Descripción

Aus der Bibliothek von Prof. Wolfgang Haase, langj�igem Herausgeber der ANRW und des International Journal of the Classical Tradition (IJCT) / From the library of Prof. Wolfgang Haase, long-time editor of ANRW and the International Journal of the Classical Tradition (IJCT). - sehr guter Zustand / very good condition - CHAPTER I -- VESPASIAN�S AUCTORITAS ET MATE STAS -- The reign of Nero, the last of the Julio-Claudian emperors, was marked by extreme adulatio, by many superhuman honors for the ruler, particularly by the use of the radiate crown on the coinage. Nero had followed to a great extent the policy of the Hellenistic kings in setting himself up as a diviner ruler, quite as Caligula had done before him, and in spite of the damnation of his memory such an innovation as the radiate crown continued after him. His death marked the end of a great dynasty, and the civil strife of 69 was not a contest to secure the restoration of the republic but only to see which commander would be raised to the imperial dignity by his army. It was certainly clear that the successful candidate would himself found a new line of rulers, for only thus could Rome be spared civil war at the end of each reign. In turn, Galba, Otho, and Vitellius held for a fleeting moment the reins of power, but for so short a time that they could not develop a religious policy. Finally Fortune elevated to the throne the general of the Syrian army, T. Flavius Vespasianus, and we may consider him the real successor of the Julio-Claudians. -- It must be remembered that Vespasian, unlike the Julii, could not claim descent from the gods and Roman kings, for the Flavian family from the town of Reate in the Sabine country was � obscure and without any ancestral portraits. � He had himself been forced to mortgage his estates to his brother and also engage in trading in mules, evidently as a result of a costly official career.