Herodian of Antioch's History of the Roman Empire is an important source for the AD 180-238 period. Choose one of the emperors from this period (possibilities include Commodus, Pertinax, Didius Julianus, Septimius Severus, Macrinus, Bassianus, and Alexander Severus) and note what Herodian has to say about that emperor. Cite here an example of that emperor's competence (or lack thereof) and an example of the difficulties that emperor faced, looking especially for problems that emperor had with the Roman army.
If you prefer, you might comment on one of the important women leaders, e.g., Julia Maesa or Julia Mamea. You might also like looking at what Herodian has to say about Xenobia, the queen of Palmyra.
You may find the site linked here a bit difficult to navigate. Persevere! Use the "page" button at the top to navigate through the eight *books* of this history looking at the book heading to see which emperors are included in that book. Once you find the right book, click through each of the chapter links to find the material on the emperor you want to talk about.
The person that I decided to do it about is Commodus. Although Commodus was a very successful emperor, especially to Roman standards, it was hard for him to get his footing in the Roman government, and have success to start, as he was so young, becoming emperor before turning 19. It’s a lot to manage and a lot to handle as far as running the most prolific Empire in the world, and so he had some guidance, particularly from advisers that were appointed by his father, “THEN, for a short time, the emperor did everything as the advisers appointed by his father suggested”. This reminds me a lot of Nero, and Nero being so young, but having his mother seem to take control of the Roman Empire until he was old enough and mature enough to basically make decisions on his own behalf. Commodus’ father’s advisers helped mentor the young Commodus and helped him work through and help address the issues that were plaguing Rome, particularly the Roman Army, and army that was always considered as powerful. Commodus had lots of money and wanted to pay off the Barbarians to maintain peace. Although typically, peace is always the answer, not in regard to the barbarians, who were a consistent threat to Rome, especially since Rome had army members already there. With this thought in mind, the Roman army did in fact want to come home from fighting the barbarians, and that decision ended up hurting Rome for the good, because sure Commodus was able to pay off the Roman Army, but he ended up still keeping the threat that the barbarians had provided to the Romans, which was the sole reason for them fighting in the first place, “WHEN the emperor's decision was announced, the army was in turmoil; all the soldiers wanted to leave with him, so that they might stop wasting their time in the war and enjoy the pleasures at Rome.” Although it might’ve been a short term solution, it wasn’t a long term one, and that troubled a lot of the Romans for the future years to come.
ReplyDelete- Nile Hesson
The emperor I chose to do was Septimius Severus.
ReplyDelete"Then the angry emperor took vengeance upon Albinus' friends at Rome. He sent the man's head to the city and ordered that it be displayed. When he reported his victory in dispatches, he added a note stating that he had sent Albinus' head to be put on public view so that the people might know the extent of his anger against them."
This line really proves that Severus had some competence but he really let his anger get the better of him.
"Severus, in the meantime, pressed on with his army at top speed, halting for neither rest nor refreshment."
This line shows that he was not afraid to run his army into the ground, making them most certainly hate him in the long run.
- Kristin Johnson
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