hi guys i have a question about the julio-claudians and the roman empire
i have an essay and the question is "To what extent did the role and responsibilities of the Senate change under the Julio-Claudian rulers?"
how do you answer these types of questions, and also did the role and responsibilites change a lot or not too much? because some of the sources ive read contradict each other.
thank you!
Hey! Good question! This was actually from the 2017 HSC! With a question like that, imo you have two options - either you approach it according to the emperors (so chronologically detail the relationship between the Emperor of the time and the Senate, and how that affected their role and responsibilities), or you structure it according to how the role and responsibilities changed (imo the best way to structure this would be; administrational role and influence, respect received from Emperors, etc. etc.).
I would say that their role and responsibilities fluctuated greatly. It wasn't one shift to the other across the period, it was unique to each emperor, and even within each emperors rule inconsistent. For the most part, it can be said that;
TiberiusInitially attempted to work with the Senate, however became frustrated by their "ineptitude". Some suggest that he would often just expect things to be done, without verbalising his expectations, which of course could be a factor. This resulted in growing apathy for his position, culminating in his retire to Capri. This shook up the Senate, because they went from being a governing body that was highly dependant upon the Emperor (under Augustus), to one that essentially had to do everything on their own.
GaiusInitially positive, as he told the Senate that he wished to repair the relationship, and reflect Augustus' leadership, however after his mysterious illness, he drastically decreases senatorial powers, and spends much of his time just mocking/abusing senators.
ClaudiusTries his best to work with the Senate, but after years of abuse they are obstinate. They are frustrated with the Principate, and want to return to a republic. Overtime, rather than just deal with this obstinancy, Claudius transitions from the Senate to the Imperial Bureaucracy of Freedmen (and later his wives as well) for counsel and the administration of the empire, which severely wounds the ego of many senators who resented their position being offered to former slaves.
NeroSimilar to Gaius - when he's under the control of Agrippina, Seneca and Burrus, Gaius is pretty nice to the Senators. However, once their influence is gone, he becomes a monster to pretty much everyone.
Hope this helps get you started!
Susie