Date of Award

Summer 2009

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Arts (MA)

Department

History

Committee Director

Kathy Pearson

Committee Member

Michael Carhart

Committee Member

Douglas Greene

Call Number for Print

Special Collections LD4331.H47 H43 2009

Abstract

This thesis examines the process by which successors to the Roman Principate were chosen under the Julio-Claudians, Flavians, and Antonine dynasties. Rome extended its hegemony over the Mediterranean and Europe with citizen-farmer legionaries who were loyal to the senate and Roman state. Warfare necessitated the creation of a professional army in which loyalty shifted from that of the state and senate to their respective military commander. Generals such as Sulla and Caesar used their legions to gain power establishing new political precedence from which future ambitious generals built upon, ultimately leading to the end of the Republic and the birth of the Empire.

Military success brought new wealth and territories to the Empire along with a new pervasive feeling of victory culture. Octavian's victory at Actium in 31 BC left him sole ruler of Rome, supplanting the house of Caesar as Rome's first imperial family. The formation of the Principate brought new questions never before contemplated; the most important dealt with the problem of how to pass power to an heir and what qualifications and characteristics were most desirable. Augustus envisioned his successor to possess the four virtues of pietas, iustitia, clementia, and virtus as inscribed on the clupeus virrutis. These virtues alone did not solely determine the selection of an heir apparent. The power of the Principate rested upon the ability to possess arcanum imperii. Imperial power was derived from the force and loyalty of the legions at his disposal. Premature

deaths of young heirs instilled Augustus to select an heir by process of adoption. Military commanders were optimal choices as they possessed military leadership which in theory enabled the heir to retain the support of the legions, a necessity for the arcanum imperii, Augustus's successor, Tiberius, detracted from the adoption principle, choosing instead to promote a less competent family member to the Principate. Hereditary succession continued under the accession of the Flavians and was never successfully implemented until the reign of the Antonines in the second century A.D.

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DOI

10.25777/0xfq-9x74

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