CHAPTER OUTLINE

I. Introduction

II. The Transformation of Roman Society

A. Social Conflict: The Reforms of the Gracchi

B. The Fall of the Republic

C. The Rise of Augustus and the Augustan

Principate

D. The First Emperors

III. Art, Literature, and Thought in Imperial Rome

IV. The Social and Economic Structures of the Early

Empire

១១១១១១១១១១១១១១១១១១១១១

CHAPTER 5

SOCIAL, POLITICAL, AND ECONOMIC

STRUCTURES OF IMPERIAL ROME

T

he acquisition of an empire changed the basic

fabric of Roman society and created tensions

that could not be resolved by the existing po-

litical system. Civil strife produced by these

tensions, and by the emergence of a professional army

whose members had no stake in the preservation of tra-

ditional society, led in turn to the breakdown of repub-

lican institutions. Rival commanders struggled for

control of the state until, in 31 B.C., Octavian, known

as Augustus, emerged supreme and imposed a new sys-

tem of government. Though he retained the outward

forms of republicanism, Augustus was an autocrat. Dur-

ing the first century A.D. his successors gradually aban-

doned republican pretense and adopted the ceremonial

trappings of the Hellenistic monarchies. The Roman

world, governed by a quasi-divine emperor, was far

larger than it had been under the republic and increas-

ingly less “Roman.”

The Transformation of Roman Society

Ordinary Romans gained little from the acquisition of

an empire. Thousands found only an unmarked grave in

some remote corner of Spain or the Balkans. Those

who returned often discovered that their ancestral

farms had been devastated by neglect or—after the

Second Punic War—by the passage of armies. All faced

a burden of wartime taxation that would have made

economic survival difficult in any circumstances. The

great senatorial families, meanwhile, profited enor-

mously. Roman military commanders came almost ex-

clusively from this class, and they took most of the loot

from captured provinces. This included not only gold,

silver, and commodities of every sort, but also tens of

thousands of slaves. In addition, the Senate granted vast

provincial estates to those whose leadership it regarded

as outstanding.

80