Methods Of Imperial Succession In The Early Roman Empire

Compared with Ancient oriental monarchy states, there is no consistent method of imperial succession in the early Roman Empire. Under the principate, most emperors with the highest authority favored the hereditary system. However, emperors have to be elected by the senate because of the republican tradition. There is lack of theoretically basis of the hereditary system because the monarch is an official in Roman Empire and is an obligation not a privilege. Nevertheless the election principle was very fragile under the authoritarian rule. Army was a special force in the Roman Empire and transfer gradually from the emperor defenders to the emperor manipulators under the inadequate system of imperial succession. The best succession system-the system of adoption succession emerge in the early Roman Empire. Some sagacious emperors of the system of adoption succession develop the empire into the golden age.This paper all-sidedly researches the characteristic, the reason, and the influence of the method of the imperial succession in the early Roman Empire.This paper is divided into three parts: the foreword, the main body and the conclusion.Foreword : it summarizes the current study situation of the method of imperial succession in the early roman empire and to illustrate the goal and significance.The main body includes four parts: Part I: The orthodox principle of the early Roman Empire was election principle. It demonstrates from three aspects mainly;the election principle in the roman republic, republic influence in the early roman empire and the meaning of monarch and analyze the influence of election principle of imperial succession. Part II: It comments on the intervention of the praetorian guards and explain the influence the military intervention put on the imperialsuccession which from the intervention of the praetorian guards and the legions, the relationship between the Roman Empire and emperors. Part III: It addresses the adoption succession and analyzes the reason why this system emerges. Part IV: This part denotes the disorder of imperial succession in the early Roman Empire and addresses the influence of the disorder.Epilog: It sums up the whole paper to a conclusion that the disorder of the imperial succession caused by the monarch system. The disorder is a very important reason of the anarchy in Roman.