The Flavians

1
The Flavians

• Disaster and Recovery of the Principate

2
Prelude to stability

• After the death of Nero, the principate became an
  unstable position. Three emperors followed Nero
  in just two years.
• Servius Sulpicius Galba (68-69) only lasted a few
  months, hardly surprising considering he was in
  his early 70s. In an attempt to balance an
  out-of-control budget he reduced the Roman grain
  dole, failed to pay donatives to the Praetorian
  Guard and recalled a wildly popular general from
  the Rhine, Verginius Rufus. Then he chose an
  aristocrat, Piso, as heir.
• Piso was unacceptable to many, and Marcus Salvius
  Otho bribed the Praetorian Guard to declare him
  emperor and had Galba and Piso murdered.
  Meanwhile, the Rhine armies had declared Aulus
  Vitellius emperor and marched on Rome. Otho (69)
  at first combatted them, then attempted an
  ill-advised attack on Vitellian forces at
  Cremona.
• Otho lost the battle and killed himself.
  Vitellius (69) became emperor without help of the
  all-important Praetorian Guard. Meanwhile,
  armies in the east were creating another emperor.

3
(No Transcript)
4
Rise of Titus Flavius Vespasian (69-79)

• Vespasian had been appointed by Nero to put down
  rebellion in Judea. In 69, he left his son,
  Titus in charge of Judea and took troops to Egypt
  to stop grain shipments to Rome.
• His friend, the governor of Syria, invaded Italy
  on his behalf at the same time Danubian armies
  invaded Italy.
• Vespasians brother Sabinus was in Rome, and
  Vitellius tried to surrender to him, but his
  Rhine soldiers refused to yield, captured Sabinus
  and killed him.
• It was Danubian soldiers who killed Vitellius in
  December, 20 while they were sacking the city.
  The Syrian army arrived and restored order. The
  senate convened and chose Vespasian as emperor.
• Vespasian restored order, ended the civil wars,
  and arranged the succession with his Flavian
  family descendants as heirs to the throne.

5
Setting the pace

• Historians usually view Vespasian as one who
  ushers in a new phase that set the stage for the
  policies of emperors of the second century.
• Vespasian was born in 9, into the equestrian
  class, and from a village in Sabine country. His
  father had been a tax collector who married well.
• Vespasian received a good education in Greek as
  well as Latin.
• He was respected and even beloved by his loyal
  soldiers, who elevated him to the throne, though
  he was sixty at the time.
• His family background helped him to understand
  the importance of sound fiscal policies, and he
  worked to balance the budget and address the
  financial bleeding. His efforts turned things
  around.
• He was able to put down rebellion in the east,
  halt future rebellions of the soldiery by
  reforming the armies, extended fuller rights to
  provincials, and expanded the senate while
  retaining powers of censor.

6
Vespasian, the fiscal wizard

• While senate powers were further weakened, their
  functions were passed on to professional
  officeholders, a civil service that bridged
  imperial administrations and brought continuity.
• However, Vepasian replaced the freedmen in the
  highest advisory positions with equestrians less
  temptation, more experience, less offensive to
  senate.
• By overlooking no source of tax income and by
  demanding honesty and accountability Vespasian
  was able to rebuild the treasury and balance the
  budget. He restored Greece to senate
  administration.
• He did this while spending freely on defense,
  public works, and education through the endowment
  of schools, rhetorical studies, prose and poetry.
• Vespasian was never popular with the elites, and
  endured unrelenting criticism from Stoic and
  Cynic philosophers.
• In 79 he caught a fever and died, leaving the
  princeps to his eldest son, Titus. Vespasians
  last words Dear me! I think I am becoming a
  god!

7
Titus Flavius Vespasian (79-81)

• Though he had a wild reputation, Titus had been
  groomed to follow his father. He was considered
  good-looking and charming.
• He dispelled all fears as emperor and adjusted
  his lifestyle to best promote the peoples
  welfare and as a result became very popular.
• His short reign was best remembered for three
  great disasters in late 79 Mt. Vesuvius erupts
  burying Pompeii, Herculaneum, and Stabiae the
  worst plague in Roman history swept Campania, and
  Rome burned for three days.
• Despite this, Titus remained popular and at 40
  seemed destined to have a long reign. Instead he
  caught a fever and died in September 81.
• Titus younger brother Domitian left his
  brothers deathbed to appear in the barracks of
  the Praetorian Guard to be proclaimed emperor.
  Vespasian had not prepared him for administration
  in any way save by honorary duties.

8
Titus Flavius Domitianus (81-96)

• Domitian was named for Neros popular martyred
  general Domitius Corbulo.
• Domitian was somewhat less popular, due to his
  high-handed behavior appeared in the senate in a
  generals regalia, removed traditional offices
  from the senate class, insisted on holding 17
  consulships (new record), encouraged courtiers to
  address him as lord and god. He was also
  paranoid.
• Nevertheless, he was hostile to foreign
  religions, esp. Judaism and Christianity.
• He spent money like water on public spectacles,
  public doles, public edifices, and palaces for
  himself, but never seemed to run out of money and
  left a surplus.
• He put down a major revolt in Germany under the
  governor of Upper Germany, Antonius Saturninus
  and was defeated by Decebalus, king of the
  Dacians. The defeat turned out to be a good
  thing, as Dacians stablilized the Danubian
  frontier.
• Toward the end of his life he became increasingly
  paranoid and even executed members of his own
  family. Fearing for her own life, his wife
  Domitilla headed up a whos who list of
  conspirators. A trusted servant named Stephanus
  stabbed Domitian in the groin, then other
  conspirators entered the room and finished him.
• Thus ended the three emperors of the Flavian
  dynasty, for the most part effective.

9
The Christians

• Christianity combined elements which appealed to
  many throughout the Roman Empire A Savior who
  demonstrated a loving and just God, a humane
  ethic based on love of God and others, and a
  special community with a sense of calling.
• Highly organized with house churches and local
  structures based on the Jewish synagogue, the
  Christian faith had first come to major urban
  areas along trade routes of the Empire.
• Because episkopoi (overseeing pastors or
  bishops) in major urban areas directed
  establishment of surrounding faith communities,
  they came to command greater authority as time
  went on. The leaders of the churches in
  Jerusalem, Antioch, Alexandria, and Rome (and in
  the fourth century, Constantinople) emerged as
  the most respected and authoritative.

10
The appeal

• Fellow episkopoi corresponded with one another
  and provided mutual support when persecution was
  encountered as well as upholding authoritative
  apostolic teaching.
• Christianity also displayed a openness to
  participation by all socio-economic classes and
  by women in a caste-less and non-segregated
  environment.
• Christianity, though often misunderstood and
  maligned by those who opposed it, appealed to
  educated Romans as well because of its special
  revelation The Jewish scriptures, Gospels, the
  letters of Paul and other apostles.
• Educated converts became the first theologians
  and apologists.

11
Persecution of Christians

• The Christian monotheism conflicted particularly
  with the popular religion of many in the Roman
  Empire who were polytheistic and who combined
  their religious and civic identities.
• This blending of the religious and civic in
  society forced Christians to run afoul of the
  civil authorities who were highly sensitive to
  seditious secret societies.
• At first, persecutions like that of Nero in 64
  were purely local affairs that arose from urban
  tensions.
• Domitian attempted more of a universal
  persecution of Christian intellectuals, but
  ordered persecution of Christians in Jerusalem
  stopped.
• Persecution increased dramatically in the early
  second century because the number of Christians
  were growing dramatically. Later Trajan advised
  that the hunt for Christians be halted, but
  Marcus Aurelius allowed governors to torture and
  kill Christians with little restraint.
• The persecutions were ineffective and the faith
  grew. Mid-third century emperors were alarmed at
  the power and growth of Christians and attempted
  more widespread persecution to appease
  traditional gods and force unity.

12
How Christianity grew

• Christianity was an urban phenomenon. Though we
  dont know for sure the population of many Roman
  cities we know that the typical city ran to a
  density of about 200 people per acre.
• No modern city anywhere today has that average
  density, and in small areas only industrial slums
  approach it. Privacy was rare.
• The Christian message was simply understood. Sola
  Fides God had reached into human history through
  Jesus Christ, who suffered and died as a
  substitute for those who could not come into a
  relationship with God through their own efforts.
  
• Paul continued the teachings of Jesus and
  stressed that allJew or Gentile, slave or free,
  rich or poor, women or mencould come into that
  relationship through faith in Christ alone.

13
Church houses and cemeteries

• The meeting places of the Christians were private
  houses with their traditional Roman households,
  linking the Christian community to the basic unit
  of society.
• Christian structure was also influenced by Roman
  burial societies and other voluntary groups, in
  fact until the fourth century Christian koinonia
  led to purchasing cemetery grounds rather than
  church buildings, uncommon before Constantine.
• Christianity grew through the household
  structure, and it was clear that followers of
  Jesus were part of a new family. As today,
  everyone was looking for a family that loved and
  accepted them. In Christianity, Roman converts
  found that kind of love.
• Despite the innovations and flexible structure,
  the growth of Christianity was unprecedented and
  would cause concern during the second century,
  the era of good emperors.