The expansion of the Roman Empire to AD 117.
From its humble origins as a group of villages on the Tiber in the
plains of Latium, Rome came to control one of the greatest empires in
history, reaching from the Atlantic Ocean to the Tigris and from the
North Sea to the Sahara Desert. Its extensive legacy continues to serve
as a lowest common denominator not only for the nations and peoples
within its erstwhile borders, but much of the modern world at large.
Roman law is the foundation for present-day legal systems across the
globe, the Latin language survives in the Romance languages spoken on
both sides of the Atlantic Ocean and beyond, Roman settlements developed
into some of Europe’s most important cities and stood model for many
others, Roman architecture left some of history’s finest manmade
landmarks, Christianity – the Roman state religion from AD 395 – remains
the world’s dominant faith and Rome continues to feature prominently in
Western popular culture…
Rome rose in a geographically favourable
location: on the left bank of the Tiber, not too far from the sea but
far enough inland to be able to control important trade routes in
central Italy: southwest from the Apennines alongside the Tiber, and
from Etruria southeast into Latium and Campania. In later ages, the
Romans always had much to tell about the founding and early history of
their city: tales about the twin brothers Romulus and Remus being raised
by a she-wolf, the founding of Rome by Romulus on 21 April 753 BC and
the reign of the Seven Kings (of which Romulus was the first). According
to Roman accounts, the last King of Rome – Tarquinius Superbus – was
expelled in 510 BC, after which the Roman aristocracy established a
republic ruled by two annually elected magistrates (Latin: pl. consulis) with the support of the Senate (Latin: senatus),
a council made up of the leaders of the most prominent Roman families.
Often at odds with their neighbours, the Romans considered military
service one of the greatest contributions common people could make to
the state and the easiest way for a consul to gain both power and prestige by protecting the republic.
The
Romans booked their first major triumph by conquering the Etruscan city
Veii in 396 BC and went on to defeat most of the Latin cities in
central Italy by 338 BC, despite the Celtic sack of Rome in 387 BC.
Throughout the second half of the fourth century BC, the republic
expanded in two different ways: direct annexation of enemy territory and
the creation of a complex system of alliances with the peoples and
cities of Italy. Shortly after 300 BC, nearly all the peoples of Italy
united to stop Roman expansion once and for all – among them the
Samnites, Umbrians, Etruscans and Celts. Rome obliterated the coalition
in the decisive Battle of Sentinum (295 BC) and thus became the
strongest power in Italy. By 264 BC, Rome controlled the Italian
peninsula up to the Po Valley and was powerful enough to challenge its
principal rival in the western Mediterranean: Carthage. The First Punic
War began when the Italic people of Messana called for Roman help
against both Carthage and the Greeks of Syracuse, a request which was
accepted surprisingly quickly. The Romans allied with Syracuse,
conquered most of Sicily and narrowly defeated the Carthaginian navy at
Mylae in 264 BC and Ecnomus in 256 BC – the largest naval battles of
Antiquity. Roman fleets gained a decisive victory off the Aegates
Islands in 241 BC, ending the war and forcing the Carthaginians to
abandon Sicily. Taking advantage of Carthage’s internal troubles, Rome
seized Sardinia and Corsica in 238 BC.
Rome’s
frustration at Carthage’s resurgence and subsequent conquests in Spain
sparked the Second Punic War, in which the Carthaginian commander
Hannibal crossed the Alps and invaded the Italian peninsula. The Romans
suffered massive defeats at the Trebia in 218 BC, Lake Trasimene in 217
BC and most famously at Cannae in 216 BC where over 50,000 Romans were
slain – the largest military loss in one day in any army until the First
World War. However, Hannibal failed to press his advantage and
continued an increasingly pointless campaign in Italy while the Romans
conquered the Carthaginian territory in Spain and ultimately brought the
war to Africa. Hannibal’s army made it back home but was decisively
defeated by Scipio Africanus at the Battle of Zama in 202 BC, securing
Rome’s hard-fought victory in arguably the most important war in Roman
history.
Firmly in command of much of the western
Mediterranean, Rome turned its attention eastwards to Greece. Less than
fifty years after the Second Punic War, Rome had crushed the Macedonian
kingdom – an erstwhile ally of Hannibal – and formally annexed the Greek
city-states after the destruction of Corinth in 146 BC. That very same
year, the Romans finished off the helpless Carthaginians in much the
same way, burning the city of Carthage to the ground and annexing its
remaining territory into the new province of Africa.
With Carthage, Macedon and the Greek cities out of the way, Rome was
free to deal with the Hellenic kingdoms in Asia Minor and the Middle
East, the remnants of Alexander the Great’s empire. In 133 BC, Attalus
III of Pergamum left his realm to Rome by testament, gaining the Romans
their first foothold in Asia.
As the Romans expanded
their borders, the unrest back in Rome and Italy increased accordingly.
The wars against Carthage and the Greeks had seriously crippled the
Roman peasants whom abandoned their home to campaign for years in
distant lands, only to come back and find their farmland turned into a
wilderness. Many peasants were thus forced to sell their land at a
ridiculously low price, causing the emergence of an impoverished
proletarian mass in Rome and an agricultural elite in control of vast
swathes of countryside. This in turn disrupted army recruitment, which
heavily relied on middle class peasants who were able to afford their
own arms and armour.
Two possible solutions could
remove this problem: a redistribution of the land so that the peasantry
remained wealthy and large enough to be able to afford their military
equipment and serve in the army, or else allowing the proletarian masses
to enter military service and make the army into a professional body.
However, both options would threaten the position of the Roman Senate: a
powerful peasantry could press calls for more political influence and a
professional army would bind soldiers’ loyalty to their commander
instead of the Senate. The senatorial elite thus stubbornly clung to the
existing institutions which were undermining the republic they wanted
to uphold. More importantly, the Senate’s attitude and increasingly
shaky position, in addition to the growing internal tensions, created a
perfect climate for overly ambitious commanders seeking to turn military
prestige gained abroad into political power back home.
Roman successes on the frontline nevertheless continued: Pergamum was turned into the province of Asia in 129 BC, Roman forces sacked the city of Numantia in Spain that same year, the Balearic Islands were conquered in 123 BC, southern Gaul became the new province of Gallia Narbonensis
in 121 BC and the Berber kingdom of Numidia was dealt a defeat in the
Jughurtine War (112 – 106 BC). The latter conflict provided Gaius Marius
the opportunity to reform his army without senatorial approval,
allowing proletarians to enlist and creating a force of professional
soldiers who were loyal to him before the Senate. Marius’ legions proved
their efficiency at the Battles of Aquae Sextiae in 102 BC and
Vercellae in 101 BC, virtually annihilating the migratory invasions of
the Germanic Cimbri and Teutones. Marius subsequently used his power and
prestige to secure a land distribution for his victorious forces, thus
setting a precedent: any successful commander with an army behind him
could now manipulate the political theatre back in Rome.
Marius
was succeeded as Rome’s leading commander by Lucius Cornelius Sulla,
who gained renown when Rome’s Italic allies – fed up with their unequal
status – attempted to renounce their allegiance. Rome narrowly won the
ensuing Social War (91 – 88 BC) and granted the Italic peoples full
Roman citizenship. Sulla left for the east in 86 BC, where he drove back
King Mithridates of Pontus, whom had sought to benefit from the Social
War by invading Roman territories in Asia and Greece. Sulla marched on
Rome itself in 82 BC, executed many of his political enemies in a bloody
purge and passed reforms to strengthen the Senate before voluntarily
stepping down in 79 BC.
Sulla’s retirement and death
one year later allowed his general Pompey to begin his own rise to
prominence. Following his victory in the Sertorian War in 72 BC, Pompey
eradicated piracy in the Mediterranean Sea in 67 BC and led a campaign
against Rome’s remaining eastern enemies in 66 BC. Pompey drove
Mithridates of Pontus to flight, annexed Pontic lands into the new
province of Bithynia et Pontus and created the province of Cilicia in southern Asia Minor. He proceeded to destroy the crumbling Seleucid Empire and turned it into the new province of Syria
in 64 BC, causing Armenia to surrender and become a vassal of Rome.
Pompey’s legions then advanced south, took Jerusalem and turned the
Hasmonean Kingdom in Judea into a Roman vassal as well. Upon
his triumphant return to Rome in 61 BC, Pompey made the significant
mistake of disbanding his army with the promise of a land distribution,
which was refused by the Senate in an attempt to isolate him. Pompey
then concluded a political alliance with the rich Marcus Licinius
Crassus and a young, ambitious politician: Gaius Julius Caesar.
The purpose of this political alliance – known in later times as the First Triumvirate – was to get Caesar elected as consul
in 59 BC, so that he could arrange the land distribution for Pompey’s
veterans. In return, Pompey would use his influence to make Caesar proconsul
and thus give him the chance to levy his own legions and become a man
of power in the Roman Republic. Crassus, the richest man in Rome, funded
the election campaign and easily got Caesar elected as consul, after which Caesar secured Pompey’s land distribution. Everything went according to plan and Caesar was made proconsul
of Gaul for five years, starting in 58 BC. In the following years,
Caesar and his legions systematically conquered all of Gaul in a war
which has been immortalised in the accounts of Caesar himself (‘Commentarii De Bello Gallico’).
Despite fierce resistance and massive revolts led by the Gallic warlord
Vercingetorix, the Gallic tribes proved unable to inflict a decisive
defeat on the Romans and were all subdued or annihilated by 51 BC,
leaving Caesar’s power and prestige at unprecedented heights.
With
Crassus having fallen at the Battle of Carrhae against the Parthians in
53 BC, Pompey was left to try and mediate between Caesar and the
radicalised Roman proletariat on one side and the politically
hard-pressed Senate on the other. However, Pompey had once been where
Caesar was now – the champion of Rome – and ultimately chose to side
with the Senate, realising his own greatness had become overshadowed by
Caesar’s staggering military successes and popularity among the masses.
When Caesar’s term as proconsul ended, the Senate demanded that he step down, disband his armies and return to Rome as a mere citizen. Though
it was tradition for a Roman commander to do so, rendering Caesar
theoretically immune from any senatorial prosecution, the existing
political situation made such demands hard to meet. Caesar instead
offered the Senate to extend his term as proconsul and leave him in command of two legions until he could be legally elected as consul
again. When the Senate refused, Caesar responded by crossing the
Rubicon – the northern border of Roman Italy which no Roman commander
should cross with an army – and marched on Rome itself in 49 BC.
Pompey
and most of the senators fled to Dyrrhachium in Greece and assembled
their forces while Caesar turned around and conducted a lightning
campaign in Spain, defeating the legions loyal to Pompey at the Battle
of Ilerda. Caesar crossed the Adriatic Sea in 48 BC, narrowly escaping
defeat by Pompey at Dyrrhachium and retreating south. Pompey clumsily
failed to press his advantage and his forces were in turn decisively
defeated by Caesar at the Battle of Pharsalus on 6 June 48 BC.
Pompey
fled to Egypt in hopes of being granted sanctuary by the young king
Ptolemy XIII, who instead had him assassinated in an attempt at pleasing
Caesar, who was in pursuit. Ptolemy XIII was driven from power in
favour of his older sister Cleopatra VII, with whom Caesar had a brief
romance and his only known son, Caesarion. In the spring and summer of
47 BC, another lightning campaign was launched northwards through Syria
and Cappadocia into Pontus, securing Caesar’s hold on Rome’s eastern
reaches and decisively defeating the forces of Pharnaces II of Pontus,
who had attempted to profit from Rome’s internal strife. Caesar invaded
Africa in 46 BC and cleared Pompeian forces from the region at the
Battles of Ruspina and Thapsus before returning to Spain and defeating
the last resistance at the Battle of Munda in 45 BC.
Caesar
subsequently began transforming the Roman government from a republican
one meant for a city-state to an imperial one meant for an empire. Major
reforms were required to achieve this, many of which would be opposed
by Caesar’s political enemies. This was a problem because several of
these people enjoyed significant political influence and popular support
(cf. Cicero) and while none of them could really challenge Caesar
individually and publicly, collectively and secretly they could be a
serious threat. To render his enemies politically impotent, Caesar
consolidated his popularity among the Roman masses by passing reforms
beneficial to the proletariat and enlarging the Senate to ensure his
supporters had the upper hand. He then manipulated the Senate into
granting him a number of legislative powers, most prominently the office
of dictator for ten years, soon changed to dictator perpetuus.
Though widely welcomed by the masses, Caesar’s reforms and legislative
powers dismayed his political opponents, whom assembled a conspiracy to
murder him and ‘liberate’ Rome. The
conspirators, of whom Brutus and Cassius are the most famous, were
successful and Caesar was brutally stabbed to death on 15 March 44 BC.
Caesar’s
death left a power vacuum which plunged the Roman world into yet
another civil war. In his testament, Caesar adopted as his sole heir his
grandnephew Gaius Octavius, henceforth known as Gaius Julius Caesar
Octavianus (Octavian, in English). Despite being only eighteen, Octavian
quickly secured the support of Caesar’s legions and forced the Senate
to grant him several legislative powers, including the consulship. In 43
BC, Octavian established a military dictatorship known as the Second
Triumvirate with Caesar’s former generals Mark Antony and Marcus
Lepidus. Caesar’s assassins had meanwhile fled to the eastern provinces,
where they assembled forces of their own and subsequently moved into
Greece. Octavian and Antony in turn invaded Greece in 42 BC and defeated
them at the Battles of Philippi.
Octavian, Antony
and Lepidus then divided the Roman world between them: Octavian would
rule the west, Antony the east and Lepidus the south with Italy as a
joint-ruled territory. However, Octavian soon proved himself a brilliant
politician and strategist by quickly consolidating his hold on both the
western provinces and Italy, smashing the Sicilian Revolt of Sextus
Pompey (son of) in 36 BC and ousting Lepidus from the Triumvirate that
same year.
Meanwhile, Antony consolidated his
position in the east but made the fatal mistake of becoming the lover of
Cleopatra VII. In 32 BC, Octavian manipulated the Senate into a
declaration of war upon Cleopatra’s realm, correctly expecting Antony
would come to her aid. The two sides battled at Actium on 2 September 31
BC, resulting in a crushing victory for Octavian, despite Antony and
Cleopatra escaping back to Egypt. Octavian crossed into Asia the
following year and marched through Asia Minor, Syria and Judea into
Egypt, subjugating the eastern territories along the way. On 1 August 30
BC, the forces of Octavian entered Alexandria. Both Antony and
Cleopatra perished by their own hand, leaving Octavian as the undisputed
master of the Roman world.
Octavian assumed the title of Augustus
in January 27 BC and officially restored the Roman Republic, although
in reality he reduced it to little more than a facade for a new imperial
regime. Thus began the era of the Principate, named after the
constitutional framework which made Augustus and his successors princeps
(first citizen), commonly referred to as ‘emperor’, and which would
last approximately two centuries. Augustus nevertheless refrained from
giving himself absolute power vested in a single title, instead subtly
spreading imperial authority throughout the republican constitution
while simultaneously relying on pure prestige. Thus he avoided stomping
any senatorial toes too hard, remembering what had happened to Julius
Caesar.
Augustus and his successors drew most of their power from two republican offices. The title of tribunicia potestes ensured the emperor political immunity, veto rights in the Senate and the right to call meetings in both the Senate and the concilium plebis
(people’s assembly). This gave the emperor the opportunity to present
himself as the guardian of the empire and the Roman people, a
significant ideological boost to his prestige. Secondly, the emperor
held imperium proconsulare. Imperium
implied the emperor’s governorship of the so-called imperial provinces,
which were typically border provinces, provinces prone to revolt and/or
exceptionally rich provinces. These provinces obviously required a
major military presence, thereby securing the emperor’s command of most
of the Roman legions. The title was proconsulare because the emperor enjoyed imperium
even without being a consul. The emperor furthermore interfered in the
affairs of the (non-imperial) senatorial provinces on a regular basis
and gave literally every person in the empire the theoretical right to
request his personal judgement in court cases. Roman religion was also
brought under the emperor’s wings by means of him becoming pontifex maximus
(supreme priest), a position of major ideological importance. On top of
all this, the Senate frequently granted the emperor additional rights
which enhanced his power even more: supervision over coinage, the right
to declare war or conclude peace treaties, the right to grant Roman
citizenship, control over Roman colonisation across the Mediterranean,
etc. The emperor was thus the supreme administrator, commander, priest
and judge of the empire – a de facto absolute ruler,
but without actually being named as such. It is worth noting that
Augustus and most of his immediate successors worked hard to play along
in the empire’s republican theatre, which gradually faded as the centuries passed.
The
most important questions nonetheless remained the same for a long time
after Augustus’ death in AD 14. Could the emperor keep himself in the
Senate’s good graces by preserving the republican mask? Or did he choose an open conflict with the Senate by ruling all too autocratically? Even a de facto
absolute ruler required the support and acceptance of the empire’s
elite class, the lack of which could prove to be a serious obstacle to
any imperial policies. The relationship between the emperor and the
Senate was therefore of significant importance in maintaining the
political work of Augustus, particularly under his immediate successors.
The first four of these were Tiberius, Caligula, Claudius and Nero –
the Julio-Claudian dynasty. Tiberius was chosen by Augustus as successor
on account of his impressive military service and proved to be a
capable (if gloomy) ruler, continuing along the political lines of
Augustus and implementing financial policies which left the imperial
treasuries in decent shape at his death in AD 37 and Caligula’s
accession. Despite having suffered a harsh youth full of intrigues and
plotting, Caligula quickly gained the respect of the Senate, the army
and the people, making a hopeful entry into the Principate. Yet
continuous personal setbacks turned Caligula bitter and autocratic, not
to say tyrannical, causing him to hurl his imperial power head-first
into the senatorial elite and any dissenting groups (most notably the
Jews). After Caligula’s assassination in AD 41, the position of emperor
fell to his uncle Claudius who, despite a strained relationship with the
Senate, managed to play the republican charade well enough to implement
further administrative reforms and successfully invade the British
Isles to establish the province of Britannia from AD 43 onward.
But the Roman drive for expansion had been somewhat tempered after
Augustus’ consolidating conquests in Spain, along the Danube and in the
east. The Romans had practically turned the Mediterranean Sea into their
own internal sea (Mare Internum or Mare Nostrum)
and thus switched to territorial consolidation rather than expansion.
However, the former was still often accomplished by the latter as
multiple vassal states (Judea, Cappadocia, Mauretania, Thrace etc.) were
gradually annexed as new Roman provinces. Actual wars of aggression
nevertheless ceased to be a main item on the Roman agenda and indeed,
the policies of consolidation and pacification paved the way for a long
period of internal peace and stability during the first and second
centuries AD – the Pax Romana. This should not be
idealised, though. On the local level, violence was often one of the few
stable elements in the lives of the common people across the empire.
Especially among the lowest ranks of society, crimes such as murder and
thievery were the order of the day but were typically either ignored by
the Roman authorities or answered with brute force. Moreover, the Romans
focused on safeguarding cities and places of major strategic or
economic importance and often cared little about maintaining order in
the vast countryside. Unpleasant encounters with brigands, deserters or
marauders were therefore likely for those who travelled long distances
without an armed escort. At the empire’s frontiers, the Roman legions
regularly fought skirmishes with their local enemies, most notably the
Germanic tribes across the Rhine-Danube frontier and the Parthians
across the Euphrates. Despite all this, the big picture of the Roman
world in the first and second centuries AD is indeed one of lasting
stability which could not be discredited so easily.
The real threat to the Pax Romana
existed not so much in local violence, shady neighbourhoods or frontier
skirmishes but rather in the highest ranks of the imperial court. The
lack of both dynastic and elective succession mechanisms had been the
Principate’s weakest point from the outset and would be the cause of
major internal turmoil on several occasions. Claudius’ successor Nero
succeeded in provoking both the Senate and the army to such an extent
that several provincial governors rose up in open revolt. The chaos
surrounding Nero’s flight from Rome and death by his own hand plunged
the empire into its first major succession crisis. If the emperor lost
the respect and loyalty of both the Senate and the army, he could not
choose a successor, giving senators and soldiers a free hand to appoint
the persons they considered suitable to be the new emperor. This being
the exact situation upon Nero’s death in AD 68, the result was nothing
short of a new civil war.
To further add to the
catastrophe, the civil war of AD 68/69 (the Year of Four Emperors)
allowed for two major uprisings to get out of hand – the Batavian Revolt
near the mouths of the Rhine and the First Jewish-Roman War in Judea.
Both of these were ultimately crushed with significant difficulties,
especially in Judea where Jewish religious-nationalist sentiments
capitalised on existing political and economic unrest. Though the Romans
achieved victory with the destruction of Jerusalem in AD 70 and the
expulsion of the Jews from the city, Judea would remain a hotbed for
revolts until deep into the second century AD. The fact that major
uprisings arose at the first sign of trouble within the empire might
cause one to wonder about the true nature of the Pax Romana.
Was it truly the strong internal stability it is popularly known to be?
Or was it little more than a forced peace, continuously threatened by
socio-economic and political discontent among the many different peoples
under the Roman yoke? Though a bit of both, the answer definitely leans
towards the former hypothesis. While the Pax Romana
lasted, unrest within the empire remained limited to a few hotbeds with
a history of resisting foreign conquerors. Besides the obvious example
of the Jewish people in Judea, whose anti-Roman sentiments largely
stemmed from their unique messianic doctrines, large-scale resistance
against the Romans was scarce. It is true that the incorporation and
Romanisation of unique societies near the empire’s northern frontiers
led to severe socio-economic problems and subsequent uprisings, most
notably Boudica’s Rebellion in Britain (AD 60 – 61) and the
aforementioned Batavian Revolt near the mouths of the Rhine.
Nevertheless, it is safe to assume that the Pax Romana was strong enough to outlast a few pockets of rebellion and even a major succession crisis like the one of AD 68/69.
The
Year of the Four Emperors ultimately brought to power Vespasian,
founder of the Flavian dynasty (AD 69 – 96) and architect of an
intensified pacification policy throughout the empire. These policies
were fruitful and strengthened the constitutional position of the
emperor, not in the least owing to the fact that Vespasian’s sons and
successors Titus and Domitian were as capable as their father. However,
their skills did not prevent Titus and especially Domitian from
bickering with the senatorial elite over the increasingly obvious
monarchical powers of the emperor. In the case of the all too
authoritarian Domitian, the conflict escalated again and despite his
competent (if ruthless) statesmanship, Domitian was murdered in AD 96. A
new civil war was prevented by diplomatic means: Nerva emerged as an
acceptable emperor to both the Senate and the army, especially when he
adopted the popular Trajan as his son and heir. Thus began the reign of
the Nerva-Antonine dynasty (AD 96 – 192). Having succeeded Nerva in AD
98, Trajan once more steered the empire onto the path of aggressive
expansion, leading the Roman legions across the Danube to crush the
Dacians and establish the rich province of Dacia in
AD 106. Subsequently, the Romans seized the initiative in the east,
drove back the Parthians and advanced all the way to the Persian Gulf (Sinus Persicus). Trajan annexed Armenia in AD 114 and turned the conquered Parthian lands into the new provinces of Mesopotamia and Assyria
in AD 116. Trajan died less than a year later on 9 August AD 117, his
staggering military successes having brought the Roman Empire to its
greatest extent ever…
