Humanities › History & Culture The Principate - Imperial Rome Timeline Part I Timeline of the Period of the Principate Share Flipboard Email Print History & Culture Ancient History and Culture Rome Figures & Events Ancient Languages Greece Egypt Asia Mythology & Religion American History African American History African History Asian History European History Genealogy Inventions Latin American History Medieval & Renaissance History Military History The 20th Century Women's History View More By N.S. Gill Ancient History and Latin Expert M.A., Linguistics, University of Minnesota B.A., Latin, University of Minnesota N.S. Gill is a Latinist, writer, and teacher of ancient history and Latin. She has been featured by NPR and National Geographic for her ancient history expertise. our editorial process N.S. Gill Updated June 29, 2017 Rome Era-by-Era Timeline > Legendary Rome | Early Republic | Late Republic | Principate | Dominate The Principate vs the Dominate Silver denarius bearing the head of Julius Caesar as Pontifex Maximus, struck 44-45 B.C. G. Ferrero, The Women of the Caesars, New York, 1911. Courtesy of Wikimedia. 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. Kirk Johnson 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. Corbis via Getty Images / Getty Images 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 Corbis via Getty Images / Getty Images 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 Hulton Archive / Getty Images 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. Cite this Article Format mla apa chicago Your Citation Gill, N.S. "The Principate - Imperial Rome Timeline Part I." ThoughtCo, Aug. 26, 2020, thoughtco.com/principate-imperial-rome-timeline-part-i-120849. Gill, N.S. (2020, August 26). The Principate - Imperial Rome Timeline Part I. Retrieved from https://www.thoughtco.com/principate-imperial-rome-timeline-part-i-120849 Gill, N.S. "The Principate - Imperial Rome Timeline Part I." ThoughtCo. https://www.thoughtco.com/principate-imperial-rome-timeline-part-i-120849 (accessed January 25, 2021). copy citation