The Augustan aristocracy

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Bibliographic Information

The Augustan aristocracy

Ronald Syme

Clarendon Press , Oxford University Press, 1986

  • : pbk.

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Note

Bibliography: p. [459]-469

Includes index

Description and Table of Contents

Description

While the monarchy established by Caesar Augustus attracts assiduous study, not enough has been said about the old nobility renascent after years of civil war. One clear reason is the nature of the evidence, most of it sporadic or recondite. To be made intelligible, the theme demands constant recourse to better documented periods. The exposition has to range backward to the closing age of the Republic and forward to Nero's death. In fact, the best testimony to the Augustan aristocracy derives from the Annals of Tacitus. After splendour and success, evident notably in the second decade of the reign (on which this book is centred), the ancient houses went down in the embrace of the dynasty, itself from the outset an aristocratic nexus. Covering something like a century and a half in the history of Roman families, this book may be taken as a supplement no less than sequel to The Roman Revolution (OUP 1939) and to Tacitus (OUP 1958).

Table of Contents

  • The Nobilitas
  • The hazards of life
  • Nobiles in eclipse
  • Sixteen aristocratic generals
  • Monarchy and concord
  • Some perturbations
  • Stability restored
  • The resplendent Aemilii
  • The end of L. Aemilius Paullus
  • Marcus Lepidus
  • Two nieces of Augustus
  • Nero's aunts
  • Princesses and court ladies
  • The Junii Silani
  • Messalla Corvinus
  • The decease of Messalla
  • The posterity of Messalla
  • The last Scipiones
  • Descendants of Pompeius and Sulla
  • Descendants of Crassus
  • Lentulus the Augur
  • Kinsmen of Seianus
  • Quinctilius Varus
  • Piso the Pontifex
  • The education of an aristocrat
  • The other pisones
  • Nobiles in Horace
  • Fabius Maximus
  • Nobiles in Velleius
  • The Apologia for the principate
  • Appendix: The Consuls, 80 BC-AD 14
  • Index of persons
  • Geneological tables

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