Emperor Domitian

Global Strategy Report 10/2020 - https://global-strategy.org/las-guerras-dacicas-de-domiciano-y-trajano-85-106-d-c-la-batalla-por-la-hegemonia-en-la-europa-danubiana/
Entre los años 69 y 106 d.C. el Imperio romano se enfrentó a una amenaza de primer orden contra su hegemonía sobre la Europa danubiana y balcánica que puso en serio peligro incluso su mera presencia en la región: bajo el enérgico liderazgo del rey Decébalo, el Estado dacio, había conformado una formidable entente con el objetivo de convertirse en la nueva superpotencia en el curso medio y bajo del Danubio y las costas occidentales del Mar Negro. Alcanzar esta meta, sin embargo, pasaba necesariamente por desplazar a Roma de la región y, por lo tanto, por un conflicto directo a gran escala que, independientemente de su resultado, cambiaría para siempre la historia de la Europa oriental.

In this paper I will discuss how an epigram by Martial (Mart. 9.20) can be connected to a passage of Theocritus’ Encomium to Ptolemy Philadelphus (Theoc. Id. 17.58 – 76): the analysis will be developed in detail in order to enable the reader to perceive all the intertextual links existing between the two texts and will lead to a wider consideration of the literary background of the encomiastic epigram.

Gives an overview of the Greek-language literature of the Flavian period (AD 69-96) and considers (1) to what extent the dynastic changes of the period make themselves felt in that literature (mainly Plutarch and Dio Chrysostom) and (2) whether the emergence at this time of the so-called "Second Sophistic" can be connected with specifically Flavian cultural-political phenomena. Also includes contrasts between the resonance of "Flavian" themes in Plutarch and Dio and in Josephus.

For over fifteen years before the production of Tacitus's Germania, the title Germanicus had been prominent in Rome, claimed not only by Domitian but also by both Nerva and Trajan. Tacitus famously refutes military success in his account. As this article shows, however, its memory is consistently invoked in its basic structure. Especially through allusions to Caesar, Tacitus introduces a model of historiographical narrative concerning Roman conquest, only to reject it. The result is a tension between the ongoing public presence of Rome's immediate past and its official erasure, forming a commentary on the very process of imperial memory sanction.

John's Logos-hymn reflect a response to the Johannine narrative, functioning with other Christological hymns to pose a Jewish challenge to Empire and its divine-Caesar cult. It is added to the final edition of John as an experientially engaging introduction. Published in Creation Stories in Dialogue: The Bible, Science, and Folk Traditions (Radboud Prestige Lecture Series by Alan Culpepper), eds. R. Alan Culpepper and Jan van der Watt, BINS 139 (Leiden: E.J. Brill 2016)--uncorrected proofs.

This is the final typescript (AAM) of a chapter now published in Antony Augoustakis, Emma Buckley, and Claire Stocks, eds., Fides in Flavian Literature, “Phoenix Supplementary Series.” Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 45–67. In exploring Josephus' portraits of Vespasian and Titus, and rejecting the common view that these amount to formulaic adulation, it asks how such descriptions could have been seen as loyal and faithful.

An examination of the early career of the Emperor Domitian, younger son of Vespasian. This is a recent revision of a research paper first written in my Honours' year. Brian Jones, whose works are cited herein, was my supervisor for this work. Roman Imperial History. Roman History. Historiography. Prosopography. Epigraphy. Numismatics.

Before Vespasian returned to Rome to take up the reins of imperial government, he reportedly had a vision in the Serapeum of Alexandria and, as the New Serapis, healed two men. These wonders came to define Vespasian's time in Egypt and yet, for modern readers, their prominence in the story of the emperor's rise to power creates an apparent inconsistency. The same man who on his deathbed joked about his impending divinization also apparently played the part of a god at the beginning of his reign. Such contradictions are to be expected in the colourful accounts of emperors' lives, but this particular one invites further investigation because of its significance to the historical development of the conception of the emperor's divinity. Through detailed consideration of the prospects for reception of these wonders both during and after the Flavian dynasty, this article seeks to demonstrate the predominance of Domitianic influence on the story of Vespasian's wonders. Domitian's reign saw a new emphasis on the living emperor's divinity, which diminished again under Trajan. Nevertheless, wonders were a means through which the charisma of the emperor was manifested in Flavian Rome and later.

In this short, introductory essay, I introduce the Revelation of St. John by providing the following elements: a short overview of the work, the historical context in which the book was written, some examples of the elements that make this work an example of the apocalyptic genre, and my own beliefs about the purpose for the writing of the book itself. I also provide a bibliography of sources for further reading.

This is from a paper which I had written some time ago. The basis for discovering and confirming this is the work of Sir Ronald Syme; particularly, his paper titled 'Domitius Corbulo' (JRS, 1970-71). The subject of which is quite informative. We find, for instance, that (Sextilia) Vistilia was the common (or mutual) ancestor of many illustrious Roman families. Now, the original paper/s of Syme did not go into the detail that will be found in my family tree charts. This is partly because his work stopped short of going a few generations further, and because he was not publishing conclusions based upon the use of alias or alternate names in ancient history.

The twin stories about Roman matrons in book 18 of Josephus' Antiquities are more than historically gossip. Rather, they encapsulate Josephus' opinion of nascent Christianity on the one hand, and his criticism of Domitian's religious tendencies on the other.

Der Aufsatz befasst sich mit der Darstellung Neros und Domitians als Tyrannen bei Cassius Dio. Als grundlegend für die negative Schilderung der beiden erweist sich das Verfahren der ,Dekomposition‘: Am Beispiel von Neros Bewertung als Künstler und der Einschätzung Domitians als eines siegreichen und beliebten Autokraten zeigt sich, wie Cassius Dio ursprünglich
positiv codierte Repräsentationselemente durch verschiedene
rhetorische Mechanismen in negative verkehrt. Dabei wird durch den Vergleich mit Sueton und Tacitus deutlich, dass Cassius Dios literarische Inszenierung beider Kaiser stark durch die zeitgenössischen Umstände des frühen 3. Jahrhunderts bestimmt ist, auf die der Historiker, Schriftsteller und Politiker mit seiner kritischen Darstellung reagiert.

I esteem this essay to be one of the most significant essays I have ever written; it performs with John 6 something similar to what J. Louis Martyn achieved with John 9. Note, however, that four or five crises, or dialogical engagements, within the Johannine situation are herein involved, not just a Johannine-Jewish dialogue. Also, rather than being "off limits" for Johannine Gospel studies, the Epistles and other writings are here drawn into the contextual situation, evincing a variety of issues, not simply one. It was first published in Critical Readings of John 6 (ed. by Alan Culpepper for the Biblical Interpretation Supplemental Series #22;  Leiden: E. J. Brill, 1997; reprinted in 2006, Atlanta: SBL), 1-59. This is a slightly revised version.

A new reading of Suetonius' De Vita Caesarum as source for emperors' lives and Roman social history. The focus is on how Suetonius used his own memory and those of others. Paper given at the Oxford Food Symposium and published in its proceedings

A lo largo de sus tres siglos de historia en la época imperial romana, la función principal de la Guardia Pretoriana fue la protección de la figura del emperador allí donde este se encontrara, ya fuera actuando permanentemente como su escolta y guardia personal  en el palacio imperial o como última línea de defensa en el ámbito militar. Pero como cuerpo de élite del ejército romano acantonado en la capital del Imperio también se les encomendó el mantenimiento y, en su caso, restablecimiento del orden allí donde fuera necesario. Así, la Guardia Pretoriana se conformaría como una de las piezas clave en la historia imperial romana como uno de los actores principales no solo a nivel militar sino también a nivel político, papel este último muy alejado de las funciones iniciales para las que fue creada pero que poco a poco fue cobrando especial relevancia tanto por su cercanía a la figura de los sucesivos emperadores como por su acantonamiento en la capital imperial. Consciente de su poder, no fueron pocas las ocasiones en que los pretorianos utilizaron su posición e influencias para dirigir y aprovechar los habituales cambios políticos en la cúspide del poder . Pero, aun siendo menos conocida, no sería menor la importancia bélica que en los campos de batalla protagonizarían los pretorianos en numerosas ocasiones como unidad militar y que a la postre les consagraría como uno de los pilares fundamentales del régimen imperial prácticamente desde su creación, en tiempos de Augusto , hasta su desmantelamiento llevado a cabo por el emperador Majencio.
Como cuerpo de élite del ejército, reconocidos como los mejor entrenados y preparados como demostraron en no pocas ocasiones, y en base a su especial misión recibían una paga superior al del resto de soldados; y su tiempo de servicio era varios años menor, por lo que resultaban ser la envidia del resto de unidades militares y en particular de aquellos que servían en el limes del imperio . Es por ello que trataremos aquí de realizar un estudio esquemático sobre su formación, estructura, actuaciones, etc. con el fin de ahondar en el conocimiento de esta institución muchas veces denostada por algunas de sus intervenciones.

This is a study regarding traits that are found in clinical psychopaths and the same traits as found displayed by the ancient author known as 'Flavius Josephus'. This paper presents the need to make such information a necessary part of the study of ancient literature.

An unpublished Master's Diploma Thesis, which deals with the Imperial cult and propaganda during the reign of Roman emperor Domitian  (I apologise for little mistakes (mostly grammar/spelling and numbering of pictures), which were not fully edited out).

Julius Calpurnius Piso, a son of Arrius Piso, was the author of The Revelation. He was married to Hadrian's sister and was father-in-law of Tacitus' son. He wanted his grandson to become emperor after Hadrian, and was killed by Hadrian in 137 CE along with his grandson. Instead, his descendants became bishops of Rome & Alexander Severus, emperor.

This paper tells a little known part of the story involving the creation of Christianity, and how a family alliance between the Flavians and Pisos had worked for the Piso family until the death of the Emperor Titus. And then, how, once Domitian became Emperor, he banished the Piso family from Rome.

Much ink has been spilled about the authenticity of the so-called testimonium Flavianum, which is one of the most important extra-Biblical prooftexts about Jesus. There are three major assumptions regarding this 89-word-long passage that survived in the 18th book of Flavius Josephus’ Jewish Antiquities (Jos. Ant. XVIII. 3.3. [63–64]): (1) the text is entirely a later Christian forgery; (2) the text is entirely au-thentic, i. e. it was written by Josephus himself in 93–94 AD in Rome; (3) the text is partly authentic, partly conjectured by Christian scribes or scholars. As a matter of fact, today only a small minority of scholars and theologians accept the assumption (2). It is, therefore, surprising that no detailed stylistic analysis has been carried out on the testimonium yet. In this paper an attempt is made to perform a comparative linguistic characterization of this text, contrasting it with both the works of Josephus’ works and the New Testament. The result of this investigation is surprising: none of the words, syntagmas or sentences are unfamiliar in Josephus’ oeuvre, and, at the same time, there are some phrases that could not have been used by a Christian familiar with the New Testament. Additionally, the Sitz-im-Leben of the Josephan testimonium on Jesus—and his general treatment of the very sensitive question of the Messiah in his works—can be easily explained by the perilous atmosphere of Domitian’s reign at that time. Although the modern scholarship questions his rule being terroristic, and the persecution of Jews and Christians as a fact was also questioned, Josephus’ apology for Judaism in his later works reflects rather the “outdated” view on Domitian. Furthermore, the case of the philosopher Epictetus—whose patron was in all probability the same Epaphroditus, to whom Josephus dedicated his Antiquities and Against Apion—shows that even minute details of Judaism and Christianity (such as baptism) were widely discussed in Rome at the end of the first century. In sum, although it is difficult to believe that Josephus himself became a Christian convert, there is a definite probability that he had first-hand in-formation about Christianity, or even read some of the Christian writings, which later became part of the New Testament. His very positive and enthusiastic discussion of John the Baptist shows that he was personally encountered with this movement, probably while staying in Judea.

Even the name, Pausilypon, or “place that puts an end to worries”, today used to refer to the entire Neapolitan hillside, conveys an idea of the pleasantness of the sites and the purpose of the villa. The hillside of Posillipo rises to the west of the ancient city of Neapolis, separating the territory of the city from the Phlegraean Fields. From there it extends toward the sea and, along with the island of Nisida, divides the Gulf of Naples from that of Pozzuoli. The construction of the villa of Pausilypon probably dates to the second half of the 1st century BC, when it belonged to the eques Publius Vedius Pollio. At the time of the equestrian’s defeat in 15 BC, the grandiose villa was given over through inheritance to Augustus. The complex was built as a villa for otium and transformed over the course of the 1st century AD to adapt to the new needs of the Imperial court.

This is the third chapter of my dissertation, 'The Invisibility of Juvenal' (2011). This chapter hit the cutting-room floor when I was writing my Juvenal book and has since not been published. Important work has been done on Satire Four since 2011, especially the commentary of Biagio Santorelli (2012) and the relevant section (pages 53-62) of Catherine Keane's monograph 'Juvenal and the Satiric Emotions' (2015). Also important are the stimulating analyses of globalizing food cultures in Tom Geue's essay 'Free-Range, Organic, Locally-Sourced Satire' (2017) and in chapter three of Osman Umurhan's 'Juvenal's Global Awareness' (2017). I would point interested readers to all these scholars' work. My thoughts on the poem have therefore been superseded in important respects, but I upload this dissertation chapter (with original page numbers) on this website in case it is still of use. Cite as 'The Invisibility of Juvenal' (PhD dissertation, Columbia University, 2011).

Thebes (modern Luxor) was a popular tourist destination during the Roman Period, receiving the likes of Strabo, Germanicus, and Hadrian. Yet while its international fame rested on its royal tombs and the Memnon colossus, Thebes was also a vibrant religious center with over a dozen active temples. The purposefully archaizing inscriptions and architecture attracted both Egyptians and Romans in search of ancient traditions and millennial wisdom, influencing intercultural and multilingual texts produced in the region, including Gnostic, Hermetic, and magical writings.

This book surveys epigraphic and archaeological evidence for temple construction and renovation throughout the Theban nome during the Roman Period, studying the new inscriptions within their ritual and theological contexts. It also contains the first comprehensive treatment of the greater Theban Pantheon during the Graeco-Roman era, cataloguing over fifty local divinities and establishing their roles in various cosmogonies and mythological traditions.  The concluding chapter reconstructs the religious life of the district, tracking annual festival processions which united the multiple temples and their communities.

This is a VERY ROUGH outline of my belief that the Emperor Domitian had aspergers syndrome.  I hope to expand over the next few months and add more evidence from secondary literature.  The focus here is on the primary sources of Suetonius and Cassius Dio.

The paper reports the results of the direct inspection of ChLA X 417 (P.Berol. inv. 8334), a letter presumably from Emperor Domitian to the prefect of Egypt Laberius Maximus. The inspection provides new readings for several passages of the text (l. 4 Aeg̣ỵ[pti-; l. 7 aḍ [t]ụtissimam; l. 8 Coṛṇ[elio; l. 12 ad tụṭelam), and suggests that the amount of lost text is considerably less than previously thought.

L'entrata al foro di Nerva dalla Subura fu risolta attraverso un curioso portico a forma di ferro di cavallo comunemente identificato nella cosiddetta porticus absidata delle fonti. L'edificio è stato analizzato nel dettaglio del design architettonico e delle decorazioni da Bauer che ne ha proposto una pianta ed un alzato ricostruttivi in un articolo del 1983.
Lo studio proposto in questo contributo ha un duplice scopo. Da una parte si vuole qui proporre una nuova ricostruzione dell'alzato della Porticus alla luce di una rilettura di alcuni dati già elaborati da Bauer che ha portato alla realizzazione di un modello in 3D. Il modello permette di comprendere in pieno la funzione particolare della porticus come passaggio operante la complessa transizione, spaziale ed ideologica, tra la Subura e il foro. Il modello qui presentato risponde più accuratamente ai dati archeologici e all'interpretazione dell'edificio.
La seconda parte di questo contributo è dedicata ad un'interpretazione dell'uso dello spazio e dei passaggi di traffico che porta nuova luce al concetto originante elaborato da Rabirio, architetto di corte di Domiziano, e consente interessanti paralleli con altri edifici domizianei come il palazzo imperiale sul Palatino. Si vedrà come la progettazione della porticus risponda alle esigenze di operare uno stretto controllo sul traffico in entrata dalla Subura utilizzando efficaci soluzioni architettoniche e visive.


The entrance to the forum of Nerva from the Subura was monumentalized by an unusual horse-shoe shaped porticus commonly identified in the porticus absidata mentioned in the ancient sources. The architectural design and decoration of the building have been investigated in detail by Bauer who suggested a reconstructing plan and elevation in his 1983 article.
The scope of this paper is twofold. On one hand a new reconstruction of the elevation, based on the data already gathered by Bauer, is here presented in a 3D model.  This model allows for a more comprehensive understanding of the porticus as passage operating the complex transition ‒ both topographical and ideological ‒ from the Subura to the forum. The model here presented fits more accurately within the archaeological data and the interpretation of the building.
The second part of the paper offers a further analysis of the building with a focus on the use of the space and traffic paths that sheds new light on the originating concepts employed by Rabirius, Domitian's court architect. This analysis allows for interesting comparanda with other examples of Rabirian buildings such as the imperial palace on the Palatine. It will be shown how the design of the porticus fits the need of monitoring the incoming traffic through effective architectural and visual solutions.

Since I have been studying so many different areas of ancient history, particularly that of ancient Rome, this subject has been of some interest to me and others for a number of reasons. It has been apparent that the decline in the content of silver in Roman coinage directly related to various factors within the Roman Empire over the course of several centuries; namely, through the First Century AD/CE to the Fourth Century AD/CE. The examination of the part that coins played in history is crucial in helping to make important determinations in a number of areas of the study. For instance, the names used by various emperors, their family members, wives, and sometimes, relatives. It is for much more than simple interest or trivia that we, as historians, examine ancient coins. We find many things of interest and importance, that is, of value to us in our quest to learn more about the people and times in which they lived. Coins of the various emperors contain information. They give us portraits of the emperors which give us some idea as to how they looked. They tell us things from what they chose to include on their coins, such as symbols, gods and/or goddesses, motto and more. And, at times, we may even find examples of propaganda and historical reference. But in this instance, we are examining the silver content or the amount of silver contained within the silver denarius (or "denarii" in plural) as minted under the various emperors. Which, may tell us a few things or at least indicate or support various views of certain emperors at particular points in the historical timeline of the Roman Empire. One of the first things that comes to mind is that as the Roman Empire was expanding and more people and territory was being added to it, the demand for more coinage became a priority. And, one of the easiest ways to make silver coinage 'stretch' is to "water it down" so to speak. Or, in other words, reduce the silver content rather than the size of the coins-which, by the way, was another thing that we see happening as time went on (a good example of this can be seen in the reduction of size in both the denarius and the tetradrachm over the course of time). Coins which were produced under the Emperor Augustus were virtually as pure as they could make them, about 98 percent pure. We see, as time went on, that the silver coins minted under later emperors were reduced to 'billon' (a token amount of silver) and essentially copper coins with a silver wash to make them appear to be silver. Of course, with use, the silver washed coins would begin to show the copper as the silver wore off. Basically, the coins which were produced by the Julian Emperors remained for the most part, stable. The exception to that (and remember, we are focused primarily upon the denarius in this paper), could be coins produced for the various Roman territories in the form of coinage issued for use in the provinces. Once the rule of the Julian Emperors ended with the death of Nero, we begin to see where the rule of successive emperors changed the content of silver in their coins. The Silver Content In The Denarius Under Various Emperors*: [Again, remember that we find silver reduction in coins produced for the provinces] Augustus (ruled : 27 BC/BCE-14 AD/CE) 97/98%. Claudius (ruled : 41-54 AD/CE) 97%.