Augustus

  • Augustus (27 BCE-14 CE) was the first Roman Emperor and Founder of the Principate, also known as the Early Roman Empire (27 BCE-284 CE).
  • He effectively changed the Roman Republic into an Absolute Monarchy but was careful to avoid calling himself Rex (King), preferring instead to use the title ‘Augustus’ meaning ‘Revered’.

1. BIOGRAPHICAL DETAILS OF AUGUSTUS

  • QUICK SYNOPSIS:
  • AUGUSTUS’S DATES OF REIGN AS EMPEROR:
    • 2 September 31 BCE – 19 August 14 CE
  • NAME AS OCTAVIAN:
    • OCTAVIUS (63-44 BCE) Gaius Octavius Thurinus:
      • Historians refer to him as ‘Octavius’ from birth to adoption by Julius Caesar in 44 BCE.
    • OCTAVIAN (44-27 BCE) Gaius Julius Caesar Octavianus:
      • He changed his name after his posthumous adoption by Julius Caesar in 44 BCE, Historians refer to him as Octavian
  • TITLES AS AUGUSTUS:
    • DIVI FILIUS: (42 BCE)
      • meaning ‘Son of God’: Octavian added this title to his name after Julius Caesar was deified, meaning he was the ‘Son of the God Julius Caesar’.
    • AUGUSTUS (27 BCE-14 CE)
      • Gaius Julius Caesar Octavianus Divi Filius Augustus:
      • ‘Augustus’: (27 BCE) The Roman Senate gave him the title of ‘Augustus’ meaning ‘Revered’. From 27 BCE onwards Historians refer to him as ‘Augustus’.
    • ‘PRINCEPS’: (27 BCE)
      • The Roman Senate also gave him the title of ‘Princeps’ meaning ‘First Citizen’: Augustus preferred to use this title instead of ‘Augustus’ to promote Republican values.
    • ‘PATER PATRIAE: (2 BCE)
      • The Roman Senate also awarded him this Title of ‘Pater Patriae’ meaning ‘Father of the Nation’.
  • FAMILY DYNASTY:
  • AUGUSTUS’ DATE OF BIRTH AND DEATH:
    • 23 September 63 BCE – 19 August 14 CE
  • AUGUSTUS’ PLACE OF BIRTH AND DEATH:
  • AUGUSTUS’ PREDECESSOR:
    • Augustus was the First Roman Emperor, having succeeded the Dictator Julius Caesar after a period of Civil War.
  • AUGUSTUS’ SUCCESSOR:
  • AUGUSTUS’ RIGHT HAND MAN:
  • AUGUSTUS WAS HEIR TO THE THRONE BECAUSE:
  • AUGUSTUS’S FATHER:
  • AUGUSTUS’S MOTHER:
  • AUGUSTUS’S WIVES AND CHILDREN:
    • Clodia Pulchra (42-40 BCE)
    • Scribonia (40-38 BCE)
    • Livia Drusilla (37 BCE – 14 CE)
  • DIED PEACEFULLY OR ASSASSINATED
    • Either Augustus died a natural death aged 75, or his wife Livia may have poisoned him.
  • BURIAL PLACE:

2. A GOOD OR BAD EMPEROR

  • AUGUSTUS’S CHARACTER
    • Noted for his cruelty as a young man, but he became more tolerant with age. He exiled his own daughter Livia, for her immoral behaviour.
  • AUGUSTUS POPULARITY
    • Augustus ensured public support by hosting Public Games and a program of erecting Public Buildings conducted by Agrippa.
    • Augustus avoided being revered as a God during his lifetime. He started the tradition of Roman Emperor being deified after death, and not yet being worshipped as a God during his lifetime.
    • Augustus established the Cult of the Roman Emperor. The Senate acknowledged that he ruled with Divine Approval and that his Rule was Constitutional. After his death he was voted to have become a God, a ‘Divus’.
  • THE REASON AUGUSTUS WAS FAMOUS
    • Augustus was famous because he was the first Roman Emperor. He turned the Roman Republic into a monarchy but was careful to never call himself a king or dictator.
    • Augustus introduced the ‘Pax Augusta’, known to us as the Pax Romana, a state of Peace across the Mediterranean world, for the first time in hundreds of years.
    • The month of August was named in his honour, just as July was named after Julius Caesar. We still use these names today.
    • Augustus held the first Public Lottery on record in Western Europe, to pay for repairs to municipal buildings in Rome.
  • FAMOUS QUOTES BY AUGUSTUS
    • ‘I found Rome a city made of clay, I leave it a city of marble’ from Suetonius
    • Festina lente often translated as More haste, less speed from Suetonius
    • ‘Give me a safe General, not a reckless one’ from Suetonius
    • ‘Young men, listen to an old man, who old men listened to when he was a young man’ from Plutarch
    • ‘Well done, is promptly done’ from Suetonius
    • ‘Quintili Vare, Legiones Redde!’ meaning ‘Quintilius Varus, Return my Legions to me’ from Suetonius, upon hearing of the disastrous Battle of the Teutoburg Forest (9 CE).
    • Velocius quam asparagi coquantur meaning ‘Faster than cooking asparagus’. Suetonius (The Lives of the Twelve Caesars, Book II) Augustus would urge his subordinates to ‘hurry up’, by using this phrase. Augustus organised Asparagus Fleets to collect Asparagus from around the Empire and bring it to Rome.

3. EARLY LIFE AS OCTAVIAN

4. OCTAVIAN’S RISE TO POWER TO BECOME AUGUSTUS

PHASE I: (44-43 BCE)

  • Assassination of Julius Caesar 15 March 44 BCE.
    • Octavian was declared his Heir in the Will of Julius Caesar
    • After the assassination, the conspirators were wary of the Mob. But Cicero made a brilliant Oration, saving the Republic by pardoning the Conspirators and astutely awarding them Governorships in the Provinces to get them away from Rome. As Julius Caesar‘s right hand man, Mark Anthony initially feared he would be assassinated next. When it became clear, he was not seen as a threat, but as the next Heir, his position seemed secure.
    • But after the Will was obtained from the Vestal Virgins and read out, it was the 18 year old Octavian who had been been named Caesar’s Heir. The Conspirators appeared to have successfully achieved Power, and Mark Anthony had been clearly sidelined.
    • The Conspirators’ mistake was in permitting Mark Anthony to speak at the Public Funeral. Dio Cassius states Mark Anthony held up the bloodied Robe that Julius Caesar had worn, after delivering a stinging attack on the Assassins. The Mob became bent on Revenge, and immediately left the Funeral to search out the Houses of the Conspirators, and these were forced to flee Rome.
  • Upon hearing the news of the assassination, Octavian, who was 18 and waiting in Appollonia, Illyria to accompany Julius Caesar to Parthia, sailed immediately to Brindisium (Brindisi) in Italy.
    • Here, he appropriated the 700 million sesterces stored by Julius Caesar for the War against Parthia. He also intercepted the Annual Tribute to Rome from the Eastern Provinces. Now able to pay for an army, and as declared Heir to Julius Caesar, he recruited some 3,000 of Julius Caesar‘s loyal legionaries and headed for Rome.
  • 44 BCE 6 May: Octavian then arrived in Rome with his small Army, where Mark Anthony had become increasingly unpopular.
    • Octavian was made a Senator.
    • By November, Octavian had acquired two of Mark Anthony‘s Legions, and Octavian now controlled the Roman Senate in an alliance with Cicero.
  • 43 BCE 01 January: Octavian was made a Senator and given Imperium, the Legal right to Command armies.
  • When this request was refused, Octavian marched into Rome with eight Legions, meeting no resistance.
  • 19 August 43 BCE Octavian was elected Consul.
    • This was the first step by Octavian to achieving complete power.
  • October 43 BCE: Octavian then met Mark Anthony and Marcus Lepidus near Bononia (Bologna) and agreed to form an Alliance, called the Second Triumvirate.

PHASE II: (43-33 BCE) Octavian forms the Second Triumvirate:

  • Lex Titia 26 November 43 BCE Octavian formed the second Triumvirate along with Mark Anthony and Marcus Lepidus for a five year term, followed by another five year term.
    • Mass Proscription: To raise money, the Triumvirs proscribed 2,000 Equites and over 100 Senators, declaring them Enemies of the State. They were then executed, and their lands and property confiscated by the State Treasury, the Aerarium. Funds were then in place to pay for new Legions to be raised to conduct the civil war.
    • Julius Caesar‘s assassins, Brutus and Longinus, had taken over the eastern Provinces including Macedonia, Asia and Syria.
  • 42 BCE Battle of Philippi where Octavian and Mark Anthony challenged and defeated Brutus.
  • 40 BCE September ‘Treaty of Brundisium’: the three Triumvirs divided the Provinces between them. Octavian was given the West, Mark Anthony the East, and Marcus Lepidus, Hispania and Africa.
  • 39 BCE Sextus Pompey signed the Pact of Misenum with the Triumvirs, leaving Mark Anthony free to fight the Parthians.
  • 37 BCE Octavian failed to take Sicily at the naval Battle of Messina, and was defeated again in early 36 BCE.
  • 36 BCE Agrippa, Mark Anthony‘s General, finally defeated Sextus Pompey‘s Navy at sea, and Marcus Lepidus raised 14 Legions in Africa to defeat Sextus Pompey on land.
  • The Three Triumvirs Fall Out:
    • 36 BCE Octavian then stripped Marcus Lepidus of his title as Triumvir, but allowed him to continue in semi-retirement as Pontifex Maximus.
    • 33 BCE The Triumvirate expired.

PHASE III: (33-31 BCE) The split with Mark Anthony and Queen Cleopatra VII leads to War with Egypt

PHASE IV: (31 BCE 2 September) The Battle of Actium:

PHASE V: (30 BCE) Octavian invades Egypt:

  • Octavian was now the undisputed Leader of the Roman World and became the first Roman Emperor, receiving the title of Augustus.

5. REIGN OF AUGUSTUS

  • AUGUSTUS’ RELATIONSHIP WITH THE ROMAN SENATE:
    • Augustus proceeded to transfer all the High Offices of State to himself.
    • 16 January 27 BCE Octavian was given the title ‘Augustus’ meaning ‘Revered’, but he preferred to use the title ‘Princeps’ meaning ‘First Citizen’. He retained the title Imperator.
    • 27 BCE ‘The First Settlement‘: Augustus conducted a ceremony where he apparently restored the Roman Republic by an act of ‘surrendering’ all his powers to the Roman Senate. All these powers were returned to him soon afterwards.
    • 31-23 BCE Augustus was re-elected Consul each year.
    • 23 BCE ‘The Second Settlement‘: As a Patrician, Augustus was not legally able to hold the Office Tribune of the Plebs. So he gave up his Consulship in exchange for being given ‘Tribunicia Potestas’, the powers of the Tribune of the Plebs for his lifetime.
    • 19 BCE The Roman Senate made Augustus Consul for life.
    • 12 BCE The Roman Senate awarded Augustus the position of Pontifex Maximus, the Head of the State Religion, for life.
    • 2 BCE The Roman Senate gave Augustus the title ‘Pater Patriae’ meaning ‘Father of the Nation’.
    • Augustus reduced the size of the Roman Senate from 900 to 600 Senators. The numbers had been inflated by Julius Caesar, Mark Anthony and Marcus Lepidus. In 29 BCE he expelled 190 Senators who did not take his side to fight in the Battle of Actium. Undesirable Senators were expelled again in 18 BCE, 11 BCE and 4 BCE.
    • Entry to becoming a Senator was restricted to being a Roman Citizen of free birth and owning Property with a value of 1,000,000 Sertertii.
    • All Military Authority was removed from Senators by the First Settlement and the Second Settlement.

The Principate

  • The Principate was effectively a Monarchical system with the Emperor appointed for his Lifetime. All the Great Offices of State and their Powers were awarded to Augustus by the Roman Senate, who were now unable to oppose him.
  • Octavian was given the Title ‘Augustus’, but he did not call himself Emperor or Augustus during his Reign. *This was because he was always careful to preserve the Institutions of the Roman Republic and be seen as its defender. He ceremoniously returned all the Powers back to the Roman Senate, but had them all given back to him shortly afterwards.
  • He used the Title ‘Princeps Civitas’ instead of Augustus, meaning ‘First Citizen’, which is why this Period is known as the Principate.
  • Augustus also embarked on a program of Building Works in Rome, to reflect that a new Era had arrived.
  • The Temples in Rome were all repaired.
  • The Frontiers were moved well beyond Italia, to the Rhine and the Danube. The conquest of Britannia was planned and the invasion of Germania was embarked on in 12 BCE.
  • 28 Roman Legions were established and all made into permanent standing armies for the first time in Roman History.
  • The ‘Pax Augustus’ was announced, the first period of Peace Rome had known for 200 years, with a new Goddess of Peace to be worshipped.
  • The prestigious Praetorian Guard was established in Rome and other Italian cities, to act as Augustus’ personal Bodyguard and police the country.

Augustus’ Right Hand Man

  • Agrippa
    • Marcus Vipsanius Agrippa (64-63 – 12 BCE) was a highly influential Roman General and Administrator.
    • He helped bring Augustus (31 BCE-14 CE) to power and he also constructed many notable Works during his career.

AUGUSTUS’ MILITARY REFORMS:

  • A permanent standing Army and Navy was created for the first time.

  • The Legions:

  • The Navy:

  • Praetorian Guard:

    • Augustus established this prestigious personal Legion and based it in Rome and the cities of Italia.
    • It acted as his own personal army and bodyguard. It was superior to the other Legions and better paid.

AUGUSTUS’ DOMESTIC POLICY:

Taxation

  • Augustus abandoned the use of the Publicani, and instituted a comparatively advanced Tax System using Flat Rate levies.
  • He ordered a Roman Census to be held every 14 years throughout the Roman Empire. Each individual City was then instructed to pay a certain amount of Taxes. The Individual paid the City. Provincial Magistrates were responsible for the Tax Collection in that City and its surroundings. Taxes were paid either in Cash, or in Goods or by Services.
  • The City then paid Rome via the Fiscal Procurator.
  • Eligibility for Taxation seems to have started at 14 for men and 12 for women, and ended either at 60 or 65.
  • Augustus raised a Tax on the sale of Slaves at 4%.
  • Augustus also instituted an Inheritance Tax (Death Duties) of 5% which went to pay for the Legions Pensions.
  • Egypt had a different Tax System:
    • Taxes were levied in Cash and in kind on Land, in the form of Grain or other Foodstuffs.
    • Poll Tax, the ‘Laographia’ was raised on local Egyptian Males between 14 to 60.
    • Poll Tax on the ‘Metropoleis’ Cities was raised at a lower Rate.
    • Poll Tax on the Greek Cities in Egypt: they were exempt.
  • Every Roman Citizen had to belong to a Tribe and the same applied to the Provinces. His Tribe would usually be reflected in his name.
  • For example, in Gallia Narbonensis Roman Citizens were enrolled in the ‘Tribus Voltinia’.
  • The Tribe was used as the basis for establishing Voting constituencies in Political Assemblies, recruitment into the Army, assessment in the Roman Census and for Taxation.

Marriage Laws

  • The Augustan Marriage Laws
    • The Marriage Laws were aimed at the wealthy classes as Augustus was concerned that the upper classes were living together without getting married or having children.

Early Welfare State

  • Augustus is thought to have been the first Ruler to permanently fix the Corn Dole to supply free Grain to 200,000 people in Rome, which had a population of 1,000,000, a third of which were Roman Slaves.
  • Grain was distributed either free, or very cheaply, through a system of money vouchers called ‘Tesserae Nummulariae’; these were small tablets or hollow wooden balls inscribed with numbers indicating their monetary value. The same voucher system applied for receiving free Money, Olive Oil and other commodities.
  • Augustus created a Prefect of the Grain Supply who’s duties were to monitor and regulate the flow of Grain into Rome, to avoid a Grain shortage could cause Riots.
  • Although the Grain Fleets were not owned by the State and the vessels were all privately owned, they nonetheless received their sailing orders and dates of sail from the Prefect of the Grain Supply.

AUGUSTUS AND THE PROVINCES:

  • First Settlement (27 BCE)
  • The Administration of the Provinces was divided between:
    • Augustus:
    • The Roman Senate:
      • Africa, Illyria, Macedonia.
      • As these Provinces only had five or six Legions compared to Augustus’ twenty legions, Senatorial control of these Provinces posed no military threat to Augustus.

Britannia

  • Augustus Planned several Invasions:
    • In 34 BCE, 27 BCE and 25 BCE and again in 9 CE. They were all cancelled due to Revolts elsewhere, except in 27 BCE when it was cancelled through Diplomacy.
  • Two British Kings were Refugees and Supplicants in Rome:
    • 7 CE Dumnovellaunus, King of the Cantiaci (Kent, east of the Medway)
    • 8 CE Tincomarus, King of the Atrebates (Hampshire, West Sussex and Surrey)
  • In 9 CE an Invasion was planned, but had to be cancelled due to the disaster of the Battle of the Teutoburg Forest, where three Legions were destroyed.

Italy

Spain

The Rhine

  • Germania (12 BCE-16 CE):
    • Augustus planned to create a new Province called Germania Magna, which would have included Upper and Lower Germania and the Region up to the Elbe.
    • 17 BCE The Legions were moved up to new Bases on the Rhine in anticipation of the Invasion of Germania.
    • 12-9 BCE Augustus gave the Legions the order to invade under Drusus the Elder, the Governor of Gaul.
    • 6 CE The area between the River Rhine and the River Elbe was occupied, and the Elbe became the Frontier.
    • 9 CE After the disaster of the Battle of the Teutoburg Forest where three Legions were destroyed, the Legions withdrew to their Rhine Bases. Punitive Expeditions followed, successfully recovering two of the three missing Legionary Standards.
    • 16 CE The Frontier was officially withdrawn from the River Elbe and remained permanently on the River Rhine. No further attempt was ever made to permanently occupy Germania but it was raided many times.
  • Raetia and Vindelicia (15 BCE):

The Danube

The East

Africa

AUGUSTUS’ RELIGIOUS REFORMS:

  • The problem posed to Augustus was how to make the transition from a Society that had been at War for hundreds of years, to a Peace loving Society.

  • Cult of the Roman Emperor

    • Augustus introduced Worship of the Emperor as part of Religious Practice. He did this by ceremoniously acknowledging that his Rule had received the Approval of the Gods and was constitutional according to Republican values..
    • The performance of ‘Cultus’ to the Emperor was the regular giving of respect, honour and reverence due to the Gods. Subsequently, every Province had a Temple, or an Altar in a Temple dedicated to the Emperor.
    • In 42 BCE He ensured the Roman Senate decreed Julius Caesar to be a God by the Act of Apotheosis, and in 29 BCE he dedicated a Temple of Divus Julius. He called himself ‘Divi Filius’ Son of the God Julius. This started the tradition of deifying deceased Emperors (Augustus was deified after his death) and they were then worshipped as Gods along with all the other Roman Gods.

  • Augustus encouraged the State Religion and the Worship of other Religions

    • This was to create more spiritual values, and instill awe and reverence in a Society that no longer had a powerful Enemy to go to War with.
    • 28 BCE Augustus repaired 82 Temples in that year and founded or repaired another 14 Temples in Rome.

  • The ‘Sacred Peace’: The Worship of the new Goddess of Peace:

    • 9 BCE 30 January. Augustus consecrated the Ara Pacis meaning ‘Altar to Peace’. It was an Altar dedicated to the New Roman Goddess of Peace. It was built to celebrate the ‘Pax Augusta’ known today as the Pax Romana. It contained a processional frieze of sculptures and Roman Figures consisting of Lictors, Priests, Women and children, all in Roman clothing, with their attendants, giving Thanks to the new Roman Goddess of Peace.

  • Augustus conducted a series of Religious Festivals and Ceremonies

    • This was to highlight the virtues of the new Peace.
    • Augustus closed the Gates of Janus three times to demonstrate the new ‘Pax Augustus’. The Gates had only been closed twice before in Roman History.

6. PERSONAL LIFE OF AUGUSTUS

  • CHILDHOOD:
    • 59 BCE, his Father died, and at the age of 4 yrs old, Octavius was raised by his maternal Grandmother, Julia Caesaris (Julius Caesar’s Sister).
    • 52-51 BCE, when his Grandmother died he moved back with his Mother and stepfather, Lucius Marcus Phillipus, Governor of Syria.
  • PERSONAL INTERESTS:
  • LANGUAGES SPOKEN:
    • Latin and Greek.

7. CONSEQUENCES OF AUGUSTUS’ REIGN

  • EXPANSION OR CONTRACTION UNDER AUGUSTUS:
  • Expanded:
    • Augustus moved the Frontiers of Italy to the Rhine and the Danube, and placed the Legions in permanent Fortresses along these Rivers.
  • ENRICHMENT OR BANKRUPTCY OF THE STATE:
  • Roman RepublicEnriched:
    • The State became wealthy now that Peace had arrived and Tribute could be collected.
  • AUGUSTUS’ MAIN ACHIEVEMENTS:
    • ‘The Augustan Age’:
    • ‘Pax Augusta’
      • Meaning the ‘Augustan Peace’ but known to us as the Pax Romana.
    • The Principate:
      • ‘Princeps’: Augustus was the Princeps Senatus meaning the Leader of the Roman Senate. He preferred to use the title ‘Princeps’ from the title ‘Princeps Senatus/ Princeps Civitatis’, meaning ‘First of the Senators/First of the Citizens’ as did all future Roman Emperors up to Diocletian. Historians refer to this Period as the ‘Principate‘. This is because great care was taken by future Emperors to preserve the impression that the Roman Republic still existed.
      • However, after Diocletian, the Roman Empire is referred to as the Dominate: the Roman Emperors adopted the Title ‘Dominus’ meaning ‘Lord’ or ‘Master’, and all pretense of being a Republic was dropped.
    • Trade with the East
      • Strabo (II.5.12) wrote that already by 24 BCE, when Gallus was Prefect of Egypt, 120 vessels departed Egypt for India each year.
      • Embassies from India were received at Rome in 26 and 20 BCE.
  • PLANS THAT WERE NEVER IMPLEMENTED:
    • Britannia
      • Augustus Planned four Invasions of Britannia in 34 BCE, 27 BCE and 25 BCE and again in 9 CE. They were all cancelled due to Revolts elsewhere, except in 27 BCE when it was cancelled through Diplomacy.
    • Circumnavigation of Africa
      • In 1 BCE Augustus planned a circumnavigation of Africa from Egypt to Mogador in Morocco, but it never took place.

8. THE SUCCESSION TO AUGUSTUS

  • Agrippa was chosen initially but he died in 12 BCE.
  • Tiberius then became the successful Heir.

9. BUILDINGS AND MONUMENTS TO VISIT

10. BIBLIOGRAPHY

  • CLASSICAL SOURCES:
    • Suetonius:
      • The Lives of the Twelve Caesars, Book II: The Life of Augustus
    • Res Gestae Divi Augusti:
      • ‘The Deeds of the Divine Augustus’. This refers to two Bronze Tablets that list his achievements.
    • Tacitus:
      • The Annals

 

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