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The statue known as the Augustus of Prima Porta, 1st century
Emperor of the Roman Empire
Reign 16 January 27 BC –
19 August 14 AD (41 years)
Successor Tiberius
Full name
Imperator Caesar Divi Filius Augustus
House Julio-Claudian Dynasty
Mother Atia Balba Caesonia
Born Gaius Octavius
23 September 63 BC
Died 19 August AD 14 (aged 75)
Nola, Italia, Roman Empire
Burial Mausoleum of Augustus, Rome
Religion Roman paganism
Roman imperial dynasties
Julio-Claudian dynasty
Augustus 27 BC14 AD
Tiberius 1437 AD
Caligula 3741 AD
Claudius 4154 AD
Nero 5468 AD
Gens Julia
Gens Claudia
Julio-Claudian family tree
Category:Julio-Claudian dynasty
Preceded by
Roman Republic
Followed by
Year of the Four Emperors

Augustus (Latin: Imperator Caesar Divi F. Augustus;[note 1] 23 September 63 BC – 19 August 14 AD) was the founder of the Roman Empire and its first Emperor, ruling from 27 BC until his death in 14 AD.[note 2]

He was born Gaius Octavius into an old and wealthy equestrian branch of the plebeian Octavii family. Following the assassination of his maternal great-uncle Julius Caesar in 44 BC, Caesar's will named Octavius as his adopted son and heir. Together with Mark Antony and Marcus Lepidus, he formed the Second Triumvirate to defeat the assassins of Caesar. Following their victory at Philippi, the Triumvirate divided the Roman Republic among themselves and ruled as military dictators.[note 3] The Triumvirate was eventually torn apart under the competing ambitions of its members: Lepidus was driven into exile and stripped of his position, and Antony committed suicide following his defeat at the Battle of Actium by Augustus in 31 BC.

After the demise of the Second Triumvirate, Augustus restored the outward facade of the free Republic, with governmental power vested in the Roman Senate, the executive magistrates, and the legislative assemblies. In reality, however, he retained his autocratic power over the Republic as a military dictator. By law, Augustus held a collection of powers granted to him for life by the Senate, including supreme military command, and those of tribune and censor. It took several years for Augustus to develop the framework within which a formally republican state could be led under his sole rule. He rejected monarchical titles, and instead called himself Princeps Civitatis ("First Citizen of the State"). The resulting constitutional framework became known as the Principate, the first phase of the Roman Empire.

The reign of Augustus initiated an era of relative peace known as the Pax Romana (The Roman Peace). Despite continuous wars of imperial expansion on the Empire's frontiers and one year-long civil war over the imperial succession, the Roman world was largely free from large-scale conflict for more than two centuries. Augustus dramatically enlarged the Empire, annexing Egypt, Dalmatia, Pannonia, Noricum, and Raetia, expanded possessions in Africa, expanded into Germania, and completed the conquest of Hispania.

Beyond the frontiers, he secured the Empire with a buffer region of client states, and made peace with the Parthian Empire through diplomacy. He reformed the Roman system of taxation, developed networks of roads with an official courier system, established a standing army, established the Praetorian Guard, created official police and fire-fighting services for Rome, and rebuilt much of the city during his reign.

Augustus died in 14 AD at the age of 75. He may have died from natural causes, although there were unconfirmed rumors that his wife Livia poisoned him. He was succeeded as Emperor by his adopted son (also stepson and former son-in-law), Tiberius.


Throughout his life, the man historians refer to as Augustus (/ɔːˈɡʌstəs/;[1] Classical Latin: [awˈɡʊstʊs]) was known by many names:

  • At birth he was named Gaius Octavius after his biological father. Historians typically refer to him simply as Octavius (or Octavian) between his birth in 63 until his posthumous adoption by Julius Caesar in 44 BC.
  • Upon his adoption by Caesar, he took Caesar's name and become Gaius Julius Caesar Octavianus in accordance with Roman adoption naming standards. Though he quickly dropped "Octavianus" from his name and his contemporaries referred to him as "Caesar" during this period, historians refer to him as Octavian between 44 BC and 27 BC.[2]
  • As part of his actions to strengthen his political ties to Caesar's former soldiers, in 42 BC, following the deification of Caesar, Octavian added Divi Filius (Son of the Divine) to his name, becoming Gaius Julius Caesar Divi Filius.
  • In 38 BC, Octavian replaced his praenomen "Gaius" and nomen "Julius" with Imperator, the title by which troops hailed their leader after military success, officially becoming Imperator Caesar Divi Filius.
  • In 27 BC, following his defeat of Mark Antony and Cleopatra, the Roman Senate voted new titles for him, officially becoming Imperator Caesar Divi Filius Augustus. It is the events of 27 BC from which he obtained his traditional name of Augustus, which historians use in reference from 27 BC until his death in 14 AD.[note 4]

Early life

While his paternal family was from the town of Velletri, approximately 40 kilometres (25 mi) from Rome, Augustus was born in the city of Rome on 23 September 63 BC. He was born at Ox Head, a small property on the Palatine Hill, very close to the Roman Forum. He was given the name Gaius Octavius Thurinus, his cognomen possibly commemorating his father's victory at Thurii over a rebellious band of slaves.[3][4]

Due to the crowded nature of Rome at the time, Octavius was taken to his father's home village at Velletri to be raised. Octavius only mentions his father's equestrian family briefly in his memoirs. His paternal great-grandfather was a military tribune in Sicily during the Second Punic War. His grandfather had served in several local political offices. His father, also named Gaius Octavius, had been governor of Macedonia.[note 5][5] His mother, Atia, was the niece of Julius Caesar.

A denarius from 44 BC, showing Julius Caesar on the obverse and the goddess Venus on the reverse of the coin

In 59 BC, when he was four years old, his father died.[6] His mother married a former governor of Syria, Lucius Marcius Philippus.[7] Philippus claimed descent from Alexander the Great, and was elected consul in 56 BC. Philippus never had much of an interest in young Octavius. Because of this, Octavius was raised by his grandmother (and Julius Caesar's sister), Julia Caesaris.

In 52 or 51 BC, Julia Caesaris died. Octavius delivered the funeral oration for his grandmother.[8] From this point, his mother and stepfather took a more active role in raising him. He donned the toga virilis four years later,[9] and was elected to the College of Pontiffs in 47 BC.[10][11] The following year he was put in charge of the Greek games that were staged in honor of the Temple of Venus Genetrix, built by Julius Caesar.[11] According to Nicolaus of Damascus, Octavius wished to join Caesar's staff for his campaign in Africa, but gave way when his mother protested.[12] In 46 BC, she consented for him to join Caesar in Hispania, where he planned to fight the forces of Pompey, Caesar's late enemy, but Octavius fell ill and was unable to travel.

When he had recovered, he sailed to the front, but was shipwrecked; after coming ashore with a handful of companions, he crossed hostile territory to Caesar's camp, which impressed his great-uncle considerably.[9] Velleius Paterculus reports that after that time, Caesar allowed the young man to share his carriage.[13] When back in Rome, Caesar deposited a new will with the Vestal Virgins, naming Octavius as the prime beneficiary.[14]

Rise to power

Heir to Caesar

The Death of Caesar, by Jean-Léon Gérôme (1867). On 15 March 44 BC, Octavius's adoptive father Julius Caesar was assassinated by a conspiracy led by Marcus Junius Brutus and Gaius Cassius Longinus. Walters Art Museum, Baltimore.

At the time Caesar was killed on the Ides of March (15 March) 44 BC, Octavius was studying and undergoing military training in Apollonia, Illyria. Rejecting the advice of some army officers to take refuge with the troops in Macedonia, he sailed to Italia to ascertain whether he had any potential political fortunes or security.[15] After landing at Lupiae near Brundisium, he learned the contents of Caesar's will, and only then did he decide to become Caesar's political heir as well as heir to two-thirds of his estate.[11][15][16]

Caesar, having no living legitimate children under Roman law,[note 6] had adopted his grand-nephew Octavius as his son and main heir.[17] Upon his adoption, Octavius assumed his great-uncle's name, Gaius Julius Caesar. Although Romans who had been adopted into a new family usually retained their old nomen in cognomen form (e.g. Octavianus for one who had been an Octavius, Aemilianus for one who had been an Aemilius, etc.) there is no evidence that he ever bore the name Octavianus, as it would have made his modest origins too obvious.[18][19][20]

Despite the fact that he never officially bore the name Octavianus, however, to save confusing the dead dictator with his heir, historians often refer to the new Caesar—between his adoption and his assumption, in 27 BC, of the name Augustus—as Octavian.[21] Mark Antony later charged that Octavian had earned his adoption by Caesar through sexual favours, though Suetonius, in his work Lives of the Twelve Caesars, describes Antony's accusation as political slander.[22]

To make a successful entry into the upper echelons of the Roman political hierarchy, Octavian could not rely on his limited funds.[23] After a warm welcome by Caesar's soldiers at Brundisium,[24] Octavian demanded a portion of the funds that were allotted by Caesar for the intended war against Parthia in the Middle East.[23] This amounted to 700 million sesterces stored at Brundisium, the staging ground in Italy for military operations in the east.[25]

A later senatorial investigation into the disappearance of the public funds made no action against Octavian, since he subsequently used that money to raise troops against the Senate's arch enemy, Mark Antony.[24] Octavian made another bold move in 44 BC when without official permission he appropriated the annual tribute that had been sent from Rome's Near Eastern province to Italy.[19][26]

Octavian began to bolster his personal forces with Caesar's veteran legionaries and with troops designated for the Parthian war, gathering support by emphasizing his status as heir to Caesar.[15][27] On his march to Rome through Italy, Octavian's presence and newly acquired funds attracted many, winning over Caesar's former veterans stationed in Campania.[19] By June he had gathered an army of 3,000 loyal veterans, paying each a salary of 500 denarii.[28][29][30]

A statue of Augustus as a younger Octavian, dated ca. 30 BC

Arriving in Rome on 6 May 44 BC,[19] Octavian found the consul Mark Antony, Caesar's former colleague, in an uneasy truce with the dictator's assassins; they had been granted a general amnesty on 17 March, yet Antony succeeded in driving most of them out of Rome.[19] This was due to his "inflammatory" eulogy given at Caesar's funeral, mounting public opinion against the assassins.[19]

Although Mark Antony was amassing political support, Octavian still had opportunity to rival him as the leading member of the faction supporting Caesar. Mark Antony had lost the support of many Romans and supporters of Caesar when he, at first, opposed the motion to elevate Caesar to divine status.[31] Octavian failed to persuade Antony to relinquish Caesar's money to him. During the summer he managed to win support from Caesarian sympathizers, however, who saw the younger heir as the lesser evil and hoped to manipulate him, or to bear with him during their efforts to get rid of Antony.[32]

Octavian began to make common cause with the Optimates, the former enemies of Caesar. In September, the leading Optimate orator Marcus Tullius Cicero began to attack Antony in a series of speeches portraying him as a threat to the Republican order.[33][34] With opinion in Rome turning against him and his year of consular power nearing its end, Antony attempted to pass laws that would lend him control over Cisalpine Gaul, which had been assigned as part of his province, from Decimus Junius Brutus Albinus, one of Caesar's assassins.[35][36]

Octavian meanwhile built up a private army in Italy by recruiting Caesarian veterans, and on 28 November won over two of Antony's legions with the enticing offer of monetary gain.[37][38][39] In the face of Octavian's large and capable force, Antony saw the danger of staying in Rome, and to the relief of the Senate, he fled to Cisalpine Gaul, which was to be handed to him on 1 January.[39]

First conflict with Antony

Bust of Augustus in Musei Capitolini, Rome

After Decimus Brutus refused to give up Cisalpine Gaul, Antony besieged him at Mutina.[40] The resolutions passed by the Senate to stop the violence were rejected by Antony, as the Senate had no army of its own to challenge him; this provided an opportunity for Octavian, who already was known to have armed forces.[38] Cicero also defended Octavian against Antony's taunts about Octavian's lack of noble lineage and aping of Julius Caesar's name; he stated "we have no more brilliant example of traditional piety among our youth."[41]

At the urging of Cicero, the Senate inducted Octavian as senator on 1 January 43 BC, yet he also was given the power to vote alongside the former consuls.[38][39] In addition, Octavian was granted propraetor imperium (commanding power), which made his command of troops legal, sending him to relieve the siege along with Hirtius and Pansa (the consuls for 43 BC).[38][42] In April 43 BC, Antony's forces were defeated at the battles of Forum Gallorum and Mutina, forcing Antony to retreat to Transalpine Gaul. Both consuls were killed, however, leaving Octavian in sole command of their armies.[43][44]

After heaping many more rewards on Decimus Brutus than on Octavian for defeating Antony, the Senate attempted to give command of the consular legions to Decimus Brutus, yet Octavian decided not to cooperate.[45] Instead, Octavian stayed in the Po Valley and refused to aid any further offensive against Antony.[46] In July, an embassy of centurions sent by Octavian entered Rome and demanded that he receive the consulship left vacant by Hirtius and Pansa.[47]

Octavian also demanded that the decree declaring Antony a public enemy should be rescinded.[46] When this was refused, he marched on the city with eight legions.[46] He encountered no military opposition in Rome, and on 19 August 43 BC was elected consul with his relative Quintus Pedius as co-consul.[48][49] Meanwhile, Antony formed an alliance with Marcus Aemilius Lepidus, another leading Caesarian.[50]

Second Triumvirate


Roman aureus bearing the portraits of Mark Antony (left) and Octavian (right), issued in 41 BC to celebrate the establishment of the Second Triumvirate by Octavian, Antony and Marcus Lepidus in 43 BC. Both sides bear the inscription "III VIR R P C", meaning "One of Three Men for the Regulation of the Republic".[51]

In a meeting near Bologna in October 43 BC, Octavian, Antony, and Lepidus formed a junta called the Second Triumvirate.[52] This explicit arrogation of special powers lasting five years was then supported by law passed by the plebs, unlike the unofficial First Triumvirate formed by Gnaeus Pompey Magnus, Julius Caesar, and Marcus Licinius Crassus.[52][53] The triumvirs then set in motion proscriptions in which 300 senators and 2,000 equites, allegedly were branded as outlaws and deprived of their property and, for those who failed to escape, their lives.[54]

The estimation that 300 senators were proscribed was presented by Appian, although his earlier contemporary Livy asserted that only 130 senators had been proscribed.[55] This decree issued by the triumvirate was motivated in part by a need to raise money to pay the salaries of their troops for the upcoming conflict against Caesar's assassins, Marcus Junius Brutus and Gaius Cassius Longinus.[56] Rewards for their arrest gave incentive for Romans to capture those proscribed, while the assets and properties of those arrested were seized by the triumvirs.[54]

Contemporary Roman historians provide conflicting reports as to which triumvir was more responsible for the proscriptions and killing, however, the sources agree that enacting the proscriptions was a means by all three factions to eliminate political enemies.[57] Marcus Velleius Paterculus asserted that Octavian tried to avoid proscribing officials whereas Lepidus and Antony were to blame for initiating them.[58] Cassius Dio defended Octavian as trying to spare as many as possible, whereas Antony and Lepidus, being older and involved in politics longer, had many more enemies to deal with.[58]

This claim was rejected by Appian, who maintained that Octavian shared an equal interest with Lepidus and Antony in eradicating his enemies.[59] Suetonius presented the case that Octavian, although reluctant at first to proscribe officials, nonetheless pursued his enemies with more rigor than the other triumvirs.[57] Plutarch described the proscriptions as a ruthless and cutthroat swapping of friends and family among Antony, Lepidus, and Octavian. For example, Octavian allowed the proscription of his ally Cicero, Antony the proscription of his maternal uncle Lucius Julius Caesar (the consul of 64 BC), and Lepidus his brother Paullus.[58]

A denarius minted c. 18 BC. Obverse: CAESAR AVGVSTVS; reverse: DIVVS IVLIV[S] (DIVINE JULIUS)

Battle of Philippi and division of territory

Further information: Liberators' civil war

On 1 January 42 BC, the Senate posthumously recognized Julius Caesar as a divinity of the Roman state, Divus Iulius. Octavian was able to further his cause by emphasizing the fact that he was Divi filius, "Son of God".[60] Antony and Octavian then sent 28 legions by sea to face the armies of Brutus and Cassius, who had built their base of power in Greece.[61] After two battles at Philippi in Macedonia in October 42, the Caesarian army was victorious and Brutus and Cassius committed suicide. Mark Antony would later use the examples of these battles as a means to belittle Octavian, as both battles were decisively won with the use of Antony's forces.[62] In addition to claiming responsibility for both victories, Antony also branded Octavian as a coward for handing over his direct military control to Marcus Vipsanius Agrippa instead.[62]

After Philippi, a new territorial arrangement was made among the members of the Second Triumvirate. While Antony placed Gaul, the provinces of Hispania, and Italia in the hands of Octavian, Antony traveled east to Egypt where he allied himself with Queen Cleopatra VII, the former lover of Julius Caesar and mother of Caesar's infant son, Caesarion. Lepidus was left with the province of Africa, stymied by Antony, who conceded Hispania to Octavian instead.[63]

Octavian was left to decide where in Italy to settle the tens of thousands of veterans of the Macedonian campaign, whom the triumvirs had promised to discharge. The tens of thousands who had fought on the republican side with Brutus and Cassius, who could easily ally with a political opponent of Octavian if not appeased, also required land.[63] There was no more government-controlled land to allot as settlements for their soldiers, so Octavian had to choose one of two options: alienating many Roman citizens by confiscating their land, or alienating many Roman soldiers who could mount a considerable opposition against him in the Roman heartland. Octavian chose the former.[64] There were as many as eighteen Roman towns affected by the new settlements, with entire populations driven out or at least given partial evictions.[65]

Rebellion and marriage alliances

Widespread dissatisfaction with Octavian over these settlements of his soldiers encouraged many to rally at the side of Lucius Antonius, who was brother of Mark Antony and supported by a majority in the Senate.[65] Meanwhile, Octavian asked for a divorce from Clodia Pulchra, the daughter of Fulvia and her first husband Publius Clodius Pulcher. Claiming that his marriage with Clodia had never been consummated, he returned her to her mother, Mark Antony's wife. Fulvia decided to take action. Together with Lucius Antonius, she raised an army in Italy to fight for Antony's rights against Octavian. Lucius and Fulvia took a political and martial gamble in opposing Octavian, however, since the Roman army still depended on the triumvirs for their salaries.[65] Lucius and his allies ended up in a defensive siege at Perusia (modern Perugia), where Octavian forced them into surrender in early 40 BC.[65]

Lucius and his army were spared, due to his kinship with Antony, the strongman of the East, while Fulvia was exiled to Sicyon.[66] Octavian showed no mercy, however, for the mass of allies loyal to Lucius; on 15 March, the anniversary of Julius Caesar's assassination, he had 300 Roman senators and equestrians executed for allying with Lucius.[67] Perusia also was pillaged and burned as a warning for others.[66] This bloody event sullied Octavian's reputation and was criticized by many, such as the Augustan poet Sextus Propertius.[67]

Fresco paintings inside the House of Augustus, his residence during his reign as emperor

Sextus Pompeius, son of the First Triumvir Pompey and still a renegade general following Julius Caesar's victory over his father, was established in Sicily and Sardinia as part of an agreement reached with the Second Triumvirate in 39 BC.[68] Both Antony and Octavian were vying for an alliance with Pompeius, who, ironically, was a member of the republican party, not the Caesarian faction.[67] Octavian succeeded in a temporary alliance when in 40 BC he married Scribonia, a daughter of Lucius Scribonius Libo who was a follower of Pompeius as well as his father-in-law.[67] Scribonia gave birth to Octavian's only natural child, Julia, who was born the same day that he divorced her to marry Livia Drusilla, little more than a year after their marriage.[67]

While in Egypt, Antony had been engaged in an affair with Cleopatra and had fathered three children with her.[69] Aware of his deteriorating relationship with Octavian, Antony left Cleopatra; he sailed to Italy in 40 BC with a large force to oppose Octavian, laying siege to Brundisium. This new conflict proved untenable for both Octavian and Antony, however. Their centurions, who had become important figures politically, refused to fight due to their Caesarian cause, while the legions under their command followed suit.[70][71] Meanwhile in Sicyon, Antony's wife Fulvia died of a sudden illness while Antony was en route to meet her. Fulvia's death and the mutiny of their centurions allowed the two remaining triumvirs to effect a reconciliation.[70][71]

In the autumn of 40, Octavian and Antony approved the Treaty of Brundisium, by which Lepidus would remain in Africa, Antony in the East, Octavian in the West. The Italian peninsula was left open to all for the recruitment of soldiers, but in reality, this provision was useless for Antony in the East.[70] To further cement relations of alliance with Mark Antony, Octavian gave his sister, Octavia Minor, in marriage to Antony in late 40 BC.[70] During their marriage, Octavia gave birth to two daughters (known as Antonia Major and Antonia Minor).

War with Pompeius

Further information: Sicilian revolt
A denarius of Sextus Pompeius, minted for his victory over Octavian's fleet, on the obverse the Pharus of Messina, who defeated Octavian, on the reverse, the monster Scylla

Sextus Pompeius threatened Octavian in Italy by denying to the peninsula shipments of grain through the Mediterranean; Pompeius' own son was put in charge as naval commander in the effort to cause widespread famine in Italy.[71] Pompeius' control over the sea prompted him to take on the name Neptuni filius, "son of Neptune".[72] A temporary peace agreement was reached in 39 BC with the treaty of Misenum; the blockade on Italy was lifted once Octavian granted Pompeius Sardinia, Corsica, Sicily, and the Peloponnese, and ensured him a future position as consul for 35 BC.[71][72]

The territorial agreement between the triumvirate and Sextus Pompeius began to crumble once Octavian divorced Scribonia and married Livia on 17 January 38 BC.[73] One of Pompeius' naval commanders betrayed him and handed over Corsica and Sardinia to Octavian. Octavian lacked the resources to confront Pompeius alone, however, so an agreement was reached with the Second Triumvirate's extension for another five-year period beginning in 37 BC.[53][74]

In supporting Octavian, Antony expected to gain support for his own campaign against Parthia, desiring to avenge Rome's defeat at Carrhae in 53 BC.[74] In an agreement reached at Tarentum, Antony provided 120 ships for Octavian to use against Pompeius, while Octavian was to send 20,000 legionaries to Antony for use against Parthia.[75] Octavian sent only a tenth the number of those promised, however, which Antony viewed as an intentional provocation.[75]

Octavian and Lepidus launched a joint operation against Sextus in Sicily in 36 BC.[76] Despite setbacks for Octavian, the naval fleet of Sextus Pompeius was almost entirely destroyed on 3 September by general Agrippa at the naval Battle of Naulochus.[77] Sextus fled with his remaining forces to the east, where he was captured and executed in Miletus by one of Antony's generals the following year.[77] As Lepidus and Octavian accepted the surrender of Pompeius' troops, Lepidus attempted to claim Sicily for himself, ordering Octavian to leave.[77] Lepidus' troops deserted him, however, and defected to Octavian since they were weary of fighting and found Octavian's promises of money to be enticing.[77]

Lepidus surrendered to Octavian and was permitted to retain the office of pontifex maximus (head of the college of priests), but was ejected from the Triumvirate, his public career at an end, and effectively was exiled to a villa at Cape Circei in Italy.[56][77] The Roman dominions were now divided between Octavian in the West and Antony in the East. To maintain peace and stability in his portion of the Empire, Octavian ensured Rome's citizens of their rights to property. This time he settled his discharged soldiers outside of Italy while returning 30,000 slaves to former Roman owners that had previously fled to Pompeius to join his army and navy.[78] To ensure his own safety and that of Livia and Octavia once he returned to Rome, Octavian had the Senate grant him, his wife, and his sister tribunal immunity, or sacrosanctitas.[79]

War with Antony

Anthony and Cleopatra, by Lawrence Alma-Tadema

Meanwhile, Antony's campaign against Parthia turned disastrous, tarnishing his image as a leader, and the mere 2,000 legionaries sent by Octavian to Antony were hardly enough to replenish his forces.[80] On the other hand, Cleopatra could restore his army to full strength, and since he already was engaged in a romantic affair with her, he decided to send Octavia back to Rome.[81] Octavian used this to spread propaganda implying that Antony was becoming less than Roman because he rejected a legitimate Roman spouse for an "Oriental paramour".[82] In 36 BC, Octavian used a political ploy to make himself look less autocratic and Antony more the villain by proclaiming that the civil wars were coming to an end, and that he would step down as triumvir, if only Antony would do the same; Antony refused.[83]

After Roman troops captured the Kingdom of Armenia in 34 BC, Antony made his son Alexander Helios the ruler of Armenia; he also awarded the title "Queen of Kings" to Cleopatra, acts that Octavian used to convince the Roman Senate that Antony had ambitions to diminish the preeminence of Rome.[82] When Octavian became consul once again on 1 January 33 BC, he opened the following session in the Senate with a vehement attack on Antony's grants of titles and territories to his relatives and to his queen.[84]

The breach between Antony and Octavian prompted a large portion of the Senators as well as both of that year's consuls to leave Rome and defect to Antony; however Octavian received two key deserters from Antony in the autumn of 32 BC.[85] These defectors, Munatius Plancus and Marcus Titius, gave Octavian the information he needed to confirm with the Senate all the accusations he made against Antony.[86]

Octavian forcibly entered the temple of the Vestal Virgins and seized Antony's secret will, which he promptly publicized. The will would have given away Roman-conquered territories as kingdoms for his sons to rule, and designated Alexandria as the site for a tomb for him and his queen.[87][88] In late 32 BC, the Senate officially revoked Antony's powers as consul and declared war on Cleopatra's regime in Egypt.[89][90]

The Battle of Actium, by Lorenzo Castro, painted 1672, National Maritime Museum, London

In early 31 BC, while Antony and Cleopatra were temporarily stationed in Greece, Octavian gained a preliminary victory when the navy under the command of Agrippa successfully ferried troops across the Adriatic Sea.[91] While Agrippa cut off Antony and Cleopatra's main force from their supply routes at sea, Octavian landed on the mainland opposite the island of Corcyra (modern Corfu) and marched south.[91] Trapped on land and sea, deserters of Antony's army fled to Octavian's side daily while Octavian's forces were comfortable enough to make preparations.[91]

In a desperate attempt to break free of the naval blockade, Antony's fleet sailed through the bay of Actium on the western coast of Greece. It was there that Antony's fleet faced the much larger fleet of smaller, more maneuverable ships under commanders Agrippa and Gaius Sosius in the battle of Actium on 2 September 31 BC.[92] Antony and his remaining forces were spared only due to a last-ditch effort by Cleopatra's fleet that had been waiting nearby.[93]

Octavian pursued them, and after another defeat in Alexandria on 1 August 30 BC, Antony and Cleopatra committed suicide; Antony fell on his own sword and was taken by his soldiers back to Alexandria where he died in Cleopatra's arms. Cleopatra died soon after, reputedly by the venomous bite of an asp or by poison.[94] Having exploited his position as Caesar's heir to further his own political career, Octavian was only too well aware of the dangers in allowing another to do so and, following the advice of Arius Didymus that "two Caesars are one too many", he ordered Caesarion—Julius Caesar's son by Cleopatra—to be killed, while sparing Cleopatra's children by Antony, with the exception of Antony's older son.[95][96]

Octavian had previously shown little mercy to surrendered enemies and acted in ways that had proven unpopular with the Roman people, yet he was given credit for pardoning many of his opponents after the Battle of Actium.[97]

Octavian becomes Augustus

Aureus of Octavian, circa 30 BC, British Museum

After Actium and the defeat of Antony and Cleopatra, Octavian was in a position to rule the entire Republic under an unofficial principate,[98] but would have to achieve this through incremental power gains, courting the Senate and the people, while upholding the republican traditions of Rome, to appear that he was not aspiring to dictatorship or monarchy.[99][100] Marching into Rome, Octavian and Marcus Agrippa were elected as dual consuls by the Senate.[101]

Years of civil war had left Rome in a state of near lawlessness, but the Republic was not prepared to accept the control of Octavian as a despot. At the same time, Octavian could not simply give up his authority without risking further civil wars among the Roman generals, and even if he desired no position of authority whatsoever, his position demanded that he look to the well-being of the city of Rome and the Roman provinces. Octavian's aims from this point forward were to return Rome to a state of stability, traditional legality and civility by lifting the overt political pressure imposed on the courts of law and ensuring free elections in name at least.[102]

First settlement

Augustus as a magistrate. The statue's marble head was made c. 30–20 BC, the body sculpted in the 2nd century AD (Louvre, Paris).

In 27 BC, Octavian made a show of returning full power to the Roman Senate and relinquishing his control of the Roman provinces and their armies.[101] Under his consulship, however, the Senate had little power in initiating legislation by introducing bills for senatorial debate.[101] Although Octavian was no longer in direct control of the provinces and their armies, he retained the loyalty of active duty soldiers and veterans alike.[101] The careers of many clients and adherents depended on his patronage, as his financial power in the Roman Republic was unrivaled.[101] The historian Werner Eck states:


To a large extent the public was aware of the vast financial resources Augustus commanded. When he failed to encourage enough senators to finance the building and maintenance of networks of roads in Italy, he undertook direct responsibility for them in 20 BC.[104] This was publicized on the Roman currency issued in 16 BC, after he donated vast amounts of money to the aerarium Saturni, the public treasury.[104]

According to H. H. Scullard, however, Augustus's power was based on the exercise of "a predominant military power and ... the ultimate sanction of his authority was force, however much the fact was disguised."[105]

The Senate proposed to Octavian, the victor of Rome's civil wars, that he once again assume command of the provinces. The Senate's proposal was a ratification of Octavian's extra-constitutional power. Through the Senate, Octavian was able to continue the appearance of a still-functional constitution. Feigning reluctance, he accepted a ten-year responsibility of overseeing provinces that were considered chaotic.[106][107]

The provinces ceded to him, that he might pacify them within the promised ten-year period, comprised much of the conquered Roman world, including all of Hispania and Gaul, Syria, Cilicia, Cyprus, and Egypt.[106][108] Moreover, command of these provinces provided Octavian with control over the majority of Rome's legions.[108][109]

While Octavian acted as consul in Rome, he dispatched senators to the provinces under his command as his representatives to manage provincial affairs and ensure his orders were carried out.[109] On the other hand, the provinces not under Octavian's control were overseen by governors chosen by the Roman Senate.[109] Octavian became the most powerful political figure in the city of Rome and in most of its provinces, but did not have sole monopoly on political and martial power.[110]

The Senate still controlled North Africa, an important regional producer of grain, as well as Illyria and Macedonia, two martially strategic regions with several legions.[110] However, with control of only five or six legions distributed among three senatorial proconsuls, compared to the twenty legions under the control of Augustus, the Senate's control of these regions did not amount to any political or military challenge to Octavian.[99][105]

The Senate's control over some of the Roman provinces helped maintain a republican façade for the autocratic Principate.[99] Also, Octavian's control of entire provinces for the objective of securing peace and creating stability followed Republican-era precedents, in which such prominent Romans as Pompey had been granted similar military powers in times of crisis and instability.[99]

Bust of Augustus, wearing the Civic Crown. Glyptothek, Munich.

On 16 January 27 BC the Senate gave Octavian the new titles of Augustus and Princeps.[111] Augustus, from the Latin word Augere (meaning to increase), can be translated as "the illustrious one".[97] It was a title of religious rather than political authority.[97]


However, the title of Romulus was associated too strongly with notions of monarchy and kingship, an image Octavian tried to avoid.[112] Princeps, comes from the Latin phrase primum caput, "the first head", originally meaning the oldest or most distinguished senator whose name would appear first on the senatorial roster; in the case of Augustus it became an almost regnal title for a leader who was first in charge.[113] Princeps had also been a title under the Republic for those who had served the state well; for example, Pompey had held the title. Augustus also styled himself as Imperator Caesar divi filius, "Commander Caesar son of the deified one".[111]

With this title he not only boasted his familial link to deified Julius Caesar, but the use of Imperator signified a permanent link to the Roman tradition of victory.[111] The word Caesar was merely a cognomen for one branch of the Julian family, yet Augustus transformed Caesar into a new family line that began with him.[111]


Second settlement

This portrait of Augustus shows the emperor with idealized features. Walters Art Museum, Baltimore.

By 23 BC, some of the un-Republican implications of the settlement of 27 BC were becoming apparent. Augustus' holding of an annual consulate made his dominance over the Roman political system too obvious, while at the same time halving the opportunities for others to achieve what was still purported to be the head of the Roman state.[116] Further, his desire to have his nephew Marcus Claudius Marcellus follow in his footsteps and eventually assume the Principate in his turn was causing political problems[note 7] and alienating his three biggest supporters – Agrippa, Maecenas and Livia.[117] Feeling pressure from his own core group of adherents Augustus turned to the Senate for help. In an attempt to bolster his support there, especially with the Republicans, after his choice for co-consul in 23 BC, Aulus Terentius Varro Murena was executed as part of the Marcus Primus Affair[118] he appointed the noted Republican Calpurnius Piso, who had fought against Julius Caesar and supported Cassius and Brutus.[119]

In the late spring Augustus suffered a severe illness, and on his supposed deathbed made arrangements that would ensure the continuation of the Principate in some form,[120] while at the same time put in doubt the senators' suspicions of his anti-republicanism.[121][122] Augustus prepared to hand down his signet ring to his favored general Agrippa.[121][122] However, Augustus handed over to his co-consul Piso all of his official documents, an account of public finances, and authority over listed troops in the provinces while Augustus' supposedly favored nephew Marcellus came away empty-handed.[121][122] This was a surprise to many who believed Augustus would have named an heir to his position as an unofficial emperor.[123]

Augustus bestowed only properties and possessions to his designated heirs, as an obvious system of institutionalized imperial inheritance would have provoked resistance and hostility among the republican-minded Romans fearful of monarchy.[100] With regards to the Principate, it was obvious to Augustus that Marcellus was not ready to take on his position;[124] nonetheless, by giving his signet ring to Agrippa, it was Augustus' intent to signal to the legions that Agrippa was to be his successor, and that no matter what the constitutional rules were, they would continue to obey Agrippa.[125]

The Blacas Cameo showing Augustus wearing a gorgoneion on a three layered sardonyx cameo, AD 20-50

Soon after his bout of illness subsided, Augustus gave up his annual consulship.[122] The only other times Augustus would serve as consul would be in the years 5 and 2 BC,[122][126] both times to introduce his grandsons into public life.[119] This was a clever ploy by Augustus; his ceasing to perennially be one of two annual consuls allowed aspiring senators a better chance to fill that position, while at the same time Augustus could exercise wider patronage within the senatorial class.[127] Although Augustus had resigned as consul, he desired to retain his consular imperium not just in his provinces but throughout the empire. This desire, along with the Marcus Primus Affair, led to a second compromise between him and the Senate known as the Second Settlement.[128]

The primary reasons for the Second Settlement were as follows. First, after Augustus relinquished the annual consulship he was no longer in an official position to rule the state, yet his dominant position over his Roman, 'imperial', provinces remained unchanged as he was still a proconsul in and over his large provinces.[122][129] When he annually held the office of consul he had the power to intervene, when he deemed necessary, with the affairs of the other provincial proconsuls appointed by the Senate throughout the empire.[130] When he relinquished his annual consulship, he legally lost this power because, by law, his proconsular powers applied only to his imperial provinces. Augustus wanted to keep this power.

A second problem later arose showing the need for the Second Settlement in what became known as the "Marcus Primus Affair".[131] In late 24 or early 23 BC, charges were brought against Marcus Primus, the former proconsul (governor) of Macedonia, for waging a war on the Odrysian kingdom of Thrace, whose king was a Roman ally, without prior approval of the Senate.[132] He was defended by Lucius Lucinius Varro Murena, who told the trial that his client had received specific instructions from Augustus, ordering him to attack the client state.[133] Later, Primus testified that the orders came from the recently deceased Marcellus.[134] Under the Constitutional settlement of 27 BC and its aftermath, i.e., before Augustus was granted imperium proconsulare maius, such orders, had they been given, would have been considered a breach of the Senate's prerogative, as Macedonia was a Senatorial province under the Senate's jurisdiction, not an imperial province under the authority of the Augustus. Such an action would have ripped away the veneer of Republican restoration as promoted by Augustus, and exposed his fraud of merely being the first citizen, a first among equals.[133] Even worse, the involvement of Marcellus provided some measure of proof that Augustus's policy was to have the youth take his place as Princeps, instituting a form of monarchy – accusations that had already played out.[124]

The situation was so serious that Augustus himself appeared at the trial, even though he had not been called as a witness. Under oath, Augustus declared that he gave no such order.[135] Murena, disbelieving Augustus's testimony and resentful of his attempt to subvert the trial by using his auctoritas, rudely demanded to know why Augustus had turned up to a trial to which he had not been called; Augustus replied that he came in the public interest.[136] Although Primus was found guilty, some jurors voted to acquit, meaning that not everybody believed Augustus's testimony, an insult to the 'August One'.[137]

The Second Constitutional Settlement was completed in part to allay confusion and formalize Augustus' legal authority to intervene in Senatorial provinces. The Senate granted Augustus a form of general imperium proconsulare, or proconsular imperium (power) that applied not solely to his provinces but throughout the empire. Moreover, the Senate augmented Augustus' proconsular imperium into imperium proconsulare maius, or proconsular imperium applicable throughout the empire that was more (maius) or greater than that held by the other proconsuls. This in effect gave Augustus constitutional power superior to all other proconsuls in the empire.[128] Ensuring that his status of proconsular imperium maius was renewed in 13 BC, Augustus stayed in Rome during the renewal process and provided veterans with lavish donations to gain their support.[126]

During the second settlement, Augustus was also granted the power of a tribune (tribunicia potestas) for life, though not the official title of tribune.[128] For some years Augustus had been awarded tribunicia sacrosanctitas, or the immunity from physical attack given to a Tribune of the Plebeians. Now he decided to assume the full powers of the magistracy in perpetuity. Legally it was closed to patricians, a status that Augustus had acquired years ago when adopted by Julius Caesar.[127] This power 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.[126][138] Also included in Augustus' tribunician authority were powers usually reserved for the Roman censor; these included the right to supervise public morals and scrutinize laws to ensure they were in the public interest, as well as the ability to hold a census and determine the membership of the Senate.[139]

With the powers of a censor, Augustus appealed to virtues of Roman patriotism by banning all other attire besides the classic toga while entering the Forum.[140] 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.[141] Julius Caesar had been granted similar powers, wherein he was charged with supervising the morals of the state, however this position did not extend to the censor's ability to hold a census and determine the Senate's roster. The office of the tribunus plebis began to lose its prestige due to Augustus' amassing of tribunal powers, so he revived its importance by making it a mandatory appointment for any plebeian desiring the praetorship.[142]

In addition to his being granted proconsular imperium maius and tribunician authority for life, Augustus was granted sole imperium within the city of Rome itself. Traditionally, proconsuls, or Roman province governors, lost their proconsular "imperium" when they crossed the Pomerium - the sacred boundary of Rome - and entered the city. In these situations, Augustus would have power as part of his tribunician authority but his constitutional imperium within the Pomerium would be less than that of a serving consul. That would mean that when he was in the city he may not be the constitutional magistrate with the most authority. Thanks to his prestige, or auctoritas, his wishes would usually be obeyed, but there may be some awkwardness. To fill this power gap, the Senate voted that Augustus's imperium proconsulare maius (superior proconsular power) should not lapse when he was inside the city walls and thus, all armed forces in the city, formerly under the control of the urban praetors and consuls, were now under the sole authority of Augustus.[143]

In addition, after this time the credit for each subsequent Roman military victory was given to Augustus because the majority of Rome's armies were stationed in imperial provinces commanded by Augustus through the legatus who were deputies of the princeps in the provinces.[144] Moreover, if a battle was fought in a Senatorial province Augustus' proconsular imperium maius allowed him to take command and, or credit for any major military victory. This meant Augustus was the only individual able to receive a triumph, a tradition that began with Romulus, Romes's first King and first triumphant general.[144] In 19 BC. Lucius Cornelius Balbus, the nephew of Julius Caesar's great agent, who was governor of Africa and conqueror of the Garamantes, was the last man outside Augustus' family to receive this award.[144] Only one other person, Augustus' eldest son by marriage to Livia, Tiberius, was the only other general to triumph when he received one for victories in Germania in 7 BC.[145]

Many of the political subtleties of the Second Settlement seem to have evaded the comprehension of the Plebeian class who were Augustus' greatest supporters and clientele. This caused them to insist upon Augustus' participation in imperial affairs from time to time. When Augustus failed to stand for election as consul in 22 BC, fears arose once again that Augustus was being forced from power by the aristocratic Senate. In 22, 21, and 19 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.[146] Likewise, in 22 BC there was a food shortage in Rome, which sparked panic, while many urban plebs called for Augustus to take on dictatorial powers to personally oversee the crisis.[126] After a theatrical display of refusal before the Senate, Augustus finally accepted authority over Rome's grain supply "by virtue of his proconsular imperium", and ended the crisis almost immediately.[126] It was not until AD 8 that a food crisis of this sort prompted Augustus to establish a praefectus annonae, a permanent prefect who was in charge of procuring food supplies for Rome.[147]

A colossal statue of Augustus, seated and wearing a laurel wreath

Nevertheless, there were some who were concerned by the expansion of powers granted to Augustus by the Second Settlement, and this came to a head with the apparent conspiracy of Fannius Caepio.[131] Sometime prior to 1 September 22 BC a certain Castricius provided Augustus with information about a conspiracy led by Fannius Caepio against the Princeps.[148] Murena, the outspoken Consul who defended Primus in the Marcus Primus Affair was named among the conspirators. Tried in absentia, with Tiberius acting as prosecutor, the jury found the conspirators guilty, but it was not a unanimous verdict.[149] Sentenced to death for treason, all the accused were executed as soon as they were captured without ever giving testimony in their defence.[150] Augustus ensured that the facade of Republican government continued with an effective cover-up of the events.[151]

In 19 BC, the Senate granted Augustus a form of 'general consular imperium', which was probably 'imperium consulare maius', like the proconsular powers he received in 23 BC. Like his tribune authority, the granting of consular powers to him was another instance of holding power of offices he did not actually hold.[152] In addition, Augustus was allowed to wear the consul's insignia in public and before the Senate,[143] as well as sit in the symbolic chair between the two consuls and hold the fasces, an emblem of consular authority.[152] This seems to have assuaged the populace; regardless of whether or not Augustus was a consul, the importance was that he not only appeared as one before the people but could exercise consular power if necessary. On 6 March 12 BC, after the death of Lepidus, he additionally took up the position of pontifex maximus, the high priest of the collegium of the Pontifices, the most important position in Roman religion.[153][154] On 5 February 2 BC, Augustus was also given the title pater patriae, or "father of the country".[155][156]

A final reason for the Second Settlement was to give the Principate constitutional stability and staying power in case something happened to the Princeps Augustus. His illness of early 23 BC and the Caepio conspiracy showed that the regime's existence hung by the thin thread of the life of one man, Augustus himself, who suffered from several severe and dangerous illnesses throughout his life.[157] If he were to die from natural causes or fall victim to assassination, Rome could be subjected to another round of civil war. The memories of Pharsalus, the Ides of March, the proscriptions, Philippi and Actium, barely twenty-five years distant, were still vivid in the minds of many citizens. To accomplish this constitutional stability, in the course of the year, proconsular imperium similar to Augustus' power was conferred upon Agrippa for five years. The exact nature of the grant is uncertain but it probably covered Augustus' imperial provinces, east and west, perhaps lacking authority over the provinces of the Senate. That was to come later, as was the jealously guarded tribunicia potestas.[158]

Augustus' powers were now complete. In fact, he dated is 'reign' from the completion of the Second Settlement, July 1, 23 BC.[159] Almost as importantly, the Principate now had constitutional stability. Later Roman Emperors would generally be limited to the powers and titles originally granted to Augustus, though often, to display humility, newly appointed Emperors would decline one or more of the honorifics given to Augustus. Just as often, as their reign progressed, Emperors would appropriate all of the titles, regardless of whether they had been granted them by the Senate. The civic crown, which later Emperors took to wearing, consular insignia, and later the purple robes of a Triumphant general (toga picta) became the imperial insignia well into the Byzantine era.

War and expansion

Main article: Wars of Augustus
Further information: Roman–Persian relations
Extent of the Roman Empire under Augustus. The yellow legend represents the extent of the Republic in 31 BC, the shades of green represent gradually conquered territories under the reign of Augustus, and pink areas on the map represent client states; however, areas under Roman control shown here were subject to change even during Augustus' reign, especially in Germania.

Imperator Caesar Divi Filius Augustus chose Imperator, "victorious commander" to be his first name, since he wanted to make the notion of victory associated with him emphatically clear.[160] By the year 13, Augustus boasted 21 occasions where his troops proclaimed "imperator" as his title after a successful battle.[160] Almost the entire fourth chapter in his publicly released memoirs of achievements known as the Res Gestae was devoted to his military victories and honors.[160]

Augustus also promoted the ideal of a superior Roman civilization with a task of ruling the world (the extent to which the Romans knew it), a sentiment embodied in words that the contemporary poet Virgil attributes to a legendary ancestor of Augustus: tu regere imperio populos, Romane, memento—"Roman, remember by your strength to rule the Earth's peoples!"[140] The impulse for expansionism, apparently prominent among all classes at Rome, is accorded divine sanction by Virgil's Jupiter, who in Book 1 of the Aeneid promises Rome imperium sine fine, "sovereignty without end".[161]

By the end of his reign, the armies of Augustus had conquered northern Hispania (modern Spain and Portugal),[162] the Alpine regions of Raetia and Noricum (modern Switzerland, Bavaria, Austria, Slovenia),[162] Illyricum and Pannonia (modern Albania, Croatia, Hungary, Serbia, etc.),[162] and extended the borders of the Africa Province to the east and south.[162]

Bust of Tiberius, a successful military commander under Augustus before he was designated as his heir and successor.

After the reign of the client king Herod the Great (73–4 BC), Judea was added to the province of Syria when Augustus deposed his successor Herod Archelaus.[162] Like Egypt, which had been conquered after the defeat of Antony in 30 BC, Syria was governed not by a proconsul or legate of Augustus, but a high prefect of the equestrian class.[162]

Again, no military effort was needed in 25 BC when Galatia (modern Turkey) was converted to a Roman province shortly after Amyntas of Galatia was killed by an avenging widow of a slain prince from Homonada.[162] When the rebellious tribes of Cantabria in modern-day Spain were finally quelled in 19 BC, the territory fell under the provinces of Hispania and Lusitania.[163] This region proved to be a major asset in funding Augustus' future military campaigns, as it was rich in mineral deposits that could be fostered in Roman mining projects, especially the very rich gold deposits at Las Medulas for example.[163]

Conquering the peoples of the Alps in 16 BC was another important victory for Rome since it provided a large territorial buffer between the Roman citizens of Italy and Rome's enemies in Germania to the north.[164] The poet Horace dedicated an ode to the victory, while the monument Trophy of Augustus near Monaco was built to honor the occasion.[165] The capture of the Alpine region also served the next offensive in 12 BC, when Tiberius began the offensive against the Pannonian tribes of Illyricum and his brother Nero Claudius Drusus against the Germanic tribes of the eastern Rhineland.[166] Both campaigns were successful, as Drusus' forces reached the Elbe River by 9 BC, yet he died shortly after by falling off his horse.[166] It was recorded that the pious Tiberius walked in front of his brother's body all the way back to Rome.[167]

Muziris in the Chera Kingdom of Southern India, as shown in the Tabula Peutingeriana, with depiction of a "Temple of Augustus" ("Templum Augusti"), an illustration of Indo-Roman relations in the period.

To protect Rome's eastern territories from the Parthian Empire, Augustus relied on the client states of the east to act as territorial buffers and areas that could raise their own troops for defense.[168] To ensure security of the Empire's eastern flank, Augustus stationed a Roman army in Syria, while his skilled stepson Tiberius negotiated with the Parthians as Rome's diplomat to the East.[168] Tiberius was responsible for restoring Tigranes V to the throne of the Kingdom of Armenia.[167]

Yet arguably his greatest diplomatic achievement was negotiating with Phraates IV of Parthia (37–2 BC) in 20 BC for the return of the battle standards lost by Crassus in the Battle of Carrhae, a symbolic victory and great boost of morale for Rome.[167][168][169] Werner Eck claims that this was a great disappointment for Romans seeking to avenge Crassus' defeat by military means.[170] However, Maria Brosius explains that Augustus used the return of the standards as propaganda symbolizing the submission of Parthia to Rome. The event was celebrated in art such as the breastplate design on the statue Augustus of Prima Porta and in monuments such as the Temple of Mars Ultor ('Mars the Avenger') built to house the standards.[171]

Although Parthia always posed a threat to Rome in the east, the real battlefront was along the Rhine and Danube rivers.[168] Before the final fight with Antony, Octavian's campaigns against the tribes in Dalmatia was the first step in expanding Roman dominions to the Danube.[172] Victory in battle was not always a permanent success, as newly conquered territories were constantly retaken by Rome's enemies in Germania.[168]

A prime example of Roman loss in battle was the Battle of Teutoburg Forest in AD 9, where three entire legions led by Publius Quinctilius Varus were destroyed with few survivors by Arminius, leader of the Cherusci, an apparent Roman ally.[173] Augustus retaliated by dispatching Tiberius and Drusus to the Rhineland to pacify it, which had some success although the battle of AD 9 brought the end to Roman expansion into Germany.[174] The Roman general Germanicus took advantage of a Cherusci civil war between Arminius and Segestes; they defeated Arminius, who fled that battle but was killed later in 21 due to treachery.[175]

Death and succession

The illness of Augustus in 23 BC brought the problem of succession to the forefront of political issues and the public. To ensure stability, he needed to designate an heir to his unique position in Roman society and government. This was to be achieved in small, undramatic, and incremental ways that did not stir senatorial fears of monarchy.[176] If someone was to succeed his unofficial position of power, they were going to have to earn it through their own publicly proven merits.[176]

Some Augustan historians argue that indications pointed toward his sister's son Marcellus, who had been quickly married to Augustus' daughter Julia the Elder.[177] Other historians dispute this due to Augustus' will read aloud to the Senate while he was seriously ill in 23 BC,[178] instead indicating a preference for Marcus Agrippa, who was Augustus' second in charge and arguably the only one of his associates who could have controlled the legions and held the Empire together.[179]


Augustus' intent to make Gaius and Lucius Caesar his heirs was apparent when he adopted them as his own children.[181] He took the consulship in 5 and 2 BC so he could personally usher them into their political careers,[182] and they were nominated for the consulships of AD 1 and 4.[183] Augustus also showed favor to his stepsons, Livia's children from her first marriage, Nero Claudius Drusus Germanicus (henceforth referred to as Drusus) and Tiberius Claudius (henceforth Tiberius) granting them military commands and public office, though seeming to favor Drusus. After Agrippa died in 12 BC, Tiberius was ordered to divorce his own wife Vipsania and marry Agrippa's widow, Augustus' daughter Julia — as soon as a period of mourning for Agrippa had ended.[184] While Drusus' marriage to Antonia was considered an unbreakable affair, Vipsania was "only" the daughter of the late Agrippa from his first marriage.[184]

Tiberius shared in Augustus' tribune powers as of 6 BC, but shortly thereafter went into retirement, reportedly wanting no further role in politics while he exiled himself to Rhodes.[145][185] Although no specific reason is known for his departure, it could have been a combination of reasons, including a failing marriage with Julia,[145][185] as well as a sense of envy and exclusion over Augustus' apparent favouring of his young grandchildren-turned-sons, Gaius and Lucius, who joined the college of priests at an early age, were presented to spectators in a more favorable light, and were introduced to the army in Gaul.[186][187]

After the early deaths of both Lucius and Gaius in AD 2 and 4 respectively, and the earlier death of his brother Drusus (9 BC), Tiberius was recalled to Rome in June AD 4, where he was adopted by Augustus on the condition that he, in turn, adopt his nephew Germanicus.[188] This continued the tradition of presenting at least two generations of heirs.[184] In that year, Tiberius was also granted the powers of a tribune and proconsul, emissaries from foreign kings had to pay their respects to him, and by 13 was awarded with his second triumph and equal level of imperium with that of Augustus.[189]

The deified Augustus hovers over Tiberius and other Julio-Claudians in the Great Cameo of France

The only other possible claimant as heir was Postumus Agrippa, who had been exiled by Augustus in AD 7, his banishment made permanent by senatorial decree, and Augustus officially disowned him.[190] He certainly fell out of Augustus' favor as an heir; the historian Erich S. Gruen notes various contemporary sources that state Postumus Agrippa was a "vulgar young man, brutal and brutish, and of depraved character".[190] Postumus Agrippa was murdered at his place of exile either shortly before or after the death of Augustus.

On 19 August AD 14, Augustus died while visiting the place of his birth father's death at Nola. Both Tacitus and Cassius Dio wrote that Livia brought about Augustus' death by poisoning fresh figs, though this allegation remains unproven.[191][192] Tiberius, who was present alongside Livia at Augustus' deathbed, was named his heir.[193] Augustus' famous last words were, "Have I played the part well? Then applaud as I exit"—referring to the play-acting and regal authority that he had put on as emperor. Publicly, though, his last words were, "Behold, I found Rome of clay, and leave her to you of marble." An enormous funerary procession of mourners traveled with Augustus' body from Nola to Rome, and on the day of his burial all public and private businesses closed for the day.[193]

Tiberius and his son Drusus delivered the eulogy while standing atop two rostra.[194] Coffin-bound, Augustus' body was cremated on a pyre close to his mausoleum. It was proclaimed that Augustus joined the company of the gods as a member of the Roman pantheon.[194] In 410, during the Sack of Rome, the mausoleum was despoiled by the Goths and his ashes scattered.

The historian D. C. A. Shotter states that Augustus' policy of favoring the Julian family line over the Claudian might have afforded Tiberius sufficient cause to show open disdain for Augustus after the latter's death; instead, Tiberius was always quick to rebuke those who criticized Augustus.[195] Shotter suggests that Augustus' deification, coupled with Tiberius' "extremely conservative" attitude towards religion, obliged Tiberius to suppress any open resentment he might have harbored.[196]

Also, the historian R. Shaw-Smith points to letters of Augustus to Tiberius that display affection towards Tiberius and high regard for his military merits.[197] Shotter states that Tiberius focused his anger and criticism on Gaius Asinius Gallus (for marrying Vipsania after Augustus forced Tiberius to divorce her) as well as the two young Caesars Gaius and Lucius, instead of Augustus, the real architect of his divorce and imperial demotion.[196]


Further information: Augustus in popular culture
The Virgin Mary and Child, the prophetess Sibyl Tivoli bottom left and the Emperor Augustus in the bottom right, from the Très Riches Heures du duc de Berry

Augustus' reign laid the foundations of a regime that lasted for nearly fifteen hundred years through the ultimate decline of the Western Roman Empire and until the Fall of Constantinople in 1453. Both his adoptive surname, Caesar, and his title Augustus became the permanent titles of the rulers of the Roman Empire for fourteen centuries after his death, in use both at Old Rome and at New Rome. In many languages, Caesar became the word for Emperor, as in the German Kaiser and in the Bulgarian and subsequently Russian Tsar. The cult of Divus Augustus continued until the state religion of the Empire was changed to Christianity in 391 by Theodosius I. Consequently, there are many excellent statues and busts of the first emperor. He had composed an account of his achievements, the Res Gestae Divi Augusti, to be inscribed in bronze in front of his mausoleum.[198] Copies of the text were inscribed throughout the Empire upon his death.[199] The inscriptions in Latin featured translations in Greek beside it, and were inscribed on many public edifices, such as the temple in Ankara dubbed the Monumentum Ancyranum, called the "queen of inscriptions" by historian Theodor Mommsen.[200]

There are a few known written works by Augustus that have survived. This includes his poems Sicily, Epiphanus, and Ajax, an autobiography of 13 books, a philosophical treatise, and his written rebuttal to Brutus' Eulogy of Cato.[201] However, historians are able to analyze existing letters penned by Augustus to others for additional facts or clues about his personal life.[197][202]

Many consider Augustus to be Rome's greatest emperor; his policies certainly extended the Empire's life span and initiated the celebrated Pax Romana or Pax Augusta. The Roman Senate wished subsequent emperors to "be more fortunate than Augustus and better than Trajan". Augustus was intelligent, decisive, and a shrewd politician, but he was not perhaps as charismatic as Julius Caesar, and was influenced on occasion by his third wife, Livia (sometimes for the worse). Nevertheless, his legacy proved more enduring. The city of Rome was utterly transformed under Augustus, with Rome's first institutionalized police force, fire fighting force, and the establishment of the municipal prefect as a permanent office.[203] The police force was divided into cohorts of 500 men each, while the units of firemen ranged from 500 to 1,000 men each, with 7 units assigned to 14 divided city sectors.[203]

A praefectus vigilum, or "Prefect of the Watch" was put in charge of the vigiles, Rome's fire brigade and police.[204] With Rome's civil wars at an end, Augustus was also able to create a standing army for the Roman Empire, fixed at a size of 28 legions of about 170,000 soldiers.[205] This was supported by numerous auxiliary units of 500 soldiers each, often recruited from recently conquered areas.[206]

With his finances securing the maintenance of roads throughout Italy, Augustus also installed an official courier system of relay stations overseen by a military officer known as the praefectus vehiculorum.[207] Besides the advent of swifter communication among Italian polities, his extensive building of roads throughout Italy also allowed Rome's armies to march swiftly and at an unprecedented pace across the country.[208] In the year 6 Augustus established the aerarium militare, donating 170 million sesterces to the new military treasury that provided for both active and retired soldiers.[209]

One of the most enduring institutions of Augustus was the establishment of the Praetorian Guard in 27 BC, originally a personal bodyguard unit on the battlefield that evolved into an imperial guard as well as an important political force in Rome.[210] They had the power to intimidate the Senate, install new emperors, and depose ones they disliked; the last emperor they served was Maxentius, as it was Constantine I who disbanded them in the early 4th century and destroyed their barracks, the Castra Praetoria.[211]

Augustus in an Egyptian-style depiction, a stone carving of the Kalabsha Temple in Nubia.

Although the most powerful individual in the Roman Empire, Augustus wished to embody the spirit of Republican virtue and norms. He also wanted to relate to and connect with the concerns of the plebs and lay people. He achieved this through various means of generosity and a cutting back of lavish excess. In the year 29 BC, Augustus paid 400 sesterces each to 250,000 citizens, 1,000 sesterces each to 120,000 veterans in the colonies, and spent 700 million sesterces in purchasing land for his soldiers to settle upon.[212] He also restored 82 different temples to display his care for the Roman pantheon of deities.[212] In 28 BC, he melted down 80 silver statues erected in his likeness and in honor of him, an attempt of his to appear frugal and modest.[212]


However, for his rule of Rome and establishing the principate, Augustus has also been subjected to criticism throughout the ages. The contemporary Roman jurist Marcus Antistius Labeo (d. AD 10/11), fond of the days of pre-Augustan republican liberty in which he had been born, openly criticized the Augustan regime.[215] In the beginning of his Annals, the Roman historian Tacitus (c. 56–c.117) wrote that Augustus had cunningly subverted Republican Rome into a position of slavery.[215] He continued to say that, with Augustus' death and swearing of loyalty to Tiberius, the people of Rome simply traded one slaveholder for another.[215] Tacitus, however, records two contradictory but common views of Augustus:

Fragment of a bronze equestrian statue of Augustus, 1st century AD

Intelligent people praised or criticized him in varying ways. One opinion was as follows. Filial duty and a national emergency, in which there was no place for law-abiding conduct, had driven him to civil war—and this can neither be initiated nor maintained by decent methods. He had made many concessions to Anthony and to Lepidus for the sake of vengeance on his father's murderers. When Lepidus grew old and lazy, and Anthony's self-indulgence got the better of him, the only possible cure for the distracted country had been government by one man. However, Augustus had put the state in order not by making himself king or dictator, but by creating the Principate. The Empire's frontiers were on the ocean, or distant rivers. Armies, provinces, fleets, the whole system was interrelated. Roman citizens were protected by the law. Provincials were decently treated. Rome itself had been lavishly beautified. Force had been sparingly used—merely to preserve peace for the majority.[216]

According to the second opposing opinion:




Virgil reading the Aeneid to Augustus and Octavia, by Jean-Joseph Taillasson, 1787

Tacitus was of the belief that Nerva (r. 96–98) successfully "mingled two formerly alien ideas, principate and liberty".[219] The 3rd-century historian Cassius Dio acknowledged Augustus as a benign, moderate ruler, yet like most other historians after the death of Augustus, Dio viewed Augustus as an autocrat.[215] The poet Marcus Annaeus Lucanus (AD 39–65) was of the opinion that Caesar's victory over Pompey and the fall of Cato the Younger (95 BC–46 BC) marked the end of traditional liberty in Rome; historian Chester G. Starr, Jr. writes of his avoidance of criticizing Augustus, "perhaps Augustus was too sacred a figure to accuse directly."[219]

The Anglo-Irish writer Jonathan Swift (1667–1745), in his Discourse on the Contests and Dissentions in Athens and Rome, criticized Augustus for installing tyranny over Rome, and likened what he believed Great Britain's virtuous constitutional monarchy to Rome's moral Republic of the 2nd century BC.[220] In his criticism of Augustus, the admiral and historian Thomas Gordon (1658–1741) compared Augustus to the puritanical tyrant Oliver Cromwell (1599–1658).[220] Thomas Gordon and the French political philosopher Montesquieu (1689–1755) both remarked that Augustus was a coward in battle.[221] In his Memoirs of the Court of Augustus, the Scottish scholar Thomas Blackwell (1701–1757) deemed Augustus a Machiavellian ruler, "a bloodthirsty vindicative usurper", "wicked and worthless", "a mean spirit", and a "tyrant".[221]

Revenue reforms

Coin of Augustus found at the Pudukottai hoard, from an ancient Tamil country, Pandyan Kingdom of present day Tamil Nadu in India. British Museum


The measures of taxation in the reign of Augustus were determined by population census, with fixed quotas for each province.[223] Citizens of Rome and Italy paid indirect taxes, while direct taxes were exacted from the provinces.[223] Indirect taxes included a 4% tax on the price of slaves, a 1% tax on goods sold at auction, and a 5% tax on the inheritance of estates valued at over 100,000 sesterces by persons other than the next of kin.[223]

An equally important reform was the abolition of private tax farming, which was replaced by salaried civil service tax collectors. Private contractors that raised taxes had been the norm in the Republican era, and some had grown powerful enough to influence the amount of votes for politicians in Rome.[222] The tax farmers had gained great infamy for their depredations, as well as great private wealth, by winning the right to tax local areas.[222]


Coin of the Himyarite Kingdom, southern coast of the Arabian peninsula. This is also an imitation of a coin of Augustus. 1st century

The use of Egypt's immense land rents to finance the Empire's operations resulted from Augustus' conquest of Egypt and the shift to a Roman form of government.[224] As it was effectively considered Augustus' private property rather than a province of the Empire, it became part of each succeeding emperor's patrimonium.[225] Instead of a legate or proconsul, Augustus installed a prefect from the equestrian class to administer Egypt and maintain its lucrative seaports; this position became the highest political achievement for any equestrian besides becoming Prefect of the Praetorian Guard.[226] 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,[224] as well as bread and circuses for the population of Rome.

Month of August

The month of August (Latin: Augustus) is named after Augustus; until his time it was called Sextilis (named so because it had been the sixth month of the original Roman calendar and the Latin word for six is sex). 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. Sextilis in fact had 31 days before it was renamed, and it was not chosen for its length (see Julian calendar). According to a senatus consultum quoted by Macrobius, Sextilis was renamed to honor Augustus because several of the most significant events in his rise to power, culminating in the fall of Alexandria, fell in that month.[227]

Building projects

Further information: Vitruvius and De architectura
Close up on the sculpted detail of the Ara Pacis (Altar of Peace), 13 BC to 9 BC

On his deathbed, Augustus boasted "I found a Rome of bricks; I leave to you one of marble." Although there is some truth in the literal meaning of this, Cassius Dio asserts that it was a metaphor for the Empire's strength.[228] Marble could be found in buildings of Rome before Augustus, but it was not extensively used as a building material until the reign of Augustus.[229]

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 (Altar of Peace) and monumental sundial, whose central gnomon was an obelisk taken from Egypt.[230] The relief sculptures decorating the Ara Pacis visually augmented the written record of Augustus' triumphs in the Res Gestae.[231] Its reliefs depicted the imperial pageants of the praetorians, the Vestals, and the citizenry of Rome.[231]

He also built the Temple of Caesar, the Baths of Agrippa, and the Forum of Augustus with its Temple of Mars Ultor.[232] Other projects were either encouraged by him, such as the Theatre of Balbus, and Agrippa's construction of the Pantheon, or funded by him in the name of others, often relations (e.g. Portico of Octavia, Theatre of Marcellus). Even his Mausoleum of Augustus was built before his death to house members of his family.[233]

To celebrate his victory at the Battle of Actium, the Arch of Augustus was built in 29 BC near the entrance of the Temple of Castor and Pollux, and widened in 19 BC to include a triple-arch design.[229] There are also many buildings outside of the city of Rome that bear Augustus' name and legacy, such as the Theatre of Mérida in modern Spain, the Maison Carrée built at Nîmes in today's southern France, as well as the Trophy of Augustus at La Turbie, located near Monaco.

The Temple of Augustus and Livia in Vienne, late 1st century BC

After the death of Agrippa in 12 BC, a solution had to be found in maintaining Rome's water supply system. This came about because it was overseen by Agrippa when he served as aedile, and was even funded by him afterwards when he was a private citizen paying at his own expense.[203] In that year, Augustus arranged a system where the Senate designated three of its members as prime commissioners in charge of the water supply and to ensure that Rome's aqueducts did not fall into disrepair.[203]

In the late Augustan era, the commission of five senators called the curatores locorum publicorum iudicandorum (translated as "Supervisors of Public Property") was put in charge of maintaining public buildings and temples of the state cult.[203] Augustus created the senatorial group of the curatores viarum (translated as "Supervisors for Roads") for the upkeep of roads; this senatorial commission worked with local officials and contractors to organize regular repairs.[207]

The Corinthian order of architectural style originating from ancient Greece was the dominant architectural style in the age of Augustus and the imperial phase of Rome.[229] Suetonius once commented that Rome was unworthy of its status as an imperial capital, yet Augustus and Agrippa set out to dismantle this sentiment by transforming the appearance of Rome upon the classical Greek model.[229]

Physical appearance and official images

His biographer Suetonius, writing about a century after Augustus' death, described his appearance as: "... unusually handsome and exceedingly graceful at all periods of his life, though he cared nothing for personal adornment. He was so far from being particular about the dressing of his hair, that he would have several barbers working in a hurry at the same time, and as for his beard he now had it clipped and now shaved, while at the very same time he would either be reading or writing something ... He had clear, bright eyes ... His teeth were wide apart, small, and ill-kept; his hair was slightly curly and inclining to golden; his eyebrows met. His ears were of moderate size, and his nose projected a little at the top and then bent ever so slightly inward. His complexion was between dark and fair. He was short of stature (although Julius Marathus, his freedman and keeper of his records, says that he was five feet and nine inches in height), but this was concealed by the fine proportion and symmetry of his figure, and was noticeable only by comparison with some taller person standing beside him. ... "[234]

His official images were very tightly controlled and idealized, drawing from a tradition of Hellenistic royal portraiture rather than the tradition of realism in Roman portraiture. He first appeared on coins at the age of 19, and from about 29 BC "the explosion in the number of Augustan portraits attests a concerted propaganda campaign aimed at dominating all aspects of civil, religious, economic and military life with Augustus' person."[235] The early images did indeed depict a young man, but although there were gradual changes his images remained youthful until he died in his seventies, by which time they had "a distanced air of ageless majesty".[236] Among the best known of many surviving portraits are the Augustus of Prima Porta, the image on the Ara Pacis, and the Via Labicana Augustus, which shows him as a priest. Several cameo portraits include the Blacas Cameo and Gemma Augustea.



Augustus' only biological (non-adopted) child was his daughter.

1. Julia Caesaris, 39 BC – AD 14, had five children;
A. Gaius Julius Caesar, 20 BC – AD 4, died without issue
B. Vipsania Julia (Julia the Younger), 19 BC – AD 28, had two children;
I. Aemilia Lepida (fiancee of Claudius), 4 BC – AD 53, had five children;
a. Marcus Junius Silanus Torquatus, 14 – 54, had one child;
i. Lucius Junius Silanus Torquatus the younger, 50–66, died young
b. Junia Calvina, 15–79, died without issue
c. Decimus Junius Silanus Torquatus, d. 64 without issue
d. Lucius Junius Silanus Torquatus the elder, d. 49 without issue
e. Junia Lepida, ca 18–65, issue unknown
II. Unnamed illegitimate son (by Decimus Junius Silanus), d. AD 8 (ordered to be exposed by Augustus)
C. Lucius Julius Caesar, 17 BC – AD 2, died without issue
D. Vipsania Agrippina II (Agrippina the Elder), 14 BC – AD 33, had six children;
I. Nero Julius Caesar, 6–30, died without issue
II. Drusus Julius Caesar, 7–33, died without issue
III. Gaius Julius Caesar, bef. AD 12 – bef. AD 12[237]
IV. Gaius Julius Caesar (Caligula), 12–41, had one child;
a. Julia Drusilla, 39–41, died young
V. Julia Agrippina, 15–59, had one child;
a. Nero Claudius Caesar (Lucius Domitius Ahenobarbus), 37–68, had one child;
i. Claudia Augusta, Jan. 63 – April 63; died young
VI. Julia Drusilla, 16–38, died without issue
VII. Julia Livilla, 18–42, died without issue
VIII. Tiberius Julius Caesar, ? – ? (either born before Nero Caesar, between Drusus Caesar and Gaius Caesar (Caligula) or between Gaius Caesar (Caligula) and Julia Agrippina)[238]
 ?IX. Son (name unknown), ? – ?[239]
E. Agrippa Postumus, 12 BC – AD 14, died without issue

See also


  2. ^ The dates of his rule are contemporary dates; Augustus lived under two calendars, the Roman Republican until 45 BC, and the Julian after 45 BC. Due to departures from Julius Caesar's intentions, Augustus restored the Julian calendar in 8 BC, and the correspondence between the proleptic Julian calendar and the calendar observed in Rome is uncertain before 8 BC.(Blackburn & Holford-Strevens 2003: 670–1)
  3. ^ As part of the Triumvirate, Octavian ruled the Western provinces, Antony the Eastern provinces, and Lepidus Africa
  4. ^ Augustus' final name of Imperator Caesar Divi Filius Augustus has an equivalent meaning in English as Commander Caesar, Son of the Divine, the Emperor.
  5. ^ Suetonius, Augustus The "Marcus Octavius" vetoing the agrarian law suggested by Tiberius Gracchus in 133 BC may have been his ancestor. 1–4.
  6. ^ His daughter Julia had died in 54 BC.; his son Caesarion by Cleopatra was not recognized by Roman law and was not mentioned in his will.[14]
  7. ^ If the testimony of Marcus Primus can be believed, where during his trial for illegally launching a war in Thrace, he asserted that he acted on the orders of Marcellus and Augustus – see Southern, p. 108 and Eck (2003), p. 55


  1. ^ Wells, John C. (1990). Longman pronunciation dictionary. Harlow, England: Longman. ISBN 0-582-05383-8.  entry "Augustus"
  2. ^ Jo-Ann Shelton, As the Romans Did (Oxford University Press, 1998), 58.
  3. ^ Suetonius, Augustus 7
  4. ^ 5–6 on-line text.
  5. ^ Rowell (1962), 14.
  6. ^ Chisholm (1981), 23.
  7. ^ Suetonius, Augustus 4–8; Nicolaus of Damascus, Augustus 3. Archived 25 July 2007 at WebCite
  8. ^ Suetonius, Augustus 8.1; Quintilian, 12.6.1.
  9. ^ a b Suetonius, Augustus 8.1
  10. ^ Nicolaus of Damascus, Augustus 4. Archived 25 July 2007 at WebCite
  11. ^ a b c Rowell (1962), 16.
  12. ^ Nicolaus of Damascus, Augustus 6. Archived 25 July 2007 at WebCite
  13. ^ Velleius Paterculus 2.59.3.
  14. ^ a b Suetonius, Julius 83.
  15. ^ a b c Eck (2003), 9.
  16. ^ Appian, Civil Wars 3.9–11.
  17. ^ Rowell (1962), 15.
  18. ^ Mackay (2004), 160.
  19. ^ a b c d e f Eck (2003), 10.
  20. ^ Southern, Augustus pp. 20–21
  21. ^ Southern, Augustus pp. 21
  22. ^ Suetonius, Augustus 68, 71.
  23. ^ a b Eck (2003), 9–10.
  24. ^ a b Rowell (1962), 19.
  25. ^ Rowell (1962), 18.
  26. ^ Eder (2005), 18.
  27. ^ Appian, Civil Wars 3.11–12.
  28. ^ Chisholm (1981), 24.
  29. ^ Chisholm (1981), 27.
  30. ^ Rowell (1962), 20.
  31. ^ Eck (2003), 11.
  32. ^ Syme (1939), 114–120.
  33. ^ Chisholm (1981), 26.
  34. ^ Rowell (1962), 30.
  35. ^ Eck (2003), 11–12.
  36. ^ Rowell (1962), 21.
  37. ^ Syme (1939), 123–126.
  38. ^ a b c d Eck (2003), 12.
  39. ^ a b c Rowell (1962), 23.
  40. ^ Rowell (1962), 24.
  41. ^ Chisholm (1981), 29.
  42. ^ Syme (1939), 167.
  43. ^ Syme (1939), 173–174
  44. ^ Scullard (1982), 157.
  45. ^ Rowell (1962), 26–27.
  46. ^ a b c Rowell (1962), 27.
  47. ^ Chisholm (1981), 32–33.
  48. ^ Eck (2003), 14.
  49. ^ Rowell (1962), 28.
  50. ^ Syme (1939), 176–186.
  51. ^ Sear, David R. "Common Legend Abbreviations On Roman Coins". Archived from the original on 30 July 2007. Retrieved 24 August 2007. 
  52. ^ a b Eck (2003), 15.
  53. ^ a b Scullard (1982), 163.
  54. ^ a b Eck (2003), 16.
  55. ^ Southern (1998), 52–53.
  56. ^ a b Scullard (1982), 164.
  57. ^ a b Scott (1933), 19–20.
  58. ^ a b c Scott (1933), 19.
  59. ^ Scott (1933), 20.
  60. ^ Syme (1939), 202.
  61. ^ Eck (2003), 17.
  62. ^ a b Eck (2003), 17–18.
  63. ^ a b Eck (2003), 18.
  64. ^ Eck (2003), 18–19.
  65. ^ a b c d Eck (2003), 19.
  66. ^ a b Rowell (1962), 32.
  67. ^ a b c d e Eck (2003), 20.
  68. ^ Scullard (1982), 162
  69. ^ Alexander Helios, Cleopatra Selene II, and Ptolemy Philadelphus
  70. ^ a b c d Eck (2003) 21.
  71. ^ a b c d Eder (2005), 19.
  72. ^ a b Eck (2003), 22.
  73. ^ Eck (2003), 23.
  74. ^ a b Eck (2003), 24.
  75. ^ a b Eck (2003), 25.
  76. ^ Eck (2003), 25–26.
  77. ^ a b c d e Eck (2003), 26.
  78. ^ Eck (2003), 26–27.
  79. ^ Eck (2003), 27–28.
  80. ^ Eck (2003), 29.
  81. ^ Eck (2003), 29–30.
  82. ^ a b Eck (2003), 30.
  83. ^ Eder (2005), 20.
  84. ^ Eck (2003), 31.
  85. ^ Eck (2003), 32–34.
  86. ^ Eck (2003), 34.
  87. ^ Eck (2003), 34–35
  88. ^ Eder (2005), 21–22.
  89. ^ Eck (2003), 35.
  90. ^ Eder (2005), 22.
  91. ^ a b c Eck (2003), 37.
  92. ^ Eck (2003), 38.
  93. ^ Eck (2003), 38–39.
  94. ^ Eck (2003), 39.
  95. ^ Green (1990), 697.
  96. ^ Scullard (1982), 171.
  97. ^ a b c d Eck (2003), 49.
  98. ^ Gruen (2005), 34–35.
  99. ^ a b c d CCAA, 24–25.
  100. ^ a b Gruen (2005), 38–39.
  101. ^ a b c d e Eck (2003), 45.
  102. ^ Eck (2003), 44–45.
  103. ^ Eck (2003), 113.
  104. ^ a b Eck (2003), 80.
  105. ^ a b Scullard (1982), 211.
  106. ^ a b Eck (2003), 46.
  107. ^ Scullard (1982), 210.
  108. ^ a b Gruen (2005), 34.
  109. ^ a b c Eck (2003), 47.
  110. ^ a b c d Eder (2005), 24.
  111. ^ a b c d Eck (2003), 50.
  112. ^ Eck (2003), 149
  113. ^ Eck (2003), 3, 149.
  114. ^ Eder (2005), 13.
  115. ^ Eck (2003), 3.
  116. ^ Wells, p. 51
  117. ^ Holland, p. 294
  118. ^ Ando, p. 140; Raaflaub, p. 426; Wells, p. 53
  119. ^ a b Davies, p. 259
  120. ^ Southern, p. 108; Holland, p. 295
  121. ^ a b c Eder (2005), 25.
  122. ^ a b c d e f Eck (2003), 56.
  123. ^ Gruen (2005), 38.
  124. ^ a b Stern, Gaius, Women, children, and senators on the Ara Pacis Augustae: A study of Augustus' vision of a new world order in 13 BC, p. 23
  125. ^ Holland, pp. 294–295; Southern, p. 108
  126. ^ a b c d e Eder (2005), 26.
  127. ^ a b Gruen (2005), 36.
  128. ^ a b c Eck (2003), 57.
  129. ^ Gruen (2005), 37.
  130. ^ Eck (2003), 56–57.
  131. ^ a b Southern, p. 109; Holland, p. 299
  132. ^ Wells, p. 53
  133. ^ a b Southern, p. 108
  134. ^ Holland, p. 300
  135. ^ Syme, p. 333
  136. ^ Syme, p. 333; Holland, p. 300; Southern, pg, 108
  137. ^ Wells, p. 53; Raaflaub, p. 426
  138. ^ Eck (2003), 57–58.
  139. ^ Eck (2003), 59.
  140. ^ a b Eder (2005), 30.
  141. ^ Bunson (1994), 80.
  142. ^ Bunson (1994), 427.
  143. ^ a b Eck (2003), 60.
  144. ^ a b c Eck (2003), 61.
  145. ^ a b c Eck (2003), 117.
  146. ^ Dio 54.1, 6, 10.
  147. ^ Eck (2003), 78.
  148. ^ Swan, p. 241; Syme, p. 483
  149. ^ Wells, p. 53; Holland, p. 301
  150. ^ Davies, p. 260; Holland, p. 301
  151. ^ Holland, p. 301
  152. ^ a b Gruen (2005), 43.
  153. ^ Bowersock (1990), p. 380. The date is provided by inscribed calendars; see also Augustus, Res Gestae 10.2. Dio 27.2 reports this under 13 BC, probably as the year in which Lepidus died (Bowersock (1990), p. 383).
  154. ^ Eder (2005), 28.
  155. ^ Mackay (2004), 186.
  156. ^ Eck (2003), 129.
  157. ^ Suetonius, Augustus 81.
  158. ^ Syme (1939), 337-338.
  159. ^ Everett (2006), 217.
  160. ^ a b c Eck (2003), 93.
  161. ^ Eck (2003), 95.
  162. ^ a b c d e f g Eck (2003), 94.
  163. ^ a b Eck (2003), 97.
  164. ^ Eck (2003), 98.
  165. ^ Eck (2003), 98–99.
  166. ^ a b Eck (2003), 99.
  167. ^ a b c Bunson (1994), 416.
  168. ^ a b c d e Eck (2003), 96.
  169. ^ Brosius (2006), 96–97, 136–138.
  170. ^ Eck (2003), 95–96.
  171. ^ Brosius (2006), 97; see also Bivar (1983), 66–67.
  172. ^ Rowell (1962), 13.
  173. ^ Eck (2003), 101–102.
  174. ^ Bunson (1994), 417.
  175. ^ Bunson (1994), 31.
  176. ^ a b Gruen (2005), 50.
  177. ^ Eck (2003), 114–115.
  178. ^ Eck (2003), 115.
  179. ^ a b Gruen (2005), 44.
  180. ^ a b Eck (2003), 58.
  181. ^ Syme (1939), 416–417.
  182. ^ Scullard (1982), 217.
  183. ^ Syme (1939), 417.
  184. ^ a b c Eck (2003), 116.
  185. ^ a b Gruen (2005), 46.
  186. ^ Eck (2003), 117–118.
  187. ^ Gruen (2005), 46–47.
  188. ^ Eck (2003), 119.
  189. ^ Eck (2003), 119–120.
  190. ^ a b Gruen (2005), 49.
  191. ^ Tacitus Annals 1.5
  192. ^ Cassius Dio 55.22.2; 56.30
  193. ^ a b Eck (2003), 123.
  194. ^ a b c Eck (2003), 124.
  195. ^ Shotter (1966), 210–212.
  196. ^ a b Shotter (1966), 211.
  197. ^ a b Shaw-Smith (1971), 213.
  198. ^ Suetonius, Augustus 101.4.
  199. ^ Eck (2003), 1–2
  200. ^ Eck (2003), 2.
  201. ^ Bunson (1994), 47.
  202. ^ Bourne (1918), 53–66.
  203. ^ a b c d e Eck (2003), 79.
  204. ^ Bunson (1994), 345.
  205. ^ Eck (2003), 85–87.
  206. ^ Eck (2003), 86.
  207. ^ a b Eck (2003), 81.
  208. ^ Chisholm (1981), 122.
  209. ^ Bunson (1994), 6.
  210. ^ Bunson (1994), 341.
  211. ^ Bunson (1994), 341–342.
  212. ^ a b c Eder (2005), 23.
  213. ^ Tacitus, Annals I.3
  214. ^ Kelsall (1976), 120.
  215. ^ a b c d Starr (1952), 5.
  216. ^ Tacitus, The Annals, I 9
  217. ^ Tacitus, The Annals, I 10
  218. ^ Everitt (2006), 324–325.
  219. ^ a b Starr (1952), 6.
  220. ^ a b Kelsall (1976), 118.
  221. ^ a b Kelsall (1976), 119.
  222. ^ a b c d Eck (2003), 83–84.
  223. ^ a b c Bunson (1994), 404.
  224. ^ a b Bunson (1994), 144.
  225. ^ Bunson (1994), 144–145.
  226. ^ Bunson (1994), 145.
  227. ^ Macrobius, Saturnalia 1.12.35.
  228. ^ Dio 56.30.3
  229. ^ a b c d Bunson (1994), 34.
  230. ^ Eck (2003), 122.
  231. ^ a b Bunson (1994), 32.
  232. ^ "The Deeds of the Divine Augustus". 
  233. ^ Eck (2003), 118–121
  234. ^ Suetonius, Augustus 79, translated by J. C. Rolfe.
  235. ^ Walker and Burnett, pp. 1, 18, 25 (quoted)
  236. ^ Smith, 186
  237. ^ CIL 06, 00889
  238. ^ CIL 06, 00888
  239. ^ CIL 06, 00890


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  • Eck, Werner; translated by Deborah Lucas Schneider; new material by Sarolta A. Takács. (2003) The Age of Augustus. Oxford: Blackwell Publishing (hardcover, ISBN 978-0-631-22957-5; paperback, ISBN 978-0-631-22958-2).
  • Eder, Walter. (2005). "Augustus and the Power of Tradition", in The Cambridge Companion to the Age of Augustus (Cambridge Companions to the Ancient World), ed. Karl Galinsky, 13–32. Cambridge, MA; New York: Cambridge University Press (hardcover, ISBN 978-0-521-80796-8; paperback, ISBN 978-0-521-00393-3).
  • Everitt, Anthony (2006) Augustus: The Life of Rome's First Emperor. Random House Books. ISBN 1-4000-6128-8.
  • Green, Peter (1990). Alexander to Actium: The Historical Evolution of the Hellenistic Age. Hellenistic Culture and Society. Berkeley, CA; Los Angeles; London: University of California Press. ISBN 0-520-05611-6. 
  • Holland, Richard, Augustus, Godfather of Europe, Sutton Publishing, 2005.
  • Kelsall, Malcolm. "Augustus and Pope", The Huntington Library Quarterly (Volume 39, Number 2, 1976): 117–131.
  • Mackay, Christopher S. (2004). Ancient Rome: A Military and Political History. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-80918-4. 
  • Raaflaub, Kurt A.; Toher, Mark, Between republic and empire: interpretations of Augustus and his principate, University of California Press, 1993.
  • Rowell, Henry Thompson. (1962). The Centers of Civilization Series: Volume 5; Rome in the Augustan Age. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press. ISBN 978-0-8061-0956-5
  • Scott, Kenneth. "The Political Propaganda of 44–30 B.C." Memoirs of the American Academy in Rome, Vol. 11, (1933), pp. 7–49.
  • Scullard, H. H. (1982) [1959]. From the Gracchi to Nero: A History of Rome from 133 B.C. to A.D. 68 (5th ed.). London; New York: Routledge. ISBN 978-0-415-02527-0. 
  • Suetonius, Gaius Tranquillus (1931). Lives of the Twelve Caesars. New York: Modern Library. 
  • Shaw-Smith, R. "A Letter from Augustus to Tiberius", Greece & Rome (Volume 18, Number 2, 1971): 213–214.
  • Shotter, D. C. A. "Tiberius and the Spirit of Augustus", Greece & Rome (Volume 13, Number 2, 1966): 207–212.
  • Smith, R. R. R., "The Public Image of Licinius I: Portrait Sculpture and Imperial Ideology in the Early Fourth Century", The Journal of Roman Studies, Vol. 87, (1997), pp. 170–202, JSTOR
  • Southern, Pat. (1998). Augustus. London: Routledge. ISBN 978-0-415-16631-7.
  • Starr, Chester G., Jr. "The Perfect Democracy of the Roman Empire", The American Historical Review (Volume 58, Number 1, 1952): 1–16.
  • Syme, Ronald (1939). The Roman Revolution. Oxford: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-280320-4. 
  • Walker, Susan, and Burnett, Andrew, The Image of Augustus, 1981, British Museum Publications, ISBN 0-7141-1270-4
  • Wells, Colin Michael, The Roman Empire, Harvard University Press, 2004.

Further reading

  • Bleicken, Jochen. (1998). Augustus. Eine Biographie. Berlin.
  • Buchan, John (1937). Augustus. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Co. 
  • Everitt, Anthony. The First Emperor: Caesar Augustus and the Triumph of Rome. London: John Murray, 2007. ISBN 978-0-7195-5495-7.
  • Galinsky, Karl. Augustan Culture. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1998 (paperback, ISBN 978-0-691-05890-0).
  • Galinsky, Karl (2012). Augustus: Introduction to the Life of an Emperor. Cambridge University Press. p. 300. ISBN 978-0-521-74442-3. 
  • Grant, Michael (1985). The Roman Emperors: A Biographical Guide to the Rulers of Imperial Rome, 31 BC — AD 476. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons. 
  • Levick, Barbara. Augustus: Image and Substance. London: Longman, 2010. ISBN 978-0-582-89421-1.
  • Jones, A. H. M. "The Imperium of Augustus", The Journal of Roman Studies, Vol. 41, Parts 1 and 2. (1951), pp. 112–119.
  • Jones, A. H. M. Augustus. London: Chatto & Windus, 1970 (paperback, ISBN 978-0-7011-1626-2).
  • Massie, Allan (1984). The Caesars. New York: Franklin Watts. 
  • Osgood, Josiah. Caesar's Legacy: Civil War and the Emergence of the Roman Empire. New York: Cambridge University Press (USA), 2006 (hardback, ISBN 978-0-521-85582-2; paperback, ISBN 978-0-521-67177-4).
  • Raaflaub, Kurt A. and Toher, Mark (eds.). Between Republic and Empire: Interpretations of Augustus and His Principate. Berkeley; Los Angeles: University of California Press, 1993 (paperback, ISBN 978-0-520-08447-6).
  • Reinhold, Meyer. The Golden Age of Augustus (Aspects of Antiquity). Toronto, ON: Univ. of Toronto Press, 1978 (hardcover, ISBN 978-0-89522-007-3; paperback, ISBN 978-0-89522-008-0).
  • Roebuck, C. (1966). The World of Ancient Times. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons.
  • Shotter, D. C. A. (1991). Augustus Caesar. Lancaster Pamphlets. London: Routledge. 
  • Southern, Pat. Augustus (Roman Imperial Biographies). New York: Routledge, 1998 (hardcover, ISBN 978-0-415-16631-7); 2001 (paperback, ISBN 978-0-415-25855-5).
  • Zanker, Paul. The Power of Images in the Age of Augustus (Thomas Spencer Jerome Lectures). Ann Arbor, MI: University of Michigan Press, 1989 (hardcover, ISBN 978-0-472-10101-6); 1990 (paperback, ISBN 978-0-472-08124-0).

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Born: 23 September 63 BC Died: 19 August AD 14
Regnal titles
New office Emperor of the Roman Empire
27 BC  – AD 14
Succeeded by
Political offices
Preceded by
Aulus Hirtius and Gaius Vibius Pansa Caetronianus
Consul (Suffect.) of the Roman Republic
with Quintus Pedius
43 BC
Succeeded by
Marcus Aemilius Lepidus and Lucius Munatius Plancus
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
Preceded by
Gnaeus Domitius Ahenobarbus and Gaius Sosius
Consul of the Roman Empire
31 BC – 23 BC
(naming only the ordinary colleagues)
Succeeded by
Marcus Claudius Marcellus Aeserninus and Lucius Arruntius
Preceded by
Decius Laelius Balbus and Gnaeus Antistius Vetus
Consul of the Roman Empire
with L. Cornelius Sulla
5 BC
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Gaius Calvisius Sabinus and Lucius Passienus Rufus
Preceded by
Lucius Cornelius Lentulus and Marcus Valerius Messalla Messallinus
Consul of the Roman Empire
with Marcus Plautius Silvanus
2 BC
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Cossus Cornelius Lentulus and Lucius Calpurnius Piso
Religious titles
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Marcus Aemilius Lepidus
Pontifex Maximus of the Roman Religion
12 BC  – AD 14
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Family information
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Julius Caesar
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44 BC  – AD 14
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