The triumvirate broke up in 33 BC, and disagreement turned to civil war in 31 BC. Antony was defeated by Octavian at the naval Battle of Actium and then at Alexandria. He committed suicide, as did his lover, Cleopatra VII of Egypt, in 30 BC. Lepidus was sidelined, blamed for a revolt in Sicily, and removed from government. He died peacefully in exile in Circeii in Italy in the year 13 BC.
After winning the power struggle, Octavian was voted as Emperor by the Roman Senate in 31 BC. He took the name "Augustus" (which meant 'exalted'). He ruled until AD 14, when his stepson and son-in-law Tiberius became Emperor in his place.
During his reign, some of those who were against his government were murdered (especially those senators who wanted to keep the Roman Republic). He promised to make Rome a Republic again, but instead proclaimed himself High Priest ("Pontifex Maximus"). Many temples in the provinces set up statues of him as one of their gods. The name of the month "August" in English (and most other European languages) comes from him.
His main accomplishment was the creation of the Roman Empire, a political structure that lasted for nearly five centuries more. He first recruited and set up the Praetorian Guard.
Historians often use the Res Gestae Divi Augusti as a source for Augustus. It was written by him as an inscription on his tomb which recorded all his achievements.
The historian Tacitus is often used by historians. He gives an anti-Augustan perspective, whereas many other sources and histories were written to flatter Augustus (propaganda). Some examples of writers like these are Velleius Paterculus, Virgil, Ovid. The most famous work of Augustan propaganda is the Virgil's Aeneid
Cassius Dio presents a quite impartial account of Augustus as emperor: he was writing in the reign of a later emperor.
There are important legacies from Augustus. They go from the creation of the "Roman Empire" to the name of the eight month of the year until the establishment of the province called "Italia" (within its actual borders and "regions" for the first time in History). Other minor legacies are the establishment of the institution called "family" with surnames for all Roman citizens (previously only the aristocracy had "paters"), the creation of the first "fire fighters" in human History (for the city of Rome) and the set up of the Praetorian Guard as an elite of warriors.
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.
Roman Italy was created officially by the Roman Emperor Augustus with the Latin name "Italia". It was the first time in History that the Italian peninsula (from the Alps to the Ionian Sea) was united under the same name. Augustus was also called "Father of Italy" by Italian historians like Giannelli, because of this political/administrative decision. Around 7 BC, Augustus divided Italy into eleven "regiones", as reported by Pliny the Elder in his "Naturalis Historia". The following are the subdivisions/regions of his "Italia" (many are still existing today):
Italy was privileged by Augustus and his heirs, with the construction, among other public structures, of a dense network of Roman roads.
The Italian economy flourished: agriculture, handicraft and industry had a sensible growth, allowing the export of goods to the other provinces.
The Italian population may have grown as well: three census were ordered by Augustus (the first in Italian History), to record the number of Roman citizens throughout the empire. The surviving totals were 4,063,000 in 28 BC, 4,233,000 in 8 BC, and 4,937,000 in 14 AD, but it is still debated whether these counted all citizens, all adult male citizens, or only citizens "sui iuris".
Estimates for the population of mainland Italy, including Cisalpine Gaul, at the beginning of the 1st century range from 6,000,000 according to Karl Julius Beloch in 1886, to 14,000,000 according to Elio Lo Cascio in 2009. These calculations included the slaves, who were approximately one fifth of the total.
In the year 292 AD, the three islands of Corsica, Sardinia and Sicily (including Malta) were added to Augustus' Roman Italy by the emperor Diocletian.
Roman Italy remained united until the sixth century, when it was divided between Byzantine and barbarian territories. Since then "Italia" remained divided for nearly thirteen centuries until 1861 when was reunited in a similar way in the modern "Kingdom of Italy".
Camel
Camels are a mammal of the Camelidae family. Camels form the genus Camelus. There are three living species of camels. Best-known are the dromedary (one hump) and bactrian (two humps) camels.
The camelids, as a family, include the "New World" camelids: the llama, the alpaca, the guanaco, and the vicuña.
The earliest known camel, called "Protylopus", lived in North America 40 to 50 million years ago, during the Eocene. It was about the size of a rabbit and lived in the open woodlands of what is now South Dakota.
Camels live in deserts, where it is hot and dry. Camels have adapted and found ways to help them survive in deserts. They have a thick coat of hair that protects them from the heat in the day, and keeps them warm at night. Their large feet spreads their weight on the sand when they are walking. When there is food and water, a camel can eat and drink large amounts of it and store it as fat in the hump. Then, when there is no food or water, the camel uses the fat for energy, and the hump becomes small and soft. A camel’s waste contains very little water. Even the water from the camel’s breath flows back into its mouth. The camels have bushy eyebrows that don't let the sand go in their eyes in a sandstorm. It has a long slender neck in order to reach high leaves such as palm trees, and rubbery patches on the belly and knees to protect the skin when kneeling and sitting on the hot sand. These form after five years of age.
A camel has a naturally adapted temperature regulation - it can change its bodily temperature by six degrees Celsius either way.
It has two sets of eyelashes, closing muscles in the nasal passages with slited nostrils, hairy ears and tough, leathery skin to protect the camels skin in vital emergencies such as a sandstorm. It has thick rubbery lips to eat dry, prickly plants and a large, haired tail to swat pests such as mosquitos and flies.
Camels live in groups, with one male, many females, and their young calves or calf. They are animals that use their hooves.
An unborn camel gestates about 9 to 11 months. There is usually one calf per birth. A camel calf can run only a few hours after it is born. Calves are weaned to when they are about 1 year old.
In the desert, people feed camels with grass, grains, wheat and oats. When camels are travelling in the desert, food is often very hard to find. So the animal might have to live on dried leaves, seeds, and thorny twigs (without hurting their mouths). If there is not any regular food, camels will eat anything:, leather, even their owner's tent.