"Covering the period from the reign of Augustus to Claudius's installation, Rowe demonstrates how dynastic monarchy turned citizens into subjects. Stepping back from personalities and politics to consider institutions and the values underpinning them, Rowe examines six key constituencies of the new order: the Roman senate, the equestrian order, the urban plebs, colonies, Greek cities, and the legions.

Focusing on each group's deliberative and expressive institutions, he paints a coherent picture of early imperial culture, revealing the transition from formal to informal decision making and individual ascendancy over collective institutions. Rowe uses these findings to explain ostensible loyalism and the uniformity of imperial ideology. Texts, translations, and discussions of the major inscriptions of the period - both Greek and Latin - are provided."--BOOK JACKET.