Seneca was a Stoic philosopher, statesmen, dramatist, and advisor/tutor to the Roman emperor Nero. He had an extensive amount of influence on the infamous man, especially during the 5 humane years of Nero's rule. Seneca was an advocate of moral philosopher and wrote epistles on the meaning/purpose of life. He believed that our objective in this world was to live with virtue and purity. We should be always striving to do good and to be upstanding individuals.Centering our existence around these things was the only path to true happiness and purity. This in of itself seems to be an admirable undertaking in life, but Seneca was somewhat of a hypocrite.
His teachings supported this theory, yet he wasn't a very righteous and noble citizen and man. During Nero's rule, he wrote a defense of him after he murdered his own mother! He also made excuses for his insane, brutal actions and gave up on trying to control the dictator. So he wasn't really "practicing what he preached", when he overlooked the heinous crimes that were obviously contrary to accepted morality.
2) How would you summarize the period of the Julian- Claudian and Flavian emperors? Were they consistently humane and competent, wicked and foolish, or is the pattern erratic? Was there a consistent system of succession from one emperor to another?
The period of these two dynasties was one of both strife and peace, war and harmony. It was a lot like being on a roller-coaster, with highs and lows throughout the 121 years they lasted. The Julian- Claudian dynasty consisted of Tiberius, Caligula, Claudius I, and Nero. This dynasty's prevailing theme seemed to be one of evil, foolish and unpredictable rulers. Nero was a lunatic, who followed the crazy whims of his dark heart. He murdered countless innocent people and committed numerous atrocious felonies as emperor.
He also blamed the Christians for many things, like the Great Fire of Rome that devastated the city for 6 days( supposedly, he is the one who actually initiated it).He then proceeded to have many of them gruesomely killed, in the Coliseum arena. Nero had no conscience or heart whatsoever, even going so far as to order the execution of his mother! He eventually committed suicide when a rebellion began against him in Gaul and spread to Rome.
Caligula was just as much of a psychopath, but in a different way. He went on a violent rampage, when he suspected a revolution during his reign. He went on to end the lives of anyone he thought might be involved in this scandalous act. Claudius was more of a stable and reliable man in power but was removed from office because of an illness.
The Flavian Dynasty consisted of Vespian and his sons, Titus, and Domitian. Titus didn't lead a particularly edifying youth, but regardless was a decent emperor. Yet once his brother, Domitian took over there was once again anarchy. A revolt erupted against him and he was swift to massacre the enemies who dared to work against him. He had a particular detest and hatred for Christians, because they refused to worship any one but their God. He had instituted a law that everyone must treat him and his family as Gods. They were to be revered and regarded as immortals. It was impossible for Christians to follow this rule and stay true to their beliefs. So they were one of the main targets of Domitan's anger and a good portion of them were put to death.
There was definitely more bad rulers than good ones in these two dynasties. Decent and moral emperors were few and far between, when they did arise from the ashes of tyranny.
A steady pattern of succession lasted throughout the years, with men quickly taking the place of their precedents.
You are doing a great job finding pictures to go with your essays. You did forget to address the final part of the second question about whether these emperors had a consistent pattern of succession.
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