Imperial Rome

A stretch of Hadrian's Wall viewed from Vercovicium
near Housesteads in Northumberland

THE INTELLECTUAL CULTURE OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE

Lucius Annaeus Seneca (the Younger) (4 BC-65 AD). Seneca was a Spanish-born Stoic philosopher/statesman who stressed – and practiced – a gentle virtue in his living. He was of a distinct intellectual background, his father (Seneca the Elder) having been a notable rhetorician (polished public advocate before the law) and author in his time. The younger Seneca was educated in Rome under the Stoic Attalus, studying rhetoric and philosophy in preparation to become an advocate (lawyer) like his father.

As Seneca grew in stature and respect at Rome, he also drew suspicious political scrutiny from the imperial party. And in 41 AD he was banished to Corsica by the emperor Claudius. Eight years later he was brought out of exile to become the tutor of the young Nero – who for a while was brought up under the positive influence of Seneca.

In 57 AD Nero (now emperor) appointed Seneca Roman consul. From this important position Seneca hoped (for a few years) to augment a regime of enlightenment in Roman political life. But imperial pride once again worked against the virtuous (and increasingly popular) Seneca. Nero, now emperor and coming under the influence of an ambitious and flattering court circle – and presuming himself to be a great luminary of his age and thus resenting the greater light cast by Seneca – began to undermine his old tutor's position. Sensing the danger, Seneca quietly retired from public life.

But in 65 AD the elderly Seneca was accused (along with his rhetorician-statesman nephew Lucanus) of being part of the failed plot (led by Gaius Calpurnius Piso) to assassinate Nero. Nero thus ordered Seneca to take his own life.

With Stoic reserve and resolve Seneca did as ordered – ending his life in keeping with his Stoic understanding of life: not to place too much thought on one's physical existence but instead to find such inner peace that neither life nor death distract someone from his deeper sense of inner being.

Political historians

Plutarch (ca. 45 to 125 AD). Plutarch was a Greek historian and biographer of a large number of famous Greek and Roman individuals (Lives of the Noble Greeks and Romans – also known as Parallel Lives – being his best-known work) – and the source of much of our in-depth knowledge of many historical figures. He came from a noble Greek family, was well educated, and became a Roman citizen … soon finding himself moving in a circle of prominent Romans. He ultimately served as a magistrate of his hometown of Chaeronea – and a representative of his town on various missions abroad. Thus it was that he wrote his biographies on the foundation of his own personal knowledge of Greek and Roman politics from a very practical standpoint. It was even claimed that in Plutarch's later life Hadrian made him procurator of Achaea. But interesting also was that in the mid-90s, Plutarch also became a priest at the Temple of Apollo at Delphi … thus a mystic – as well as a political secularist!

Claudius Ptolemy (85-165 AD). Following (three centuries later!) the line of thought of Hipparchus, the Alexandrian-Greek mathematician, astronomer, and geographer Ptolemy, in his work – known primarily as Almagest ⁶ – rejected the opinion of Aristarchus that the sun was the center of our cosmos (the heliocentric theory). Ptolemy "demonstrated" mathematically what appeared to be the much more "reasonable" and ancient view that the earth is the center of the cosmos (the geocentric theory) and that all heavenly bodies rotate around the earth as the epicenter of the universe.

In order to get his theory to work, he (and others after him) had to add a large number of secondary explanations (following Hipparchus' use of eccentrics and epicycles) of the peculiar movement of heavenly bodies around the earth in order to get them to fit his theory.

His theory was widely adopted by Western thinkers – down until the approach of modern times when it became dislodged – with much resistance, not least of all from the Christian church.

Plotinus (205 to 270 AD). Plotinus was a developer of "Neo-Platonism." He headed Plato's Academy in Athens and there wrote the wrote The Six Enneads (250).

Like Plato, Plotinus accepted that our material world was a mere shadow of the World Soul (Psychè Kósmou) from which human souls derive their power), which in turn was a shadow of an even higher world, that of the Nous (where the Ideon are located) … which was itself a shadow of the unknowable One (’έν – Hen) or God. In other words, the world has four levels of reality: the "Divine Triad" of God as the highest level, and then the derivative world of the divine Nous (or Mind), then the level of the World Soul (the bridge between the material world and the Divine Nous ... which actually activates the material world). Then derivative of all that is finally the visible or "sensible" material world (with its tragic potential for evil).

According to Plotinus, the wise man would try, by means of very rigorous self-discipline, to free his soul from the material world or "matter" … and seek contemplative unity as high up as possible within the Divine Triad … even possibly attaining a degree of unity with the One. Very much like an Eastern mystic, Plotinus claimed to have achieved this unity several times.

His pupil Porphyry organized the treatises of Plotinus (the Enneads) and also wrote a biography of his master.

The Neoplatonic philosophy was subsequently adopted by the fathers of the church, Ambrose (c. 339-397) and Augustine (354-430), and was to remain the philosophical school par excellence … until Aristotle was rediscovered in the twelfth century.

Diogenes Laertius (200s AD). Likewise, through his important 10-volume work, Lives and Opinions of Eminent Philosophers, we possess a vastly richer knowledge about many of the ancient Greek philosophers … although we know very little about Laërtius himself.

⁶Actually an Arab rendering of the title of this work The Great Treatise ('H Μεγάλη Σύνταξις – Hē Megalē Syntaxis) … because Ptolemy was highly regarded in the Muslim world … and it was by way of an Arab translation that Ptolemy was reintroduced to the Western world in the 1100s.

THE DECLINE OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE

Following the rather grand period of the "Five Great Emperors," Rome then headed into a decline … one that Rome did not really know how to break free from. It was all very tragic.

Commodus (180-192). Commodus, Marcus Aurelius' son, brings the period of the "Five Good Emperors" to an end. His rule marks the transition to very troubled times for the Roman Empire. Although his rule began well, a conspiracy in 182 (promoted primarily by members of his own family) to assassinate him turned him paranoid. And from paranoia he slipped into insanity. He loved to project himself as Hercules, a god of great physical strength. He renamed Rome after himself, termed all Romans as "Commodians," redrafted the months of the calendar in using his own twelve names for the months of the year. He did this less out of guile than out of a case of increasing simple-mindedness. But it was his behavior in the public arena that finally braced the Senate sufficiently to organize his death (he would entertain Roman crowds with his slaughter of hundreds of animals and hundreds of disabled Romans – and hold hundreds of bloodless gladiatorial combats, which he always "won," of course). Finally in 192 he was strangled in his bath by a wrestler that the Senate had paid to do the job.

Needless to say, Commodus had made no arrangements for a smooth succession upon his death. Roman politics fell into further chaos. Over the next year there were five different generals who laid claim to the title of Emperor. Assassinations and bribes followed in rapid succession as claimants attempted to line up soldiers and Senators behind their claim to the throne.

The Severan Dynasty (193-235)

Septimius Severus (193-211). The Roman general Septimus Severus fought his way to power by having his army defeat the armies of other Roman generals contending for the position as Roman emperor. He then took on the Parthians, sacked the Parthian capital Ctesiphon and retook Mesopotamia for Rome. He was naturally suspicious of the Praetorian Guard … and replaced individuals with his own supporters to cover for him while he was away fighting Rome's enemies. However he let his cousin Plautianus take on too much authority in the Guard – and had him put to death (205).

Severus ended his days personally directing military operations against Rome's tribal enemies who were constantly threatening Rome's borderlands. In 208 he traveled to Britain in order to extend Roman rule even to northern Scotland. In the process his troops slaughtered countless Scottish Celts …. but he also lost 50,000 of his own men. In late 210 he became ill while still in Britain … and died early the following year.

Caracalla (211-217). Severus's sons Caracalla and Geta succeeded him, though Caracalla immediately murdered his brother. Then when a satire about his murder of his brother was produced in Alexandria, Caracalla took revenge by sending troops to Alexandria to loot and slaughter (over 20,000 Alexandrians killed) … earning Caracalla the reputation as one of Rome's cruelest emperors.

He treated his army lavishly – understanding the importance of keeping happy this institution which he both admired and feared deeply. He also created the last of the great architectural wonders of Rome: a giant bath that could accommodate over 2,000 at a time (named, appropriately, the Baths of Caracalla). He was busy during much of his reign defending Rome's borders against the Germanic Alamanni at the Rhine frontier. He was, in fact, on his way to renew the war with Parthia in 217 when he was assassinated by a member of the Praetorian Guard.

Macrinus (217-218) and Elagabalus (218-222). The two emperors that followed Caracalla were put in place by the Praetorian Guard (Macrinus was actually its Prefect) and also brought down by the same organization. Elagabalus turned out to be a disappointment (but only 14 when put in his position as emperor) because of his crude sexual adventures … which led to his assassination.

Alexander Severus (222-235). Elagabalus's cousin Alexander too was only 14 when he ascended the throne. In fact it was his mother, Julia Mamaea, who was the real power behind the throne. In general, his reign was a stable one for Rome. He did what he could to put Rome back on something of a moral-legal basis, he attempted to place Rome's governmental structures on a more rational footing, and he strengthened the economy by cutting back on governmental extravagance, lowering taxes, improving the quality of Roman coinage, placing controls on interest rates, etc.

His problems on the Roman frontier would however make his rule deeply troubled. A new Parthian dynasty, the Sassanids, had extended Persian control deep into Roman territory in the eastern reaches of the Roman empire. When Alexander marched his army out to meet the Sassanids in 232, the results were something of a standoff for both sides.

Sassanid kings Ardashir (224-240) and Shapur (240-270)
Two years later Alexander led his armies out to expel the German armies that had crossed the Rhine and had overrun eastern Gaul. He crossed into Germany – and then offered to pay tribute to the Germans rather than fight them to resolve the issue. The soldiers were incensed – and plotted his removal and replacement by a soldier popular among the troops. In 235 Alexander and his mother were both murdered in a mutiny of his troops.

Fifty years of imperial turmoil (235-285)

The rapid turnover of Emperors. The assassination of Alexander marked the beginning of a long period of political, economic and social chaos in which emperors rose and fell in rapid succession – frequently because they were murdered by the Praetorian Guard as these "emperor-makers" shifted their loyalties from one imperial candidate to another (as many as 25 emperors during this period, depending on how one counts the numerous pretenders to power). Unfortunately for Rome, generals were more interested in fighting each other for the title of emperor than in offering battle to the many tribal peoples who began to cross the Rhine and Danube in raids into Roman territory. Meanwhile the Sassanids, taking advantage of this chaos within the higher reaches of Roman power, extended Persian control into Mesopotamia.

Military decline. At the same time, the military needs and military expense of the Roman Empire quickly became almost limitless. After a while there were no more rich neighbors for Rome to plunder (they left the Germans alone on the opposite side of their borders because the primitive Germans had nothing to offer Rome economically). Thus the Empire had to rely on the resources of its own people to pay for its ongoing and extravagant military ventures. Mercenaries hired from Rome's former (or even continuing) enemies replaced the patriotic free citizen-soldier of Rome, the latter, impoverished from too great a demand for his increasingly lengthy term of military service, inevitably falling into terrible poverty. Soon the city's slums were filled with the once free citizen-soldier and his family. And so it was that the Empire lost touch with what it once was.

Economic decline. Direct barter in goods and services (a terribly cumbersome way to do business) became the accepted means of economic exchange as Roman coinage became increasingly debased by emperors, who used cheap metals to pay their soldiers the tribute or financial reward that the soldiers expected when they threw their support behind a new imperial candidate. With the military no longer doing its job in protecting the empire, roads became unsafe – and thus shipping and trading declined dramatically. Thus also Roman farms ceased being commercial enterprises – and instead became local enterprises (manorial estates) producing only for their own immediate needs. Towns were forced to erect walls and look to themselves for their own protection. And as farms and towns developed this local, self-sufficient status, they were less inclined to give significant tax support to a Roman authority that was increasingly removed from the world that concerned them.

Distress in the countryside. Life for the Roman commoners became so difficult during this period that they were forced to escape the cities for the countryside in order to find enough to feed themselves and their families – offering owners of these countryside estates in exchange for their personal survival a rather permanent servant status, a status that was transferred to their descendants as well (the beginning of serfdom). Also many small farmers were just as unable to provide for themselves and thus too fell into legal bondage to the more successful large-scale farmers in order to survive.

Buying popular support of the Empire. The Roman government itself attempted to buy the support of the people for this decaying system through what was termed by the ancient Roman poet Juvenal: “bread and circuses” (or bread and games). In a piece of sharp satire about the state or condition of Rome, Juvenal commented that the Romans no longer had any interest in defending the integrity of Rome itself. They had abandoned the older generations of Romans' noble interest in their public duties, in their civil and military service to Rome. Instead the people now anxiously set their hope on just two things: bread and circuses (wheat distributions and chariot races, gladiatorial contests and an occasional feeding of Christians to the lions) ... very expensive entitlements (and huge drain on the public treasury) that the Roman authorities had accorded the people in order to keep them subdued.

For a vast empire, undergoing obvious moral decay after about 200 AD, such crass payoffs were not enough. Rome and the Romans were suffering from a deep moral emptiness that could not be filled with bread and circuses.

Moral confusion. Rome was relatively tolerant of the social and cultural 'pluralism' within its borders – as long as everyone showed due respect to Roman authorities and their gods. When the Roman emperors themselves posed as gods this all became quite curious. But for the most part everyone was willing to play along with the Roman thing. Morally and ethically, Rome didn't reach deeply into the private hearts of its subjects. That belonged to their local gods and religious traditions.

Given Rome's obvious lack of moral-spiritual focus at this point, a number of exotic (foreign) religions began to enter vigorously the Empire from the East – with loftier ideals than the old Roman pantheon of humanlike gods and goddesses. Mithraism from Persia, with its severe good/evil dualism, offered its services for a while as the moral underpinning of an Empire seeing evil swallow up good everywhere. It was especially very popular within the Roman legions, where life was either do or die. Also mystery cults from Syria, Babylon and Egypt were becoming quite popular – though they had no well-organized advocacy group. Then too the practitioners of Judaism were numerous in the Empire … and Judaism was opening up its ranks to newcomers – though it never really developed a full zeal for bringing the whole of Rome into its ranks.

The heroic Christian witness. Christianity had no such hesitations, being quite evangelical. At first it appealed mostly to the poor and helpless who had flocked to the Roman cities in the desperate hope of finding some remedy to their plight. In Christianity these Romans found not only comfort, but an incredible degree of heroic dignity – especially in the face of the numerous rounds of persecutions that the emperors inflicted on the members of this strange (very un-Roman) Eastern sect when its members refused to acknowledge the emperors as gods.

But this persecution seemed only to present Christianity in an ever more heroic or glorious light to the other Romans watching this murderous persecution. The bravery of the Christians in the face of certain death began to move sympathetically the crowds that gathered to watch these horrifying events. Eventually Christianity's obvious moral and spiritual strengths were beginning to attract the interest of even nobler Romans ... which drew even greater wrath from emperors who saw the old Roman pagan order now coming under serious challenge from Christianity.

Political fragmentation. This loss of Roman civic spirit was so pronounced that at one point (258-274) the Roman empire broke into three separate empires: the Gallic Empire in the West (Britain, Gaul and Spain), the Palmyrene Empire in the East (Egypt, Palestine, Syria) – with what was left as "the Roman Empire" somewhere in between.

Attempts at reform

There were however some notable emperors during this period, who attempted to bring Rome back to order.

Decius (249-251), though his reign was short, left a major mark on Rome in his efforts to purge Rome of all but its original state religion (the Christians suffering greatly as a result) and in his efforts to expel the recently arrived Goths (which resulted unfortunately in his army's destruction and his own death in battle).

Valerian (253-260), though he ruled longer, faced one disaster after another: the Goths who were pillaging Asia Minor, a plague which broke out within his troops, and finally his defeat and (presumably) execution by the Sassanids in his struggle to drive them from Rome's eastern provinces.

Also his reign marked another period of intense persecution of Christians – many of whom were well-placed socially and politically.

Aurelian (270-275) was able in 274 to defeat the Empress Zenobia and restore to Rome the territory she had ruled as the Palmyrene Empire – and in the same year to bring the Gallic Empire back under Roman authority. But he too was assassinated by the Praetorian Guard.

Decius

Valerian

Aurelian

The Empire divided (258-274)

Valerian bows to his conqueror, Shapur - 260

Temple of Bel complex in the background and the Agora on left center in Palmyra, Syria
In 2017 this was mostly destroyed by Muslim fanatics belonging to the Islamic State

Inscription in Greek and Aramaic in honour of Julius Aurelius Zenobius,
the father of Queen Zenobia, at Palmyra

DIOCLETIAN AND THE TETRARCHY (285-305)

We conclude our survey of imperial Rome with Diocletian, a reformer who attempted to bring this sorry period of Rome to an end. But the irony is that in his dedicated efforts to restore Rome to some kind of original purity he succeeded very unintendedly in closing out the age of Classical Rome and setting up instead Rome's transition into Christendom (our next section).

The division of the Empire into eastern and western halves and the "Tetrarchy" ("rule of four"). Diocletian was another non-Senatorial figure (born of Dalmatian commoners) who simply worked his way up the ranks of the Roman legions to his position of dominance. Aware of the difficulty of one man giving effective governance to the whole of the Empire, soon after his acclaim as emperor by Rome's troops in 285 Diocletian recognized fellow soldier Maximian as co-emperor, with he himself serving as emperor or "Augustus" over the eastern half of the Empire and Maximian serving as Augustus over the western half. Then in 293 Galerius and Constantius Chlorus were called into service as "Caesars" or assistants (and successors) to the co-emperors, Galerius serving under Diocletian and Constantius Chlorus serving under Maximian.

The Empire at that point had four rulers, each given different portions of the Empire to rule. Unfortunately, when it came to fill vacant positions, this formula proved to be as confusing as Roman politics ever had been.

The old city of Rome's loss of status. Not surprisingly, during Diocletian's tenure as Augustus or emperor, the city of Rome itself (and the Senate) suffered politically … and socially. Diocletian tended to avoid Rome, preferring to use Milan or Ravenna as a base of operations when in Italy. Furthermore, Diocletian's taking for himself the assignment of the eastern half of the Empire was a clear sign that the political center of the Empire was also shifting eastward from Italy to the Eastern Mediterranean.

Religious persecution. Foreign-born himself, Diocletian compensated by being "super-Roman" … detesting any foreign intrusions, whether military or cultural, into Roman life. He also hoped that religious uniformity within the Empire might further buttress its political unity. Thus both Diocletian and his assistant or Caesar Galerius took increasingly hostile attitudes toward a number of popular eastern religions which were spreading rapidly in the Empire. This became particularly the case when the traditional temple priests claimed that they were losing their powers due to the growing influence of these alien religions, at first most notably Manichaeism.

This was a religion originated by the prophet Mani in the second half of the 200s, who claimed to be a prophetic successor to Jesus … and the prophets before him. Manichaeism blended gnostic Christianity with elements of Persian or Zoroastrian light-dark, good-evil dualism.⁷

Diocletian detested Manichaeism intensely because of its Sassanid or Persian connections – because Persia was Rome's main enemy at the time. Consequently, he began persecutions of the Manichaean faith in the Eastern Roman Empire in 302, seizing Manichaean property and executing or enslaving the members of this religion.

Intense Christian persecution. But he then turned on the Christians. His persecutions would turn out to be the worst by far that the Christians were ever to experience. In early 303 he ordered the destruction of all churches and the end to Christian worship anywhere in the Empire. At the initiative of his assistant Galerius, Christians were ordered to be dismissed from the Roman legions. The similar principle was applied to the Roman bureaucracy. And Christian freedmen (former slaves) were reduced back into slavery.

This was followed by ever harsher measures: execution by sword or fiery stake – left mostly to the discretion of local officials, some who were rigorous in their attempt to eradicate the faith by whatever means necessary … others less rigorous. For instance, Maximian's assistant or Caesar Constantius ignored Diocletian's orders in his western territory of Britain and Gaul.

In 304 Diocletian issued another edict which commanded all Christians to be brought to a public place and offered the option of sacrificing to the Roman gods – or facing execution.

This was a very serious problem for Rome itself because at this point approximately one in every ten Romans was some kind of a Christian.

Pacifying the Empire. Meanwhile tribal hostilities in the North, rebellion in the East (Egypt) and a renewed war with Sassanid Persia kept the four rulers very busy. With respect to the tribal hostilities, Diocletian was able to strengthen Roman fortifications along the Danube River – bringing both peace along that front, but also a heavy increase in the tax burden on Rome. With respect to rebellion in Egypt, Diocletian was successful in 298 not only in restoring control there but also in placing a tighter Roman grip over the region. With respect to the Sassanids, Diocletian was successful in 299 in forcing Persian recognition of the restoration to Rome of most of Mesopotamia and Armenia.

Problems of succession. Then, probably much to everyone's surprise, in 305 both Diocletian and Maximian stepped down from power, allowing their assistants, Galerius and Constantius to step up from their positions as Caesars to the full positions as Augustuses or Emperors. But this now merely opened the question as to who now was to take the positions as supporting Caesars. The rivalry became intense.

Thus with so many would-be Caesars contesting each other, in 308 Augustus Galerius and the retired Diocletian and Maximian called a conference to try to work out a settlement so as to bring things back to balance. But the effort merely produced even more imperial claimants (seven) when new appointments were challenged by those left out of the deal. Thus military chaos would continue to reign over the Empire.

The Christian persecutions continue. Meanwhile, the persecutions continued under Galerius, and supporting Caesar, Maximinus (actually his nephew) – the latter being particularly a strong enforcer of Christian persecution. Such persecution continued until 311 when Galerius, now on his deathbed, issued a decree officially ending the persecutions. However Maximinus – self-elevated to full status as Eastern Augustus in 310 – soon ignored the decree and continued the persecutions in his eastern realm … at least until shortly before his own death in 313.

Constantine versus Maxentius. At the same time, with the death of Galerius, former (uneasy) allies Constantine and Maxentius now found themselves facing each other in the matter of assuming supreme imperial powers in the West as its Augustus … a position already held by Licinius (resulting from the 308 agreement).

How this conflict would play out would have tremendous implications for the way Western civilization would develop from this point forward.

⁷The Manichaeans professed the old Persian idea of a dualistic divinity: 1) the creator/god of this physical world is Evil; 2) the god of Good is master over the spiritual world. The two are in struggle with each other for supremacy over life.

IMPERIAL ROME — IN PICTURES

The Roman Forum
Miles Hodges

The Roman Forum
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The Roman Forum
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The Approach to the Coliseum from the Roman Forum
Miles Hodges

The Coliseum, Rome – (AD 70-80)
Miles Hodges

The interior of the Coliseum
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The interior of the Coliseum
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Hadrian's Tomb
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Interior of the Pantheon, Rome – painting by Giovanni Paolo Panini (early 1700s)
Erected in 17 BC; destroyed by fire in AD 80; reconstructed by Hadrian in AD 123

Trajan's column (and detail) — (AD 107-113) marble

Pompeii: A town frozen in time

Pompeii
Miles Hodges

Me ... at the entrance to the Temple of Apollo – Pompeii
Miles Hodges

Pompeii
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Pompeii
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Pompeii
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Pompeii – wealthy, educated husband and wife ... from the house of Julia Felix

Dionysiac Mystery Frieze – Detail of Second Style wall painting (c. 50 BC)
Pompeii, Villa of the Mysteries

Boscoreale (50 BC) fresco
Naples, Museo Archeologico

Boscoreale - Woman playing a kithara (50 BC) fresco
New York, The Metropolitan Museum of Art

The further reaches of the Roman Empire

Heading south from Rome on the Appian Way (Via Appia)
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The Appian Way
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Corinth (in Romanized Greece)

Corinth - with its acropolis in the distance
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The Lechaion Road
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The Agora of Corinth
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The Apollo Temple in Corinth
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The Apollo Temple in Corinth
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A Roman Aqueduct (the Pont du Gard) at Nimes, France, built in the 1st century AD

Aqueduct of Segovia, Spain (AD 117-134)

The Library of Celsus - Ephesus (modern Turkey)
Roman Britain

Hadrian's Wall ... designed to hold off the Picts and Scots from Roman Britain
Typical fortified urban life in Roman Britain

Map of Roman Britain
Encyclopedia Britannica

Go on to the next section: The Israelites/Jews

Miles H. Hodges

2. ANCIENT ROME IMPERIAL ROME 30 B.C. to the Early 300s A.D.

Miles H. Hodges

2. ANCIENT ROME

IMPERIAL ROME
30 B.C. to the Early 300s A.D.