Lukas Jansen Vertrauen und Misstrauen in Zeiten des politischen Umbruchs: Herrscherwechsel im römischen Principat

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The political system of the Principate was characterized by the fact that it exhibited the – essentially incompatible – features of an aristocratic republic and an unrestrict-ed monocracy. These paradoxical structures meant that no fixed dynastic succession rules could be established in the Principate. This circumstance made succession of power even more critical moments of political instability than they already were in ancient autocracies. The transition of power from one emperor to the next was therefore never merely an act of succession, but always a phase of extreme political tension.

During this transitional phase, the network of relationships between the emperor and the power elite was put to the test. Trust often became a strategic resource and mistrust a survival strategy. The relationship between the power elite and the ruler was characterized by a mixture of weak trust and latent mistrust. If all actors, including the emperor, managed to keep mistrust within limits, it could form a constructive counterweight to trust. This particular mixture of trust and mistrust was functional because it kept political actors capable of acting in complexly structured circumstances. However, this constellation also posed a constant danger: if the balance described above was disturbed, the subliminal mistrust could easily break through and spiral out of control.

In this study, Lukas Jansen examines the integral role that trust and mistrust played in the network of relationships between the emperor and the power elite in the con-text of the change of rulers in the early Principate. Based on interdisciplinary re-search, the book explores the potential inherent in trust and mistrust for research into the imperial period. It develops a new approach that contributes to a deeper understanding of the mechanisms of the Principate.