The Roman Empire

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The Roman Empire
Roman empire in the first century AD, was filled with stories of love, murder and revenge, fear and greed, envy and pride (Garnesey 45). Their history is an episde that lurches from peace and prosperity to terror and tyranny. The first century was turbulent attributed to the hereditary rule. Most of the period was filled with emperors who were not chosen on the basis of their ability or honesty but the mere fact that they were born on the right families. However, great leaders such as Augustus were however present, so were tyrants like Caligula, and as Humphrey and Olsen puts it for every Claudius there was a Nero, for every Vespasian, a Domitian. At the end of the period however, Rome took its succession into its own hands and put into power someone who was reasonably sane, smart and honest. The essay critically analyses the rule of two Roman Emperors in addition to Empress Valeria Messalina.
As noted earlier, succession was not strictly hereditary, as the throne could be occupied by brothers, stepsons or even favored courtiers. However, any heir had to be approved by the Senate (Scarre 44). For this reason, royal palaces were constantly full of political conspiracy. Many upcoming heirs and their families needed to push their names, thus making claims and hustling for positions of power. The process entailed keeping an eye on the oppositions or the rivals which in any instances included members of ones family potential heirs and their families (Scarre 34). In due course, the process of securing the ultimate prize included betrayal, backstabbing and murder. Thus, being an emperor was a very stressful life which only the strongest and determined men and women could persevere. An absolute ruler of Rome however lived in suitable style, stayed at the best villas and ate the finest food and dressed only in magnificent clothes. Life was luxurious, extravagant and indulgent, most of the emperors family only spent most of their time enjoying their favorite pastimes, music, hunting and horse racing. This explains why the seat was really fought of.
Valeria Messalina
Valeria Messalina was married to Claudius in 38 A.D. Messalina was from the noble house with very outstanding familial connections. Messalina bore Claudius a daughter named Octavia who was born in 39 and a son a son, Britannicus, born in 41 (Humprey and Olsen 67). This made her the mother of the heir-apparent and enjoyed influence for that reason. Messalina was Claudius's third wife, his previous unions with Plautia Urgulanilla and Aelia Paetina had failed for various reasons (Humprey and Olsen 67). Ancient resources however portray Messalina as an adolescent nymphomaniac who held wild parties and arranged death of former lovers or men who ignored her advances. She did all the evils while her husband was in power and in total ignorance of her actions. Recent attempts to portray Messalina as a woman who used sexual appeals as a political weapon have failed. Many researchers agree that her intricate scheming brought her down in the long run. In AD 48 Claudius travelled and Messalina had a party in the palace, the part saw a marriage ceremony take place between her and a consul-designate, C. Silius (Humprey and Olsen 67). The marriage was however politically engineered with Messalina wittingly planning a coup-de-tat that would eventually take her husband from power. However the Emperor was notified of the actions and Messalina, and her newly acquired husband were executed. Claudius was left without a wife. Messalina's influence is indicated by her appearance on the frontage of coins of Claudius's reign, in place of the emperor’s head, or in the cameo now in Paris depicting Messalina, Octavia, and Britannicus (Rostovtzeff 67).
Despite the high status, Messalina’s position as empress was insecure. She was married to a much older man and was aware that her husband would die before her son Britannicus acquired any official power, thus she knew her circumstances would be uncertain. Rostovtzeff adds that to acquire her security, Messalina acted ...