Abstract
The article examines the role and significance of family and kinship ties within the system of the Principate, a peculiar form of monarchical rule. It examines the relationships of emperors, primarily from the Julio-Claudian dynasty, with their distant, blood or legal, relatives and inlaws who were part of the imperial household. These individuals often fell victim to political purges and persecutions by ruling princes, facing mortal danger due to their very status, which made them potential contenders for the throne. This situation cannot be explained solely by the pathological bloodlust of individual emperors or the so-called "imperial madness" (Caesarewahnsinn). The majority of killings within the domus Augusta were dictated by a specific rationality and had a political character. They reflected the fundamental contradiction of the Principate, which, on the one hand, was initially characterized by an avoidance of overt institutionalization of sole power and the ruling dynasty as such, and on the other hand, by the formation of the imperial household, which acquired the characteristics of an inherently monarchical institution. The family-dynastic succession of imperial power corresponded to the expectations of the subjects, primarily the urban plebs and the army. This compelled emperors, on the one hand, to seek assistants and successors from among blood relatives or in-laws, and on the other hand, to view them as dangerous competitors to their sole authority.
Keywords
Roman Empire, Principate, imperial family, domus Augusta, kinship ties, succession of imperial power, dynastic policy.
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