Pax Romana

by Adrian Goldsworthy

  14–37 Principate of Tiberius.

  14–16 War against Arminius continues until halted by Tiberius.

  17–24 Rebellion of Tacfarinas.

  19 Death of Germanicus. Trial of Calpurnius Piso.

  c.19 Arminius murdered by own chieftains.

  21 Revolt of Florus and Sacrovir. Rebellion of some Thracian tribes.

  26–36 Pontius Pilate governs Judaea as prefect.

  28 Revolt of the Frisii.

  37–41 Principate of Gaius (Caligula).

  40–44 Mauretania rebels and is fully conquered by Suetonius Paulinus and later Hosidius Geta.

  41–54 Principate of Claudius.

  43 Invasion of Britain.

  47 Rebellion by a group of Iceni put down by Ostorius Scapula. Corbulo campaigns east of the Rhine, but is recalled by Claudius.

  54–68 Principate of Nero.

  55–64 War with Parthia over control of Armenia.

  59 Violent confrontation between rival crowds from Pompeii and Nuceria.

  60–61 Rebellion of Boudicca in Britain.

  66–74 The Jewish Rebellion.

  68–69 Civil War – ‘The Year of Four Emperors’. Galba, Otho and Vitellius seize the throne in rapid succession, but war eventually won by Vespasian.

  70–79 Principate of Vespasian.

  70 Jerusalem captured after a long siege. Batavian Revolt.

  73–74 Masada besieged and taken.

  78–84 Agricola governs Britain and campaigns in the north.

  79–81 Principate of Titus.

  81–96 Principate of Domitian.

  85–89 War with King Decebalus of Dacia.

  96–98 Principate of Nerva.

  98–117 Principate of Trajan.

  101–102 Trajan’s First Dacian War.

  105–106 Trajan’s Second Dacian War.

  c.109–111 Pliny sent as legate to govern Bithynia and Pontus.

  113–117 Trajan’s Parthian War.

  115–117 Rebellion by Jewish population of Egypt, Cyrenaica and Cyprus.

  117–138 Principate of Hadrian.

  122 Construction of Hadrian’s Wall begun.

  131–135 Bar Kochba Revolt in Judaea.

  138–161 Principate of Antoninus Pius.

  140–143 Construction of Antonine Wall begun.

  161–180 Principate of Marcus Aurelius.

  162–166 War with Parthia conducted and won by Marcus’ co-ruler, Lucius Verus.

  167–180 Warfare against German tribes on the Danube.

  171/2 Revolt of the Boukoloi.

  180–192 Principate of Commodus.

  193–197 Civil War, eventually won by Severus.

  197–211 Principate of Septimius Severus.

  211–217 Caracalla’s reign ends with his murder. This is followed by another period of civil war.

  222–235 Principate of Severus Alexander.

  476 Romulus Augustus, the last emperor in the West, is deposed.

  GLOSSARY

  Accensus: The senior clerk/secretary in charge of a proconsul’s or propraetor’s administrative staff. Such men were often well educated and trusted slaves or freedmen.

  Aedile: The aediles were magistrates responsible for aspects of the day-to-day life of the City of Rome, including the staging of a number of annual festivals. Usually held between the quaestorship and the praetorship, there were fewer aediles than praetors and the post was not a compulsory part of the cursus honorum.

  Aerarium militare: The Military Treasury or aerarium militare was established by Augustus in AD 6 to fund the army and in particular arrange for the pay and discharge bonuses of soldiers. Although he provided the bulk of the initial money from his own fortune, an unpopular inheritance tax was set up to support it in the future.

  Aquilifer: The standard bearer who carried the legion’s standard (aquila), a silver or gilded statuette of an eagle mounted on a staff.

  Ala: (i) Republic: an ala was a legion-sized formation composed of Latin or other Italian soldiers. One ala usually accompanied each legion in the field.

  (ii) Principate: an ala was a unit of auxiliary cavalry roughly equivalent in size to an infantry cohort.

  Auctoritas: The prestige and influence of a Roman senator. Auctoritas was greatly boosted by military achievements.

  Auxilia (auxiliaries): The non-citizen soldiers recruited into the army during the Late Republic and Principate were known generally as auxiliaries or supporting troops.

  Ballista: A two-armed torsion catapult capable of firing bolts or stones with considerable accuracy. These were built in various sizes and most often used in sieges.

  Beneficiarius: Experienced soldier attached to the staff of a provincial governor. They often performed policing functions and were detached as individuals or small groups.

  Cataphract: Heavily armoured cavalryman often riding an armoured horse. These formed an important component of the Parthian army.

  Centurion: Important grade of officers in the Roman army for most of its history; centurions originally commanded a century of eighty men. The most senior centurion of a legion was the primus pilus, a post of enormous status held only for a single year.

  Century (centuria): The basic sub-unit of the Roman army, the century was commanded by a centurion and usually consisted of eighty men.

  Cohort (cohors): The basic tactical unit of the legion, consisting of six centuries of eighty soldiers with a total strength of 480.

  Consul: The year’s two consuls were the senior elected magistrates of the Roman Republic, and held command in important campaigns. Sometimes the Senate extended their power after their year of office, in which case they were known as proconsuls.

  Cornicularius: Clerk on the staff of a unit officer or provincial governor.

  Cursus honorum: The term given to the career pattern regulating public life. Existing legislation dealing with age and other qualifications for elected magistracies was restated and reinforced by Sulla during his dictatorship, and subsequently modified by Augustus.

  Decurio (decurion): Cavalry officer originally in command of a group of ten men. By the Principate a decurion commanded a turma, or about thirty men.

  Dekanos: Civilian official in Egypt.

  Denarius: The basic silver coin under the Principate. It was the ‘penny’ of the Authorised Bible, hence the pre-decimalisation abbreviation of d for pence.

  Dictator: In times of extreme crisis a dictator was appointed for a six-month period during which he exercised supreme civil and military power. Later victors in civil wars, such as Sulla and Julius Caesar, used the title as a basis for more permanent power.

  Diôgmitai: Police constables in many Hellenic cities. The name literally means ‘chasers’.

  Duplicarius: Soldier receiving double pay and probably acting as a junior officer.

  Eirênarchai: Elected magistrates in many Hellenic cities whose duties included policing its territory.

  Ephebe: Adolescent males in Greek cities underwent a process of state-supervised training at the gymnasium. This was mainly concerned with physical fitness, but often included elements of more specifically military training.

  Equites (sing. eques): The equestrians or ‘knights’ were the group with the highest property qualification registered by the census. From the time of the Gracchi they were given a more formal public role as jurors in the courts, an issue that became extremely contentious. Only under Augustus was a separate senatorial order created as a distinct class.

  Fasces (sing. fascis): An ornamental bundle of rods some 5 feet long in the middle of which was an axe. They were carried by lictors and were the most visible symbols of a magistrate’s power and status.

  Forum Augustum: The Forum constructed by Augustus with the Temple of Mars Ultor in its centre.

  Forum Romanum: The political and economic heart of the City of Rome which lay between the Capitoline, Palatine, Quirinal and Velian hills. Public meetings were often held either around the Rostra, or at the eastern end of the Forum. The C
oncilium plebis and Comitia tributa also usually met in the Forum to legislate.

  Frumentarii: Soldiers on detached service to supervise the military grain supply. Their duties involved regular travel to and from Rome and the provinces and over time they took on the role of an internal intelligence service.

  Gladius: A Latin word meaning sword, gladius is conventionally used to describe the gladius hispaniensis, the Spanish sword which was the standard Roman sidearm until well into the third century AD. Made from high-quality steel, this weapon could be used for cutting, but was primarily intended for thrusting.

  Hasmonean: In the second century BC, Judaea successfully rebelled against the Seleucids. An independent kingdom was created, ruled by the Hasmonean dynasty. Antony and Octavian eventually installed Herod the Great in place of the old royal family.

  Imagines: Military standards bearing the image of the princeps or his family.

  Immunis: Soldier exempt from fatigues, often because he possessed a specialist skill or trade.

  Imperium: The power of military command held by magistrates and pro-magistrates during their term of office. Augustus and his successors were granted maius imperium proconsulare – i.e. proconsul power that was superior to that of all other proconsuls.

  Legatus (pl. legati): A subordinate officer who held delegated imperium rather than exercising power in his own right and acted as the deputy of a governor. Under the Republic legati were chosen by a magistrate rather than elected. Under the Principate some were appointed by the princeps. Legates were also divided into two main grades, known as the legatus legionis who commanded a legion, and the legatus Augusti who commanded a province.

  Legion (legio): Originally a term meaning levy, the legions became the main unit of the Roman army for much of its history. Under the Principate the theoretical strength of a legion was around 4,800–5,000 men in ten cohorts each of 480 men, although sometimes the first cohort was enlarged to 800 men. There was also a contingent of 120 horsemen and each legion was equipped with artillery and included many specialists in its ranks. The effective strength of a legion on campaign was often much lower than its theoretical strength.

  Librarius: Junior clerk in the headquarters of a unit.

  Lictor: The official attendants of a magistrate who carried the fasces which symbolised his right to dispense justice and inflict capital and corporal punishment. Twelve lictors attended a consul, while a dictator was normally given twenty-four.

  Optio: A centurion’s deputy and second-in-command of a century.

  Ornamenta triumphalia: Augustus introduced the ‘ornaments’ of a triumph, given as a reward in place of a triumph itself. After 19 BC, no one outside his extended family was granted a full triumph, but provincial governors who had won a victory were awarded this distinction instead.

  Ovatio (ovation): A lesser form of the triumph, in an ovation the general rode through the City on horseback rather than in a chariot.

  Paraphylakes: Professional police commanders in some Hellenic cities.

  Pilum (pl. pila): The heavy javelin which was the standard equipment of the Roman legionary for much of Rome’s history. Its narrow head was designed to punch through an enemy’s shield, the long, thin shank then giving it the reach to hit the man behind it.

  Praesidium: A military garrison, ranging in size from small outposts to thousands of men.

  Praetorian guard: Augustus established nine permanent praetorian cohorts to form his guard. At this stage they had no permanent barracks in Rome and only three cohorts were ever present in the City at one time. This changed under Tiberius, when all nine cohorts were concentrated in a fort in Rome. In most cases the praetorians only went on campaign if the emperor or a member of the imperial family led the army.

  Praetor: Praetors were annually elected magistrates who under the Republic governed the less important provinces and fought Rome’s smaller wars. When serving as governors their command might be extended, in which case they were given the title of propraetor.

  Prefect (praefectus): (i) One of three senior officers leading a Republican allied ala and effectively equivalent to a tribune in a legion.

  (ii) Governor of an equestrian province, e.g. Judaea till AD 66 and Egypt.

  (iii) Commander of an auxiliary ala or cohort under the Principate.

  Primi ordines: The centurions of the first cohort of a legion. These men were the most senior in the centurionate, and enjoyed considerable status.

  Primus pilus: The commander of the first century of the first cohort and the senior centurion of the legion.

  Principate: Modern term for the regime created by Augustus, meaning the rule of a princeps, sometimes less accurately referred to as an emperor.

  Princeps: First citizen, and leader of the Senate, People and State, princeps was the term Augustus preferred for his own status. In the past the senatorial roll was headed by a princeps senatus, chosen by the censors supposedly as the council’s most prestigious and respected member. In all usages, the term had no particular powers, but was a mark of esteem and respect.

  Procurator: (i) Title for governor of equestrian provinces from c.40, replacing the earlier title of prefect.

  (ii) Financial administrator similar to a quaestor, but serving in imperial provinces.

  Quaestor: Magistrates whose duties were primarily financial, quaestors acted as deputies to consular governors and often held subordinate military commands.

  Regionarius (fully centurio regionarius): A centurion placed in charge of a region or district.

  Scorpion: The light bolt-shooting ballista employed by the Roman army both in the field and in sieges. They possessed a long range, as well as great accuracy and the ability to penetrate any form of armour.

  Sesquiplicarius: Soldier receiving one and half times normal pay, and probably holding a specialist post or acting as a junior officer.

  Signifer: The junior officer who carried the signum standard of a century. In the imperial army he was also responsible for a range of administrative roles within the unit, most notably supervising the soldiers’ pay and savings.

  Singulares: The elite bodyguards of a senior Roman officer under the Principate, such as a legionary or provincial legate. These men were normally auxiliaries seconded from their units. The singulares Augusti were an elite cavalry unit drawn from the entire empire and attached to the praetorian guard.

  Stationarii: Soldiers detached from their unit to serve in a garrison.

  Talent: The actual size of this Greek measurement of weight – and by extension money – varied considerably, from about 57 to 83 pounds. It is rarely clear from sources who employ the term which standard was in use.

  Tesserarius: One of the junior officers within a century, the name was derived from the tessera tablet on which was written the watchword for the day.

  Tribuni aerarii: The group registered below the equestrian order in the census. Relatively little is known about them.

  Tribunus militum (military tribune): Six military tribunes were elected or appointed to each Republican legion, one pair holding command at any one time. Under Augustus the number remained at six, but of these one was pursuing a senatorial career and was senior. This man, the tribunus laticlavius from the broad stripe worn around his cuirass, was second-in-command to the legionary legate. The other five tribunes, the tribuni angusticlavii who wore a narrow stripe, were equestrians and had usually already served in command of an auxiliary cohort.

  Triumph: The great celebration granted by the Senate to a successful general took the form of a procession along the Sacra Via, the ceremonial main road of Rome, displaying the spoils and captives of his victory, and culminated in the ritual execution of the captured enemy leader. The commander rode in a chariot, dressed like the statues of Jupiter, a slave holding a laurel wreath of Victory over his head. The slave was supposed to whisper to the general, reminding him that he was mortal.

  Triumvir: In 43 BC Antony, Lepidus and Octavian were named as triumviri rei publicae constit
uendae (board of three to reconstitute the state) by the lex Titia proposed by a tribune and passed by the Concilium plebis. The triumvirate was granted dictatorial powers, initially for five years.

  Urban cohorts: Three urban cohorts were raised by Augustus as a paramilitary police force for Rome itself. They were commanded by the urban prefect. It is possible that a fourth cohort was raised under Augustus to guard the imperial mint at Lugdunum in Gaul, since the unit was certainly there under Tiberius.

  Vergobret: Elected senior magistrate in many Gallic tribes such as the Aedui.

  Vexillation (vexillatio): (i) A detachment of troops operating away from their parent unit or units.

  (ii) Name given to some cavalry units in the late Roman army.

  Vexillum: A square flag mounted crosswise on a pole, the vexillum was used to mark a general’s position and was also the standard carried by a detachment of troops. A general’s vexillum seems usually to have been red.

  Vigiles: Formed by Augustus in AD 6, the seven cohorts of vigiles acted as a fire brigade and night police for the City of Rome. Each cohort was placed in control of two of the fourteen regions formed at the same time.

  ABBREVIATIONS

  AE = L’Année Épigraphique

  ANRW = Aufstieg und Niedergang der römischen Welt Appian, BC = Appian, Civil Wars Appian, Bell. Hisp. = Appian, Spanish Wars Appian, Mith. = Appian, The Mithridatic Wars Broughton, MRR 2 = T. Broughton & M. Patterson (1951), The

  Magistrates of the Roman Republic Vol. 2

  Caesar, BC = Caesar, The Civil Wars Caesar, BG = Caesar, The Gallic Wars CAH2 IX = J. Crook, A. Lintott & E. Rawson (eds), The Cambridge

  Ancient History 2nd edn Vol. IX: The Last Age of the Roman Republic, 146–43 BC

  CAH2 X = A. Bowman, E. Champlin & A. Lintott (eds), The Cambridge

  Ancient History 2nd edn Vol. X: The Augustan Empire, 43 BC–AD 69

  Cicero, ad Att. = Cicero, Letters to Atticus

  Cicero, ad Fam. = Cicero, Letters to his friends Cicero, ad Quintum Fratrem = Cicero, Letters to his Brother Quintus Cicero, Verrines = Cicero, Verrine Orations CIG = Corpus Inscriptionum Graecarum CIL = Corpus Inscriptionum Latinarum Dio = Cassius Dio, Roman History Galen, Comm. In Hipp. Epid., CMG = C. Kühn, Galenus Medicus (1821–