Emperors & their relations with the senate
- Created by: marquisdelafayette
- Created on: 30-04-16 23:23
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- Relations with Senators
- Augustus 27BC - 14AD
- Returned the republic from his power to the senate and the people (Res Gestae)
- Respected the dignity of the senatorial class (Suetonius)
- Forced a reluctant senate to recognise his powers (Tacitus)
- Tiberius 14AD - 37AD
- Reluctance to take power frustrated the senate (Suetonius and Tacitus)
- Always consulted the senate
- Senators were allowed to say what they wanted - valued their opinions
- Did not help senators who needed financial aid
- Tried to follow Augustus' example
- Caligula 37AD - 41AD
- Disrespectful to the senate (Suetonius)
- Handed the elections from the senate to the people - took away their power
- Abused the senate for having been friends with Sejanus (Suetonius)
- Reintroduced treason trials (Cassius Dio)
- Claudius 41AD - 54AD
- Concerned with the moral fabric of senators (Tacitus)
- Denounced "yesmen" and therefore encroached on senate's activities
- Wanted senators to prove Roman ancestry - yet he allowed a freedman to become a senator (Suetonius)
- Nero 54AD - 68AD
- Made 400 senators fight in the arena - enjoyed their humiliation (Suetonius)
- Senate eventually declared him a public enemy
- Gave law case responsibility to the senate (Tacitus)
- Dismissed treason charges (Tacitus)
- Thraseus Paeta - attempts at protest
- Intended to wipe out the senatorial order (Suetonius)
- Vespasian 69AD - 79AD
- Behaved generously to all classes (Suetonius)
- Gave financial aid to senators who needed it (Suetonius)
- "The senate decreed to Vespasian everything udual for emperors" (Tacitus)
- Did not take on tribunician power (Suetonius)
- Titus 79AD - 81AD
- "Bore most of the burdens of the government" (Suetonius)
- Read out imperial speeches to the senate (Suetonius)
- Domitian 81AD - 96AD
- Came down heavily on those who wrote satire about distinguished men and women (Suetonius)
- Parallels with Tiberius - put many senators to death on trivial charges (Suetonius)
- Held a record 17 consulships (Suetonius)
- Augustus 27BC - 14AD
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