Augustus | Roman emperor | Britannica.com Roman emperor Alternative Titles: Augustus Caesar, Gaius Julius Caesar Octavianus, Gaius Octavius, Octavian Augustus Trajan Augustus, also called Augustus Caesar or (until 27 bce) Octavian, original name Gaius Octavius, adopted name Gaius Julius Caesar Octavianus (born September 23, 63 bce—died August 19, 14 ce, Nola , near Naples [Italy]), first Roman emperor , following the republic, which had been finally destroyed by the dictatorship of Julius Caesar , his great-uncle and adoptive father. His autocratic regime is known as the principate because he was the princeps , the first citizen , at the head of that array of outwardly revived republican institutions that alone made his autocracy palatable . With unlimited patience, skill, and efficiency , he overhauled every aspect of Roman life and brought durable peace and prosperity to the Greco-Roman world. Portrait of the emperor Augustus, marble, Roman, c. 14–37 ce; in the Metropolitan … Photograph by philophilosopher.

The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York City, Rogers Fund, 1908 (08.258.47) Gaius Octavius was of a prosperous family that had long been settled at Velitrae (Velletri), southeast of Rome . His father, who died in 59 bce, had been the first of the family to become a Roman senator and was elected to the high annual office of the praetorship, which ranked second in the political hierarchy to the consulship. Gaius Octavius’s mother, Atia, was the daughter of Julia, the sister of Julius Caesar , and it was Caesar who launched the young Octavius in Roman public life. At age 12 he made his debut by delivering the funeral speech for his grandmother Julia. Three or four years later he received the coveted membership of the board of priests ( pontifices ). In 46 bce he accompanied Caesar, now dictator, in his triumphal procession after his victory in Africa over his opponents in the Civil War; and in the following year, in spite of ill health, he joined the dictator in Spain .

He was at Apollonia (now in Albania ) completing his academic and military studies when, in 44 bce, he learned that Julius Caesar had been murdered. Augustus dressed in a toga, marble, 1st century ce. A. Dagli Orti/DeA Picture Library Rise to power Returning to Italy, he was told that Caesar in his will had adopted him as his son and had made him his chief personal heir. He was only 18 when, against the advice of his stepfather and others, he decided to take up this perilous inheritance and proceeded to Rome . Mark Antony (Marcus Antonius), Caesar’s chief lieutenant, who had taken possession of his papers and assets and had expected that he himself would be the principal heir, refused to hand over any of Caesar’s funds, forcing Octavius to pay the late dictator’s bequests to the Roman populace from such resources as he could raise. Caesar’s assassins, Marcus Junius Brutus and Gaius Cassius Longinus , ignored him and withdrew to the east. Cicero , the famous orator who was one of Rome ’s principal elder statesmen, hoped to make use of him but underestimated his abilities.

Augustus, bronze sculpture from Meroe, Sudan, 1st century ce; in the British Museum. Courtesy of the trustees of the British Museum Britannica Stories Ringling Bros. Folds Its Tent Celebrating public games , instituted by Caesar, to ingratiate himself with the city populace, Octavius succeeded in winning considerable numbers of the dictator ’s troops to his own allegiance . The Senate, encouraged by Cicero, broke with Antony, called upon Octavius for aid (granting him the rank of senator in spite of his youth), and joined the campaign of Mutina ( Modena ) against Antony, who was compelled to withdraw to Gaul. When the consuls who commanded the Senate’s forces lost their lives, Octavius’s soldiers compelled the Senate to confer a vacant consulship on him. Under the name of Gaius Julius Caesar he next secured official recognition as Caesar’s adoptive son. Although it would have been normal to add “Octavianus” (with reference to his original family name), he preferred not to do so. Today, however, he is habitually described as Octavian (until the date when he assumed the designation Augustus).

The Roman Empire Octavian soon reached an agreement with Antony and with another of Caesar’s principal supporters, Marcus Aemilius Lepidus , who had succeeded him as chief priest. On November 27, 43 bce, the three men were formally given a five-year dictatorial appointment as triumvirs for the reconstitution of the state (the Second Triumvirate —the first having been the informal compact between Pompey, Crassus, and Julius Caesar). The east was occupied by Brutus and Cassius, but the triumvirs divided the west among themselves. They drew up a list of “proscribed” political enemies, and the consequent executions included 300 senators (one of whom was Antony’s enemy Cicero) and 2,000 members of the class below the senators, the equites or knights. Julius Caesar’s recognition as a god of the Roman state in January 42 bce enhanced Octavian’s prestige as son of a god.

Britannica Lists & Quizzes Editor Picks: Exploring 10 Types of Basketball Movies He and Antony crossed the Adriatic and, under Antony’s leadership (Octavian being ill), won the two battles of Philippi against Brutus and Cassius, both of whom committed suicide . Antony, the senior partner, was allotted the east (and Gaul); and Octavian returned to Italy , where difficulties caused by the settlement of his veterans involved him in the Perusine War (decided in his favour at Perusia, the modern Perugia) against Antony’s brother and wife. In order to appease another potential enemy, Sextus Pompeius (Pompey the Great’s son), who had seized Sicily and the sea routes, Octavian married Sextus’s relative Scribonia (though before long he divorced her for personal incompatibility).

These ties of kinship did not deter Sextus, after the Perusine War, from making overtures to Antony; but Antony rejected them and reached a fresh understanding with Octavian at the treaty of Brundisium, under the terms of which Octavian was to have the whole west (except for Africa, which Lepidus was allowed to keep) and Italy, which, though supposedly neutral ground, was in fact controlled by Octavian. The east was again to go to Antony, and it was arranged that Antony, who had spent the previous winter with Queen Cleopatra in Egypt , should marry Octavian’s sister Octavia . The peoples of the empire were overjoyed by the treaty, which seemed to promise an end to so many years of civil war . In 38 bce Octavian formed a significant new link with the aristocracy by his marriage to Livia Drusilla . But a reconciliation with Sextus Pompeius proved abortive, and Octavian was soon plunged into serious warfare against him. When his first operations against Sextus’s Sicilian bases proved disastrous, he felt obliged to make a new compact with Antony at Tarentum (Taranto) in 37 bce.

Antony was to provide Octavian with ships, in return for troops Antony needed for his forthcoming war against the empire’s eastern neighbour Parthia and its Median allies. Antony handed over the ships, but Octavian never sent the troops. The treaty also provided for renewal of the Second Triumvirate for five years, until the end of 33 bce. Military successes Facebook Twitter YouTube Instagram Pinterest In the following year the balance of power began to change: whereas Antony’s eastern expedition failed, Octavian’s fleet—commanded by his former schoolmate Marcus Agrippa , who, although unpopular with the influential nobles, was an admiral of genius—totally defeated Sextus Pompeius off Cape Naulochus (Venetico) in Sicily . At this point the third triumvir, Lepidus, seeking to contest Octavian’s supremacy in the west by force, was disarmed by Octavian, deprived of his triumviral office, and forced into retirement. Ignoring Antony’s right to settle his own veterans in Italy and recruit fresh troops, Octavian discharged many legionaries and founded settlements for them. His deliberate rivalry with Antony for the eventual mastership of the Roman world became increasingly apparent.

Octavian’s marriage two years earlier had begun to win over some of the nobles who had previously been Antony’s supporters. Octavian also launched elaborate religious and patriotic publicity, centring on the classical god of order, Apollo , in contrast to Antony’s less Roman patron, Dionysus (Bacchus). In addition, Octavian had started to prefix his name with the designation “ Imperator ,” to suggest that he was the commander par excellence; and now, although he continued to use his triumviral powers, he omitted all reference to them from his coins, gradually concentrating on the plain, emotive name “Caesar Son of a God.” Marcus Vipsanius Agrippa, marble portrait bust, early 1st century bce; in the Louvre, Paris. © futureGalore/Shutterstock.com But, if Octavian was to compete with Antony’s military seniority, successes in a foreign war were necessary; and so Octavian between 35 and 33 bce fought three successive campaigns in Illyricum and Dalmatia (parts of modern Slovenia and Croatia ) in order to protect the northeastern approaches of Italy .

With the help of Agrippa, he also lavished large sums on the adornment of Rome. When Octavian fomented public clamour against Antony’s territorial gifts to Cleopatra , it was clear that a clash between the two men was imminent . Trending Topics Opium Wars In 32 bce the triumvirate had officially ended, and Octavian, unlike Antony, professed no longer to be employing its powers. Amid a virulent exchange of propaganda , Antony divorced Octavia, whereupon her brother Octavian seized Antony’s will and claimed to find in it damaging proofs of Cleopatra’s power over him. Each leader induced the populations under his control to swear formal oaths of allegiance to his own cause. Then, in spite of grave discontent aroused by his exactions in Italy, Octavian declared war—not against Antony but against Cleopatra. Accompanied by her, Antony had brought up his fleet and army to guard strongpoints along the coast of western Greece ; but in 31 bce Octavian dispatched Agrippa very early in the year to capture Methone, at the country’s southwestern tip.

His enemies were taken by surprise; and after Octavian himself arrived—leaving his Etruscan friend and adviser Gaius Maecenas in charge of Italy—he and Agrippa soon shut Antony’s fleet inside the Gulf of Ambracia (Arta). At the Battle of Actium , Antony tried to extricate his ships in the hope of continuing the fight elsewhere. Though Cleopatra and then Antony succeeded in getting away, only a quarter of their fleet was able to follow them. Cleopatra and Antony fled to Egypt and committed suicide when Octavian captured the country in the following year. Executing Cleopatra’s son Ptolemy XV Caesar (Caesarion)—whose father she had claimed was Caesar—Octavian annexed Egypt and retained it under his direct control. The Battle of Actium, 2 September 31 BC, oil on canvas by Lorenzo A. Castro, 1672. National Maritime Museum, London. The seizure of Cleopatra’s treasure enabled him to pay off his veterans and made him finally master of the entire Greco-Roman world.

From this point on, by a long and gradual series of tentative, patient measures, he established the Roman principate, a system of government that enabled him to maintain, in all essentials, absolute control. Gradually reducing his 60 legions to 28, he retained approximately 150,000 legionaries, mostly Italian, and supplemented them by about the same number of auxiliaries drawn from the provinces . A permanent bodyguard (the Praetorians ), based on the bodyguards maintained by earlier generals, was stationed partly in Rome and partly in other Italian towns. A superb network of roads was created to maintain internal order and facilitate trade, and an efficient fleet was organized to police the Mediterranean. In 28 bce Octavian and Agrippa held a census of the civil population , the first of three during the reign. They also reduced the Senate from about 1,000 to 800 (later 600) compliant members, and Octavian was appointed its president.

Government and administration Remembering, however, that Caesar had been assassinated because of his resort to naked power, Octavian realized that the governing class would welcome him as the terminator of civil war only if he concealed his autocracy beneath provisions avowedly harking back to republican traditions. From 31 until 23 bce the constitutional basis of his power remained a continuous succession of consulships, but in January 27 bce he ostensibly “transferred the State to the free disposal of the Senate and people,” earning the misleading, though outwardly plausible, tribute that he had restored the republic. At the same time, he was granted a 10-year tenure of an area of government (provincia) comprising Spain , Gaul , and Syria , the three regions containing the bulk of the army. The remaining provinces were to be governed by proconsuls appointed by the Senate in the old republican fashion.

Octavian, however, believed that his supreme prestige—crystallized in the meaningful term auctoritas—safeguarded him against any defiance by these personages; and he was indeed able, more or less indirectly, to influence their appointments, just as he was able (on the rare occasions when he regarded it as desirable) to influence the appointments to the consulships and other metropolitan offices that continued to exist in “republican” fashion. Four days after these measures, his name Caesar, acquired through adoption in Julius’s will, was supplemented by “Augustus,” an appellation with an antique religious ring, believed to be linked etymologically with auctoritas and with the ancient practice of augury. The word augustus was often contrasted with humanus; its adoption as the title representing the new order cleverly indicated, in an extraconstitutional fashion, his superiority over the rest of mankind. With the aid of writers such as Virgil , Livy , and Horace , all of whom in their different ways shared the same ideas, he showed his patriotic veneration of the old Italian faith by reviving many of its ceremonials and repairing numerous temples. Military operations continued in many frontier areas.

In 25 bce recalcitrant Alpine tribes were reduced, and Galatia (central Asia Minor) was annexed. Mauretania , on the other hand, was transferred from Roman provincial status to that of a client kingdom, for such dependent monarchies , as in the later republic, bore a considerable part of the burden of imperial defense. Augustus himself visited Gaul and directed part of a campaign in Spain until his health gave out; in 23 bce he fell ill again and seemed on the point of death. Feeling, amid reports of conspiracies , that new constitutional steps were necessary, he proceeded to terminate his series of consulships in favour of a power (imperium majus) that was separated altogether from office and its practical inconveniences. This power raised him above the proconsuls; it was never referred to on the official coinage or in Augustus’s political testament but was intended to be exercised mainly in emergencies and on personal visits. He was also awarded the power of a tribune (tribunicia potestas) for life. Earlier he had accepted certain privileges of a tribune. The full power he now assumed carried with it practical advantages, notably the right to convene the Senate.

But, more particularly, the office of a tribune surrounded him with a “democratic” aura because of the ancient character of the annually elected tribunes of the people as defenders of the plebs . This was, perhaps, needed all the more because Augustus himself—while admittedly supporting the interests of poorer people by a great extension of the right of judicial appeal—tended to back the established classes as the keystone of his system. Agrippa, too, was granted superiority over proconsuls, presumably in order to ensure that the armies would be in safe hands in case one of Augustus’s recurrent illnesses proved fatal. The next to die, however, was the emperor’s young nephew Marcus Claudius Marcellus , who had been married to his daughter Julia and might eventually have been envisaged as his successor. In the same year, 23 bce, Agrippa was sent out to the east as deputy princeps; two years later he became Julia’s second husband. Meanwhile Augustus himself traveled in Sicily , Greece , and Asia (22–19).

Important reorganizations were put into effect wherever he went; and immense satisfaction was caused by an agreement in 20 bce with Parthia , under which the Parthians recognized Rome ’s protectorate over Armenia and returned the legionary standards captured from Crassus 33 years earlier. In 19 bce Agrippa completed the subjugation of Spain. In this year there was some adjustment of Octavian’s powers to allow him to exercise them more freely in Italy , and the two following years witnessed social legislation attempting to encourage marriage , regulate penalties for adultery , and reduce extravagance. In 17 there were resplendent celebrations of ancient ritual, known as the Secular Games , to purify the Roman people of their past sins and provide full religious inauguration of the new age. Although the principate was not an office which could be automatically handed on, Augustus seemed to be indicating his views regarding his ultimate successor when he adopted the two sons of his daughter Julia, boys aged three and one, who were henceforward known as Gaius Caesar and Lucius Caesar . Their father, Agrippa, whose powers had been renewed along with his master’s, returned to the east.

But now Augustus also gave important employment to his stepsons—his wife Livia’s sons by her former marriage— Tiberius and Drusus the Elder . Proceeding across the Alps , they annexed Noricum and Raetia , comprising large parts of what are now Switzerland , Austria , and Bavaria , and extended the imperial frontier from Italy to the upper Danube (16–15 bce). It was probably during these years that an executive, or drafting, committee (consilium) of the Senate was established in order to help Augustus to prepare senatorial business. His administrative burden was also lightened by the expansion of his own staff (knights, who could also now rise to a number of key posts, and freedmen) to form the beginnings of a civil service, which had never existed before but was destined to become an essential feature of the imperial system. Gradually, too, a completely reformed administrative structure of Rome , Italy , and the whole empire was evolved. The financial system that made this possible was evidently far more effective than anything the empire had ever seen until then.

The system was based on the central treasury ( aerarium ), but the details of its relationship with the treasuries of the provinces , and particularly the provincia of Augustus, are still imperfectly understood, partly because, although the emperor proudly recorded his gifts to the central treasury, he did not report what funds passed in the opposite direction. The taxation providing these resources apparently included two main direct taxes: a poll tax (tributum capitis), paid in some provinces by all adults and in others by adult males only, and a land tax (tributum soli). There were also indirect taxes, which (as in the past) were farmed out to contractors because their yield was unpredictable and the embryonic civil service lacked the resources to handle them. The republican customs dues continued; but the rates were low enough not to hamper trade, which, in the peaceful conditions created by Augustus, flourished in wholly unprecedented fashion. Industries did not exist on a very large scale, but commerce was greatly stimulated by a sweeping reform and expansion of the Roman coinage . Gold and silver pieces, their designs reflecting many facets of imperial publicity, were issued in great quantities at a number of widely distributed mints.

The Rome mint was reopened for this purpose about 20 bce. The absence of bronze token coinage, which had been sparse for many decades, was remedied by the creation of abundant mintages in yellow orichalcum and red copper . In the west the principal mint for these pieces, besides Rome, was Lugdunum ( Lyon ), whose coins displayed a view of the Altar of Rome and Augustus that formed a model for other provincial capitals. The Roman citizen colonies of the west, many of them established by Augustus to settle his veterans, supplemented this output by their own local coinages, and in the east, particularly Asia Minor and Syria, numerous Greek cities were also allowed to issue small change. Expansion of the empire The death in 12 bce of Lepidus enabled Augustus finally to succeed him as the official head of the Roman religion , the chief priest ( pontifex maximus ). In the same year, Agrippa, too, died. Augustus compelled his widow, Julia, to marry Tiberius against both their wishes.

During the next three years, however, Tiberius was away in the field, reducing Pannonia up to the middle Danube , while his brother Drusus crossed the Rhine frontier and invaded Germany as far as the Elbe, where he died in 9 bce. In the following year, Augustus lost another of his intimates , Maecenas , who had been the adviser of his early days and was an outstanding patron of letters. The extent of the Roman Empire in 117 ce. Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. Tiberius, who replaced Drusus in Germany , was elevated in 6 bce to a share in his stepfather’s tribunician power. But shortly afterward he went into retirement on the island of Rhodes . This was attributed to jealousy of his stepnephew Gaius Caesar, who was introduced to public life with a great fanfare in the following year; and the same compliments were paid to his brother Lucius in 2 bce, the year in which Augustus received his climactic title, “father of the country” (pater patriae). Gaius was sent to the east and Lucius to the west. Both, however, soon died.

Tiberius returned home in 2, and in 4 Augustus adopted him as his son, who in turn was required to adopt Germanicus , the son of his brother Drusus. The powers conferred upon Tiberius made him almost Augustus’s own equal in everything except prestige. Tiberius’s next task was to consolidate the invasion and provincial organization of Germany (4–5 ce). An invasion of Bohemia was planned and had already been launched from two directions when news came in 6 that Pannonia and Illyricum had revolted. It took three years for the rebellion to be put down; and this had only just been completed when Arminius raised the Germans against their Roman governor Varus and destroyed him and his three legions. As Augustus could not readily replace the troops, the annexation of western Germany and Bohemia was postponed indefinitely; Tiberius and Germanicus were sent to consolidate the Rhine frontier.

Although Augustus was now feeling his age, these years in association with Tiberius were marked by administrative innovations: the annexation of Judaea in 6 ce (its client king Herod the Great had died 10 years previously); the establishment at Rome (in the same year) of a fire brigade with police duties, supplemented seven years later by a regular police force (cohortes urbanae); the creation of a military treasury (aerarium militare) to defray soldiers’ retirement bounties from taxes; and the conversion of the hitherto occasional appointment of prefect of the city (praefectus urbi) into a permanent office (13 ce). When, in the same year, the powers of Augustus were renewed for 10 years—such renewals had been granted at intervals throughout the reign—Tiberius was made his equal in every constitutional respect. In April, Augustus deposited his will at the House of the Vestals in Rome. It included a summary of the military and financial resources of the empire (breviarium totius imperii) and his political testament, known as the “Res Gestae Divi Augusti” (“ Achievements of the Divine Augustus”).

The best-preserved copy of the latter document is on the walls of the Temple of Rome and Augustus at Ankara , Turkey (the Monumentum Ancyranum). In 14 ce Tiberius was due to leave for Illyricum but was recalled by the news that Augustus was gravely ill. He died on August 19, and on September 17 the Senate enrolled him among the gods of the Roman state. By that time Tiberius had succeeded him as the second Roman emperor, though the formalities involved in the succession proved embarrassing both to himself and to the Senate because the “principate” of Augustus had not, constitutionally speaking, been heritable or continuous. Like other emperors, Tiberius assumed the designation “Augustus” as an additional title of his own. Agrippa Postumus, who had been named his coheir but was later banished, was put to death. The order to kill him may already have been given by Augustus, but this is not certain. Ruins of the Temple of Roma and Augustus, Ankara, Turkey. AtilimGunesBaydin Personality and achievement Augustus was one of the great administrative geniuses of history .

The gigantic work of reorganization that he carried out in every field of Roman life and throughout the entire empire not only transformed the decaying republic into a new, monarchic regime with many centuries of life ahead of it but also created a durable Roman peace , based on easy communications and flourishing trade. It was this Pax Romana that ensured the survival and eventual transmission of the classical heritage, Greek and Roman alike, and provided the means for the diffusion of Judaism and Christianity . Although his regime was an autocracy, Augustus, being a tactful and imaginative master of propaganda of many kinds, knew how to cloak that autocracy in traditionalist forms that would satisfy a war-worn generation—perhaps, most of all, the upper bourgeoisie immediately below the leading nobility, since it was they who benefited from the new order more than anyone. He was also able to win the approbation , through the patronage of Maecenas , of some of the greatest writers the world has ever known, including Virgil , Horace , and Livy . Their enthusiasm was partly due to Augustus’s conviction that the Roman peace must be under Occidental, Italian control.

This was in contrast to the views of Antony and Cleopatra, who had envisaged some sort of Greco-Roman partnership such as began to prevail only three or four centuries later. Augustus’s narrower view, although modified by an informed admiration of Greek civilization, was based on his small-town Italian origins. These were also partly responsible for his patriotic, antiquarian attachment to the ancient religion and for his puritanical social policy. Augustus was a cultured man, the author of a number of works (all lost): a pamphlet against Brutus, an exhortation to philosophy , an account of his own early life, a biography of Drusus, poems, and epigrams. The conventional view of his character distinguishes between his cruelty in early years and his mildness in later life. But there was not so much need for cruelty later on, and, when it was needed (notably in the suppression of alleged plots), he was still ready to apply it. It is probable that nothing short of this degree of political ruthlessness could have achieved such enormous results. His domestic life, however, was simple and homespun. Within his family, the successive deaths of those he had earmarked as his successors or helpers caused him much sadness and disappointment.

His devotion to his wife Livia Drusilla remained constant, though, like other Romans, he was unfaithful. His surviving letters show kindliness to his relations. Yet he exiled his daughter Julia for offending against his public moral attitudes, and he exiled her daughter by Agrippa for the same reason; he also exiled the son of Agrippa and Julia, Agrippa Postumus, though the suspicion that he later had him killed is unproved. As for Augustus’s male relatives who were his helpers, he was loyal to them but drove them as hard as he drove himself. He needed them because the burden was so heavy, and he especially needed them in the military sphere because he was not a great commander. In Agrippa and Tiberius and a number of others, he had men who supplied this deficiency, and although, on his deathbed, he is said to have advised against the further expansion of the empire, he himself, with their assistance, had expanded its frontiers in many directions. His physical condition was subject to a host of ills and weaknesses, many of them recurrent.

Indeed, in his early life, particularly, it was only his indomitable will that enabled him to survive—a strange preliminary to an unprecedented and unequaled life’s work. His appearance is described by the biographer Suetonius : He was unusually handsome and exceedingly graceful at all periods of his life, though he cared nothing for personal adornment. His expression, whether in conversation or when he was silent, was calm and mild.…He had clear, bright eyes, in which he liked to have it thought that there was a kind of divine power, and it greatly pleased him, whenever he looked keenly at anyone, if he let his face fall as if before the radiance of the sun. His teeth were wide apart, small and ill-kept; his hair was slightly curly and inclining to golden; his eyebrows met.…His complexion was between dark and fair. He was short of stature, 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.

Augustus’s countenance proved a godsend to the Greeks and Hellenized easterners, who were the best sculptors of the time, for they elevated his features into a moving, never-to-be-forgotten imperial type, which Napoleon’s artists, among others, keenly emulated. The contemporary portrait busts of Augustus, echoed on his coins , formed part of a significant renaissance of the arts in which Italic and Hellenic styles were discreetly and brilliantly blended. Still extant at Rome are the severe yet delicate reliefs of the Ara Pacis (“Altar of Peace”), depicting a religious procession in which the national leaders are taking part; there are also scenes from the Roman mythology. The altar was dedicated by the Senate and people of Rome in 13 bce to commemorate the pacification of Gaul and Spain . The architectural masterpieces of the time were also numerous; and something of their monumental grandeur and classical purity can be seen today at Rome in the remains of the Theatre of Marcellus and of the massive Forum of Augustus, flanked by colonnades and culminating in the Temple of Mars the Avenger—the Avenger of Julius Caesar.

Outside Rome, too, there are abundant memorials of the Augustan Age ; on either side of the Alps, for example, there are monuments to celebrate the submission and loyalty of the local tribes, an elegant arch at Segusio (Susa), and a square stone trophy, topped by a cylindrical drum , at La Turbie. From Livia’s mansion on the outskirts of Rome, at Prima Porta, comes a reminder that not all the art of the day was formal and grand. One of the rooms is adorned with wall paintings representing an enchanted garden ; beyond a trellis are orchards and flower beds, in which birds and insects perch among the foliage. Augustus himself had no interest in personal luxury. Yet if ever he or his associates had any spare time, such were the rooms in which they spent it. The Theatre of Marcellus, Rome. © Danilo Ascione/Shutterstock.com BBC - History - Augustus z A bronze head of Augustus © Augustus was the first emperor of Rome. He replaced the Roman republic with an effective monarchy and during his long reign brought peace and stability. Augustus was born Gaius Octavius on 23 September 63 BC in Rome.

In 43 BC his great-uncle, Julius Caesar, was assassinated and in his will, Octavius, known as Octavian, was named as his heir. He fought to avenge Caesar and in 31 BC defeated Antony and Cleopatra at the Battle of Actium. He was now undisputed ruler of Rome. Instead of following Caesar's example and making himself dictator, Octavian in 27 BC founded the principate, a system of monarchy headed by an emperor holding power for life. His powers were hidden behind constitutional forms, and he took the name Augustus meaning 'lofty' or 'serene'. Nevertheless, he retained ultimate control of all aspects of the Roman state, with the army under his direct command. At home, he embarked on a large programme of reconstruction and social reform. Rome was transformed with impressive new buildings and Augustus was a patron to Virgil, Horace and Propertius, the leading poets of the day. Augustus also ensured that his image was promoted throughout his empire by means of statues and coins.

Abroad, he created a standing army for the first time, and embarked upon a vigorous campaign of expansion designed to make Rome safe from the 'barbarians' beyond the frontiers, and to secure the Augustan peace. His stepsons Tiberius and Drusus undertook the task (Augustus had married their mother Livia in 38 BC). Between 16 BC and 6 AD the frontier was advanced from the Rhine to the Elbe in Germany, and up to the Danube along its entire length. But Drusus died in the process and in 9 AD the annihilation of three Roman legions in Germany (out of 28 overall), in the Varian disaster, led to the abandonment of Germany east of the Rhine. Augustus was determined to be succeeded by someone of his own blood, but he had no sons, only a daughter, Julia, the child of his first wife. His nephew Marcellus and his beloved grandsons Gaius and Lucius pre-deceased him, so he reluctantly made Tiberius his heir. Military disaster, the loss of his grandsons and a troubled economy clouded his last years.

He became more dictatorial, exiling the poet Ovid (8 AD), who had mocked his moral reforms. He died on 19 August 14 AD. The Roman Empire: in the First Century. The Roman Empire. Emperors. Augustus | PBS Bust of Augustus as a young man Adopted by Caesar, Augustus (c.62 BC – 14 AD / Reigned 31 BC – 14 AD) had to fight for his throne. His long rule saw a huge expansion in the Roman Empire and the beginnings of a dynasty that, over the next century, would transform Rome, for better and worse. The man who would become one of Rome’s greatest leaders had an unpromising start in life. Despite prophesies of future greatness , Augustus was a sickly child in a family with few connections. His father died when Augustus was four. His prospects were bleak: Rome was dangerous, engulfed by civil war between power-hungry factions. One of these was led by his great-uncle, Julius Caesar. A bit of luck Then Augustus got a lucky break. In 46 BC, Caesar won the civil war and was named dictator of Rome.

To secure his position, he needed an heir. With no son of his own, he adopted Augustus. This was a fantastic opportunity for a young man from nowhere. Almost at once, however, Caesar was dead – murdered by his own advisors. Augustus was just 19, but immediately threw himself into the backstabbing world of Roman politics . Claiming the throne He formed a strategic alliance with Marc Antony, a successful and ambitious general. Over the next few years, they defeated their enemies in Rome and chased the survivors to Greece, where they finished them off in two of the bloodiest battles in Roman history. The killing over, the empire was theirs and they divided the spoils. Augustus kept Rome, while Antony took Egypt. There he fell under the spell of Cleopatra, Egypt’s beautiful queen. Trouble in Egypt Romans feared that Cleopatra wanted the throne for herself and his relationship with her made Mark Antony a hated man in Rome. His alliance with Augustus disintegrated but, before Antony and Cleopatra could strike Rome, Augustus attacked. The Battle of Actium in 31 BC destroyed three-quarters of the Egyptian fleet.

Cleopatra and Marc Antony killed themselves and, finally, the Roman Empire now included the land of the pharaohs. Local hero Back home, Augustus was a hero. At the age of 32, he had become Rome’s first Emperor, promising to restore peace and security. Winning the war had been difficult, but was nothing compared to the challenge of winning the peace. He had divorced his wife and married his pregnant mistress, Livia. Many immediately suspected him of wanting to create a dynasty to rule Rome for generations to come. A charm offensive To avoid Caesar’s fate, Augustus charmed the Senate and the people by pretending to give up power. But a series of disasters panicked Romans. They became convinced that only he could save them and begged the Senate to vote him absolute ruler. Augustus agreed, but did so cleverly. He convinced Romans that he was ruling in the best traditions of the republic, but actually was an absolute ruler creating a dynasty. The Romans bought it. Growing older During his reign, Augustus achieved a lot. He expanded the empire, adding Egypt, northern Spain and large parts of central Europe before invading Germany.

At home, he spearheaded a conservative approach that used the glory of Rome’s past as a blueprint for its future. But problems remained. His moral conservatism had clashed with the public promiscuity of his daughter, Julia. He was forced to banish her. What’s more, Augustus was growing older and weaker. Despite his successes, the plotting continued. Everything that Augustus had worked so hard to achieve was in danger of collapsing as he faced crisis after crisis, both at home and abroad. Nevertheless, Augustus clung onto power for another 10 years. When he died, in 14 AD, the Senate declared him a god. With his two grandsons already dead, power passed to his stepson, Tiberius. So what did he do? Augustus had ended 100 years of civil war and achieved over 40 years of internal peace and prosperity. His vision and power had expanded the Roman Empire to become far more than a collection of countries. Instead, it was a diverse society and enormous marketplace in which people across Europe, north Africa and the Middle East could trade and travel under Rome’s protection. He had won over the Senate and founded a dynasty.

But this would feature as many villains as heroes, and would take Rome on a roller-coaster ride into assassination, insanity and terror. Where to next: Enemies and Rebels – Cleopatra and Egypt Religion in Ancient Rome – Augustus Reece Period attributed: Period 1 Member of the Julio-Claudians dynasty. Coins for this issuer were issued from -31 until 14. Augustus (born Gaius Octavius) was the great nephew and adopted son of Julius Caesar. In the years immediately after Caesar's assassination in 44 BC, Augustus and Mark Antony (Caesar's closest friend and ally) set out to avenge his murder. Within a decade, however, relations between the two had broken down and the Roman World was plunged into civil war. By 31 BC Augustus had emerged as the undisputed victor: Rome's first emperor. Rome had been a republic for centuries since the fall of its kings and was ruled by the Senate (its supreme political body) and the Roman people. Augustus was anxious that his political position was acceptable to everyone. He based his powers on traditional political offices and presented himself as the "first man" of the Senate rather than as a king.

In this way he cleverly preserved the ideals of the Roman Republic. In about 23 BC, Augustus reformed the coinage. He continued to produce the gold aureus and the silver denarius, but introduced a series of new copper-alloy denominations. The new coinage system was more advanced than anything the ancient world had seen. Latest examples recorded with images We have recorded 180 examples. Predecessor: Successor: Tiberius Definition: Augustus (Latin: Imperātor Caesar Dīvī Fīlius Augustus; 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 AD 14. He was born Gaius Octavius into an old and wealthy equestrian branch of the plebeian Octavii family. His maternal great-uncle Julius Caesar was assassinated in 44 BC, and Octavius was named in Caesar's will as his adopted son and heir. He, Mark Antony, and Marcus Lepidus 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. 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 Octavian 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). The Roman world was largely free from large-scale conflict for more than two centuries, despite continuous wars of imperial expansion on the Empire's frontiers and one year-long civil war over the imperial succession. Augustus dramatically enlarged the Empire, annexing Egypt, Dalmatia, Pannonia, Noricum, and Raetia; expanding possessions in Africa; expanding into Germania; and completing 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 AD 14 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.

Parents: BBC - History - Historic Figures: Tiberius (42 BC - 37 AD) Historic Figures z A bust of Tiberius © Tiberius was the second emperor of Rome and a highly-successful soldier whose reputation for arrogance and debauchery is probably unfounded. Tiberius Claudius Nero was born on 16 November 42 BC. In 39 BC, his mother Livia divorced his father and married Octavian, the future emperor Augustus in 27 BC. Tiberius had a brilliant military career and with his younger brother Drusus helped carry out the expansion of the Roman empire along the Danube and into modern day Germany (16 BC - 7 BC, 4 AD - 9 AD). In 11 BC, Augustus forced Tiberius to divorce his wife Vipsania and marry Julia, Augustus' daughter. In 6 BC, Tiberius abruptly retired to Rhodes. In 2 AD, he returned to Rome and in 4 AD, with Augustus's grandsons both dead, Tiberius was adopted as Augustus's son. Tiberius in turn adopted his nephew Germanicus (great-nephew of Augustus).

He then went on campaign in northern Germany, securing the frontier and returning to Rome a hero. Tiberius succeeded Augustus in 14 AD. Initially, his rule was positive. He improved the civil service and restored Rome's financial condition. However, Tiberius lacked Augustus' natural rapport with the Senate and he became increasingly unpopular. This contrasted strongly with the popularity of the charismatic Germanicus, his expected successor. When Germanicus died in 19 AD, it was widely believed that Tiberius had poisoned him in order that his own son, Drusus, should succeed. But in 23 AD, Drusus died, throwing open the question of the succession. Tiberius's reliance upon the ambitious and brutal Sejanus, the head of the Praetorian guard (the imperial bodyguards), resulted in allegations of tyranny. In 27 AD, Tiberius retired to Capri, never returning to Rome. Two years later, realising that Sejanus was trying to seize power, Tiberius had him executed. In 35 AD, Tiberius made Gaius (son of Germanicus) and his own grandson, Gemellus, joint heirs.

Tiberius died on 16 March 37 AD and was succeeded by Gaius, also known as Caligula.

Question: Who immediately succeeded Augustus as Emperor of Rome?
Answer: Tiberius