Social, Political, and Economic Structures of Imperial Rome 89
Tiberius, succeeded him by inheritance; Tiberius
ruled A.D. 14–37. Caligula, Claudius, and Nero aban-
doned republican formalities, expanded the imperial
bureaucracy, and sometimes treated the Senate with
open contempt. Caligula so scorned the republican
tradition that he designated his horse, Incitatus, as his
coconsul. Augustus’s successors institutionalized the
powers that had been granted personally to Augustus
and gradually appropriated semidivine status (see il-
lustration 5.4). The Roman Empire became a heredi-
tary monarchy, though as always, real power rested
with the army. Claudius, thought wrongly by the
Senate to be an incompetent figurehead, was placed
on the throne by the Praetorian guard, an elite unit
established by Augustus for the protection of the prin-
ceps.In spite of a speech defect and physical disabili-
ties, Claudius astonished everyone by ruling capably
and conscientiously. He took the first steps toward
establishing a regular imperial civil service staffed by
members of the equestrian order.
Nero, whose tutor and chief adviser at the begin-
ning of his reign was the Stoic philosopher Seneca,
showed early promise. He neither was responsible for
the great fire that consumed much of Rome in A.D. 64,
nor did he fiddle while it burned, but his behavior grew
increasingly more erratic with the passage of time. In
A.D. 68, the legions began a series of revolts that ended
with the emperor’s suicide. The next year saw no fewer
than four separate emperors, each a commander sup-
ported by his troops in the hope of securing their re-
tirements by seizing the imperium.The last of them,
Vespasian (ruled A.D. 69–79), established the Flavian
dynasty, which lasted until A.D. 96, and formally
adopted the title imperatoror emperor. When his de-
scendant, Domitian, left no successor, the Senate re-
vived sufficiently to appoint another general in his
GA
LAT
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12 B.C.- A.D. 9
HADRIAN'S
WALL
Red
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Rhône
R.
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.
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is
Eu R.
phra
tes
R.
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e
R.
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ea
Ostia
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SPAIN
Atlantic
Ocean
North
Sea
Mediterranean Sea
Black Sea Cas
pia
nS
ea
Tarsus
Nazareth
Massilia
(Marseilles)
Carthage
Syracuse
Tarentum
Rome
Athens
Pergamum
Byzantium
Cyrene
Alexandria
Jerusalem
Naples
PAN
NON
IA
ITALY
NARBONENSIS
AQUITANIA
NUMIDIA
CYRENAICA
EGYPT
AFRICA
SYRIA
MACEDONIA
ILLYRIA
GREECE
PARTHIAN
EMPIRE
ARABIA
LUGDENENSISGAUL NORICUM
BELGICA
GERMANIA
BAETICA
LUSITANIA
HIBERNIA
SCOTLAND
Caucas
us M
ts.
Pyrenees Mts.
Alp
s
Mts
.
TaurusMts.
Corsica
Sardinia
Sicily
Crete Cyprus
Balearic
Isla
nds
Londonium
Babylon
MES
OPO
TA
MAURITANIA MIA
JUDAEA
ARMENIA
CAPPADOCIA
DACIA
REGNUM
BOSPORUS
THRACE
RHAETIA
BRITAIN
0 300 600 Miles
Roman Empire at the end 0 300 600 900 Kilometers
of Trajan's reign, A.D. 117
Nicomedia
Black Sea
Sea of
Marmara
Hellespont
Byzantium Bosporus
MAP 5.1
The Roman Empire at its Height (A.D. 117)