Principate

This article needs additional cita‐

tions for verification. Learn more

The Principate is the name

sometimes given to the first pe‐
riod of the Roman Empire from
the beginning of the reign of
Augustus in 27 BC to the end of
the Crisis of the Third Century
in 284 AD, after which it evolved
into the so-called Dominate.
The Principate is characterised
by the reign of a single emperor
(princeps) and an effort on the
part of the early emperors, at
least, to preserve the illusion of
the formal continuance, in
some aspects, of the Roman
Republic.[1][2][3]

Etymology
It is etymologically derived
from the Latin word princeps,
meaning chief or first, the politi‐
cal regime dominated by such a
political leader, whether or not
he is formally head of state
and/or head of government.
This reflects the principate em‐
perors' assertion that they were
merely "first among equals"
among the citizens of Rome.

History
The title, in full, of princeps sen‐
atus / princeps civitatis ("first
amongst the senators" / "first
amongst the citizens") was first
adopted by Octavian Caesar
Augustus (27 BC–AD 14), the
first Roman "emperor" who
chose, like the assassinated
dictator Julius Caesar, not to
reintroduce a legal monarchy.
Augustus's purpose was proba‐
bly to establish the political sta‐
bility desperately needed after
the exhausting civil wars by a
de facto dictatorial regime
within the constitutional frame‐
work of the Roman Republic as
a more acceptable alternative
to, for example, the early
Roman Kingdom.

The title itself derived from the

position of the princeps sena‐
tus, traditionally the oldest
member of the Senate who had
the right to be heard first on
any debate. Although dynastic
pretenses crept in from the
start, formalizing this in a
monarchic style remained polit‐
ically unthinkable.

Often, in a more limited and

precise chronological sense, the
term is applied either to the
Empire (in the sense of the
post-Republican Roman state)
or specifically the earlier of the
two phases of "Imperial" gov‐
ernment in the ancient Roman
Empire, extending from when
Augustus claimed auctoritas for
himself as princeps until
Rome's military collapse in the
West (fall of Rome) in 476, leav‐
ing the Byzantine Empire sole
heir, or, depending on the
source, up to the rule of
Commodus, of Maximinus
Thrax or of Diocletian.
Afterwards, Imperial rule in the
Empire is designated as the
dominate, which is subjectively
more like an (absolute)
monarchy while the earlier
Principate is still more
'Republican'.

Under this "Principate stricto

sensu", the political reality of
autocratic rule by the Emperor
was still scrupulously masked
by forms and conventions of
oligarchic self-rule inherited
from the political period of the
'uncrowned' Roman Republic
(509 BC–27 BC) under the
motto Senatus Populusque
Romanus ("The Senate and peo‐
ple of Rome") or SPQR. Initially,
the theory implied the 'first citi‐
zen' had to earn his extraordi‐
nary position (de facto evolving
to nearly absolute monarchy)
by merit in the style that
Augustus himself had gained
the position of auctoritas.

Imperial propaganda developed

a paternalistic ideology, pre‐
senting the princeps as the very
incarnation of all virtues attrib‐
uted to the ideal ruler (much
like a Greek tyrannos earlier),
such as clemency and justice,
and in turn placing the onus on
the princeps to play this desig‐
nated role within Roman soci‐
ety, as his political insurance as
well as a moral duty. What
specifically was expected of
the princeps seems to have var‐
ied according to the times;
Tiberius, who amassed a huge
surplus for the city of Rome,
was criticized as a miser, but
Caligula was criticized for his
lavish spending on games and
spectacles.

Generally speaking, it was ex‐

pected of the Emperor to be
generous but not frivolous, not
just as a good ruler but also
with his personal fortune (as in
the proverbial "bread and cir‐
cuses" – panem et circenses)
providing occasional public
games, gladiators, horse races
and artistic shows. Large distri‐
butions of food for the public
and charitable institutions were
also means that served as pop‐
ularity boosters while the con‐
struction of public works pro‐
vided paid employment for the
poor.
Principate under Augustus[4]

Redefinition under
Vespasian
Edit

With the fall of the Julio-

Claudian dynasty in AD 68, the
principate was redefined in for‐
mal terms under the Emperor
Vespasian in AD 69. The posi‐
tion of princeps became a dis‐
tinct entity within the broader –
formally still republican –
Roman constitution. While
many of the cultural and politi‐
cal expectations remained, the
princeps was no longer a posi‐
tion extended on the basis of
merit, or auctoritas, but on a
firmer basis, allowing
Vespasian and future emperors
to designate their own heir
without those heirs having to
earn the position through years
of success and public favor.

Under the Antonine dynasty, it

was the norm for the Emperor
to appoint a successful and po‐
litically promising individual as
his successor. In modern his‐
torical analysis, this is treated
by many authors as an "ideal"
situation: the individual who
was most capable was pro‐
moted to the position of prin‐
ceps. Of the Antonine dynasty,
Edward Gibbon famously wrote
that this was the happiest and
most productive period in hu‐
man history, and credited the
system of succession as the
key factor.
Dominate Edit

This first phase evolved into the

so-called dominate. Starting
with the Emperor Diocletian, an
oriental type of style like domi‐
nus ("Lord", "Master", suggest‐
ing the citizens became servi,
servants or slaves) gradually
became current, though not le‐
gal, but there was no clear con‐
stitutional turning point. This
trend is also said to have been
established by the Emperor
Septimius Severus; while the
Severan dynasty began to use
the terminology of the
Dominate in reference to the
emperor, the various emperors
and their usurpers throughout
the 3rd century appealed to the
people as both military domi‐
nus and political princeps.

After the Crisis of the Third

Century almost resulted in the
Roman Empire's political col‐
lapse, Diocletian replaced the
one-headed principate with the
tetrarchy (c. AD 300, two
Augusti ranking above two
Caesares), in which the vestigial
pretense of the old Republican
forms was largely abandoned.
The title of princeps was aban‐
doned – like the territorial unity
of the Empire – in favor of
dominus, and the position of
the emperor(s), especially in
the Western Roman Empire,
was entirely dependent on their
control of the armed forces.

The dominate developed more

and more, especially in the
Eastern Roman Empire, along
the lines of an oriental absolute
monarchy, where the subjects,
and even diplomatic allies,
could be termed servus or the
corresponding Greek term dou‐
los, ("servant/slave") to express
the exalted position of the
Emperor as second only to God,
and on earth to none.

References
1. "Principate - government" .
britannica.com. Archived
from the original on
2016-10-11.
2. A history of Rome, M. Cary
& H.H. Scullard,
 ISBN 0333278305
3. SPQR; Mary Beard,
ISBN 9781846683800
4. Digital Reproduction of dia‐
gram found in The Anchor
Atlas of World History, Vol.
1 (From the Stone Age to
the Eve of the French
Revolution) Paperback –
December 17, 1974 by
Werner Hilgemann,
Hermann Kinder, Ernest A.
Menze (Translator), Harald
Bukor (Cartographer), Ruth
Bukor (Cartographer)
Sources
Alston, Richard. 1998.
Aspects of Roman History. AD
14–117. London: Routledge.
Aparicio Pérez, Antonio.
2009. “Taxation in Times of
the Principate.” Gerión 27:1:
207-217.
Bleicken, Jochen. 1978.
Prinzipat und Dominat.
Gedanken zur Periodisierung
der römischen Kaiserzeit.
Wiesbaden: Fr. Stein.
Flaig, Egon. 2011. “The
Transition from Republic to
Principate: Loss of
Legitimacy, Revolution, and
Acceptance.” In The Roman
Empire in Context: Historical
and Comparative
Perspectives, Edited by
Jóhann Páll Arnason and
Kurt A. Raaflaub. Ancient
World, 67-84. Chichester:
Wiley-Blackwell.
Gallia, Andrew B. 2012.
Remembering the Roman
Republic: Culture, Politics and
History under the Principate.
Cambridge; New York:
Cambridge University Press.
Gibson, A. G. G., ed. 2013.
The Julio-Claudian
Succession: Reality and
Perception of the Augustan
model. Mnemosyne.
Supplements; 349. Leiden:
Brill.
Harlow, Mary and Laurence,
Ray. 2017. “Augustus Senex:
Old Age and the Remaking of
the Principate.” Greece and
Rome 64.2: 115-131.
Kousser, Rachel Meredith.
2005. “From Conquest to
Civilization: The Rhetoric of
Imperialism in the Early
Principate.” In A Tall Order:
Writing the Social History of
the Ancient World: Essays in
Honor of William V. Harris,
Edited by Jean-Jacques
Aubert and Zsuzsanna
Várhelyi. Beiträge zur
Altertumskunde; 216,
185-202. München: Saur.
Melounová, Markéta. 2012.
“Trials with Religious and
Political Charges from the
Principate to the Dominate.”
Series archaeologica et clas‐
 sica 17.2: 117-130.
Raaflaub, Kurt A, Mark Toher,
and G. W Bowersock. 1990.
Between Republic and Empire:
Interpretations of Augustus
and His Principate. Berkeley:
University of California Press.
Williams, Kathryn Frances.
2009. “Tacitus' Germanicus
and the Principate.” Latomus
68.1: 117-130.

External links

Retrieved from
"https://en.wikipedia.org
/w/index.php?title=Principate&
oldid=943099602"

Last edited 22 days ago by an anonymous user

Content is available under CC BY-SA

3.0 unless otherwise noted.