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Vindolanda tablets

Vindolanda tablets. What do the tablets from the officer class & their families reveal to us?. > 200 individuals named – writers & recipients, with ranks, places of origin and kinship connections. 2 nd- 3 rd Centuries: Crisis looming. 193-211 CE - Publius Septimius Severus

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Vindolanda tablets

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  1. Vindolanda tablets • What do the tablets from the officer class & their families reveal to us? • > 200 individuals named – writers & recipients, with ranks, places of origin and kinship connections

  2. 2nd-3rd Centuries: Crisis looming • 193-211 CE - Publius Septimius Severus • north African, equestrian; fully “Romanized” as soldier/bureaucrat • legatus in Upper Pannonia on the Danube, victor in civil war • promoted equestrians (incl. ex-soldiers) in the administration, diminished Senate even further, and although African, not anti-Italian in administering • interested in justice, law, and control of the treasury - res privata – including all imperial properties • excessive spending  debasement, inflation • ruling household  domus divina – deified, laying claim to descent from Romulus, Augustus, or divi Augusti • repaired frontiers, stimulated economies to counter local bankruptcies • d. 211, Eburacum (York), campaigning vs. Caledonians

  3. 2nd-3rd Centuries: Crisis looming • 211-212 CE: Geta (P. Septimius Antoninus Geta) • 211-217 CE: Caracalla (M. Aurelius Severus Antoninus, “the tunic,” born L. Septimius Bassianus) • sons of Septimius Severus, return to Rome, arrange for Severus’ deification • Caracalla arranges for Geta’s murder after 1 year • excessive spending (e.g., Baths, one of Rome’s last great monuments – 2000 bathers at once) leads to • grant of citizenship to all freemen in 212 – constitutio Antoniniana (primary purpose: increase tax revenues via inheritance taxes on citizens) • coinage debasement by 25% to pay the legions (whose salaries he increased) • spends most of career on frontiers, defeating Alamanni on the Rhine in 213, Danube in 215; plundering Alexandria and slaughtering 1000s for satirizing his claim of killing Geta in self-defense • slaughtered by bodyguard while urinating in Parthia in 217

  4. 2nd-3rd Centuries: Crisis looming • 217-218 CE: Macrinus and Diadumenianus • M. Opellius Macrinus ordered Caracalla’s death; he and son first equestrian emperors) • 218-222 CE: Elagabalus (M. Aurelius Antoninus) • Julia Domna, widow of Septimius Severus, and sister Julia Maesa, grandmother to next two emperors (1st cousins Elagablus & Severus Alexander) plot Macrinus’ death; Domna dies in 217, Macrinus killed in 218 • “Elagabal” = Syrian Sun God; emperor as priest, devotee, transferred cult image – black conical stone – to Rome and established cult • appointed favorites to high office while mother J. Maesa ruled Rome; as hostility grew, she promoted interests of other grandson, Severus

  5. 2nd-3rd Centuries: Crisis looming • 222-235 CE: Marcus Aurelius Severus Alexander • Maesa, grandmother, instigates assassination of grandson Elagabalus, damnatio memoriae, termination of cult of Elagabal • reinforced power of praetorian prefect (Ulpian, famous jurist) & equestrian order; attempted to control inflation • unprepared to rule – 14 years old in 222 – dominated by mother Julia Mamaea, “Mother of Augustus & camps & Senate & patria” • waged war with Persian dynasty, and attacks across Rhine & Danube • assassinated in 235 by troops whose loyalty he didn’t earn

  6. 3rd Century: Crisis arrives • 235-284 CE: 50 years, 22 emperors POLITICAL CRISES • surrender of Senate to emperor & decreasing value of senatorial career • decreasing influence of assemblies • growing power of equestrian bureaucrats • growing power of princeps in all areas, destroying checks and balances, evolving into autocracy

  7. 3rd Century: Crisis arrives • 235-284 CE: 50 years, 22 emperors ECONOMIC CRISES • cost of government overwhelming: public works, handouts, war, entertainment, frontier deployments, imperial bureaucracy, education, farm relief • runaway inflation. Response: debasement of coinage, growth of black market, confiscation of property by princeps • widespread looting, increases in taxes,  bankruptcies of individuals, municipalities • underfunded taxpayers brutalized by collectors

  8. 3rd Century: Crisis arrives • 235-284 CE: 50 years, 22 emperors ECONOMIC CRISES • individuals fled farms, livelihoods,  unfarmed land, fewer crops and manufactured goods for trade •  trade deficit, as wealthy still require luxury exotic items •  brigandage, as landless unemployed, army deserters, war refugees resort to crime •  depopulation of communities; as wealthy take untended land, can’t pay property tax, leading to more financial stress • wealthy / public servants can’t afford local benefactions (works, games, philanthropy), and base of society collapses

  9. 3rd Century: Crisis arrives • 235-284 CE: 50 years, 22 emperors ECONOMIC CRISES fueled by mismanagement, corruption,  bankruptcy of communities and loss of markets • state intervention, limiting local autonomy by taxing formerly exempt industrial “guilds” – collegia – baking, wine, oil, haircutting, carpentry, etc.  decrease in services, manufacturing & efficiencies • bureaucrats infiltrate guilds, terrorize them and their communities, and themselves subject to bribery • industries declined, society collapsed, fingers pointed at … Christianity

  10. 3rd Century: Crisis arrives • 235-284 CE: 50 years, 22 emperors OTHER CAUSES armies far afield loyal to commanders promising donatives, not emperors in Rome/elsewhere • soldiers on discharge  empowered equestrians, replacing senatorial class • armies  marauding thugs supporting commanders seeking booty & glory • empire for sale to highest bidder • frontiers collapse, end of pax Romana • Saxons (NW), Franks & Alamanni (Rhine), Marcomanni & Quadi (Danube), Sarmatians & Vandals (Dacia), Goths & Herulians (Black Sea) • emperors buy off invading hordes, but provinces devastated, cities plundered • new empires: Persia 238-59; Palmyra (Arabia) 260-71, Gallic Empire (259-74); Agri Decumates (263) and Dacia (272) abandoned

  11. Rome and Christianity: Key Events • 64-68: persecutions under Nero • 81-96: persecutions under Domitian • 111-113: correspondence between Pliny and Trajan • 165-180: “Antonine plague” (~5M died) & persecutions • 202: Septimius Severus bans conversions • 203: martyrdom of Vibia Perpetua • ca.200-300: writings of the Christian apologists • 250-251: edict of emperor Decius • 257: persecutions under Valerian • 260-268: principate of Gallienus (son of Valerian) and reversal of Valerian’s persecutions • 303-311: persecutions under Diocletian and Gallienus

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