Political structures and tensions in the Augustan Rome period

What this note covers

1. The constitutional settlement and the principate: power disguised as restoration
2. Republican institutions under the principate: the Senate, assemblies, and magistracies
3. Social hierarchy, the orders, and the management of elite competition
4. The role of the army: loyalty, patronage, and the militarisation of power
5. Religion, ideology, and the manufacture of consensus
6. Tensions and opposition: resistance to Augustan authority
7. Evaluating the evidence: what primary sources reveal about Augustan political life

7 sections · 12 key terms & formulas · 6 common mistakes