Roman History – Year 12 Revision Notes

Student: Maxi Course: A-level Ancient History, Year 12 (Roman component) Exam board: OCR A Level Ancient History (H407). In Year 12 you study the Roman period study, "The Julio-Claudian Emperors, 31 BC–AD 68". Your Year 13 depth study (Ruling Roman Britain, AD 43–c.128) matches component H407/23.

How the period study is examined (Section A of the Roman paper):

• One 30-mark essay, chosen from two: AO1 5 / AO2 10 / AO3 15. Answer in about 45 minutes, using ancient sources.
• One compulsory 20-mark interpretation question: AO1 5 / AO4 15. A passage by a modern historian on one of the three prescribed debates:
  1. the extent to which Augustus actually restored the Republic;
  2. the characters of Tiberius, Gaius, Claudius and Nero;
  3. the benefits of imperial rule for the inhabitants of Rome.
• The 12-mark "how useful are the sources" tasks on your outline are class practice in source evaluation. In the final exam, 12-markers appear in the depth study section (Year 13).

How to use these notes. They follow your outline:

• Autumn: background and Augustus, then Augustus in power.
• Spring: Tiberius, Gaius, Claudius.
• Summer: Nero, then the synoptic review.

For each emperor: prescribed debate → how the sources remember him → senate / equites / plebs → religion and the imperial cult → administration → case studies → glossary → exam practice → self-test. References follow OCR's prescribed passages (Suetonius, Tacitus Annals, Dio, the Res Gestae, Velleius, the Augustan poets, Seneca, Pliny, Josephus, coins and inscriptions).

⚠️ On quotations: only short, standard renderings are given in quotation marks. Learn the sense and the reference, because translations vary. Everything else is paraphrase.

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0. The ancient sources: who they were and how reliable they are

Source	Who / when	Genre and purpose	Reliability
Tacitus, Annals	A senator and consul (AD 97); wrote c. AD 115–120 under Trajan and Hadrian	Annalistic history (year by year) of Tiberius to Nero, moralising	Uses the senate's records (acta senatus) and earlier historians. Claims to write sine ira et studio ("without anger or partiality", Ann. 1.1), but is senatorial and hostile to the principate. Uses innuendo: reports rumours while claiming not to believe them. Brilliant but biased. Writes about 80–100 years after the events.
Suetonius, Twelve Caesars	An equestrian; imperial secretary (ab epistulis) under Hadrian, with access to the imperial archives; wrote c. AD 120s	Biography arranged by topic (rubrics), not chronology	Quotes documents (e.g. Augustus' letters). But loves gossip and scandal, lists vices and virtues without weighing them, and his chronology is unclear.
Cassius Dio, Roman History	A Greek senator from Bithynia; consul in the early 3rd century; wrote c. AD 200–230	Annalistic history of Rome	A senator's insight into politics. But he wrote about 200 years later, may project 3rd-century autocracy back, and parts survive only in Byzantine epitomes (summaries).
Res Gestae Divi Augusti	Augustus himself, written in his 76th year (AD 13–14); set up on bronze pillars outside his Mausoleum (the best copy is at Ancyra/Ankara)	A first-person record of achievements: self-presentation and propaganda	Accurate on facts and figures, but selective: it omits the proscriptions, the names of Antony and Lepidus, and his failures (e.g. Varus). It frames autocracy in Republican language.
Velleius Paterculus	An equestrian officer under Tiberius, later praetor (AD 15); published c. AD 30	A short history ending in panegyric of Tiberius and Sejanus	A contemporary eyewitness of Tiberius' campaigns, but a flatterer. A useful counterweight to Tacitus.
Virgil, Horace, Ovid	Augustan poets; Virgil and Horace were part of Maecenas' circle	Poetry: epic, lyric, elegy	They reflect and shape the Augustan ideology of peace, piety and renewal. Patronage complicates "sincerity". Ovid was exiled in AD 8.
Seneca the Younger	A philosopher-statesman; exiled by Claudius (AD 41–49); tutor and adviser to Nero; forced to commit suicide in AD 65	Philosophical essays (On Clemency, On Anger, etc.)	A contemporary, but personally involved: he flattered Claudius from exile (Consolation to Polybius), then mocked him after his death (the Apocolocyntosis).
Josephus, Jewish Antiquities 19	A Jewish historian at Rome; wrote c. AD 93/94	The most detailed account of Gaius' assassination and Claudius' accession	Probably used a lost Roman eyewitness source. Emphasises the role of the Jewish king Herod Agrippa I.
Pliny the Elder, Natural History	An equestrian; died in the eruption of Vesuvius (AD 79)	An encyclopaedia	Incidental facts (aqueducts, harbour, wealth). Hostile to Gaius and Nero.
Coins and inscriptions	Contemporary	Official images and messages, e.g. AEGYPTO CAPTA, SIGNIS RECEPTIS, the Gytheion inscription, Claudius' letter to the Alexandrians	Contemporary and official, so they show what the regime wanted to project, not necessarily reality.

General point: the main narrative sources (Tacitus, Suetonius, Dio) were written long after the events by senators or senatorial sympathisers. They judged emperors by how they treated the senate. "Bad" emperors (Tiberius, Gaius, Nero) were often those who clashed with the senate.

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MODERN HISTORIANS TO NAME

• Augustus:
  • Ronald Syme (The Roman Revolution, 1939);
  • Karl Galinsky (Augustan Culture, 1996);
  • Andrew Wallace-Hadrill (Augustan Rome, 1993);
  • Werner Eck (The Age of Augustus);
  • Josiah Osgood (Caesar's Legacy, 2006).
• Tiberius: Barbara Levick (Tiberius the Politician, 1976); Robin Seager (Tiberius); Ronald Syme (Tacitus, 1958).
• Gaius: Anthony Barrett (Caligula: The Corruption of Power); Aloys Winterling (Caligula: A Biography).
• Claudius: Arnaldo Momigliano (Claudius, 1934); Barbara Levick (Claudius, 1990); Josiah Osgood (Claudius Caesar, 2011).
• Nero: Miriam Griffin (Nero: The End of a Dynasty, 1984); Edward Champlin (Nero, 2003).
• Imperial rule: Fergus Millar (The Emperor in the Roman World, 1977); Zvi Yavetz (Plebs and Princeps, 1969).