he had not ruled.’
This means that translations differ quite widely. In
other words, you need to take care! Part of the success of your Coursework will
depend on your ability to look critically at these sources, and also form your
own judgment about how modern historians have dealt with them. You will find,
for example, that in ancient history enormous importance can be attached to
brief phrases and passages.
Many of these sources are readily available in books
like the Penguin Classics series. But they are also available online:
PART
1 – Ancient Sources
These are the principal historical sources for the period to
be studied. They include Augustus’s own record of his achievements, the Res Gestae.
A. Gaius Suetonius
Tranquillus The
Lives of the Twelve Caesars
Suetonius - the Life of Julius Caesar (died 44 BC)
Suetonius - the Life of Augustus (reigned 27 BC–AD 14)
Suetonius - the Life of Tiberius (reigned AD 14–37)
Suetonius - the Life of Caligula (reigned AD 37–41)
Suetonius - the Life of Claudius (reigned AD 41–54)
Suetonius - the Life of Nero (reigned AD 54–68)
B. Augustus Caesar The
Res Gestae
Another version of the Res
Gestae
C. Velleius Paterculus
The
Roman History (a very flattering portrait of Augustus)
D. Tacitus The Annals of Imperial Rome
and another version here
E. Tacitus The Histories – Book I is
especially useful for the state of the Empire in 68 and general observations
F. Dio Cassius Roman
History (especially Books 45–66)
G. Appian Roman
History
H. Josephus Jewish
Antiquities - on the accession of Claudius (search under Gratus on this page to find the account of how Claudius was
made emperor in AD 41)
I. Strabo Book V
– Rome provides a description of the City in Augustan times (scroll down to
Chapter 8).
K. Pliny the Elder’s Natural
History – a vast compendium of information about the Roman world compiled
by Pliny who died in the eruption of Vesuvius in AD 79.
Many of
these and others are included in:
Cooley, M.G.L., (Ed) The
Age of Augustus (
Inscriptions
and other texts may be found in:
VCoins – a commercial dealers’ site: go to Ancient Coins,
Search and enter your search words e.g. Claudius denarius
praetorian (make sure the Match All Words box is ticked)
The following pages have detailed descriptions, images and
references of coins of the generals and emperors you are studying:
PART
2 – Modern Sources
You might wonder how, with so little to go on, modern
authors have been able to write history books about the
1. General Roman History books
Alston,
R., 1998, Aspects of Roman History AD
14–117, Routledge, Abingdon
Balsdon, J.P.V. D., 1962, Roman Women:
their History and Habits, Bodley Head,
Bauman,
R.A., 1992, Women and Politics in Ancient
Goldsworthy,
A.
Goodman,
M., 1997,The Roman World 44BC–AD180, Routledge,
Patterson,
J.R., 2000, Political Life in the City of
Rodgers,
N., 2008,
Scarre, C., 1995, Chronicle of the
Roman Emperors, Thames & Hudson,
Scullard, H.H., 2007, From the Gracchi to Nero, Routledge,
Syme R., 1939,The Roman Revolution, OUP,
Southern,
P., 2009, Ancient
Wallace-Hadrill, A., 1993 Augustan
Wells, C.,
1984,The
2. Books on the emperors under study
Barrett,
A.A., 1989 Caligula. The Corruption of
Power, Batsford,
Barrett,
A.A., 2008, Lives of the Caesars,
Blackwell,
Everitt, A., 2007,The
First Emperor, John Murray,
Goldsworthy,
A., 2006, Caesar: the Life of a Colossus,
Weidenfield & Nicholson,
Grant, M.,
1975,The Twelve Caesars, Michael Grant,
Jones,
A.H.M., 1970, Augustus,
Levick, B., 1990, Claudius, Routledge,
Levick, B., 1999,Tiberius the
Politician, Routledge,
Levick, B., 1999, Vespasian, Routledge,
Shotter, D., 2008, Nero Caesar Augustus, Emperor of
Wiedemann, T., 1989, The Julio-Claudian Emperors,
Wilkinson,
S., 2005, Caligula, Rouledge,
Online
Resources for KSHS students only (needs password)
Julius Caesar
documentary:
Julius
Caesar Doc Part 1 (follow Youtube links to
subsequent parts)
The reign
of Augustus documentary:
Augustus Doc Part 1 (The
Rise of Octavian)
Augustus
Doc Part 2 (The Triumvirate: its creation and collapse)
Augustus
Doc Part 3 (The New Order)
Augustus
Doc Part 4 (Life under Augustus)
Augustus
Doc Part 5 (The Succession)
Augustus’
buildings:
Temple of Mars Ultor (from behind)
Julio-Claudian emperors:
Tiberius' villa on Capri -
the entrance
Tiberius' villa on Capri -
the cisterns
Tiberius' villa on Capri -
the semi-circular hall
Caligula's
speech (from I, Claudius) (search under I Claudius on Youtube
will yield plenty of results)
This section
of the Coursework Booklet is designed to familiarize you with the political
language of the Roman world.
REVOLUTIONARY CONSERVATISM
The Roman system under the
emperors combined Revolution and Conservatism:
- The Romans did not devise an ingenious new
system of monarchical rule
- The Romans were dominated by their
principle of mos maiorum
(‘the tradition of ancestors’)
- Under Augustus the Republican system was
refined and modified so that it was in reality
a monarchy but had the form of
the old Republic
THE FORM OF THE REPUBLIC
Traditional Roman society
fell into two parts:
- The patrician nobility, the patricii or
the patricians
- The people, plebs
By the fourth century BC this
had become blurred (see below). Rich plebs
were able to serve as magistrates alongside members of the old patricii and even
intermarried with them.
1. The COMITIA (Assembly)
- In
theory
- In practice the Comitia only met when magistrates
(originally drawn from the upper class, patricii) summoned it, and
voted only on measures placed before it
- The Comitia was only made up of male
citizens, divided up according to their wealth into blocks of 100 men
called centuriae (centuries).
- Voting started with the richer centuries
and ended when an overall majority had voted, so the poorest rarely (if
ever) got to vote at all
- This caused little trouble as most people
had no interest in governing the Roman state. They just wanted to be
protected from extremist magistrates and have a way of seeking redress for
their grievances.
- The Comitia in theory chose the
magistrates, but lost this right in AD 14.
2. The MAGISTRATES
The system become formalized in 82 BC. Men who served as
magistrates now followed a series of posts in a career structure called the cursus honorum and
entered the Senate. This is the order, starting from the highest:
a. The Consuls, the most senior
- Two consuls were elected annually by
the Comitia (until AD 14). They had equal powers, and could veto each
other
- Age:
at least 42 years old.
- The
idea of having two was to prevent any one man gaining supreme power.
- Ex-consuls
were known as proconsuls and
were sent out to govern the most important provinces of the Empire or take
senior military commands.
- To
maximize the number of available proconsuls
it became customary for the consuls to resign their posts early and be
replaced by several other pairs of consuls each year.
- In the
days of the emperors, it was common for the emperor to serve as one of the
consuls. Augustus served as consul annually from 27–23 BC, and again in 5
BC, and 2 BC. Tiberius held it three times: AD 18, 21 and 31. Caligula
held it in AD 37, 39–41, Claudius AD 42–43, 47, and 51, and Nero in AD 55,
57–8, 60 and 68.
- Since
this made an emperor a proconsul
too there was a technical possibility of rivalry with other proconsuls.
Proconsuls sent to govern provinces under the emperor’s personal control
(e.g.
b. The Praetors
- By
Julius Caesar’s time, there were 16 praetors
who dealt with justice in
- Ex-praetors,
propraetors,
were sent out to command legions and govern provinces.
c. The Aediles
- There
were 4 Aediles, in charge of corn dole, streets,
public order, water, weights and measures.
- It
was not necessary for a man on the cursus honorum to hold this post.
d. The Quaestors
- By
Julius Caesar’s time there were 40 Quaestors
- Quaestors looked after public finance
and the treasury
- Once
a man had served as Quaestor he was
automatically eligible to enter the Senate
- Age:
about 25
e. The military tribunes (not a magistracy)
- Bottom
of the ladder entry post, serving alongside the commander of a legion.
- Age:
about 20
3. The TRIBUNES of the PEOPLE (PLEBS)
- Some
magistrates held the tribuneship of the plebs,
usually after being a Quaestor
·
Tribuni plebis (‘the tribunes of the people’) could convene the
Senate but their main power came from the right to interfere on behalf of a Pleb who was being oppressed by a Patrician.
·
Since
the tribune was the one to decide whether someone was being oppressed, it was a
great power: tribunes could disrupt magistrate elections, stop troop or supply
levies and even suspend Senate business.
·
Tribunes
did all these things to wear down the Patrician monopoly on power, so that for
example in 367 BC Plebs were admitted to the consulship.
·
In
the late Republic rival factions exploited tribunes and their powers, causing
the political chaos of the age, helped by the fact that tribunes were usually
treated as sacred and inviolable.
·
The
tribuneship essentially became a magistracy like all
the others, with the holder just being a member of the Senatorial nobility and
therefore not being much of an advocate for the People.
·
Because
emperors held the power of a tribune
(see below), the tribuneship wasn’t a popular office
as a result and Augustus had to have a law passed that the tribuneship
be selected by lot from men who had served as quaestors.
4. The POWER of the TRIBUNE (tribunicia potestas)
·
Under
the emperors the tribunes generally operated on paper in the same way as they
always had done but they took care to do only what the emperor wanted. Not
surprising seeing as the emperors adopted the
power of a tribune in order to give them rights over legislation and the
Senate. Augustus, Tiberius, Caligula, Claudius and Nero, held this power every
year.
·
The
concept of the ‘power of the tribune’ (as distinct from actually being a tribune) was invented by
Augustus. According to Tacitus, he was ‘reluctant to
style himself king or dictator but wanted some title that would indicate his
pre-eminence over all other authorities’ (Annals
iii.56).
·
Tacitus named this phrase the summi fastigii vocabulum, ‘the
phrase for the supreme dignity’ (ibid)
because it was this device that gave the emperors their legal power over
everyone else.
5. The SENATE
- Senators had served at least as Quaestors on the magistrate career structure (see
above)
- Senators had to own property valued at a
minimum of 1 million sesterces, and were assessed for this by the Censors. So long as they continued
to fulfil this they were in for life. Most were far wealthier.
- The Senate was originally made up of men
drawn from around 1,000 noble patrician families which in practice meant a
closed circle of around 2000 men, from whom the roughly 600-odd serving
senators were drawn.
- Since 367 BC members of wealthy plebs families could enter the
Senate, and one of the two annual consulships had to be held by a plebs.
- The Senate preselected
candidates for the magistracies, approved measures before they went to the
Assembly, advised magistrates, and issued its views in a senatus consultum
(senatorial decree)
- The senatus consultum (senatorial decree) did not
automatically have the force of law in the period we are studying. To
become law a decree had to be ratified by the popular assemblies.
- The Senate’s greatest power lay in its
informal auctoritas
or prestige authority. In other words, its decisions and views carried
such authority and weight its decrees normally became law.
- Senators wore a special toga with a broad
purple stripe, and sat in the best rows at the theatre.
- Senators who supported the Senate were
known as Optimates
(‘Best Men’). Those who courted the support of the mob were known as Populares.
6. The SENATE under the
EMPERORS
- During the days of the emperors, the
emperor virtually always held the power of a tribune and was quite often
one of the consuls. This gave him enormous power over the Senate.
- The emperor appointed ex-consuls and
ex-praetors to govern his provinces (about 2/3 of the total) and command
the legions from amongst the senators.
- Senate controlled law courts, appointed
governors to senatorial provinces (about 1/3 of the total).
- The emperor co-opted wealthy provincials
onto the Senate, for example Claudius brought in Gauls,
so that provincials had a stake in the system.
Timeline
By the mid-1st
century BC
The prelude
50 BC Julius
Caesar crosses the Rubicon (enters
48 BC Caesar, despite
being outnumbered, defeats Pompey at the Battle of Pharsalus
in
44 BC Caesar was made
dictator perpetuus
(dictator for life). This semi-monarchical position horrifies traditionalists who hate any sense of
one man having supreme power. Caesar believes it is the only way to settle
44 BC Civil War
again. Octavian (Caesar’s great-nephew and adopted son) and Mark Antony now pursue the
killers of Caesar, Brutus and Cassius.
43 BC Mark Antony, Octavian and Lepidus form
the Triumvirate and divide the Roman world between them.
42 BC
41 BC
40 BC
37 BC
32 BC
31 BC Octavian
defeats
29 BC Octavian
celebrates a triumph in
Augustus
(27 BC–AD 14)
27 BC Octavian, now
Augustus (‘venerable’), agrees a constitutional settlement. Granted imperium
(military command power) for 10
years, and renewed later.
23 BC Augustus gives
up the consulship (but holds it again in 5 BC and 2 BC)
17 BC Augustus adopts
his grandsons Gaius and Lucius
12 BC Augustus
becomes Chief Priest
11 BC Augustus’s
step-son Tiberius forced to divorce his wife and marry Augustus’s daughter Julia
2 BC Augustus
becomes Father of the Country (Pater Patriae)
2 Lucius dies
4 Gaius dies, Augustus now adopts Tiberius
9 Catastrophe
in
14 Death of
Augustus
Tiberius
(AD 14–37)
14 Accession of
Tiberius
23 Death of Tiberius’s
son Drusus
27 Tiberius
withdraws to
31 Execution of
Tiberius’s Praetorian Prefect Sejanus, who had
plotted a coup
37 Death
(murder?) of Tiberius
Gaius ‘Caligula’ (AD 37–41)
37 Accession of
Gaius (son of Germanicus
and grandson of Tiberius’s brother Drusus the Elder;
is grandmother Antonia was daughter
of Augustus’s sister Octavia and Mark Antony; his
mother was Agrippina,
daughter of Agrippa and Augustus’s daughter Julia)
40 Abortive
expedition to invade
41 Gaius murdered by disaffected Praetorians
Claudius
(AD 41–54)
41 Accession of
Claudius, brother of Gaius’ father Germanicus, noted as a family idiot
42 Commences
new harbour works at
43 Invasion of
44 Holds a
triumph for his British invasion
48 Executes his
wife Messalina, mother of his son Britannicus,
and marries his niece Agrippina (sister of Gaius)
53 Agrippina’s son Nero marries Claudius’s daughter Octavia
(murdered in 62)
54 Murder(?) of
Claudius
Nero (AD
54–68)
54 Accession of
Nero, who can claim descent from Mark Antony,
Augustus’s sister Octavia, and Augustus’s
wife Livia (by her first husband)
55 Britannicus poisoned
59 Nero murders
his mother Agrippina
61 Revolt of Boudica in
62 Nero ejects
his tutor Seneca, appoints Tigellinus Praetorian
Prefect, divorces Octavia and marries Poppaea
64 Great Fire
in
65 Conspiracy
of Piso uncovered
66 Nero visits
67 Vespasian, with his son Titus, crushes the Jewish Revolt
68 Nero returns
to
Galba (AD 68–9), Otho (69), Vitellius (69)
68 Galba accepted by the Senate as the new emperor. Fails to
pay promised donative to soldiers
69 January: Galba murdered. Accession of Otho
but Rhine armies support Vitellius
April:
defeat and murder of Otho. Accession of VItellius
1 July:
army in
July:
defeat and murder of Vitellius at
Vespasian (69–79)
69 Accession of
Vespasian
70 Vespasian reaches
71 Return of Vespasian’s son Titus, now associated with him in titles as
designated successor
79 Death of Vespasian
Summary of
the emperors
REMEMBER! Julius
Caesar was NOT an emperor.
Augustus (Octavian) 27BC–AD14
Tiberius 14–37
Caligula 37–41
Claudius 41–54
Nero 54–68
Galba 68–69
Otho 69
Vitellius 69
Vespasian 69–79
Titus 79–81
Domitian 81–96
Nerva 96–98
Trajan 98–117
When writing an extended essay like this it must be
clear to the reader where your information came from. This distinguishes your
source material from your own conclusions and allows the examiner to assess
what material you utilized to write your essay and how you handled it. This
quotation below is from a report on a Classics essay prize awarded by
|
There were many essays which were very well written with strong arguments which were however lacking in proper referencing. We wish to emphasize that it is important to reference not only the ancient sources, but also the secondary reading. In some cases, lack of referencing resulted in other people’s arguments and ideas being passed off as the entrant’s own idea. In others, there seemed to be a lack of secondary reading and a reliance upon unreliable material from the internet. The strongest entries showed evidence of wide reading of secondary material as well as of original sources, and referencing of data and ideas. Such essays also contained a bibliography of works cited. |
So how do you do it? Your essay should feature a
Bibliography at the end which lists the works you used. They should appear in a
form like this, detailing author, title, publisher and city and date of
publication:
Barrett,
A.A., (Ed.) 2008, Lives of the Caesars,
Blackwell,
Bauman,
R.A., 1992, Women and Politics in Ancient
Everitt, A., 2007, The First Emperor, John Murray,
However, this is only part of the referencing procedure. You
must also place references within your text to these sources by using the author,
year and page. With ancient sources, for example Suetonius,
you refer to the specific work and the numbered sub-section within the source –
all ancient sources are sub-divided into ‘books’ and ‘chapters’ which are
universally applied so that it does not matter which edition you use; for the
same reason you do not need to cite the year for ancient sources. You may do
this either within the text, for example:
Hurley’s judgment is that Claudius avoided the
worst excesses of his predecessors (Hurley in Barratt,
Ed., 2008, 106), though his contemporaries considered him to be variously
‘wise’, ‘hasty’, ‘foolish’ and even by some to be ‘out of his senses’ (Suetonius, Claudius 15).
Or you can
do it as footnotes or endnotes, like this:
Hurley’s judgment is that Claudius does seem
to have avoided the worst excesses of his predecessors,1 though his
contemporaries considered him to be variously ‘wise’, ‘hasty’, ‘foolish’ and
even by some to be ‘out of his senses’.2
____________________________
1 Hurley
in Barratt, Ed., 2008, 106 [Ed =
‘Editor’]
2 Suetonius, Claudius
15
As you can
see, footnotes and endnotes are neater than inserting the reference into the
text and prevent the flow being disrupted. Note that in the Barrett book’s
case, he was the editor. The actual chapter in that book is by Barbara Hurley
so we show this in the reference and the page number. In Suetonius’
case we refer to the section on Claudius, and the sub-section within it, NOT
the page number and we do not need the year.
Sometimes you
may find a modern author has two works in the same year. In such cases you
would distinguish them in the Bibliography and references as, for example 2006
(i) and 2006 (ii).
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