1. Augustus’ Foreign Policy

2. Hop on to Chrimbo’s “Time-Travelling Tour Bus”. . . !
We are following Augustus’ Campaigns with Chrimbo! Yippeeee!!!!

3. GAUL SPAIN AFRICA Syria EGYPT Cilicia
27 BC – Augustus received several Provinces, giving in to pressure from Senators – Eck p. 52
Can you name the provinces – starting west and going east?
GAUL
Britain
TASK: Why did the Senate transfer these provinces to Augustus?
Why would Augustus have happily accepted them?
Title: “27 BC: Provinces Returned to Augustus” and write brief notes about each province.
SPAIN
Cilicia
Syria
AFRICA
Cyprus
Res Gestae 34: In my sixth and seventh consulships (28 and 27 BC) … I transferred the republic from my power to the control of the Senate and the Roman people.
EGYPT

6. Egypt Frontier extended to Meroe in the south
Became a province after Battle of Actium (31 BC) and the deaths of Cleopatra and Antony
Almost private province run by the princeps
Wealth
Strategic value
Grain
3 legions (only 2 after AD 7)

7. Egypt was somewhere in between a normal province and personal domain after the death of Cleopatra
It was administered by a prefect of equestrian rank who commanded a legionary army.
No senator was allowed to enter without Augustus’ permission
As the successor of the Pharoahs and Ptolemies, Augustus received divine honours, and to his Egyptian subjects he was an absolute monarch
The prefect was also treated as royal, eg Gallus
Role was to continue to produce wealth and corn for the empire
The defence of Egypt was fairly simple, protected by the sea, and by desert and exposed only to the south
An unsuccessful ‘buffer’ zone was agreed between the Ethiopians and the Romans. An expedition was sent and terms were sent to Augustus in 21/20 BC
For the defence of Egypt, the prefect had 3 legions (one withdrawn in AD 7) and auxiliary forces: river patrols and city defence

8. Africa Grain 1 legion – only Senatorial province to have a legion
S & E tribes were troublesome!
Mauretania became a client kingdom
NB Varus was governor of Mauretania in 7–8 BC

10. Another chief granary of Rome
A senatorial province, with an army after AD 6
A fairly peaceful province - chief city was Carthage, but frontiers needed watching:
Balbus dealt with the Garamantes in 19 BC
Quirinius dealt with the Marmaridae
Lentulus dealt with the Gaetulians in AD 5/6
Juba was given power of Mauretania itself in 25 BC; he had been brought up in Italy and married Anthony and Cleopatra’s daughter
Therefore main concern with Africa was to secure the grain supply and keep the provinces from marauding tribes

11. 27 – 24 BC: Sojourns to Spain and Gaul
Spain (Iberia) had only just been conquered and was a more difficult fish to fry. There were rebellious tribes, the Cantabrians and Asturians, who had to be put down between 26-4 BC.
Like Gaul, Spain was split into three regions: Tarraconensis, Lusitania and Baetica.
Settlement was based on bringing mountainous tribes to the plains, urbanisation and settling retired soldiers on the land (coloniae).
Such colonies were established at Saragossa, Merida and Braga.
The ‘Romanisation’ of Spain would eventually bring great resources – tin, copper, grain and oil.
In Gaul, Narbonensis, the original second century province, was handed to the Senate to govern as a public province.
Though the rest of Gaul had been conquered by Caesar, it still required pacification. Gaul was split into three provinces: Aquitania, Lugdundensis and Belgica.
Lugdunum (Lyons) became the administrative and commercial centre of ‘three Gauls’ and an imperial cult was centred there.
Eck p. 127

12. Gaul Conquered by Julius Caesar, but not pacified till 12 BC
Needed organisation – eg roads, cities
Narbonensis → senatorial province
3 other provinces under 1 governor
Lugdunum became capital of Gaul – NB altar of ‘Roma and Augustus’ (Imperial Cult)
Rhine legions provided security if needed

13. Conquered by JC, but complete assimilation not until 12 BC
Organisation of Gaul was the key issue for Augustus
Gallia Narbonensis was the most urbanised area and has been a province for over a century: was handed to the senate
The rest of Gaul was divided into 3 districts: Aquitania, Lugdunensis and Belgica, with one governor and a subordinate legate in each place
Tribal bonds remained strong despite this
As early as 27 BC, Augustus went to Gaul to take a census to assess tribute
A great road system was designed by Agrippa (centred on Lugdunum)
The defence of this province was left to the legions who were stationed along the Rhine. It could be attacked from the East, but Augustus did not fear the Britons!
There was a rumour that he was going to invade, but it has little footing
Augustus was content to leave Britain outside the empire, although trade remained strong

14. Spain Oldest province, not fully pacified (wild tribes!)
Minerals (tin, copper); grain, olive oil
Augustus’ presence in BC shows his concern
Fully pacified by Agrippa by 19 BC; legionary colonies helped Romanisation
Divided into 3 provinces
3 legions

15. One of Rome’s oldest provinces (cf Punic Wars), but there were wilder tribes in the north-west: Gallaeci, Astures, Carisius.
Mountainous nature made these tribes difficult to deal with
Augustus took to the field himself against the Cantabrians in 26 BC, but illness forced him to leave to others. The war continued, and was not settled until Agrippa adopted more ruthless methods in 19 BC.
Conquest was followed by a settlement: hill tribes were now moved down to valleys, and new towns were developed: Braga, Lugo, Astorga, Merida and Saragossa.
Permanent garrison reduced gradually to 3 legions, stationed in the north and west.
Spain was divided into two provinces (maybe in or 27) Baetica in the south (senatorial control) and Lusitania in the west (imperial control), and later Nearer Spain (Tarraconensis) was made an imperial province.
Enabled Romanisation of the province: valuable for minerals, corn, oil, soldiers!

16. The Eastern Frontier
Augustus’ presence in the east from and BC demonstrates the problems apparent
Parthia: danger of threatening the eastern border (Asia Minor), peace needed to be established.
Three Roman provinces here: Asia, Bithynia and Cilicia
The rest of the area was occupied by client-kingdoms.
The most important of these client-kings was Amyntas who ruled over Galatia; he died in 25 BC and Augustus annexed Galatia and made it a Roman province.
Cilicia was incorporated into Syria.

17. 22-19 BC: Augustus Visits the East
Through the Diplomatic efforts of Tiberius and Augustus, the Standards were returned in 20 BC and placed, eventually, in the Temple of Mars Ultor.
Crassus had lost Roman standards to Parthia in 53BC, and Decidius Saxa, Antony’s general, lost his in 36 BC!

18. Why did Parthia return the captured standards?
A Pro-Roman Client King (Tigranes) was installed on the Armenian throne and the King of Parthia (Phraates) was forced to accept Roman presence in the area. Good relations between Rome and Parthia therefore became desirable!
What is the major limitation of this settlement however? DISCUSS!

19. Gaul (again!)
Suet 23: “…Lollius’ defeat was ignominious rather than of strategic importance…
Lollius was defeated in Gaul in 16 BC;
Augustus reorganised the administration of Gaul

20. Raetica & Noricum Raetia
Though Lollius was defeated in 16 BC, Noricum was added to the Empire that year and Raetia was also in 15 BC.
Raetia
Why do you think these were important provinces? Discuss
(2 mins)
“For the first time Italy’s own borders did not adjoin territories controlled by unsubdued tribes.” (Eck p. 129)
Noricum
The conquest of Raetia and Noricum was also followed in 12BC by campaigns in Germania (led by Drusus) and also against Pannonian Tribes in Illyricum (led by Tiberius).

21. Noricum and Raetia were of such strategic importance that Horace wrote about the victories in the fourth book of his Odes (IV:XIV)
Augustus also erected a victory monument at La Turbie to commemorate this victory – the Tropaium Alpium
Raetia
“For, with your army, brave Drusus, demolished
the Genauni, that implacable race, in more direct retaliation, the swift Breuni, and their defences, established on the formidable Alpine heights: and soon
Tiberius, the elder Nero, entered that fierce fight, with his favourable omens, defeating the wild Rhaetians.”
Horace Odes 4.14
Noricum

22. Germany
Drusus had reached the Elbe in 9 BC and the establishment of winter camps, such as Oberaden, show that the Romans were attempting to pacify Germany. However, he died that year in Germania.
Tiberius campaigned in Germania in 8 BC and his historian, Valerius Paterculus, claimed that he almost fully pacified the province – the Roman Camp at Haltern supports this view (Eck p. 131)
That Augustus had taken control of lead mines in Germany and was leasing them out to investors shows that both Augustus and Roman businessmen were confident that the conquest of Germany was secure.

23. Quinctilius Varus: give me back my legions!
Suet 23: Varus’ defeat nearly wrecked the empire, since three legions with their general and officers and auxiliaries were massacred to a man.
9 AD: The Roman Army in Germania is destroyed!!!!!!!!
10 AD: Tiberius campaigns in Germania
When news reached Rome, Augustus ordered guards to patrol the city and prevent any rising, and prolonged the terms of the provincial governors, so that allies should have men of experience, whom they trusted, to confirm their allegiance.
Quinctilius Varus: give me back my legions!
Indeed it is said that he took the matter deeply to heart.

24. Roman Ambitions in Germany (Eck p. 128 and 131)
Evidence of Roman ambition east of the Rhine:
Roman road building projects east of the Rhine
Construction of an army camp at Dangstetten
The resettlement of Ubians east of the Rhine. (The Ubians were allies of the Romans)
Drusus reached the Elbe in 9 BC (Eck p.131)
Tiberius’ Camp at Haltern in the Lahn Valley (Eck p.131)
The Camp at Haltern -

25. By 13BC, what had led the senate to build an Altar of Peace in Rome?
13 BC: Augustus Returns to Rome and the construction of the Ara Pacis Augustae is decreed. He had been administrating Gaul following the Lollius defeat.
TASK:
By 13BC, what had led the senate to build an Altar of Peace in Rome?
How believable is the notion of an “Augustan Roman” Peace?
Write Points for and against.
The Ara Pacis Augustae was finally dedicated in 9 BC

26. Tiberius sorts it out again!
King Marbod of the Marcomanni
AD 6-9: Rebellion in Pannonia!
King Marbod was the leader of the Marcomanni, a Pannonian tribe who had made far reaching alliances with German tribes.
Marbod’s alliaces were so far reaching that it took 10 legions, with auxiliaries, led by Tiberius to put down the revolt in between AD 6-9.
Though successful, the campaign had financially depleted Rome’s financial resources by AD 9, which is why Rome was so fragile after the Varian disaster.
Arminius sent Marbod the head of Varus (!) in an attempt to coax a joint attack, but it was to no avail.
Eck p
Tiberius sorts it out again!

27. Britain
Treaties etc with local rulers (eg Cunobelinus) to show that Augustus was keeping an eye on Britain
Diplomacy!
BUT too expensive in terms of legions and money to invade
NB wanted to keep leaders of the Britons out of mainland Europe ! (anti-‘Brentry??!!)

28. “Augustus felt no temptation to increase the boundaries of the empire or enhance his military glory.” (Suetonius: Divus Augustus 21)
How far do you consider this an accurate assessment of Augustus’ approach to foreign policy?
You should support your answer by reference to the sources you have studied.

29. Thanks, Chrimbo, for a wonderful and most informative trip!
Egypt