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Section IV (Historical Periods): The Augustan Age 44 BC to AD 14

Quick questions on Augustus's social and moral legislation: HSC Ancient History

9short Q&A pairs drawn directly from our worked dot-point answer. For full context and worked exam questions, read the parent dot-point page.

What is the Leges Juliae (18 BC)?
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In 18 BC, Augustus introduced a major package of social legislation under his tribunicia potestas. Two laws addressed marriage and adultery.
What are the goals?
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Augustus's stated goals included:
What is lex Julia de adulteriis coercendis?
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This was the first time adultery had been criminalised as a public offence at Rome. Previously it had been a matter for the family (paterfamilias and household). The law required husbands to prosecute or divorce adulterous wives; a husband who failed to do so could be prosecuted himself for lenocinium (procuring).
What is lex Julia de maritandis ordinibus?
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Required marriage and reproduction within the senatorial and equestrian orders. Men aged 25 to 60 and women aged 20 to 50 who remained unmarried, or married but childless, faced restrictions on inheritance: the unmarried could inherit only from close relatives; the childless could inherit only half from non-relatives. The penalties were strong economic incentives.
What is lex Fufia Caninia?
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Limited the number of slaves a master could free by testament: a fixed proportion depending on total slave-holdings.
What is lex Aelia Sentia?
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Established minimum ages for manumission (master 20, slave 30). Slaves freed informally or by masters who did not follow procedures became Junian Latins, with limited citizenship rights. Criminal slaves became dediticii (with no citizenship).
What is julia the Elder?
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Augustus's only biological daughter (by his first wife Scribonia). Married three times for dynastic reasons: to Marcellus (Augustus's nephew, who died young), to Agrippa (Augustus's right-hand man, who died in 12 BC), and finally to Tiberius (Augustus's stepson, an unhappy marriage). She had five children by Agrippa (Gaius and Lucius Caesar, Julia the Younger, Agrippina the Elder, Agrippa Postumus).
What is julia the Younger?
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Augustus's granddaughter. Exiled in AD 8 for adultery with Decimus Junius Silanus. She died in exile.
What is ovid?
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Exiled in AD 8 to Tomis on the Black Sea, allegedly for a poem (carmen) and a mistake (error). Ovid's exile is widely believed to have been connected to the Julia the Younger scandal, though the precise nature of his offence is unknown. Ovid's Tristia, written in exile, lament the punishment.

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