AUGUSTUS AND TIBERIUS

PROVINCES AND THE SUCCESSION

Provinces

The Problem:
 Expand frontiers to protect empire, especially civilized regions
 Then worry about army commanders far away
One Solution:
 Economical frontiers as possible for safety
    Fewer armies: less danger, also cheaper
 Maintain loyalty of army

Army

Army career not unattractive
 Fixed terms of service and pay
 Opportunity for promotion to centurion (60 per legion)
 Senior centurions (primus pilus) became equestrian when retired
 Conscription not usually necessary
Tribuni militum: young men, senatorial or equestrian
 Starting career: administrative duties
Senatorial legatus overall
Military experience insured by standing army
 Centurions, praefecti castrorum (quarter-masters), praefecti fabrum (engineers)
 Auxilia good not only because spread citizenship
  but because provinces responsible now for own protection:  economical, and created loyalty to empire
Loyalty: both kinds of troops had regular assignment to a legion
 Legions named and numbered: attachment
Settlements where armies usually are = spreading Roman civilization

Size: Army reduced to 28 legions
 much moving about, esp. under Augustus, for large campaigns on borders
Usual distribution later:
   Spain (3), Rhine (8), Danube (7), Syria (4), Egypt (2), Africa (1)
 NB: adds up to 25: thanks to Varus in CE 9
Peacetime army used in construction of roads, frontier fortifications, bridges, aqueducts, canals

Navy

Augustus also instituted standing navy for Mediterranean
 Also Rhine, Danube
 Lower status than army, more like auxilia
 Equestrian prefects
 

The East

Manifold problems
 Augustus there in 30-29, 22-19
 Agrippa there in 23-21, 16-13

Parthia a great threat, controlled by client kings and diplomacy
Amyntas, king of Galatia died in 25: it became Roman province
Client kingdom in Cappadocia, next east
Campaigns, later colonies and roads vs. wild tribes to north
Pontus had a client king
Trouble with Scythian tribes N. of Black Sea
    This area added to Pontus, ruled by friendly king or queen
 Armenia the key: Augustus usually controlled it
  Pro-Roman ruler
  Never annoyed Parthia by annexing Armenia
   (Also avoided overextension and imbalance)
After taking Egypt, Augustus might have attacked Parthia (public opinion)
  Avenge losses of Crassus and Antony
 Too expensive; war bad if avoidable

Tiberius with a show of force made terms with Phraates of Parthia in 20
 Standards recovered: big deal on coins, statue (signis receptis)
 Tigranes (pro-Roman) king of Armenia (Armenia capta)

Another diplomatic move in CE 1
 Trouble in Armenia after Tigranes died ca. 6 BCE
 New king of Parthia: Phraataces
 Gaius Caesar met: Parthia recognized Roman control of Armenia
 Later: dynastic troubles both in Parthia and Armenia

Euphrates approximate boundary of Roman Empire in east

Military: army usually in Syria: highest ranking imperial governorship
   Legions (4) available for Euphrates, Armenia, Asia Minor
 Stationed near cities: discipline suffered

Judaea

Herod the Great (since 37) installed by Antony
 Augustus liked him, enlarged kingdom
 Herod fostered economic growth, kept order, built port of Caesarea
     started rebuilding Temple and several cities

But like a Hellenistic monarch, wanted hellenization
 Orthodox Jews didn't like him
   Therefore he used force:
  Crushed nobility, had secret police, mercenary army
  Built fortresses; had centralized bureaucracy
 Subjects also didn't like him because he liked Romans

Herod died in 4 BCE, kingdom divided:
 Philip got northeast
 Herod Antipas got Galilee and Peraea
 Archelaus got Judaea and Idumaea

Archelaus so bad that Jews and Samaritans united in CE 6, asked Rome to abolish kingdom and make province of Judaea
 Imperial procurator: kept local troops at Caesarea (not Jerusalem)
 Augustus generous to Jews, continued privileges gotten from Caesar:
  Freedom of worship
  Exemption from military service
  Money coined without emperor's head or any "image"

Arabia

Augustus usually practiced non-aggression, but wanted to break up Arabian  monopoly of eastern trade
Expedition to Arabia in 25 suffered from ignorance of harsh geography
  But Roman power impressive:
  Sabaean kingdom made friends, stopped monopoly
 Augustus received embassies also from Indian rulers (26, 20 BCE)

Africa

Egypt

Cross between province and emperor's domain
  Equestrian prefect with army
  No senators without permission
Augustus succeeded Pharaohs and Ptolemies as divine ruler = absolute monarch
 Peasants practically serfs, produced grain
 Cities flourishing centers of intellectual life and commerce, also mainly hellenized
 Egypt vulnerable only from south (sea N, deserts E and W)
    Ethiopia a danger
 Cornelius Gallus had advanced frontier to First Cataract
  Territory between First and Second supposed to be a buffer state
But Ethiopians raided Egypt in 25, C. Petronius attacked
Ethiopians made terms in 21/20

Africa

Big source of grain for city of Rome, therefore although senatorial, consular governor had one legion
 Carthage rebuilt; the chief city
 Various wild tribes on frontiers kept in check by various campaigns
Mauretania got a native ruler, Juba (m. Cleopatra Selene) in 25
  (Son of Juba, last king of Mauretania)

Europe

Spain

Still not all pacified, esp. NW
Augustus, generals campaigned (mountain country) in 26/5
Agrippa finally beat down opposition in 19
 New settlements: hill tribes moved to valleys
 Towns grew up, Roman veterans settled
 Eventually: three legions only, in N and W

Further Spain divided in two in 16-13 (or 27!):
 Baetica (S) more civilized: senatorial
 Lusitania (W): imperial
 Nearer Spain (Tarraconensis) also imperial
  Spread of Roman culture: cities, roads, trade
 Profit: minerals, grain, oil, men for auxilia

Gaul

Conquered but not all pacified: uprisings occasionally down to 12 BCE
 Augustus' concern: organization
Gallia Narbonensis urbanized, Romanized: senatorial
 Many places had Latin rights
Rest divided:
Aquitania, Lugdunensis, Belgica
 One governor with three legates
Cantonal system preserved: 64 civitates
Villages became towns, but tribal feeling stronger

Augustus supervised census (for taxes) in 27
 Agrippa built roads centered on Lugdunum: juncture of Rhone/Saône
  Commercial and political capital of the Three Gauls
Ara Romae et Augusti built by 64 tribes in 12
  Legions stationed on Rhine
Augustus not worried about Britain, didn't want to invade
 Traded: Londinium becoming a port

Northern Frontier

The big problem for most of the rest of the imperial period
 Cisalpine Gaul insecure unless Alps controlled
    The plan was to get Raetia and Noricum (E. Switzerland, Tyrol, Austria), advance frontier to Danube
Southern Balkans also insecure without Danube frontier up to Black Sea = add Pannonia, Moesia
Rhine-Danube frontier awkward to defend at sources in Black Forest
 = better to advance E to Elbe or something
 = conquer W Germany and Marcomanni in Bohemia

Raetia and Noricum

First part of plan accomplished by 15 BCE
Tiberius and Drusus handled later stages
Raetia
Imperial province with equestrian prefect
  Had two legions until CE 9, then none until M. Aurelius' time
 Commander of Rhine armies responsible for it
  Little attempt to make it Roman or civilized
Noricum
Adistrict, not organized as province until (maybe) Claudius
  Governor of Pannonia responsible for it
Pannonia
Illyrian campaigns here in 35-33
Illyricum became senatorial province in 27
 Achaea detached from Macedonia: senatorial

More trouble in Pannonia in 13
 Agrippa (13) and Tiberius (12-9) conquered the whole area up to Danube
 Added to Illyricum (imperial again since ca. 12 BCE)
 Troubles further east:

Moesia
Licinius Crassus, governor of Macedonia, conquered Moesi and pacified Thrace in 29
  Incorporated Moesi into Macedonia
Uprising in Thrace crushed in 11-9: loyal native rulers
Moesia became a province in CE 6
Thrace
Still had native ruler
Great Rebellion  (till CE 6)
 While Tiberius in Germany, Dalmatia and Pannonia both revolted
  But didn't unite and invade Italy
    Tiberius came up with 5 legions, had to wait for more from east
    (Augustus too cheap to maintain central army reserve)
Tiberius won Pannonia: imperial province in 7-8
Tiberius won Dalmatia in 9
  Illyricum renamed Dalmatia
Germany
Excuse of German raids over Rhine: long campaign to Elbe under Drusus in 12
Drusus died in 9, others continued
Tiberius ready for big push vs. Marcomanni under Maroboduus in CE 4
  Tiberius had Maroboduus -almost- surrounded with 12 legions in CE 6, but disaster in Pannonia so he had to pull out
 Peace: Maroboduus king and friend of Roman people

Area between Rhine-Elbe not settled at all yet
 Local unrest found leader in Arminius, chief of Cherusci
  Roman citizen, in auxilia, equestrian rank
Quinctilius Varus (married Augustus' great niece) arrived in CE 9
  Made himself unpopular: taxation and jurisdiction
    Having entertained Arminius, he was ambushed by him
     Three legions wiped out
Varus committed suicide

Tiberius and, after CE 12, Germanicus:
   Organized Rhine frontier, made reprisals
Augustus was old and tired, didn't want to reconquer, left legions at 25
Long area along Rhine divided into Upper (S) and Lower (N) Germany
 with four legions each = military zone
 

Provincial Administration

Even senatorial governors had to behave better (equestrian governors an innovation)
  Eventually: many professional administrators, salaried
  Many directly appointed by, rest indirectly dependent on, Augustus

Taxation largest source of revenue: not unfair if done honestly
  Augustus organized census for fair taxation, e.g. CE 6 in Judaea

Direct  taxes: tributum soli on land, tributum capitis on other property
  Paid by all provincials, including Roman citizens and liberae civitates
  Unless they had ius Italicum
    Emperor could grant freedom from this to individuals, communities

Indirect taxes: portoria  (5% max.) at some frontiers
 Manumission and sale of slaves (also Italians)
 Death taxes
 Grain for governor and staff
Later: aurum coronarium  on accession of new emperor = gift

Emperor's private fisc: provincial estates from confiscation or bequest; mines

Tax collectors in imperial provinces independent of governor, equestrian procurator
  Indirect taxes let out to publicani, but they were scrutinized rigorously
  Quaestor did taxes in senatorial provinces

Bad government declined (it never disappeared)
  Promotion depended upon efficiency
  Retribution also faster and more certain
From Tiberius on, provincial councils could petition emperor/senate
  Even start prosecution of a governor
  Improved communications: roads and cursus publicus

Augustus continued Republican scheme of using local governments, organizations
 No changes: used cities, tribes, whatever
Romans preferred towns and cities: encouraged but didn't force urban growth
 Tribes (civitates) often adopted Roman system of magistrates and senate
 Settlements of veterans helped urbanization

Status: colonies, municipia  (citizenship), "Latin" cities, stipendiary
Census every five years
Decuriones
Local senates usually filled with ex-magistrates
  Duoviri chief ones: presided over games and festivals
   No salaries, heavy expenses: therefore positions for rich people
   Often endowed towns with buildings etc.
 Local pride; self-government (like counties, towns)

Pax Romana was the greatest benefit