Augustus Ceasar

Augustus Ceasar

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Caesar Augustus, Rome's first true great emperor. He is known to modern historians as the historical figure that had the greatest impact on the ancient world. Augustus became Caesar after the assassination of Julius Caesar and united the split roman empire after over 100 years of civil war. He is the single most important person in roman history, and he conquered more territories than anyone other roman ruler. This is why Augustus Caesar had such a long and brilliant career.

Augustus was born in Rome, in 63 B.C. with the name Gaius Octavius Thurinus. His father, also Gaius Octavius, came from a respectable family and was governor of Macedonia before his death in 58 BC. More importantly, his mother Atia Balba Caesonia was the niece of Rome's greatest general, Julius Caesar. In 46 BC Caesar, who had no children, took his great-nephew Augustus, to fight in Hispania, and adopted him as his heir. By his adoption, he then used the name Gaius Julius Caesar. Roman tradition said that he also use the surname Octavianus to indicate his biological family, from which historians take the name Octavian. However no evidence exists that he ever used the name Octavianus.

When Julius Caesar was assassinated in March 44 BC, Octavius was with the army at Apollonian, in what is now Albania. At the time, he was only eighteen years old, and his power was always underestimated by his rivals. He gathered support by emphasizing his status as heir to Caesar and took the name Gaius Julius Caesar. In Rome, after Julius Caesars death Gaius meets with Antony in Horti Pompeii, Gaius attempted to collect his legacy from Antony, who stole Caesar's papers and fortune. After taking control over the papers and Rome he, Antony, and Lepidus each received one third of Julius Caesar's empire. Augustus received the part that was Africa. After gaining more power, he defeated Lepidus for trying to take over Sicily. He finally defeated Marc Antony at the battle of Actium in 31 B.C. That same year he received another consulship and held that position for eight years. He then disbanded his armies, and held elections. Gaius Julius Caesar was then elected to Consol, the highest office in the republic. "Julius Caesar is proclaimed a god (due to a comet that appeared at games in his honor in 44) Octavian becomes "son of a god", divi filius.

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Augustus in 27 B.C. he officially gave power of Rome back to the senate. He also offered to give up his military leadership over Egypt. The senate turned him down and also gave him power over Hispania, Gaul and Syria. These three states had the most amounts of troops occupying them. This is when the senate gave him the name Augustus. He knew that he needed more power to be able to have absolute control. In 23 B.C. he was granted the power of tribune, which gave him the power to assemble the senate at any time. This duty was normally held by commoners, so this gave him even more power. Another thing he was granted was "imperial power" or power greater than anyone. This gave him all power relating to government. In this same year he is said to have assumed the role of Roman Emperor. He acted in the name of the senate and the senate gave him full support over most decisions.

Augustus not only rescued Rome from 100 years of civil war, he also kept up an honest government, and more importantly to the people, he created a good money system, extended the highway system to connect with most of it's empire, and developed a capable postal service and free trade among the empire. He also created an imperial civil service that was divided into 14 divisions to more efficiently govern the city of Rome. He then created a bureaucracy that would help him to control the new civil service. Urban allies were his police force for the divisions, and either Augustus himself or senators could act as these division leaders. Although he made these incredible ideas work, the main point of his attention was focused on the military. He organized the military around himself being the leader. He used this military to control the front line as well as use it to invade new countries such as Armenia and Spain. He signed a peace treaty with the country of Parthian which showed he had wisdom as a leader not only aggression and the thought of everything was his. This is one of the reasons that historians consider Caesar Augustus to be one of the most important and influential people of the ancient world.

In his later years, Augustus was more and more non social with the roman world. He started to rule from Rome and was not out on the battlefields as much as he was when he was younger. This is referred to as the "Augustan age" or the time that represents cultural excellence in much the same way as Augustus, in which the stability of Rome makes possible a high point of the arts. It is also a famous period in Latin literature history.

Augustus Caesar, the first great roman emperor was much more than that. He did not only care about wealth, but for the good of the people of Rome. He showed people that being a good ruler involves more than thought into the matter. It requires the hard work of you, the ruler, for many, many years. I think that Augustus earned the respect that he got from the senate and from the people of Rome that voted him consol and did not try to get rid of him for entire length as emperor of the roman world.
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