Nerva and the Roman Succession Crisis of AD 96-99

Nerva and the Roman Succession Crisis of AD 96-99

Author: John D. Grainger

Publisher: Psychology Press

Published: 2004

Total Pages: 198

ISBN-13: 9780415349581

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John Grainger's detailed study examines a period of intrigue and conspiracy, studies how, why and by whom Domitian was killed and investigates the effects of this dynastic uncertainty and why civil war didn't occur in this time of political upheaval.


The Roman Imperial Succession

The Roman Imperial Succession

Author: John D. Grainger

Publisher: Pen and Sword History

Published: 2020-06-30

Total Pages: 494

ISBN-13: 1526766051

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An investigation of how a man could become a Roman emperor, and the failure to create an enduring, consistent system for selecting the next emperor. John D. Grainger analyses the Roman imperial succession, demonstrating that the empire organized by Augustus was fundamentally flawed in the method it used to find emperors. Augustus’s system was a mixture of heredity, senatorial, and military influences, and these were generally antagonistic. Consequently, the Empire went through a series of crises, in which the succession to a previous, usually dead, emperor was the main issue. The infamous “Year of the Four Emperors,” AD 69, is only the most famous of these crises, which often involved bouts of bloody and destructive civil war, assassinations and purges. These were followed by a period, usually relatively short, in which the victor in the “crisis” established a new system, juggling the three basic elements identified by Augustus, but which was as fragile and short lived as its predecessor; these “consequences” of each crisis are discussed. The lucid and erudite text is supported by over 22 genealogical tables and 100 images illustrating the Emperors. Praise of The Roman Imperial Succession “For a general introduction to the question of how one becomes a Roman emperor, Grainger has provided a sound guide.” —Bryn Mawr Classical Review


The Roman Emperor Aurelian

The Roman Emperor Aurelian

Author: John F. White

Publisher: Pen and Sword

Published: 2015-11-30

Total Pages: 168

ISBN-13: 1473844770

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The leader who helped keep the Dark Ages at bay: “An excellent picture of the Crisis of the Third Century and the life and work of Aurelian” (StrategyPage). The ancient Sibylline prophecies had foretold that the Roman Empire would last for one thousand years. As the time for the expected dissolution approached in the middle of the third century AD, the empire was lapsing into chaos, with seemingly interminable civil wars over the imperial succession. The western empire had seceded under a rebel emperor, and the eastern empire was controlled by another usurper. Barbarians took advantage of the anarchy to kill and plunder all over the provinces. Yet within the space of just five years, the general, and later emperor, Aurelian had expelled all the barbarians from within the Roman frontiers, reunited the entire empire, and inaugurated major reforms of the currency, pagan religion, and civil administration. His accomplishments have been hailed by classical scholars as those of a superman, yet Aurelian himself remains little known to a wider audience. His achievements enabled the Roman Empire to survive for another two centuries, ensuring a lasting legacy of Roman civilization for the successor European states. Without Aurelian, the Dark Ages would probably have lasted centuries longer.


The Augustan Succession

The Augustan Succession

Author: Peter Michael Swan

Publisher: Oxford : Oxford University Press

Published: 2004

Total Pages: 449

ISBN-13: 0195167740

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"This commentary pays close critical attention to Dio's historical sources, methods, and assumptions as it also strives to present him as a figure in his own right. During a long life (ca. 164-after 229), Dio served as a Roman senator under seven emperors from Commodus to Severus Alexander, governed three Roman provinces, and was twice consul."--BOOK JACKET.


Contested Monarchy

Contested Monarchy

Author: Johannes Wienand

Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA

Published: 2015

Total Pages: 553

ISBN-13: 0199768994

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Contested Monarchy offers a fresh survey of the role of the Roman monarch in a period of significant and enduring change.


The Roman Empire at Bay, AD 180-395

The Roman Empire at Bay, AD 180-395

Author: David Stone Potter

Publisher: Psychology Press

Published: 2004

Total Pages: 788

ISBN-13: 9780415100588

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At the outset of the period covered by this book, Rome was the greatest power in the world. By its end, it had fallen conclusively from this dominant position. David Potter's comprehensive survey of two critical and eventful centuries traces the course of imperial decline.


The Roman Empire from Severus to Constantine

The Roman Empire from Severus to Constantine

Author: Patricia Southern

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2003-12-16

Total Pages: 840

ISBN-13: 1134553803

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The third century AD in the Roman Empire began and ended with Emperors who are recognised today as being strong and dynamic - Septimius Severus, Diocletian and Constantine. Yet the intervening years have traditionally been seen as a period of crisis. The 260s saw the nadir of Imperial fortunes, with every frontier threatened or overrun, the senior emperor imprisoned by the Persians, and Gaul and Palmyra breaking away from central control. It might have been thought that the empire should have collapsed - yet it did not. Pat Southern shows how this was possible by providing a chronological history of the Empire from the end of the second century to the beginning of the fourth; the emergence and devastating activities of the Germanic tribes and the Persian Empire are analysed, and a conclusion details the economic, military and social aspects of the third century 'crisis'.


Diocletian and the Roman Recovery

Diocletian and the Roman Recovery

Author: Stephen Williams

Publisher: Psychology Press

Published: 1997

Total Pages: 382

ISBN-13: 9780415918275

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This collection of essays and reviews represents the most significant and comprehensive writing on Shakespeare's A Comedy of Errors. Miola's edited work also features a comprehensive critical history, coupled with a full bibliography and photographs of major productions of the play from around the world. In the collection, there are five previously unpublished essays. The topics covered in these new essays are women in the play, the play's debt to contemporary theater, its critical and performance histories in Germany and Japan, the metrical variety of the play, and the distinctly modern perspective on the play as containing dark and disturbing elements. To compliment these new essays, the collection features significant scholarship and commentary on The Comedy of Errors that is published in obscure and difficulty accessible journals, newspapers, and other sources. This collection brings together these essays for the first time.


Ten Caesars

Ten Caesars

Author: Barry Strauss

Publisher: Simon & Schuster

Published: 2020-03-03

Total Pages: 432

ISBN-13: 1451668848

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Bestselling classical historian Barry Strauss delivers “an exceptionally accessible history of the Roman Empire…much of Ten Caesars reads like a script for Game of Thrones” (The Wall Street Journal)—a summation of three and a half centuries of the Roman Empire as seen through the lives of ten of the most important emperors, from Augustus to Constantine. In this essential and “enlightening” (The New York Times Book Review) work, Barry Strauss tells the story of the Roman Empire from rise to reinvention, from Augustus, who founded the empire, to Constantine, who made it Christian and moved the capital east to Constantinople. During these centuries Rome gained in splendor and territory, then lost both. By the fourth century, the time of Constantine, the Roman Empire had changed so dramatically in geography, ethnicity, religion, and culture that it would have been virtually unrecognizable to Augustus. Rome’s legacy remains today in so many ways, from language, law, and architecture to the seat of the Roman Catholic Church. Strauss examines this enduring heritage through the lives of the men who shaped it: Augustus, Tiberius, Nero, Vespasian, Trajan, Hadrian, Marcus Aurelius, Septimius Severus, Diocletian, and Constantine. Over the ages, they learned to maintain the family business—the government of an empire—by adapting when necessary and always persevering no matter the cost. Ten Caesars is a “captivating narrative that breathes new life into a host of transformative figures” (Publishers Weekly). This “superb summation of four centuries of Roman history, a masterpiece of compression, confirms Barry Strauss as the foremost academic classicist writing for the general reader today” (The Wall Street Journal).