The Principate: History Of Military Dictatorship
In this essay I will argue that the Principate is a history of military dictatorships insofar as certain emperors seize power via military means or emphasise a connexion to the army. I have chosen to define military dictatorship as a form of governance which relies on the usurpation of power by means of war, assassination and the consolidation of that power by the founding of dynasties which are, in essence, based around the current princeps’ choice of electing their own successors. Furthermore, I shall analyse emperors via the themes, bread and circuses, the army and Praetorian Guard, and accession: defeat and adoption.
The first theme I shall look at is the army and Praetorian Guard. Augustus’ Res Gestae says that he had around 500,000 Roman
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Suetonius also mentions that the plebs pelted Claudius with stale bread during a particular grain shortage. However, I question both the veracity and logicality of throwing any form of food; after all, stale bread must surely still be edible? Thus, I am of the opinion that Suetonius has rather embellished this tale without actually analysing the reality of the plebs’ situation. Rickman mentions that when grain was lacking in Commodus’ reign, there was a special ‘Classis Africana’ which would convey the grain to Rome. Indeed, this strongly suggests that failure to provide the corn dole in Rome was something that would have really harmed an emperor’s image; it was better to form an entire fleet simply to ship corn than it was to lose the people’s …show more content…
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