Consul

:For modern diplomatic consuls, see Consulate general. Consul (abbrev. cos.) was the highest elected office of the Roman Republic and an appointive office under the Empire. After the expulsion of Tarquinius Superbus and the ending of the Roman Kingdom, all the powers and authority of the King were given to the newly instituted Consuls. The office of Consul was believed to date back to the traditional establishment of the Republic in 509 BC, although the early history is partly legendary, and the succession of Consuls is not continuous in the 5th century. Consuls executed both religious and military duties; the reading of the auguries was an essential step before leading armies into the field. Under the Republic, the minimum age of election to consul for patricians was 40 years of age, for plebeians 42. Two consuls were elected each year, serving together with veto power over each other's actions. The year of their service was known by their names: for instance, the year commonly called 59 BC was called by the Romans "the consulship of Caesar and Bibulus", since the two colleagues in the consulship were Julius Caesar and Marcus Calpurnius Bibulus (but Caesar dominated the consulship so thoroughly that year that it was jokingly referred to as "the consulship of Julius and Caesar"). In Latin, consules means "those who walk together". If a consul died during his term (not uncommon when consuls were in the forefront of battle), another would be elected, and be known as a suffect consul (cos. suff.). According to tradition, the consulship was initially reserved for patricians; not until 367 BC did the plebeians win the right to stand for office, when the lex Licinia Sextia provided that at least one consul each year should be plebeian. The first plebeian consul, Lucius Sextius, was thereby elected the following year. Modern historians, however, have questioned the traditional account of plebeian emancipation during the Early Republic (see Conflict of the Orders), noting for instance that about thirty per cent of the consuls prior to Sextius had plebeian, not patrician, names. During times of war, the primary criterion for consul was military skill and reputation, but at all times the selection was politically charged. With the passage of time, the consulship became the normal endpoint of the cursus honorum, the sequence of offices pursued by the ambitious Roman. Beginning in the late Republic, after finishing a consular year, a former consul would serve as a Proconsul and become the governor of one of Rome's provinces. When Augustus established the Empire, he changed the nature of the office, stripping it of most of its powers. While still a great honor and a requirement for other offices, many consuls would resign part way through the year to allow other men to finish their term as suffects. Those who held the office on January 1, known as the consules ordinarii, had the honor of associating their names with that year. As a result, about half of the men who held the rank of praetor could also reach the consulship. Sometimes these suffect consuls would in turn resign, and another suffect would be appointed. This reached its extreme under Commodus, when in AD 190 twenty-five men held the consulship. Under the Empire, Emperors frequently appointed themselves, protégés, or relatives without regard to the age requirements. For example, Emperor Honorius was given the consulship at birth. Holding the consulship was apparently such an honor that the break-away Gallic Empire had its own pairs of consuls during its existence (260–274). The list of consuls for this state is incomplete, drawn from inscriptions and coins. One of the reforms of Constantine I was to assign one of the consuls to the city of Rome, and the other to Constantinople. Therefore, when the Roman Empire was divided into two halves on the death of Theodosius I, the emperor of each half acquired the right of appointing one of the consuls— although one emperor did allow his colleague to appoint both consuls for various reasons. As a result, after the formal end of the Roman Empire in the West, many years would be named for only a single consul. This rank was finally allowed to lapse in the reign of Justinian I: first with the consul of Rome in 534, Decius Paulinus, then the consul of Constantinople in 541, Flavius Basilius Junior. For a complete list of Roman consuls, see:
- List of Republican Roman Consuls (before 33 BC)
- List of early imperial Roman consuls (33 BC‑AD 192)
- List of late imperial Roman consuls (after AD 192)

French consuls

In 1799, revolutionary France enacted a constitution that conferred supreme executive powers upon three officials that bore the title "consul". In reality, however, the state was de facto under control of the First Consul, Napoleon Bonaparte. Originally the consuls were to hold office for a period of ten years, although in 1802 Bonaparte was declared First Consul for life (lifetime consulate was introduced for Second and Third Consuls as well). The French consulate ceased to exist when Bonaparte was declared Emperor of the French in 1804.

Consulate general

A consulate (or consular office) is a form of diplomatic mission in charge of matters related to individual people and businesses, in other words issues outside inter-governmental diplomacy. The head of a consulate is known as a consul. A consulate general is headed by a senior consul known as a consul general, who typically has several consuls and vice consuls working under him/her. A country may open multiple consulates (and consulates general) in major economic centers to support their economic interests. Consulates are subordinate posts of their home country's embassy, which is located in the capital city of the host country. Embassies are established in international law under the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations while honorary consulates, vice-consulates, consulates and consulates-general are established in international law under the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations (see external link below). Activities of a consulate include protecting the interests of their citizens temporarily or permanently resident in the host country; issuing passports; issuing visas to foreigners; and public diplomacy. However, the principal role of a consulate lies historically in promoting trade - assisting companies to invest and to import and export goods and services both inwardly to their home country and outward to their host country. And although it is never admitted publicly, consulates, like embassies, also gather intelligence information from the assigned country. This is especially important if the consulate is located in a port city. In many countries the embassy and consulate-general are combined in one office or structure; however, an embassy implies official diplomatic relations between two countries while a consulate general does not. Between countries in the Commonwealth of Nations, both activities may be undertaken by a High Commission. The larger Commonwealth nations generally have consulates and consulates-general between one another, as is the case elsewhere. However, the senior envoys in these missions are usually known as Commissioners instead of consuls (general) but this is not always the case: for example, British consulates (general) in Canada, Australia and New Zealand are headed by consuls (general). Consulates-general need not be in the capital city, but instead in the most appropriate cities. In the United States, for example, many countries base their consul general in New York City. Some consuls are not career diplomats; some are locally-engaged staff with the nationality of the sending country;(see Chapter 1,Section 1,Article 22 of convention),and in smaller cities, or in cities that are very distant from full-time diplomatic missions, a foreign government may decide that some form of representation is nevertheless desirable, and may appoint a person who has not hitherto been part of their diplomatic service to fulfill this role. This person may well combine the job with their own (often commercial) private activities, in which case they are usually given the title of honorary consul. Many members of the public are not aware that honorary consuls are not full-time diplomats. Graham Greene used this position as the title of his 1973 novel The Honorary Consul.

External links

- [http://www.un.org/law/ilc/texts/consul.htm Vienna Convention on Consular Relations] Category:Diplomacy ja:領事館

Roman Empire

:For other uses, see Roman Empire (disambiguation) The Roman Empire is the term conventionally used to describe the Ancient Roman polity in the centuries following its reorganization under the leadership of Octavian (better known as Caesar Augustus), until its radical reformation in what was later to be known as the Byzantine Empire. Roman Empire is also used as translation of the expression Imperium Romanum, probably the best known Latin expression where the word "imperium" is used in the meaning of a territory, the "Roman Empire", as that part of the world where Rome ruled. The expansion of this Roman territory beyond the borders of the initial city-state of Rome had started long before the state organisation turned into an Empire. One of the first historians to describe this expansion of the Roman territory was the Greek Polybius, writing in the Epoch of the Roman Republic. In the centuries before the autocracy of Augustus, Rome had already accumulated a collection of tribute-states beyond the Italian Peninsula, including former Mediterranean competitors Syracuse and Carthage. In the late Republic Augustus (then still "Octavian") added Egypt definitively to the Imperium Romanum. The remainder of this article treats the Roman Empire as Imperial state (see Roman Kingdom and Roman Republic for development of the territory in earlier times). Augustus' reforms turning the Roman state into an Empire survived mostly unchanged until the Diocletian reform at end of the 3rd century, which turned the empire into a tetrarchy. While the political form given by Diocletian was short-lived, it led to the division of the Empire into two halves. This allowed Roman rule to continue for two more centuries over the whole empire, although divided into the Eastern and the Western Roman Empire. The end of the Western Empire is traditionally set in 476, when Odovacar deposed the last Emperor and sent the Imperial insignia to Constantinople; henceforth he nominally ruled as dux on behalf of Constantinople. After another millennium, in 1453, the Eastern Empire, better known as the Byzantine Empire, fell to the Ottoman Turks. From Augustus to the Fall of the Western Empire Rome dominated the region of Western Eurasia, comprising over half its population. The Roman Empire's influence on government, law, military, and monumental architecture, as well as many other aspects of Western life remains inescapable. The Greeks adopted the Roman name in the Middle Ages and were known as Romans, a trend that survives until today in Greece, a result of their cultural position (see Names of the Greeks). Roman titles of power were adopted by successor states and other entities with imperial pretensions, including the Frankish kingdom, the Holy Roman Empire, the first and second Bulgarian empires, the Russian/Kiev dynasties, and the German Empire. See also Roman culture.
Historians' viewpoints on the evolution of Imperial Rome
Because the empire of Rome lasted for such a long period of time (31 BC–1453), there are certain alternative names used by historians to distinguish various semantic periods or eras. Such names include Byzantine Empire, Eastern Roman Empire and Western Roman Empire, which are used interchangeably throughout this article to mean the same as Roman Empire (or the Western or Eastern part thereof). For many years historians made a distinction between the Principate, the period from Augustus until the Crisis of the Third Century, and the Dominate, the period from Diocletian until the end of the Empire in the West. According to this theory, during the Principate (from the Latin word princeps, meaning "first citizen", the only title Augustus would permit himself) the realities of dictatorship were concealed behind Republican forms; while during the Dominate (from the word dominus, meaning "Master") imperial power showed its naked face, with golden crowns and ornate imperial ritual. More recently historians established that the situation was far more nuanced: certain historical forms continued until the Byzantine period, more than one thousand years after they were created, and displays of imperial majesty were common from the earliest days of the Empire.
Age of Augustus (31 BC–AD 14)

Political developments
Latin As a matter of convenience, the Roman Empire is held to have begun with the constitutional settlement following the Battle of Actium in 31 BC. In fact the Republican institutions at Rome had been destroyed over the preceding century and Rome had been in continuous crisis with periods of dictatorial rule since Sulla. The long, peaceful and consensual reign of Augustus greatly changed the view toward hereditary monarchy. Rome–the city that had not too long before assassinated its leader, Julius Caesar, when his ambitions seemed to threaten the republic–now placidly accepted one man rule. Augustus' reign was notable for several long-lasting achievements that would define the Empire:
- Creation of an hereditary office, which we refer to as Emperor of Rome.
- Fixation of the payscale. Duration of Roman military service marked the final step in the evolution of the Roman Army from a citizen army to a professional one.
- Creation of the Praetorian Guard, which would make and unmake emperors for centuries.
- Expansion to the natural borders of the Empire. The borders reached upon Augustus' death remained the limits of Empire, with minimal exceptions, for the next four hundred years.
- Development of trade links with regions as far as India and China.
- Creation of a civil service outside of the Senatorial structure, leading to a continuous weakening of Senatorial authority.
- Enactment of the lex Julia of 18 BC and the lex Papia Poppaea of AD 9, which rewarded childbearing and penalized celibacy.
- Promulgation of the cult of the Deified Julius Caesar throughout the Empire. This tradition of deifying the Emperor upon his death lasted until the time of Constantine, who was made both a Roman god and "the Thirteenth Apostle" upon his death.
Cultural developments
:Main article: Roman culture The Augustan period saw a tremendous outpouring of cultural achievement in the areas of poetry, history, sculpture and architecture. At the same time, a tremendous outpouring of energy in founding colonies and municipia, unrivalled in Rome before or after, succeeded in Romanizing extensive territories in the East, in Africa, in Hispania and Gaul, beyond those areas that were traditionally within the Roman sphere of influence.
Sources
The Age of Augustus is paradoxically far more poorly documented than the Late Republican period that preceded it. While Livy wrote his magisterial history during Augustus' reign and his work covered all of Roman history through 9 BC, only epitomes survive of his coverage of the Late Republican and Augustan periods. Our important primary sources for this period include the:
- Res Gestae Divi Augusti, Augustus' highly partisan autobiography,
- Historiae Romanae by Velleius Paterculus, a disorganized work which remains the best annals of the Augustan period, and
- Controversiae and Suasoriae of Seneca the Elder. Though primary accounts of this period are few, works of poetry, legislation and engineering from this period provide important insights into Roman life. Archeology, including maritime archeology, aerial surveys, epigraphic inscriptions on buildings, and Augustan coinage, has also provided valuable evidence about economic, social and military conditions. Secondary sources on the Augustan Age include Tacitus, Dio Cassius, Plutarch and Suetonius. Josephus' Jewish Antiquities is the important source for Judea in this period, which became a province during Augustus' reign.
Julio-Claudian dynasty: Augustus' heirs
Augustus, leaving no sons, was succeeded by his stepson Tiberius, the son of his wife Livia from her first marriage. Augustus was a scion of the gens Julia (the Julian family), one of the most ancient patrician clans of Rome, while Tiberius was a scion of the gens Claudia, only slightly less ancient than the Julians. Their three immediate successors were all descended both from the gens Claudia, through Tiberius' brother Nero Claudius Drusus, and from gens Julia, either through Julia Caesaris, Augustus' daughter from his first marriage (Caligula and Nero), or through Augustus' sister Octavia (Claudius). Historians thus refer to their dynasty as "Julio-Claudian".
Tiberius (14–37)
The early years of Tiberius' reign were peaceful and relatively benign. Tiberius secured the power of Rome and enriched her treasury. However, Tiberius' reign soon became characterized by paranoia and slander. In 19, he was popularly blamed for the death of his nephew, the popular Germanicus. In 23 his own son Drusus died. More and more, Tiberius retreated into himself. He began a series of treason trials and executions. He left power in the hands of the commander of the guard, Aelius Sejanus. Tiberius himself retired to live at his villa on the island of Capri in 26, leaving administration in the hands of Sejanus, who carried on the persecutions with relish. Sejanus also began to consolidate his own power; in 31 he was named co-consul with Tiberius and married Livilla, the emperor's niece. At this point he was hoist by his own petard: the Emperor's paranoia, which he had so ably exploited for his own gain, was turned against him. Sejanus was put to death, along with many of his cronies, the same year. The persecutions continued until Tiberius' death in 37.
Caligula (37–41)
At the time of Tiberius' death most of the people who might have succeeded him had been brutally murdered. The logical successor (and Tiberius' own choice) was his grandnephew, Germanicus' son Gaius (better known as Caligula). Caligula started out well, by putting an end to the persecutions and burning his uncle's records. Unfortunately, he quickly lapsed into illness. The Caligula that emerged in late 37 may have suffered from epilepsy, and was probably insane. He ordered his soldiers to invade Britain, but changed his mind at the last minute and had them pick sea shells on the northern end of France instead. It is believed he carried on incestuous relations with his sisters. He had ordered a statue of himself to be erected in the Temple at Jerusalem, which would have undoubtedly led to revolt had he not been dissuaded. In 41, Caligula was assassinated by the commander of the guard Cassius Chaerea. The only member left of the imperial family to take charge was another nephew of Tiberius', Tiberius Claudius Drusus Nero Germanicus, better known as the emperor Claudius.
Claudius (41–54)
Claudius had long been considered a weakling and a fool by the rest of his family. He was, however, neither paranoid like his uncle Tiberius, nor insane like his nephew Caligula, and was therefore able to administer the empire with reasonable ability. He improved the bureaucracy and streamlined the citizenship and senatorial rolls. He also proceeded with the conquest and colonization of Britain (in 43), and incorporated more Eastern provinces into the empire. In Italy, he constructed a winter port at Ostia, thereby providing a place for grain from other parts of the Empire to be brought in inclement weather. On the home front, Claudius was less successful. His wife Messalina cuckolded him; when he found out, he had her executed and married his niece, Agrippina the younger. She, along with several of his freedmen, held an inordinate amount of power over him, and very probably killed him in 54. Claudius was deified later that year. The death of Claudius paved the way for Agrippina's own son, the 16-year-old Lucius Domitius, or, as he was known by this time, Nero.
Nero (54–69)
Initially, Nero left the rule of Rome to his mother and his tutors, particularly Lucius Annaeus Seneca. However, as he grew older, his desire for power increased; he had his mother and tutors executed. During Nero's reign, there were a series of riots and rebellions throughout the Empire: in Britain, Armenia, Parthia, and Judaea. Nero's inability to manage the rebellions and his basic incompetence became evident quickly and in 68, even the Imperial guard renounced him. Nero is best remembered by the rumour that he played the lyre and sang during the Great Fire of Rome, and hence "fiddled while Rome burned" (though the fiddle had yet to be invented). Nero is also remembered for his immense rebuilding of Rome following the fires. Nero committed suicide, and the year 69 (known as the Year of the Four Emperors) was a year of civil war, with the emperors Galba, Otho, Vitellius, and Vespasian ruling in quick succession. By the end of the year, Vespasian was able to solidify his power as emperor of Rome.
Flavian Dynasty
The Flavians, although a relatively short lived dynasty, helped restore stability in an empire on its knees. Although there are criticism of all three, especially based on their more centralized style of rule, it was through the reforms and good rule of the three that helped create a stable empire that would last well into the 3rd Century. However, their backgrounds as a military dynasty led to further irrelevancy of the senate, and the move from princeps, or first citizen, to imperator, or emperor, was finalized during their reign.
Vespasian (69–79)
Vespasian was a remarkably successful Roman general who had been given rule over much of the eastern part of the Roman Empire. He had supported the imperial claims of Galba; however, on his death, Vespasian became a major contender for the throne. After the suicide of Otho, Vespasian was able to hijack Rome's winter grain supply in Egypt, placing him in a good position to defeat his remaining rival, Vitellius. On December 20, 69, some of Vespasian's partisans were able to occupy Rome. Vitellius was murdered by his own troops, and the next day, Vespasian was confirmed as Emperor by the Senate. At the age of 60 and battle hardened he was hardly a charismatic emperor, but he turned out to be an excellent ruler none the less. Although Vespasian was considered quite the autocrat by the senate, he mostly continued the weakening of that body that had been going since the reign of Tiberius. This was typified by his dating his accession to power from July 1, when his troops proclaimed him emperor, instead of December 21, when the Senate confirmed his appointment. Another example was his assumption of the censorship in 73, giving him power over who exactly made up the senate. He used that power to expel dissident senators. At the same time, he increased the number of senators from 200, at that low level due to the actions of Nero and the year of crisis that followed, to 1000, most of the new senators coming not from Rome but from Italy and the urban centers within the western provinces. Vespasian was able to liberate Rome from the financial burdens placed upon it by Nero's excesses and the civil wars. To do this, he not only increased taxes, but created new forms of taxation. Also, through his power as censor he was able to carefully examine the fiscal status of every city and province, many paying taxes based upon information and structures more than a century old. Through this sound fiscal policy, he was able to build up a surplus in the treasury and embark on public works projects. It was he who first commissioned the Roman Colosseum; he also built a forum whose centerpiece was a temple to Peace. In addition, he alloted sizable subsidies to the arts, creating a chair of rhetoric at Rome. Vespasian was also an effective emperor for the provinces in his decades of office, having posts all across the empire, both east and west. In the west he gave considerable favoritism to Spain in which he granted Latin rights to over three hundred towns and cities, promoting a new era of urbanization throughout the western (i.e. formerly barbarian) provinces. Through the additions he made to the Senate he allowed greater influence of the provinces in the Senate, helping to promote unity in the empire. He also extended the borders of the empire on every front, most of which was done to help strengthen the frontier defenses, one of Vespasian's main goals. The crisis of 69 had wrought havoc on the army. One of the most marked problems had been the support lent by provincial legions to men who supposedly represented the best will of their province. This was mostly caused by the placement of native auxiliary units in the areas they were recruited in, a practice Vespasian stopped. He mixed auxiliary units with men from other areas of the empire or moved the units away from where they were recruited to help stop this. Also, to further reduce the chances of another military coup he broke up the legions, and instead of placing them in singular concentrations broke them up along the border. Perhaps the most important military reform he undertook was the extension of legion recruitment from exclusively Italy to Gaul and Spain, in line with the Romanization of those areas.
Titus (79–81)
Titus, the eldest son of Vespasian, had been groomed to rule. He had served as an effective general under his father, helping to secure the east and eventually taking over the command of Roman armies in Syria and Palestine, quelling the significant Jewish revolt going on at the time. Throughout his father's reign he had been tailored for rule, sharing the consul for several years with his father and receiving the best tutelage. Although there was some trepidation when he took office due to his known dealings with some of the less respectable elements of Roman society, he quickly proved his merit, even recalling many exiled by his father as a show of good faith. However, his short reign was marked by disaster: in 79, Vesuvius erupted in Pompeii, and in 80, a fire decimated much of Rome. His generosity in rebuilding after these tragedies made him very popular. Titus was very proud of his work on the vast amphitheater begun by his father. He held the opening ceremonies in the still unfinished edifice during the year 80, celebrating with a lavish show that featured 100 gladiators and lasted 100 days. Titus died in 81, at the age of 41 of what is presumed to be illness; it was rumored that his brother Domitian murdered him in order to become his successor, although these claims have little merit. Whatever the case, he was greatly mourned and missed.
Domitian (81–96)
The Flavians all had rather poor relations with the senate due to their more autocratic style, however Domitian was the only one who truly created significant problems. His continuous control as consul and censor throughout his rule, the former his father sharing in much the same way of his Julio-Claudian forerunners, the latter having difficulty even obtaining, were unheard of. In addition, he often appeared in full military regalia as an imperator, an affront to the idea of what the Principate-era emperor's power was based upon, the emperor as the princeps. His reputation in the Senate aside, he kept the people of Rome happy through various measures, including donations to every resident of Rome, wild spectacles in the newly finished Colosseum, and continuing the public works projects of his father and brother. He also apparently had the good fiscal sense of his father, because although he spent lavishly his successors came to power with a well endowed treasury. However, during the end of his reign Domitian became extremely paranoid which probably had its initial roots in the treatment he received by his father: although given significant responsibility, he was never trusted with anything important without supervision. This flowered into the severe and perhaps pathological repercussions following the short lived rebellion in 89 of Antonius Saturninus, a governor and commander in Germany. Domitian's paranoia led to a large number of arrests, executions, and seizure of property (which might help explain his ability to spend so lavishly). Eventually it got to the point where even his closest advisers and family members lived in fear, leading them to his murder in 96 orchestrated by his enemies in the Senate, Stephanus (the steward of the deceased Julia Flavia), members of the Pretorian Guard and empress Domitia Longina.
The Adoptive Emperors

"Five Good Emperors" (96–180)
180 The next century came to be known as the period of the "Five Good Emperors", in which the succession was peaceful though not dynastic and the Empire was prosperous. The emperors of the period were Nerva (96–98), Trajan (98–117), Hadrian (117–138), Antoninus Pius (138–161) and Marcus Aurelius (161–180), each being adopted by his predecessor as his successor during the latter's lifetime. While their respective choices of successor were based upon the merits of the individual men they selected, many argue the real reason for the lasting success of the adoptive scheme of succession lay more with the fact that none of them had a natural heir. Under Trajan, the Empire's borders briefly achieved their maximum extension with provinces created in Mesopotamia in 117. From 166, Roman embassies to China, first sent under the reign of Antonius Pius and probably traveling on the southern sea route, are recorded in Chinese historical sources such as the Later Han History.
Commodus (180–192)
192 world map, indicating "Sinae" (China) at the extreme right, beyond the island of "Trapobane" (Sri Lanka, oversized) and the "Aurea Chersonesus" (South-East Asian peninsula).]] The period of the "five good emperors" was brought to an end by the reign of Commodus from 180 to 192. Commodus was the son of Marcus Aurelius, making him the first direct successor in a century, breaking the scheme of adoptive successors that had turned out so well. He was co-emperor with his father from 177. When he became sole emperor upon the death of his father in 180, it was at first seen as a hopeful sign by the people of the Roman Empire. Nevertheless, as generous and magnanimous as his father was, Commodus turned out to be just the opposite. Commodus is often thought to have been insane, and he was certainly given to excess. He began his reign by making an unfavorable peace treaty with the Marcomanni, who had been at war with Marcus Aurelius. Commodus also had a passion for gladiatorial combat, which he took so far as to take to the arena himself, dressed as a gladiator. In 190, a part of the city of Rome burned, and Commodus took the opportunity to "re-found" the city of Rome in his own honor, as Colonia Commodiana. The months of the calendar were all renamed in his honor, and the senate was renamed as the Commodian Fortunate Senate. The army became known as the Commodian Army. Commodus was strangled in his sleep in 192, a day before he planned to march into the Senate dressed as a gladiator to take office as a consul. Upon his death, the Senate passed damnatio memoriae on him and restored the proper name to the city of Rome and its institutions. The popular movies The Fall of the Roman Empire (1964) and Gladiator (2000) were loosely based on the career of the emperor Commodus, although they should not be taken as an accurate historical depictions of his life.
Severan dynasty (193–235)
The Severan dynasty includes the increasingly troubled reigns of Septimius Severus (193–211), Caracalla (211–217), Macrinus (217–218), Elagabalus (218–222), and Alexander Severus (222–235). The founder of the dynasty, Lucius Septimius Severus, belonged to a leading native family of Leptis Magna in Africa who allied himself with a prominent Syrian family by his marriage to Julia Domna. Their provincial background and cosmopolitan alliance, eventually giving rise to imperial rulers of Syrian background, Elagabalus and Alexander Severus, testifies to the broad political franchise and economic development of the Roman empire that had been achieved under the Antonines. A generally successful ruler, Septimius Severus cultivated the army's support with substantial remuneration in return for total loyalty to the emperor and substituted equestrian officers for senators in key administrative positions. In this way, he successfully broadened the power base of the imperial administration throughout the empire. Abolishing the regular standing jury courts of Republican times, Septimius Severus was likewise able to transfer additional power to the executive branch of the government, of which he was decidedly the chief representative. Septimius Severus' son, Marcus Aurelius Antoninus — nicknamed Caracalla — removed all legal and political distinction between Italians and provincials, enacting the Constitutio Antoniniana in 212 which extended full Roman citizenship to all free inhabitants of the empire. Caracalla was also responsible for erecting the famous Baths of Caracalla in Rome, their design serving as an architectural model for many subsequent monumental public buildings. Increasingly unstable and autocratic, Caracalla was assassinated by the praetorian prefect Macrinus in 217, who succeeded him briefly as the first emperor not of senatorial rank. The imperial court, however, was dominated by formidable women who arranged the succession of Elagabalus in 218, and Alexander Severus, the last of the dynasty, in 222. In the last phase of the Severan principate, the power of the Senate was somewhat revived and a number of fiscal reforms were enacted. Despite early successes against the Sassanian Empire in the East, Alexander Severus' increasing inability to control the army led eventually to its mutiny and his assassination in 235. The death of Alexander Severus ushered in a subsequent period of soldier-emperors and almost a half-century of civil war and strife.
Crisis of the 3rd Century (235–284)
The Crisis of the 3rd Century is a commonly applied name for the crumbling and near collapse of the Roman Empire between 235 and 284. During this period, Rome was ruled by more than 35 individuals, most of them prominent generals who assumed Imperial power over all or part of the empire, only to lose it by defeat in battle, murder, or death. After nearly 50 years of external invasion, internal civil wars and economic collapse, the Empire was on the verge of ending. A series of tough soldier-emperors saved the empire, but in the process fundamentally changed the Roman Empire. The transitions of this period mark the beginnings of Late Antiquity and the end of Classical Antiquity.
Tetrarchy (285–324)
324 sacked from a Byzantine palace in 1204, Treasury of St Mark's, Venice]] The transition from a single united empire to the later divided Western and Eastern empires was a gradual transformation. In July, 285, Diocletian defeated rival Emperor Carinus and briefly became sole emperor of the Roman Empire. Diocletian saw that the vast Roman Empire was ungovernable by a single emperor in the face of internal pressures and military threats on two fronts. He therefore split the Empire in half along a north-west axis just east of Italy, and created two equal Emperors to rule under the title of Augustus. Diocletian was Augustus of the eastern half, and gave his long time friend Maximian the title of Augustus in the western half. In 293 authority was further divided as each Augustus took a Caesar to aid him in administrative matters, and to provide a line of succession; Galerius became the junior emperor of Diocletian and Constantius Chlorus the junior emperor of Maximian. This constituted what is called the Tetrarchy (in Greek: the leadership of four) by modern scholars. The system allowed the peaceful succession of the Augusti as the Caesar in each half rose up to replace the Augustus and proclaimed a new Caesar. On May 1, 305 Diocletian and Maximian abdicated in favor of their Caesars. Galerius named the two new Caesars: his nephew Maximinus for himself and Flavius Valerius Severus for Constantius. The Tetrarchy would effectively collapse with the death of Constantius Chlorus on July 25 306. Constantius' troops in Eboracum immediately proclaimed his son Constantine an Augustus. In August, 306, Galerius promoted Severus to the position of Augustus. A revolt in Rome supported another claimant to the same title: Maxentius, son of Maximian, who was proclaimed Augustus on October 28, 306. His election was supported by the Praetorian Guard. This left the Empire with five rulers: four Augusti (Galerius, Constantine, Severus and Maxentius) and a Caesar (Maximinus). The year 307 saw the return of Maximian to the role of Augustus alongside his son Maxentius creating a total of six rulers of the Empire. Galerius and Severus campaigned against them in Italy. Severus was killed under command of Maxentius on September 16, 307. The two Augusti of Italy also managed to ally themselves with Constantine by having Constantine marry Fausta, the daughter of Maximian and sister of Maxentius. The end of 307 saw the Empire with four Augusti (Maximian, Galerius, Constantine and Maxentius) and a sole Caesar (Maximinus). The five were briefly joined by another Augustus in 308, Domitius Alexander, vicarius of the Roman province of Africa under Maxentius, proclaimed himself Augustus. Before long he was captured by Rufius Volusianus and Zenas. Alexander was executed in 311. The current situation of conflict between the various rivalrous Augusti was resolved in the Congress of Carnuntum with the participation of Diocletian, Maximian and Galerius. The final decisions were taken on November 11, 308:
- Galerius remained Augustus of the Eastern Roman Empire.
- Maximinus remained Caesar of the Eastern Roman Empire.
- Maximian was forced to abdicate.
- Maxentius was still not recognized, his rule remained illegitimate.
- Constantine received official recognition but was demoted to Caesar of the Western Roman Empire.
- Licinius replaced Maximian as Augustus of the Western Roman Empire. Problems however continued. Maximinus demanded to be promoted to Augustus. He proclaimed himself to be one on May 1 310; Constantine followed suit shortly after. Maximian similarly proclaimed himself an Augustus for a third and final time. He was killed by his son-in-law Constantine in July, 310. The end of the year again found the Empire with four legitimate Augusti (Galerius, Maximinus, Constantine and Licinius) and one illegitimate one (Maxentius). Galerius died in May 311 leaving Maximinus sole ruler of the Eastern Roman Empire. Meanwhile Maxentius declared a war on Constantine under the pretext of avenging his executed father. He was among the casualties of the Battle of Milvian Bridge on October 28 312. This left the Empire in the hands of the three remaining Augusti, Maximinus, Constantine and Licinius. Licinius allied himself with Constantine, cementing the alliance by marriage to his younger half-sister Constantia in March 313 and joining open conflict with Maximinus. In August 313 Maximinus met his death at Tarsus in Cilicia. The two remaining Augusti divided the Empire again in the pattern established by Diocletian, Constantine becoming Augustus of the Western Roman Empire and Licinius Augustus of the Eastern Roman Empire. This division lasted ten years until 324. A final war between the last two remaining Augusti ended with the deposition of Licinius and the elevation of Constantine to sole Emperor of the Roman Empire. Deciding that the empire needed a new capital, Constantine chose the site of Byzantium for the new city. He refounded it as Nova Roma, but it was popularly called Constantinople: Constantine's City.
Christian Empire (324–395)
395 The beginning of the Roman Empire as a Christian empire lies in 313, with the Edict of Milan. The edict was signed under the reigns of Constantine I and Licinius. The edict established tolerance for Christianity throughout the Empire, but did not yet make it the official state religion. After the Edict was proclaimed, however, the Christian Church rapidly became extremely influential amongst the ruling classes of the Empire, and the Bishops were established in positions of power and influence. Christianity became the single official religion of Rome under Theodosius I (r. 379–395). The emperor had a considerable degree of control over the church. While Christianity flourished, the Empire by no means became uniformly Christian; paganism remained significant. Theodosius massacred Thessalonica for rebelling against his new Christian policies condemning homosexuality, which was a common practice in both ancient Greece and Greece under Roman rule. Upon his return to Rome the Bishop Ambrose refused to let Theodosius enter the church until he made a public repentance. Theodosius did so, and from then on the church's powers grew. Eventually the church would gain enough power that it would outlast the empire in the west.
Late Antiquity in the West (395–476)
476.]] In popular history, the year 476 is generally accepted as the end of the Western Roman Empire. In that year, Odoacer disposed of his puppet Romulus Augustus (475–476), and for the first time did not bother to induct a successor, choosing instead to rule as a representative of the Eastern Emperor (although Julius Nepos, the emperor deposed by Romulus Augustulus, continued to rule Illyricum until his death in 480, at which point Odoacer annexed the remainder of the Western Empire to his Italian kingdom). The last Emperor who ruled from Rome, however, had been Theodosius, who removed the seat of power to Mediolanum (Milan). Edward Gibbon, in writing The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire knew not to end his narrative at 476. The great corpse continued to twitch, into the 6th century. On the other hand, in 409, with the Emperor of the West fled from Milan to Ravenna and all the provinces wavering in loyalties, the Goth Alaric I, in charge at Rome, came to terms with the senate, and with their consent set up a rival emperor and invested the prefect of the city, a Greek named Priscus Attalus, with the diadem and the purple robe. In the following year when the Goths rampaged in the City, local power was in the hands of the Bishop of Rome. The transfer of power to Christian pope and military dux had been effected: the Western Empire was effectively dead, though no contemporary knew it. The next seven decades played out as aftermath. Theodoric the Great as King of the Goths, couched his legitimacy in diplomatic terms as being the representative of the Emperor of the East. Consuls were appointed regularly through his reign: a formula for the consular appointment is provided in Cassiodorus' Book VI. The post of consul was last filled in the west by Theodoric's successor, Athalaric, until he died in 534. Ironically the Gothic War in Italy, which was meant as the reconquest of a lost province for the Emperor of the East and a re-establishment of the continuity of power, actually caused more damage and cut more ties of continuity with the Antique world than the attempts of Theodoric and his minister Cassiodorus to meld Roman and Gothic culture within a Roman form. In essence, the "fall" of the Roman Empire to a contemporary depended a great deal on where they were and their status in the world. On the great villas of the Italian Campagna, the seasons rolled on without a hitch. The local overseer may have been representing an Ostrogoth, then a Lombard duke, then a Christian bishop, but the rhythm of life and the horizons of the imagined world remained the same. Even in the decayed cities of Italy consuls were still elected. In Auvergne, at Clermont, the Gallo-Roman poet and diplomat Sidonius Apollinaris, bishop of Clermont, realized that the local "fall of Rome" came in 475, with the fall of the city to the Visigoth Euric. In the north of Gaul the Franks could not be taken for Roman, but in Hispania the last Arian Visigothic king Liuvigild considered himself the heir of Rome. In Alexandria, dreams of a "Christian Empire" with genuine continuity were shattered when a rampaging mob of Christians were encouraged to sack and destroy the Serapeum in 392. Hispania Baetica was still essentially Roman when the Moors came in 711, but in the northwest, the invasion of the Suevi broke the last frail links with Roman culture in 409. In Aquitania and Provence, cities like Arles were not abandoned, but Roman culture in Britain collapsed in waves of violence after the last legions evacuated: the final legionary probably left Britain in 409. In Athens the end came for some in 529, when the Emperor Justinian closed the Neoplatonic Academy and its remaining members fled east for protection under the rule of Sassanid king Khosrau I; for other Greeks it had come long before, in 396, when Christian monks led Alaric I to vandalize the site of the Eleusinian Mysteries.
From Roman to Byzantine in the East

Under Constantine (330–337) and his sons (337–361)
Constantinople would serve as the capital of Constantine the Great from May 11, 330 to his death on May 22 337. The Empire was parted again among his three surviving sons.The Western Roman Empire was divided among the eldest son Constantine II and the youngest son Constans. The Eastern Roman Empire along with Constantinople were the share of middle son Constantius II. Constantine II was killed in conflict with his youngest brother in 340. Constans was himself killed in conflict with army proclaimed Augustus Magnentius on January 18 350. Magnentius was at first opposed in the city of Rome by self-proclaimed Augustus Nepotianus, a paternal first cousin of Constans. Nepotianus was killed alongside his mother Eutropia. His other first cousin Constantia convinced Vetriano to proclaim himself Caesar in opposition to Magnentius. Vetriano served a brief term from March 1 to December 25 350. He was then forced to abdicate by the legitimate Augustus Constantius. The usurper Magnentius would continue to rule the Western Roman Empire till 353 while in conflict with Constantius. His eventual defeat and suicide left Constantius as sole Emperor. Constantius' rule would however be opposed again in 360. He had named his paternal half-cousin and brother-in-law Julian as his Caesar of the Western Roman Empire in 355. During the following five years, Julian had a series of victories against invading Germanic tribes, including the Alamanni. This allowed him to secure the Rhine frontier. His victorious Gallic troops thus ceased campaigning. Constantius send orders for the troops to be transferred to the east as reinforcements for his own currently unsuccessful campaign against Shapur II of Persia. This order led the Gallic troops to an insurrection. They proclaimed their commanding officer Julian to be an Augustus. Both Augusti were not ready to lead their troops to another Roman Civil War. Constantius' timely demise on November 3, 361 prevented this war from ever occurring.
Under Julian & Jovian (361–364)
Julian would serve as the sole Emperor for two years. He had received his baptism as a Christian years before, but apparently no longer considered himself one. His reign would see the ending of restriction and persecution of paganism introduced by his uncle and father-in-law Constantine the Great and his cousins and brothers-in-law Constantine II, Constans and Constantius II. He instead placed similar restrictions and unofficial persecution of Christianity. His edict of toleration in 362 ordered the reopening of pagan temples and the reinstitution of alienated temple properties, and, more problematically for the Christian Church, the recalling of previously exiled Christian bishops. Returning Orthodox and Arian bishops resumed their conflicts, thus further weakening the Church as a whole. Julian himself was not a traditional pagan. His personal beliefs were largely influenced by Neoplatonism and Theurgy; he reputedly believed he was the reincarnation of Alexander the Great. He produced works of philosophy arguing his beliefs. His brief renaissance of paganism would, however, end with his death. Julian eventually resumed the war against Shapur II of Persia. He received a mortal wound in battle and died on June 26, 363. He was considered a hero by pagan sources of his time and a villain by Christian ones. Later historians have treated him as a controversial figure. Julian died childless and with no designated successor. The officers of his army elected the rather obscure officer Jovian emperor. He is remembered for signing an unfavorable peace treaty with Persia and restoring the privileges of Christianity. He is considered a Christian himself, though little is known of his beliefs. Jovian himself died on February 17, 364.
Valentinian Dynasty (364–392)
The role of choosing a new Augustus fell again to army officers. On February 28, 364, Pannonian officer Valentinian I was elected Augustus in Nicaea, Bithynia. However, the army had been left leaderless twice in less than a year, and the officers demanded Valentinian to choose a co-ruler. On March 28 Valentinian chose his own younger brother Valens and the two new Augusti parted the Empire in the pattern established by Diocletian: Valentinian would administer the Western Roman Empire, while Valens took control over the Eastern Roman Empire. Valens' election would soon be disputed. Procopius, a Cilician maternal cousin of Julian, had been considered a likely heir to his cousin but was never designated as such. He had been in hiding since the election of Jovian. In 365, while Valentinian was at Paris and then at Reims to direct the operations of his generals against the Alamanni, Procopius managed to bribe two legions assigned to Constantinople and take control of the Eastern Roman capital. He was proclaimed Augustus on September 28 and soon extended his control to both Thrace and Bithynia. War between the two rival Eastern Roman Emperors continued until Procopius was defeated. Valens had him executed on May 27, 366. On August 4 367, a 3rd Augustus was proclaimed by the other two. His father Valentini

Roman Kingdom

King of Rome redirects here. For more information on the son of the Emperor Napoleon, see Napoleon II of France. The Roman Kingdom (Latin: Regnum Romanum) was the monarchal government for the city of Rome and its territories from its founding in 753 BC by Romulus until the expulsion of Lucius Tarquinius Superbus in 510 BC and the establishment of the Roman Republic. In Roman legend, when the Greeks waged war against the city of Troy, the Trojan prince Aeneas sailed across the Mediterranean Sea to Italy and founded Lavinium. His son Iulus went on to found the city of Alba Longa. From Alba Longa's royal family came the twins Romulus and Remus, who went on to found the city of Rome in 753 BC.

The Kings of Rome

Kings of Rome
King	Traditional Reign
Romulus	753 BC-716 BC
Numa Pompilius	715 BC-674 BC
Tullus Hostilius	673 BC-642 BC
Ancus Marcius	642 BC-617 BC
Lucius Tarquinius Priscus	616 BC-579 BC
Servius Tullius	578 BC-535 BC
Lucius Tarquinius Superbus	535 BC-510 BC/509 BC

Before the Roman Emperors and the Consuls, Rome was a monarchy governed by Kings (Latin: Rex). The Kings, excluding Romulus as the city's founder, were all elected by the people of Rome to serve for life, with none of the kings relying on military force to gain the throne. Though no reference is made to the hereditary principle in the election of the first four Kings, beginning with the fifth King Tarquinius Priscus, the royal inheritance flowed through the royal females of the deceased king. Consequently, the ancient historians state that the King was chosen on account of his virtues and not his descent. The historians of ancient Rome make it difficult to determine the powers of the King as they referred to the King with the powers of their Republican counterparts (namely the Consuls). Some modern writers believe that the supreme power of Rome resided in the hands of the people and that the king was just the chief executive for the Senate and People while others believe that the king possessed the sovereign powers and that the Senate and People had only minor checks upon his powers. What is known for certain is that the king alone possessed the right to the auspice on behalf of Rome as its chief Augur, and no public business could be performed without the will of the gods made known through auspices. The people knew the king as a mediator between them and the gods and thus viewed the king with religious awe. This made the king the head of the national religion and chief religious executive. Having the power to control the Roman calendar, he conducted all religious ceremonies and appointed lower religious offices and officers. It was Romulus who instituted the Augurs and was believed to have been the best Augur of all. Likewise, king Numa Pompilius instituted the Pontiffs and through them developed the foundations of the religious dogma of Rome. Beyond his religious authority, the king was invested with the supreme military and judicial authority through the use of Imperium. The Imperium of the king was held for life and protected him from ever being brought to trial for his actions. As being the sole owner of Imperium in Rome at the time, the king possessed unchecked military authority as the commander-in-chief of all Rome's legions. Also, the laws that kept citizens safe from the misuse of magistrates owning Imperium did not exist during the times of the king. The king's Imperium granted him both military powers as well as qualified him to pronounce legal judgment in all cases as the chief justice of Rome. Though he could assign pontiffs to act as minor judges in some cases, he had supreme authority in all cases brought before him, both civil and criminal. This made the king supreme in times of both war and peace. A council advised the king during all trials, but this council had no power to control the king's decisions. While some writers believed there was no appeal from the king's decisions, others believed that a proposal for appeal could be brought before the king by any Patrician during a meeting of the Curiate Assembly. Another power of the king was the power to either appoint or nominate all officials to offices. The king would appoint a Tribunus Celerum to serve as both the Tribune of Ramnes tribe in Rome but also as the commander of the king's personal bodyguard, similar to the Roman Emperor and the Praetorian Prefect. The king was required to appoint the Tribune upon entering office and the Tribune left office upon the king's death. The Tribune was second in rank to the king and also possessed the power to convene the Curiate Assembly and lay legislation before it. Another officer appointed by the king was the Praefectus Urbanus, which acted as the warden of the city. When the king was absent from the city, the Prefect held all of the king's powers and abilities, even to the point of being bestowed with Imperium while inside the city. The king even received the right to be the sole person to appoint Patricians to the Senate to act as Senators. Under the Kings, the Senate and Curiate Assembly had very little power and authority. The Senate and Curiate Assembly were not independent bodies possessing the right to meet together and discuss the questions of the state. They could only be called together by the king and could only discuss the matters the king laid before them. While the Curiate Assembly did have the power to pass laws when submitted by the King, the Senate was just an honorable council for the King. They could advise the King on his action but by no means could prevent him from acting. The only thing that the King could not do without the approval of the Senate was declare war against a foreign nation. The insignia of the kings of Rome where 12 lictors wielding the fasces bearing axes, the right to sit upon a Curule chair, the purple Toga Picta, red shoes, and a white diadem around the head. Of all these insignia, the most important was the purple toga.

Election of the King

Once one of the Kings died, Rome entered a period of ‘’interregum’’. The Senate would assemble and appoint an Interrex to serve an indefinite period (normally less then a year) with the sole purpose of nominating the next King of Rome. Once the Interrex found a suitable nominee to the kingship, he would bring the nominee before the Senate and the Senate would review him. If the Senate passed the nominee, the Interrex would convene the Curiate Assembly and presided as its president during the election of the King. Once proposed to the Curiate Assembly, the people of Rome could either accept or reject him. If accepted, the King-elect did not immediately enter office. Two other acts had still to take place before he was invested with the full regal authority and power. First it was necessary to obtain the divine will of the gods respecting his appointment by means of the auspices, since the King was the high priest of Rome. This ceremony was performed by an augur, who conducted the King-elect to the citadel where the augur placed him on a stone seat, while the people waited below. If found worthy of the kingship, the augur announced that the gods had given favorable tokens, thus confirming the King’s priestly character. The second act which had to be performed was the conferring of the Imperium upon the King. The Curiate Assembly’s previous vote had only determined who was to be King, and had not by that act bestowed the necessary power of the King upon him. Accordingly, the King himself proposed to the Curiate Assembly a law granting him Imperium, and the Curiate Assembly by voting in favor of the law, gave him the Imperium. The reason of this double vote of the Curiate Assembly is clear enough. The Imperium could only be conferred upon a person that the gods had found favorable. It was necessary, therefore, first to determine who was to be the person who was capable of receiving the Imperium and when the was divinely favored, then the Imperium was granted to him by a special vote. In theory, the people of Rome got to elect their leader, however the Senate had most of the control over the process.

Rome Under The Kings

The Reign of Romulus

Romulus was not only Rome's first King but also the city's founder. In 753 BC, Romulus began building the city upon the Palatine Hill. After founding Rome, he invited criminals, runaway slaves, exiles, and other undesirables by granting them asylum. In this manner, Romulus populated five of the seven hills of Rome. To provide his citizens with wives, Romulus invited the neighboring Sabine tribe to a festival where he abducted the Sabine women and brought them back to Rome (remembered as the Rape of the Sabine Women). After the ensuing war with the Sabines, Romulus brought the Sabines and Romans under one ruler. Sabine Romulus divided the people of Rome between the able bodied men and those unfit for combat. The fighting men became the Roman Legions consisting of 6000 infantry and 600 cavalry. The rest became the people of Rome and out of these people, Romulus selected 100 of the most noble men to serve as Senators in an advisory council for the King, the Roman Senate. These men he called Patricians, and they would become the Republican nobles and elite. With the union between the Romans and Sabines, Romulus added another 100 members to the Senate of Sabine birth. Also under Romulus' reign, the Comitia Curiata was instituted. To form the basic of the Comitia Curiate, Romulus divided the people of Rome into three tribes: one for Romans, a second for Sabines, and a third for all others. Each tribe elected ten representatives, known as curiae, to form a single voting unit. Romulus would convene the Curiate and lay proposals from either himself or the Senate before the Curiate for ratification. All proposals passed before the Comitia Curiate were either unanimosly supported or unanimosly defeated as the majority of curiae voting was viewed the the opinion of the the entire Curiate. After 38 years as King of Rome, Romulus had fought in several successful wars, expanding the control of Rome over all of Latium and many of the surrounding areas. Romulus also instituted the Augurs as part of the Roman religion. Romulus would be remembered as early Rome's greatest conqueror and as one of the most religious men in Roman history. After his death at the age of 54, Romulus was deified as the war god Quirinus and served not only as one of the three major gods of Rome but also as the deified likeness of the city of Rome.

The Reign of Numa Pompilius

After Romulus' strange and mysterious death, the kingship fell to Numa Pompilius. Though first unwilling to serve as King, his father convinced him to took up the position as a service to the gods. Celebrated for his natural wisdom, Numa’s reign was marked by peace and prosperity. Numa reformed the Roman calendar by adjusting it for the solar and lunar year as well as by added the months of January and February to bring the total number of months to twelve. Numa instituted several of Rome's religious rituals including the the Salii, and a flamen maioris to serve as the chief priest to Quirinus, the Flamen Quirinalis. Numa organized the area in and around Rome into districts for easier management. He is also credited for the organization of Rome’s first occupational guilds. Numa is remembered as the most religious of the Kings (surpassing even Romulus), and during his reign, he introduced the Flamens, the Vestal Virgins of Rome, the Pontiffs and the College of Pontiffs. Under his administration, temples to Vesta and Janus were contructed. Also during his reign, it was said that a shield from Jupiter fell from the sky with the fate of Rome written on it. Numa ordered eleven copies of the shield to be created and these shields became sacred to the Romans. As a peace loving and gentle man, Numa planned ideas of meckness and justise within the minds of the Romans. The doors to the Temple of Janus were never open a sinlge day as Numa waged no wars during his entire four decades of rule. He would reign for 41 years as King and would die a natural, peaceful death.

The Reign of Tullus Hostilius

Tullus Hostilius was much like Romulus in his war like behavior and completely unlike Numa in his lack of respect for the gods. Tullus waged war against Alba Longa, Fidenae, and Veii, thus granting Rome even greater territory and power. It was during Tullus' reign that the city of Alba Longa was completely destroyed and Tullus enslaved the population and sent them back to Rome. Tullus desired war so much that he even waged another war against the Sabines. With the coming of Tullus’ reign, the Romans lost their desire for peace. Tullus fought so many wars that he completely neglected the worship of the gods. Legend has it that because of this, a plague infected the city, and the Tullus himself was among the infected. When Tullus called upon Jupiter and begged assistance, Jupiter responded with a bolt of lightning that burned the King and his house to ashes. Despite his war-like nature, Tullus Hostilius selected and represented the third group of people to make up Rome’s Patrician class consisting of those who had come to Rome seeking asylum and a new life. He also constructed a new home for the Senate, the Curia, which survived for over 500 years after his death. His reign lasted for 31 years.

The Reign of Ancus Marcius

Following Tullus’ mysterious death, the Romans elected a peaceful and religious king in his place. The king they elected was Numa’s grandson, Ancus Marcius. Much like his grandfather, Ancus did little to expand the borders of Rome and only fought war when his territories needed defending. He also built an aqueduct, the Aqua Marcia, and built Rome's first prison on the Capitoline Hill. During his reign, the Janiculum Hill on the western bank was fortified to further protect Rome and also build the first bridge across the Tiber River. He would also found Rome’s port of Ostia on the Tyrrhenian Sea and establish Rome’s first salt works. During his reign, Rome's size increased as Ancus used diplomacy to peacefully join some of the smaller, surrounding city into alliance with Rome. Through this method, he completed the conquest of the Latins and relocated them to the Aventine Hill, thus forming the Plebian class of Romans. He would die a natural death, like his grandfather before him, after 25 years as King and would be remembered as one of Rome’s greatest Pontiffs.

The Reign of Tarquinius Priscus

Tarquinius Priscus was not only Rome’s fifth King but also the first of Etruscan birth. After immigrating to Rome, he found favor in Ancus, who later adopted him as his son. Upon becoming King, he waged wars against the Sabines and Etruscans, which doubled the size of Rome and brought great treasures to the city. One of his first reforms was to add 100 new members to the Senate from the conquered Etruscan tribes, bringing the total number of Senators to 300. He used the booty Rome acquired from the conquests to build great monuments for Rome. Among these were Rome’s great sewer systems, which he used to drain the swamp-like area between the Seven Hills of Rome. In the swamp’s place, he began what would become the Roman Forum. He also instituted the founding of the Roman Games. The most famous of his great building projects is the Circus Maximus, a giant stadium used for chariot races which, to this day, remains the largest stadium in the world. Priscus followed up the Circus Maximus by beginning a temple-fortress to the god Jupiter upon the Capitoline Hill. Unfortunately, he was killed after 38 years as King at the hands of Ancus Marcius’ sons before it could be completed. His reign is best remembered introducing the Rome symbols of military and civil offices as well as the introduction of the Roman Triumph, being the first Roman to celebrate one.

The Reign of Servius Tullius

Roman Triumph Following Priscus’ death, his son-in-law Servius Tullius succeeded him to the throne, the second King of Etruscan birth to rule Rome. Like his father-in-law before him, Servius fought successful wars against the Etruscans. He used the treasure from the campaigns to build the first walls to fully encompass the Seven Hills of Rome, the Pomerium. He also brought about reforms within the Roman army. He was renowned for implementing a new constitution for the Romans, further developing the citizen classes. He instituted the world’s first census which divided the people of Rome into five economic classes, and formed the Century Assembly. He also used his census to divide the people within Rome into four urban tribes based upon location within the city, establishing the Tribal Assembly. His reign is also given credit for building the temple to Diana on the Aventine Hill. Servius’ reforms brought about a major change in Roman life: voting rights were now based upon economic wealth, transferring much of the power into the hands of the Roman elite. However, as time passed, Servius increasingly favored the most impoverished people in order to obtain favors from the plebs. His legislation was very distasteful to the patrician order. Tullius’s reign of 44 years was brought to an end after his assassination in a conspiracy lead by his own daughter Tullia and her husband Tarquinius Superbus.

The Reign of Tarquinius Superbus

The seventh and final King of Rome was Tarquinius Superbus. As the son of Priscus and the son-in-law of Servius, Tarquinius was also of Etruscan birth. It was also during his reign that the Etruscans reached their apex of power. Unlike any other King before him, Tarquinius used violence, murder, and terrorism to maintain control over Rome. He repealed many of the earlier constitutional reforms set down by his predecessors. The only thing of any real good he did for Rome was the completion of the temple to Jupiter started by his father Priscus. Tarquinius removed and destroyed all the Sabine shrines and alters from the Tarpeian Rock, enraging the people of Rome. The people would no longer tolerate his tyrannical rule when he allowed the rape of Lucretia, a Patrican Roman, at the hands of his own son. Lucretia’s kinsman, Lucius Junius Brutus (ancestor to Marcus Brutus), summoned the Senate and had Tarquinius and the monarchy expelled from Rome in 510 BC. After Tarquinius’ expulsion, the Senate voted to never again allow the rule of a King and reformed Rome into a Republican government in 509 BC. Lucius Junius Brutus and Lucius Tarquinius Collatinus, a member of the Tarquin family and Lucretia's widower, went on to become the first Consuls of Rome’s new government. This new government would lead the Romans to conqueror most of the Mediterranean World and would survive for the next five hundred years until the rise of Julius Caesar and Caesar Augustus.

Public Offices after the Monarchy

To replace the leadership of the kings, a new office was created with the title of Consul. Initially, the Consuls possessed all of the king’s powers in the form of two men, elected for a one-year term, who could veto each other’s actions. Later, the Consuls’ powers were broken down further by adding other magistrates that each held a small portion of the king’s original powers. First among these was the Praetor, which removed the Consuls’s judicial authority from them. Next came the Censor, which stripped from the Consuls the power to conduct the census. Nine years after the expulsion of Tarquinius, the Romans instituted the Dictatorship. This Dictator was given complete authority over all of Rome’s civil and military matters and there was no appeal from his decisions. His power was so absolute that the Romans only dared to appoint a Dictator in times of severe emergencies, and the sole thing that kept this Dictator from becoming another king of Rome was his six-month term limit. The king's religious powers were given to two new offices: the Rex Sacrorum and the Pontifex Maximus. The Rex Sacrorum was the de jure highest religious official for the Republic. His sole task was to make the annual sacrifice to Jupiter, a priviledge that had been previously reserved for the king. The Pontifex Maximus, however, was the de facto highest religious official, who held most of the king’s religious authority. He had the power to appoint all Vestal Virgins, Flamens, Pontiffs, and even the Rex Sacrorum himself. By the beginning of the 1st Century BC, the Rex Sacrorum was all but forgotten and the Pontifex Maximus given almost complete religious authority over the Roman religion.

Return of the monarchal system

With the ascent of Gaius Julius Caesar and his adoptive son Caesar Augustus, the powers of the king almost returned. Gaius Julius Caesar was elected both Pontifex Maximus and Dictator for life, which gave him even more powers than the of the ancient kings of old. After his assassination on the Ides of March 44 BC, Caesar Augustus gained the power of Consular Imperium and the powers of the Tribune of the People combined with the position of Pontifex Maximus and Princeps Senatus made him king-like. What finally changed Rome back into a monarchal system, however, was Augustus gaining the power to appoint a successor with all of his priviledges and honours. With that power, the Roman Republic ceased to exist and the monarchs returned as Roman Emperors, to rule over what had de facto become the Roman Empire.

External links

- [http://www.suppressedhistories.net/secret_history/patriapotestas.html Patria Potestas]: a view of suppressed matrilinearity in the early legends of Rome
- [http://www.roman-empire.net/kings/kings-index.html The Kings of Rome] Category:History of Rome Rome Kings Rome Kings Category:Roman Kingdom ja:王政ローマ

Legend

:For other senses of this word, see legend (disambiguation). A legend (Latin, legenda, "things to be read") is a narrative of human actions that are perceived both by teller and listeners to take place within human history and to possess certain qualities that give the tale verisimilitude. Legend, for its active and passive participants, includes no happenings that are outside the realm of "possibility", defined by a highly flexible set of parameters, which may include miracles that are perceived as actually having happened, within the specific tradition of indoctrination where the legend arises, and within which it may be transformed over time, in order to keep it fresh and vital, and realistic. Modern retellings of the legend of Saint George omit many of the miraculous happenings that were central to earlier versions, but which have lost credibility. Thus modern "urban legends" are quite correctly termed legends: "it happened to the brother-in-law of someone my friend's mother knew". The distinction is carefully drawn by Karl Kerenyi in the opening pages of The Heroes of the Greeks (1959): :"An essential difference between the legends of heroes and mythology proper, between the myths of the gods and those of the heroes, which are often entwined with them or at least border upon them, consists in this: that the latter prove to be, whether more or less, interwoven with history, with the events, not of a primaeval time which lies outside of time, but with historical time." A clear example, which distinguishes what is myth from what is legend, is the tale of the Gordian Knot. The legend concerns Alexander the Great, who, when confronted with the ancient knot of cornel bark that secured the pole of the sacral ox-cart at Gordium in the winter of 333 BC, severed it with a slash of his sword. The myth of the Gordian Knot is the founding myth of Gordium itself, justifying the authenticity of its line of kings. From the moment a legend is retailed as a legend, its authentic legendary qualities begin to fade and recede: in The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, Washington Irving transformed a local Hudson River Valley legend into a sly literary anecdote with "Gothic" overtones, which actually tended to diminish its character as genuine legend. Like metaphors, legends may be living or dead: the vital signs of a legend depend upon its being fiercely defended as true, which eliminates the headless horseman of Sleepy Hollow. But compare the Voyage of Saint Brendan, and the "Black Legend" of the supposedly fanatical and cruel national character of Spain. Legends that exceed these boundaries of "realism"— a term that has no practical application unless it is bound within particular cultural perspectives— are "fables". The talking animal formula of Aesop identifies his brief parables as fables, not legends. The parable of the Prodigal Son would be a legend if it were told as having actually happened to a specific son of a historical father. If it included an ass that gave sage advice to the Prodigal Son it would be a fable. Legend may be transmitted orally, passed on person-to-person, or, in the original sense, through written text. Jacob de Voragine's Legenda Aurea or "The Golden Legend" comprises a series of vitae or instructive biographical narratives, tied to the liturgical calendar of the Catholic Church. They are presented as lives of the saints, but the profusion of miraculous happenings and above all their uncritical context are characteristics of hagiography. The Legenda was intended to inspire extemporized homilies and sermons appropriate to the saint of the day. The word "legend" appeared in English ca 1340, transmitted from medieval Latin through French. Its first blurred extended (and essentially Protestant) sense of a nonhistorical narrative or myth was first recorded in 1613. By emphasizing the unrealistic character of "legends" of the saints, English-speaking Protestants were able to introduce a note of contrast to the "real" saints and martyrs of the Reformation, whose authentic narratives could be found in Foxe's Book of Martyrs. Thus "legend" gained its modern connotations of "undocumented" and "spurious". Legend may be interpreted for its ontological consequences and be treated as myth. To take an example, myths surrounding Cadmus, a Phoenician immigrant credited with bringing the alphabet and other Near Eastern culture to Bronze Age Greece, may have begun as a series of legends gathering around the memory of the historical founder of certain coastal cities in Greece. Explaining the origins of myth as former historical legends in this fashion is termed "euhemerism". See the entry Euhemerus for more detail. A legend or legend fragment is a meme that propagates through a culture. It may be crystallized in a literary work that fixes it and which affects the future direction it will take: compare Hamlet (legend) and Shakespeare's Hamlet. When a legend that is rooted in a kernel of truth is so strongly affected by an ideal (perhaps of chivalry) that it conforms to expected literary conventions of behavior, it becomes Romance. Some legends we "know" today may have their basis in historical fact. What distinguishes legend from chronicle, however, is that legend applies a structure that reveals a moral "meaning" to events, which lifts them above the meaningless repetitions and constraints of average human lives and gives them a universality that makes them worth repeating. Conspiracy theories are similar to legends in that the linchpin of the conspiracy is usually a plausible, but unprovable secret agenda which exclusively drives the story and links otherwise unconnected happenings into a satisfying pattern. Before the invention of the printing press, stories were passed on via oral tradition. Storytellers abounded. They learned their stock in trade, their stories, typically from an older storyteller, who might (or more usually might not) have actually been there when the "story" was "history" bardic schools. Artificial legends are the stock-in-trade of computer gaming. See The Legend of Zelda, among numerous examples.

Some legends

- Atlantis, especially when its "actual site" is hunted for (Plato used the myth as a parable);
- Cenodoxus, or the Damnation of the Good Doctor of Paris, an event leading ultimately to the Sanctification of St. Bruno of Carthusia;
- King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table, when the "real Arthur" is identified in 6th century Cornwall;
- The Holy Grail;
- El Dorado and the Fountain of Youth, which both evolved from legend to myth;
- Vlad the Impaler; the legend from which vampire mythology is said to derive;
- Robin Hood
- Roland
- William Tell

Patrician

:This is an article about the privileged class in ancient Rome. For other uses of the term, see patrician (disambiguation). Patricians were originally the elite caste in ancient Rome. In the time of the late Roman Empire, the term patrician was a specific title given to a high court official. The Latin word for "patrician" is patricius (plural patricii). This comes from patrēs (cōnscrīptī), the plural of pater ("father") and the added sense of "enrolled fathers" (members of the Roman Senate). The word comes down in English as "patrician" from the Middle English patricion, from the Old French patricien.

Patrician caste

In the early days of the Roman Republic, patricians formed a hereditary ruling group within the state. The patricians claimed to be able to trace their family to the original populus of Roman before the reign of Ancus Marcius and strong ties to the earliest members of Roman Senate. All magistracies were off-limits to non-patricians, who were known as plebeians. Patrician status was inherited, and intermarriage between patricians and plebeians was forbidden. Trade between patricians and plebeians was also forbidden. Over time, conflict raged between the two classes, and patricians were slowly forced to relinquish their power. In 494 BC, the office of tribune was created to safeguard the interests of plebeians; no patrician could hold this office. By the 320s BC, all magistracies were open to plebeian candidates, and the importance of the distinction between patricians and plebeians began to fade. In addition, because patrician status was strictly inherited and no new patrician families were created, the number of patrician families decreased. By the last days of the Roman Republic in the first century BC, wealthy plebeian families had long become an integral part of the Roman elite, and patrician status offered little more than prestige. This reality was made clear in 59 BC, when the patrician Publius Clodius Pulcher arranged to be adopted by a plebeian (who was a year younger than he!) so that he could stand for the office of tribune. One of the few positions that remained reserved to patricians at this time was the office of Rex Sacrorum, king of sacred rites, who was theoretically the highest ranking priest, responsible for carrying on the religious duties of the early kings of Rome. In practice, his authority was superceded by that of the Pontifex Maximus, who was not necessarily a Patrician.

Patrician position

Under the Roman Empire, patrician status as it had been understood in the Republic ceased to have meaning in everyday life. The emperor Constantine reintroduced the term; Patrician (Patricius) became an honorific title for those who demonstrated faithful service to the Empire. There were generally only a few patricians in the Empire at any given time, and sometimes only one. By the fifth century in the West, the title generally denoted a man who held the power behind the imperial throne, usually a general of the Roman army. Patricians of this era included Stilicho, Constantius III (before he became co-emperor), Aëtius, Boniface, and Ricimer. The term was occasionally used in this sense in Western Europe after the end of the Roman Empire; for instance, Pope Stephen III granted the title "Patrician of the Romans" to the Frankish ruler Pippin III. In the East, where the Emperors maintained their hold on power, the title maintained its meaning as an honorific until Latin titles fell out of use as Greek became the language of the court.

List of Patricii

- Flavius Julius Constantius: 335-337
- Flavius Stilicho: 394-408 (also magister militum)
- Flavius Constantius: 417-421 (later emperor February-September 421)
- Flavius Castinus: 420s
- Bonifacius: 432
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