The empire means Imperium in Latin (the power of the Latin people delegated to a magistrate). Starting with Augustus, the term refers to the space over which Roman imperium is exercised. The Provincia undergoes a change: Republic a task to be accomplished militarily or in administration. For Augustus, the provincia means an administrative subdivision.

• The Roman Empire does not have a significant public structure in Rome. This city does not have the means to exercise authoritarian power: it is a flexible power that we can label as soft power (the adherence of Mediterranean regions to the Roman order).

I. The Central Power and the Provinces

- Augustus preserved the missions and structures of the Republican period.

- What is new is the princeps: to streamline the administration of the empire by establishing a better understanding of the places.

A) The Division of Provinces Between Augustus and the Senate

- January 13 and 16, 27: Augustus returns his exceptional powers. But the Senate gives him the imperial provinces. These provinces are regions previously conquered. They are wealthy areas. These provinces are governed by proconsul senators.

• Imperial provinces: Egypt, Spain, Transalpine Gaul, and Gallia Comata. They are governed by propraetorian legates (senators but mostly representatives of the emperor).
• There are a few regions governed by knights: Judea (14) Pontius Pilate is the Roman governor who condemned Jesus to crucifixion. Cyprus is transferred to the Senate; Transalpine is transformed into the Narbonnaise province. A part of later Spain becomes the province of Baetica. This is transformed into a Senate one. Illyria becomes an imperial province then Sardinia and Corsica. This division of 27 was not very innovative: it is inspired by Pompey. The latter was a governor in Spain and resided in Rome. The public provinces come from a law passed by Pompey (Lex Pompeia in -52). The aim of this law is that Caesar does not obtain new powers: annual duration of governance and a delay of 5 years between a magistracy and the governance of a province, then drawing lots. Some edicts from Augustus: the prince can intervene in a province under the Senate.
• The relationship between Augustus and the proconsuls is based on advice and recommendations, according to Fergus Millar "government by correspondence".

- Egypt has an exceptional status in this scheme: province in 30 BC. Egypt is a unique province because of its wealth in supplying Rome. He refused to bow before the bull Apis. Because Romans did not tolerate Egyptian gods. Augustus demonstrates political realism and accepts the role of pharaoh. Augustus is the embodiment of a god on earth in Egypt. He allows the flood to fertilize the banks of the Nile. He does not ask Livy to play the role of the pharaoh's wife. He appears as a monarch. The administration of Egypt has a Prefect knight. Senators are prohibited in Egypt without the emperor's authorization.

B) Roman Governors and Their Missions

- Proconsul, legate of Augustus, propraetor. The provinces of Asia are led by proconsuls (former consuls).

• The small imperial provinces: proconsuls former praetors. The Proconsul is drawn by lot from a limited list of candidates (one year). The governors of imperial provinces are appointed by the prince (the legate has no temporary limit in his function). Regardless of the status, the missions are similar: managing finances, supervising communities in the provinces; controlling edifying activities, maintaining order, executing justice. The governor organizes a judicial inspection tour (Conventus). The legate has the task of commanding legions. The administration is quite light. The proconsul can choose legates from his family, quaestors (managing public provincial funds), officium (freedmen and public slaves). Roman power has not many requirements: just taxation.

C) Taxation, the Central Power's Main Requirement

- Direct taxation: citizens are exempt from this tax (they do not pay direct taxes).

• The tributum capitis: a tax per head and tributum soli: tax on the properties they own, collected from all the elites. In fact, Augustus seeks to improve his tax revenue. Through specific censuses (Gauls, Hispania). He was keen to know the provincial cadastre and the number of free people living outside Italy.
• Terminological change: the tributum is the tax of the Roman citizen.
• Stipendium: conquered by the Romans. Must pay something.
• Tributum: emphasizes contribution to the empire. These direct taxes are shown positively. The quaestors are responsible for distributing the tax. There was an anti-tax revolt in recently conquered regions. Although the state's private assets (mines, salt flats) continued to be farmed out. Officials (freedmen, slaves, knights) chosen by the prince and taxes are perceived as bearable in all regions exploited by the Romans.

- In addition to direct taxes, there are taxes that weigh on economic activities (auction, manumission, inheritance, toll, circulation of goods). To levy taxes, there is a census. In fact, Augustus organizes a census of the empire's wealth "inventory of worlds" Claude Nicolet. This is a development that allowed knowledge of Roman demographics. This census is undertaken under the governance of each city. Centuriation: a spectacular operation that allows separating the territory into centuries: cultivated land (parcel): land tax that marks the space and a Roman imprint.

• As indirect taxes, there were customs duties at provincial borders (2 per 100 ad valorem). Roman citizens, in addition to a tax on the manumission of slaves, had to pay a tax of 5 per 100 on large heirs in indirect lineage, intended to feed the only military treasury.
• Augustus could enrich himself through legacies, the spoils of conquests, and also offerings from cities, for example, gold crowns on the occasion of triumphs. This constituted one of the bases of monarchical power.

A) The Status of Communities and Individuals

- The ancient Mediterranean world is a world of city-states, dominating several hundred.

- The imperial period coincided with the structure called the city. The golden age of the city is that of Pericles (5 BC).

- The Roman conquest and Roman centralism emptied the meaning of the city. Roman centralism has always been increasingly invasive. But Rome has few means to centralize. The governance of the empire relies on the cities.

- Municipal civilization refers to the Roman Empire.

- The Roman Empire is marked by great diversity regarding the status of individuals such as the Roman status or peregrine status:

• 1st: The Roman status is tied to Roman citizenship (extended to all of Italy and then under Caesar to Cisalpine Gaul). This citizenship contains civil rights; to vote in Rome; to serve in legions; rights to be judged in Rome (the apostle Paul is accused by the Jews in Judea. He calls the emperor to withdraw him and take him to Rome. He is then beheaded). The Tria Nomina: Praenomen, Nomen, Cognomen (Caius Julius Caesar). It is a form of expression of Roman citizenship. Roman citizens can be born from marriage. The Conubium: legitimate marriage. Legitimacy is given by the father. Magistrates of Latin rights and their families: Intermediate status between Roman and peregrine status. They can access Roman citizenship. Soldiers called auxiliaries: After 25 years of service, they can become citizens. They must prove their merit.

- The freedmen can become Roman citizens (a slave):

• They were excluded from honors.
• Manumissions by will were limited because they were too numerous and devalued the quality of citizenship.
• A category of freedmen was created who could not access Roman citizenship.
• To not leave the wealth of some unemployed: grouping into small colleges (to honor the emperor and were able to exercise their generosity).
• Senators cannot marry freedmen.
• Inspection: former knights must yield their places to younger ones.
• Single men or married men cannot use all their property.
• Legionnaires were recruited only among citizens.

- Rome has been generous in terms of citizenship. As its territory expanded, Rome extended its citizenship.

- Status of communities:

• Written constitution of the law of Urso: A Spanish city and colony of the time.

- Peregrine city: foreign cities living under their rights.

- Roman type community: Colonies and Municitas.

• Colony: founding ex-nihilo. They send Roman or Latin citizens to establish a new city. Sylla established veterans in Italy. In the 50s, Italians were expropriated. Colonies were established in the west. Colonies were set up on pre-existing colonies. These are small Romes (modeled after Rome).
• The Municitas: They are former peregrine cities. They received a Latin or Roman status. In each city, there can be different statuses for individuals.
• Different forms of organizations from the Greco-Roman model: organizational model situated in Africa. The Romans sedentarized them and settled them in cities.

B) The Civic Model

City: a whole that includes an urban center and rural territory. The city is the entirety of citizens that compose it with their families. The cities are subject to a more powerful state. It is the enjoyment of an urban space and an exploitation of an urban territory and a financial policy (using its own laws and autonomy). These three principles are not called into question by the Romans.

• The same organization as in Rome: magistrates, local senate, and popular assembly.
• These cities are led by duumviri (mayor). There is an annual and collegial organization.
• Decurions: member of the curia (municipal council).
• The Notable is a category of the population. The latter knows economic ease and a moral obligation to manage the interests of the community, contributing with his fortune if necessary. The amount of money was different in each size of the city. These notables practice euergetism, allowing them to offer the city monuments or public festivities (shows). These elites could take charge of supplying grain. The city honors these notables with honors: statues (emulation in terms of euergetism).

C) The Relationship Between Communities and the Princeps (Augustus) in Italy and the Provinces:

- The relationship changes during the principate: provincials understood the change from the republican state (no nostalgia). The principate is accepted as it is more favorable to the provincial world (in the realm of peace). Italians and provincials realized the induced effects of Augustus. The latter is seen as the embodiment of central power. Provincials turn to Augustus to solicit privileges.

• A small Greek island (Gyaros): it is sent by its city for tax relief. He heads toward Augustus to solicit the request (29 BC). This city realized that Augustus has become the power center. There are many inscriptions, monuments, and statues (of his honorary titles, of his image).
• The name of the emperor becomes omnipresent in cities, in coins. There is an epigraphic culture (the study of inscriptions on stones) of Augustus. There are about 300,000 inscriptions of Augustus.
• The imperial cult expresses a form of dialogue between local communities and the emperor. The communities recognize his power. The emperor guarantees the prosperity of the cities. The statue of Augustus is not imposed by the provincials. The statues illustrate Augustus's adherence within the principalities. Antiquity knows a true portrait of Caesar and 320 of Augustus.

III. Control of Territory and Romanization

A) Control of Territory

- Covers several meanings:

• Romanize: settle new cities or colonies.
• Spread among the natives.
• Take direct control of territory and administration.
• Romanization is the dissemination of a framework and a lifestyle/ Roman culture (to pray in the Roman way).

- Roads: there are different levels of roads. There are roads constructed by Rome. The roads allow the army to intervene quickly (in case of rebellion, circulate information, and economic and cultural exchange). Vectors of Roman dissemination. They are marked by distance markers (1,000 paces) from a city. The marker contains the name of the Roman power (inscribed in the empire's space). The Roman power is recurrently illustrated.

• City Creation: Rome favors this creation (process of poliadization/polis = city). Rome seeks to integrate people from the empire into a city. It is a framework that guarantees freedom, dignity, and security. Games and baths are political expressions.
• Control of territory occurs through the creation of cities allowing for the administration of the empire. For example, Aregenua: an administrative center on which Rome relies.
• Rome will sedentarize these Berber tribes: North Africa (Augustus led two waves of colonization).

- Augustus continued Caesar's projects in proconsular Africa. He founded the colony of Carthage (29-28 BC). He installed 3,000 colonists. Augustus founded 14 proconsular colonies with 58,000 or 70,000 men transferred; located in the same places as the Berber tribes. Augustus established Roman cities: 13 colonies in Mauretania (35 BC). These veterans spread a Roman way of life.

B) The Desire for Integration of the Populations of the Empire.

- There is no conscious policy from Rome: military objective or administrative control of territory. Romanization is a process of acculturation sought among the inhabitants of the colonies (dissemination of Latin in the west). There are three phases in the provincial regions: there is the indigenous language (Celtic), then bilingualism, and solely Latin.

• The adoption of a Roman way of life: theater (organized in Roman colonies like Lyon or Tarragona during the Augustan period, Lepcis Magna. They were set up during the Augustan period).
• They adopt the cultural model of performances: copying what was built in Rome.
• Lepcis Magna (foreign city) having built a theater. They organized a Forum and temples in a Greco-Roman manner. This city quickly adopts a Roman architectural model and culture.
• Nîmes becomes a Latin colony: The Maison Carrée (dedicated to Augustus's grandsons). The temple demonstrates a cult to honor Augustus's family.
• The arenas of Nîmes built during the Flavian period (less than 10 years after the Colosseum in Rome by Titus). They took 10 years to construct a similar monument.

In summary, there is an attractiveness of the Roman model. The inhabitants accepted Roman domination and administration. Rome does not have the resources to control a vast territory and has few officials. The adhesion of the populations is necessary. Because there is an acceptance of the Roman model.