Difference between revisions of "Adjectives for Roman Imperial Dynasties"

Latest revision as of 12:01, 17 December 2019

During the Roman Empire an emperor nominated his successor, who was typically one of his sons, another male relative, or a person adopted as a son. The Roman emperors thus form dynasties, i.e., chains in which each emperor after the first in a chain has been nominated by his predecessor, the chain coming to an end when an emperor fails to nominate a successor or his nominee is not appointed (e.g., because he has been deposed and supplanted by a rival). The situation is a little more complicated but not essentially different in the fourth and fifth centuries after the emperor Diocletian (ruled 284-305 CE) introduced a system under which the empire was ruled simultaneously by four emperors, two with authority in the western half (a ‘senior’ emperor known as an augustus, and a ‘junior’ emperor known as a caesar) and similarly an augustus and a caesar in the eastern half.

Here are the adjectives used by historians to identify some of the dynasties, adjectives which are also sometimes used to identify, e.g., a building, a policy, or a state of affairs, for which a member of the dynasty is responsible.

Julio-Claudian: the first of the Roman imperial dynasties, its members were Augustus (ruled 27 BCE-14 CE), Tiberius (ruled 14-37 CE), Caligula (Gaius) (ruled 37-41 CE), Claudius (ruled 41-54 CE), and Nero (ruled 54-68 CE). The Julio-Claudian dynasty is so called because its first member, Augustus (formerly known as Octavian), was the adopted son of Julius Caesar and so from the Julian family, and its second member, Tiberius (Augustus’ stepson), was from the Claudian family.

Flavian: the Flavian dynasty ruled between 69 and 96 CE: its members, all from the Flavian family, were Vespasian (ruled 69-79 CE) and his sons Titus (ruled 79-81 CE) and Domitian (ruled 81-96 CE).

The Colosseum in Rome is also known as the Flavian Amphitheatre because work on it was began in 72 under the emperor Vespasian and ended in 80 under his successor Titus.

Nerva-Antonine: the Nerva-Antonine dynasty ruled between 96 and 192 CE: its members were Nerva (ruled 96-98), Trajan (ruled 98-117), Hadrian (ruled 117-138), Antoninus Pius (ruled 138-161), Marcus Aurelius (ruled 161-180), Lucius Verus (ruled jointly with Marcus Aurelius 161-169), and Commodus (ruled 180-192). The Antonine dynasty is named after Antoninus Pius, the longest-ruling member of the dynasty; and five of its members (viz., Nerva, Trajan, Hadrian, Antoninus Pius, and Marcus Aurelius), because they governed particularly well, are sometimes referred to as ‘the five good emperors’.

The Antonine Wall, which was built in Scotland, from the river Clyde to the Firth of Forth, to defend the empire’s northern frontier, is so called because it was begun in 142 on the orders of Antoninus Pius: it took 12 years to complete.

Gordian: the short-lived Gordian dynasty ruled between 238 and 244: its members were Gordian I (ruled 238), his son Gordian II (ruled for 21 days in 238), and Gordian III (a grandson of Gordian I, who was only 13 years of age when he became emperor, and died six years later while with the Roman army in the Middle East).

N.B. The adjective ‘Gordian’ in the expression ‘to cut the Gordian knot’ does NOT refer to this Roman imperial dynasty but to Gordias, a legendary king of Phrygia, the creator of the extremely complicated knot which, centuries later in 333 BCE, Alexander the Great cut through with his sword. (The expression ‘to cut the Gordian knot’ is used metaphorically to mean ‘to solve a difficult or intricate problem in a direct or forceful way’.)

Constantinian: the Constantinian dynasty ruled from 293 to 363: its members, ruling either as a caesar or as an augustus, either on their own or jointly with others, were Constantius I (ruled 293-306), Constantine I (Constantine the Great, ruled 307-337), Constantine II (ruled 317-340), Constans (ruled 337-350), Constantius II (ruled 337-361), and Julian (ruled 361-363). The Constantinian dynasty is named after its most famous member, Constantine the Great.

The phrase ‘the Constantinian settlement’ is used by historians to refer to the relationship established by Constantine the Great between the Roman state and the Christian Church: under the settlement Christianity, until this time the faith of an often persecuted minority, became in effect the state religion of the Roman Empire.

Theodosian: the Theodosian dynasty ruled from 379-457: its members, ruling either on their own or jointly with others, were Theodosius I (Theodosius the Great, ruled 379-395), Arcadius (ruled 383-408), Honorius (ruled 395-423), Theodosius II (ruled 408-450), and Marcian (ruled 450-457). The Theodosian dynasty is named after its founder, Theodosius I.

The Theodosian Walls were built during the reign of the emperor Theodosius II to protect Constantinople (modern Istanbul), then the capital of the eastern half of the Roman Empire. A double line of walls, parts of which are still visible today, they kept the city safe from attack by land or sea for a thousand years – until, as the capital of the Byzantine Empire, it fell to the Ottoman army in 1453.

The Theodosian Code is a collection of the laws and legislative decisions of the Roman emperors from the time of the first Christian emperor, Constantine the Great. It was compiled by a commission established in 429 by Theodosius II and his co-emperor Valentinian III, and was published in 438.