The Principate - Imperial Rome Timeline Part I

The Principate vs the Dominate

The period of Roman History we refer to as the Empire has two parts, early and late. The early period is the Principate; the later, the Dominate. The French terms for these two periods, le Haut Empire and le Bas Empire convey the idea that the Principate was the high period of empire.

Principate comes from a Latin word signifying someone who was first among equals, the Princeps or head of state, but someone who was still tied by the bonds of Roman law. To us looking back, we see the emperors as monarchs, hard to distinguish from kings, but there was a difference since the Princeps was acting for the good of and on behalf of Rome. Later, autocratic emperors were more elite and adopted protocols suited to eastern kings.

Before the start of the Principate, which begins with Octavian (aka Augustus), there were autocratic leaders in Rome who flouted the law. Julius Caesar was dictator, but he wasn't emperor or king.

1st Century B.C.

• 44 - Assassination of Caesar.
  Mutina War.
• 43 - The Second Triumvirate.
  Cicero's 1st Philippic.
  Octavian (Augustus) consul.
  2nd Triumvirate with Octavian, Antony, and Lepidus.
  Proscriptions under the triumvirate.
  (Dec.) The murder of Cicero.
• 42 - (Nov.) Battle of Philippi.
• 40 - Treaty of Brundisium.
  Herod becomes king of Judaea.
• 36 - Battle of Naulochus.
• 35 - Mary Antony invades Parthia.
• 34 - Mark Antony invades Armenia.
• 33 - Antony declares war against Egypt.
• 31 - (Sept. 2) - Battle of Actium.
• 30 - Suicide of Mark Antony.
  The suicide of Cleopatra. Cleopatra Timeline.
• 30-14 - Octavian - Emperor Augustus.
• 29 - Octavian's triumph.
• 17 - Carmen Saeculare poem by Horace to celebrate the emperor's Secular Games.
• 8 - Horace dies.

1st Century A.D.

• A.D. 4 - Augustus adopts Tiberius.
• 9 - Teutoberg Forest Disaster.
• 14-37 - Tiberius.
• 37-41 - Caligula.
• 45-125 - Plutarch - wrote biographies of famous Greek and Roman men.
• 41-68 - Claudian Emperors (after the Julian emperors of the Julio-Claudian Dynasty).
• 41-54 - Claudius.
• 54-68 - Nero.
• 62 - Pliny the Younger born.
• 64 - Nero's fire in Rome.
• 68-69 - Galba.
• 69 - Otho.
• 69-96 - Flavian Emperors.
• 69-79 - Vespasian.
• 79 - Destruction of Jerusalem.
  The eruption of Mt. Vesuivius.
  Pliny's letters about Vesuvius.
• 79-81 - Titus.
• 80 - Dedication of the Colosseum (Flavian Amphitheatre).
• 81-96 - Domitian.
• 96-180 - 5 Good Emperors.
• 96-98 - Nerva.
• 98-117 - Trajan. Limit of Empire reached.

2nd Century

• 98-117 - Trajan. Limit of Empire reached.
• c. 100-c.120 - Juvenal wrote his satires.
• 101 - War with the Dacians.
• 117-138 - Hadrian.
• 138-161 - Antoninus Pius.
• 161-180 - Marcus Aurelius.
• 162-180 - War with the Parthians. Romans capture Ctesiphon.
• 165-180 - Antonine Plague.
• 168-175 - Marcus Aurelius' campaigns on the Danube.
• 180-192 - Commodus.

3rd Century

• 192-284 - Emperors from Pertinax to Diocletian.
• 212 - Constitutio Antoniniana by which Caracalla grants citizenship to most free people in the empire.
• 251- 270 - Plague of Cyprian or Aurelian Plague.
• 284-305 - Diocletian.