Founder of the Roman Empire, the son of Gaius Octavius, senator and praetor, and great nephew (through his mother, Atia) of Julius Caesar. On Caesar's assassination (44 BC), he abandoned student life in Illyricum and returned to Italy where, using Caesar's money and name (he had acquired both under his will), he raised an army, defeated Antony, and extorted a wholly unconstitutional consulship from the Senate (43 BC). When Antony returned in force from Gaul later that year with Lepidus, Octavian made a deal with his former enemies, joining the so-called Second Triumvirate with them, and taking Africa, Sardinia, and Sicily as his province. A later redivision of power gave him the entire western half of the Roman world, and Antony the eastern. While Antony was distracted there by his military schemes against Parthia, and his liaison with Cleopatra, Octavian consistently undermined him at home. Matters came to a head in 31 BC, and the Battle of Actium followed, Octavian emerging victorious as the sole ruler of the Roman world. Though taking the inoffensive title princeps (first citizen), he was in all but name an absolute monarch. His new name, Augustus (exalted), had historical and religious overtones, and was deliberately chosen to enhance his prestige. His long reign (27 BCAD 14) was a time of peace and reconstruction at home, sound administration and steady conquest abroad. In gratitude the Romans awarded him the title Pater Patriae (Father of his Country) in 2 BC, and on his death made him a god (divus Augustus).
| Augustus | ||
|---|---|---|
| Roman emperor | ||
| Reign | January 16, 27 BC–August 19 AD 14 | |
| Full name | Gaius Julius Caesar Octavianus | |
| Born | September 23, 63 BC | |
| Rome | ||
| Died | August 19, AD 14 | |
| Nola | ||
| Buried | Mausoleum of Augustus | |
| Predecessor | None / Julius Caesar (as Dictator, but not emperor) | |
| Successor | Tiberius, stepson by third wife and adoptive son | |
| Consort to |
1) Clodia Pulchra ?–40 BC 2) Scribonia 40 BC–38 BC 3) Livia Drusilla 38 BC to AD 14 |
|
| Issue | Julia the Elder | |
| Royal House | Julio-Claudian | |
| Father | Gaius Octavius | |
| Mother | Atia Balba Caesonia | |
Julio-Claudian Dynasty
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Augustus (Latin: IMP•CAESAR•DIVI•F•AVGVSTVS;
Although he preserved the outward form of the Roman Republic, he ruled as an autocrat for 41 years, and his rule is the dividing line between the Republic and the Roman Empire.
Early life
He was born in Rome (or Velletri) on September 23, 63 BC with the name Gaius Octavius.
Rise to power
When Caesar was assassinated on the Ides of March (the 15th) 44 BC, Octavius was studying in Apollonia, Illyria. After the battle, a new arrangement was made between the members of the Second Triumvirate: while Octavian returned to Rome, Antony went to Egypt where he allied himself with Queen Cleopatra VII, the former lover of Julius Caesar and mother of Caesar's infant son, Caesarion.
Whilst Antony occupied himself with military campaigns against the Parthians and a romantic affair with Cleopatra, Octavian built a network of allies in Rome, consolidated his power, and spread propaganda implying that Antony was becoming less than Roman because of his preoccupation with Egyptian affairs and traditions.
Octavian becomes Augustus: the creation of the Principate
The Western half of the Roman Republic territory had sworn allegiance to Octavian prior to Actium in 31 BC, and after Actium and the defeat of Antony and Cleopatra, the Eastern half followed suit, placing Octavian in the position of ruler of the Republic.
First settlement
In 27 BC, Octavian officially returned power to the Roman Senate, and offered to relinquish his own military supremacy over Egypt. Additionally, after the harsh methods employed in consolidating his control, the change in name would also serve to separate his benign reign as Augustus from his reign of terror as Octavian.
In addition, Augustus was granted the right to hang the corona civicum, the "civic crown" made from oak, above his door, and have laurels drape his doorposts. for all intents and purposes the new Augustus was simply a highly-honored Roman citizen, holding the consulship within the city and acting as proconsul in territories abroad.
These actions were highly abnormal from the Roman Senate, but this was not the same body of patricians that had assassinated Caesar.
Second settlement
In 23 BC, Augustus renounced the consulship, but retained his consular imperium, leading to a second compromise between Augustus and the Senate known as the Second Settlement. Augustus was granted the power of a tribune (tribunicia potestas), though not the title, which allowed him to convene the Senate and people at will and lay business before it, veto the actions of either the Assembly or the Senate, preside over elections, and the right to speak first at any meeting. No Tribune of Rome ever had these powers, and there was no precedent within the Roman system for combining the powers of the Tribune and the Censor into a single position, nor was Augustus ever elected to the office of Censor. Whether censorial powers were granted to Augustus as part of his tribunician authority, or he simply assumed these responsibilities, or, as Augustus indicates in his Res Gestae, he somehow retained consular authority, is still a matter of debate.
In addition to tribunician authority, Augustus was granted sole imperium within the city of Rome itself: all armed forces in the city, formerly under the control of the Prefects and consuls, were now under the sole authority of Augustus. Additionally, Augustus was granted imperium proconsulare maius, or "imperium over all the proconsuls", which translated to the right to interfere in any province and override the decisions of any governor. With maius imperium, Augustus was the only individual able to receive a triumph as he was ostensibly the head of every Roman army. When, in 22 BC, Augustus failed to stand for election as consul, fears arose once again that Augustus, seen as the great "defender of the people", was being forced from power by the aristocratic Senate. In 22, 21, and 20 BC, the people rioted in response, and only allowed a single consul to be elected for each of those years, ostensibly to leave the other position open for Augustus. Finally, in 19 BC, the Senate voted to allow Augustus to wear the consul's insignia in public and before the Senate, with an act sometimes known as the Third Settlement.
With these powers in mind, it must be understood that all forms of permanent and legal power within Rome officially lay with the Senate and the people; Augustus was given extraordinary powers, but only as a pronconsul and magistrate under the authority of the Senate.
Later Roman Emperors would generally be limited to the powers and titles originally granted to Augustus, though often, in order to display humility, newly appointed Emperors would often decline one or more of the honorifics given to Augustus.
Succession
Almost immediately after the First Settlement, Augustus fell ill. By 26 BC, Augustus had become bedridden, and the problem of succession came to the forefront. While Augustus recovered enough to make short trips and public appearances by 24, and was certainly fully recovered by 23, his near death seems to have brought the issue to the forefront of Augustus's plans. After the death of Marcellus in 23 BC, Augustus married his daughter to Agrippa. This union produced five children, three sons and two daughters: Gaius Caesar, Lucius Caesar, Vipsania Julia, Agrippina the Elder, and Postumus Agrippa, so named because he was born after Marcus Agrippa died.
Augustus' intent to make Gaius and Lucius Caesar his heirs was apparent when he adopted them as his own children, and personally ushered them into their political careers by serving as consul with each. Augustus also showed favor to his stepsons, Livia's children from her first marriage, Nero Claudius Drusus Germanicus and Tiberius Claudius, granting them military commands and public office, and seeming to favor Drusus after granting him a triumph after subjugating a large portion of Germany.
After Agrippa died in 12 BC, Livia's son Tiberius was ordered to divorce his own wife and married Agrippa's widow, Augustus's daughter. After the early deaths of both Lucius and Gaius in 2 and 4 respectively, and the earlier death of his brother Drusus (9 BC), Tiberius was recalled to Rome, where he was adopted by Augustus on the condition that he, in turn, adopt Germanicus, continuing the tradition of presenting at least two generations of heirs to Augustus's powers.
On August 19, 14, Augustus died, and Tiberius was named his heir.
Augustus' legacy
Augustus was deified soon after his death, and both his borrowed surname, Caesar, and his title Augustus became the permanent titles of the rulers of Rome for the next 400 years, and were still in use at Constantinople fourteen centuries after his death.
Many consider Augustus to be Rome's greatest emperor;
In looking back on the reign of Augustus and its legacy to the Roman world, its longevity should not be overlooked as a key factor in its success. Had Augustus died earlier (in 23 BC, for instance), matters may have turned out differently. The attrition of the civil wars on the old Republican oligarchy and the longevity of Augustus, therefore, must be seen as major contributing factors in the transformation of the Roman state into a de facto monarchy in these years. His memory was enshrined in the political ethos of the Imperial age as a paradigm of the good emperor, and although every emperor adopted his name, Caesar Augustus, only a handful, such as Trajan, earned genuine comparison with him.
Revenue Reforms
Probably Augustus's most important legacy from the standpoint of its impact on the subsequent success of the Empire was his reform of Rome's public revenue system.
The first reform was to bring a much larger portion of the Empire's expanded land base under consistent, direct taxation from Rome, instead of exacting varying, intermittent, and somewhat arbitrary tributes from each local province, as Augustus's predecessors had done. Its abolition was an enormous relief to the people, and perhaps more than any other factor explains not only the Empire's great prosperity for the next two centuries, but also Augustus's great personal popularity during his lifetime.
The third reform, the use of Egypt's immense land rents to finance the Empire's operations, resulted from Julius Caesar's conquest of Egypt and the shift under Augustus to an imperial form of government. As it was effectively considered first Julius's and then Augustus's private property, and became part of each succeeding emperor's patrimonium, the highly productive agricultural land of Egypt yielded enormous revenues that were available to Augustus and his successors to pay for public works and military expeditions, as well as bread and circuses for the population of Rome.
Month
The month of August (Latin Augustus) is named after Augustus; Commonly repeated lore has it that August has 31 days because Augustus wanted his month to match the length of Julius Caesar's July, but this is an invention of the 13th-century scholar Johannes de Sacrobosco.
Building projects
Augustus boasted that he 'found Rome brick and left it marble'. Although this did not apply to the Subura slums, which were still as rickety and fire-prone as ever, he did leave a mark on the monumental topography of the centre and of the Campus Martius, with the Ara Pacis sundial (using an obelisk), the Temple of Caesar, the Forum of Augustus with its Temple of Mars Ultor, and also other projects either encouraged by him (eg Theatre of Balbus, Agrippa's construction of the Pantheon) or funded by him in the name of others, often relations (eg Portico of Octavia, Theatre of Marcellus).
Augustus in popular culture
Modern archaeological research
In July 2006, archaeologists announced that they had discovered what they believed to be the birthplace of Augustus.
Further reading
The Cambridge Companion to the Age of Augustus (Cambridge Companions to the Ancient World). "The Imperium of Augustus", The Journal of Roman Studies, Vol. 41, Parts 1 and 2.Primary sources
Mausoleum of Augustus and Archaeology The Res Gestae Divi Augusti (The Deeds of Augustus, his own account: complete Latin and Greek texts with facing English translation) Selections from the Res Gestae (in a different English translation) Suetonius' biography of Augustus, Latin text with English translation Cassius Dio's Roman History: Books 45–56, English translation Life of Augustus by Nicolaus of Damascus, English translation The Via Iulia Augusta: road built by the Romans; Gallery of the Ancient Art: AugustSecondary material
Augustus Coins De Imperatoribus Romanis Augustus Caesar and the Pax Romana Octavian / Augustus Augustus and the Roman army—Mutual Loyalty and Rewards Augustus at BBC History|
Preceded by: Aulus Hirtius and Gaius Vibius Pansa Caetronianus |
Consul (Suffect.) of the Roman Republic without colleague 43 BC |
Succeeded by: Marcus Aemilius Lepidus and Lucius Munatius Plancus |
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Preceded by: Marcus Antonius and Lucius Scribonius Libo and Aemilius Lepidus Paullus (Suffect.) |
Consul of the Roman Republic with Lucius Volcatius Tullus 33 BC |
Succeeded by: Gnaeus Domitius Ahenobarbus and Gaius Sosius |
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Preceded by: Gnaeus Domitius Ahenobarbus and Gaius Sosius |
Consul of the Roman Empire 31 BC–23 BC |
Succeeded by: M. Claudius Marcellus Aeserninus and Lucius Arruntius |
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Preceded by: D. Antistius Vetus |
Consul of the Roman Empire 5 BC |
Succeeded by: Gaius Calvisius Sabinus and Lucius Passienus Rufus |
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Preceded by: Lucius Cornelius Lentulus and Marcus Valerius Messalla Messallinus |
Consul of the Roman Empire 2 BC |
Succeeded by: Cossus Cornelius Lentulus and Lucius Calpurnius Piso |
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Preceded by: Julius Caesar |
Julio-Claudian dynast 27 BC –AD 14 |
Succeeded by: Tiberius |
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Preceded by: none |
Roman Emperor 27 BC –AD 14 |
Succeeded by: Tiberius |
| Persondata | |
|---|---|
| NAME | Augustus |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Gaius Julius Caesar Octavianus; Octavian |
| SHORT DESCRIPTION | first Roman Emperor |
| DATE OF BIRTH | September 23, 63 BCE |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Rome |
| DATE OF DEATH | August 19, 14 |
| PLACE OF DEATH | Nola |
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