Gaius Julius Caesar:[10] After his adoption by Julius Caesar on the latter's death in 44 BC, he took Caesar'snomen and cognomen.[11] Historians often distinguished him from his adoptive father by addingOctavianus (Latin:[ɔktaːwiˈaːnʊs]) after the name,[12] denoting that he was a former member of thegens Octavia. There is no evidence that Augustus did this himself,[13] althoughCicero and some other contemporaries called him Gaius Octavius,[14] Gaius Julius Caesar Octavianus,[15] or "young Caesar".[9] Historians usually refer to him as Octavian (/ɒkˈteɪviən/ok-TAY-vee-ən) for the period between 44 and 27 BC.[16]
Imperator Caesar:[17] Octavian's early coins and inscriptions all refer to him simply as Gaius Caesar, but by 38 BC he had replacedGaius with the victory titleimperator ('commander').[18] Hisfamily line would continue the use of the nameCaesar, a cognomen for one branch of theJulian family, and eventually this would form a standardimperial title.[19]
Imperator Caesar Augustus:[20] In 27 BC the Senate granted him the honorificAugustus (Latin:[au̯ˈɡʊstʊs]) ('the revered').[21] Historians use this name, or its converse Augustus Caesar, to refer to him from 27 BC until his death in AD 14.[22]
In 44 BC, Octavius was atApollonia,Illyria, when Julius Caesar was made Rome's firstdictator perpetuo ('dictator in perpetuity') in February,[55] and thenassassinated on theIdes of March (15 March).[56] Octavius consulted with Caesar's officers in Macedonia before sailing forItaly to ascertain his political fortunes.[57] Caesar had no living legitimate children underRoman law.[58] His will made Octavius his main heir with the condition that he assume the deaddictator's name.[59] After landing nearBrundisium in southern Italy,[60] Octavius received a copy of the will, which bequeathed three-quarters of Caesar's estate.[61][g] Octavius's stepfather Philippus advised him against accepting Caesar's will, but Octaviusaccepted it on 8 May 44 BC.[64] Octavius purported that Caesaradopted him as his son andassumed the name Gaius Julius Caesar.[65] There is no evidence that he referred to himself asOctavianus,[66] but some of his contemporaries did, such as his stepfather and Cicero.[67]
Octavian could not rely on his limited funds to make a successful entry into politics.[68] After a warm welcome by Caesar's soldiers at Brundisium,[69] he demanded a portion of the funds allotted by Caesar for his eastern war against theParthians.[68] This amounted to 700 millionsesterces stored at Brundisium, the staging ground in Italy for military operations in the east.[70][h] Octavian made another bold move when, without official permission, he appropriated the annual tribute from Rome'sprovince of Asia to Italy.[72] He also began to recruit Caesar's veterans and men designated for the Parthian war.[73] On his march to Rome through Italy, Octavian's presence and newly acquired riches won over many, including Caesar's veterans stationed inCampania.[74] By June, he had gathered an army of 3,000 men, paying each a bonus of 500denarii,[75] which was more than twice a soldier's annual pay.[76]
Arriving to Rome on 6 May 44 BC,[77] Octavian found consulMark Antony, Caesar's former colleague, in an uneasy truce with the dictator's assassins. A general amnesty on 17 March pardoned the assassins in exchange for recognition of Caesar's legal acts.[78] Soon afterwards, Antony succeeded in driving most of them out of Rome with an inflammatory eulogy at Caesar's funeral, mounting public opinion against the assassins.[79]
Mark Antony was amassing political support, but Octavian challenged him as the leader of the Caesarians. Antony had lost the support of many Romans and Caesarians when he initially opposed the motion to elevate Caesar to divine status.[80] He also refused to give Octavian the money due him as Caesar's heir.[81] Antony used this as a delaying tactic to halt Octavian from dispersing 300 sestercesper capita to the urban plebs of Rome in accordance with Caesar's will.[82] As consul, Antony blocked thecuriate assembly from hearing Octavian's petition to legitimize his supposed adoption by Caesar,[83] and Octavian's attempts to have Caesarformally deified and to reinstate Caesar's golden throne for public view atgames staged in April and June.[84] During Caesar's victory games, Octavian distributed some of the funds in Caesar's will and combined this with his own money, enhancing his popularity while damaging Antony's.[85]
During the summer of 44 BC, Octavian won the support of more veterans and also senators who perceived Antony as a threat to the state.[86] Antony hadlictors drag Octavian away from a hearing over the reinstatement of private property seized by Caesar in 49 BC, after which Octavian claimed Antony threatened his life as retribution for distributing money to the plebs in Caesar's will. Caesar's veterans then convinced Antony to publicly reconcile with Octavian in theTemple of Jupiter Optimus Maximus.[87] Thereafter, Antony's bellicose edicts against the assassinsMarcus Junius Brutus andGaius Cassius Longinus alienated him from the moderate Caesarian senators, who feared a renewed civil war.[88] In September,Marcus Tullius Cicero, now a political ally of Octavian, began to give aseries of speeches portraying Antony as athreat to the Republic.[89]
With opinion in Rome turning against him and his consulship concluding, Antony illegally passed a law that would assign him theprovince ofCisalpine Gaul in northern Italy.[90] Octavian meanwhile built up a private army in Italy by recruiting Caesarian veterans,[91] and in early November entered Rome with this private force to challenge Antony.[92] However, they vacated the city shortly afterwards,[93] due to some veterans choosing to quit once it became clear they were involved in a Caesarian squabble rather than a revenge campaign against Caesar's assassins.[94] Nevertheless, on 28 November, Octavian won over two of Antony's legions with the enticing offer of monetary gain.[95] Antony then left Rome for Cisalpine Gaul,[96] which was to be handed to him on 1 January 43 BC.[97] However, the province had earlier been assigned toDecimus Junius Brutus Albinus, one of Caesar's assassins, who now refused to yield to Antony.[98] Antonybesieged him atMutina.[99] This provided an opportunity for Octavian, whose private army was at hand.[100]
Cicero defended Octavian against Antony's taunts,[101][i] and had him inducted as a senator on 1 January 43 BC. Octavian was given the power to vote alongside the former consuls, the privilege to stand for election at an earlier age than usual,[103] andimperiumpro praetore which legitimized his command. Octavian accompanied the consuls to relieve the siege of Mutina.[104] He assumed thefasces on 7 January,[105] a date that he would later commemorate as the beginning of his public career.[106] Antony retreated toTransalpine Gaul after his forces were defeated at the battles ofForum Gallorum andMutina in April. Both consuls were killed, however, leaving Octavian in sole command of their armies.[107] These victories earned him his first acclamation asimperator, a title reserved for victorious commanders.[108]
Largely ignoring Octavian, the Senate heaped many rewards on Decimus Brutus and attempted to give him command of the consular legions.[109] In response, Octavian stayed in thePo Valley and refused to pursue Antony.[110] In July, an embassy ofcenturions sent by Octavian entered Rome; they demanded the now-vacant consulship for Octavian,[111] with Cicero as co-consul,[112] and the rescission of the decree declaring Antony a public enemy.[113] When this was refused, Octavian marched on Rome,[114] where he encountered no military opposition. On 19 August 43 BC, aged 19, he was made consul alongside his relativeQuintus Pedius.[115] Pediuspassed legislation creating a special tribunal for Caesar’s assassins and their alleged associates; Octavian presided over the trial and had them convicted and exiled in absentia.[116][j] Octavian also induced the curiate assembly to have himadrogated into Caesar's family, legitimizing his claim of testamentary adoption.[118] Meanwhile, Antony formed an alliance withMarcus Aemilius Lepidus, then governor ofGallia Narbonensis.[119] The Senate branded Lepidus, a fellow Caesarian, as a public enemy for joining Antony,[120] but they reversed the pair's outlawing at Pedius's behest while Octavian marched north to fight Decimus Brutus and meet with Antony.[121]
In a meeting nearBononia in October 43BC, Octavian joined with Antony and Lepidus to form thetriumvirate, ostensibly for the stability of theRoman Republic.[122] Their agreement, legitimized by law for five years, was then enacted by thelex Titia on 27 November that year.[123] The triumvirate, unlike the unofficial "first triumvirate" of Caesar, Pompey, and Crassus, was a formal office; it gave the three men consular power, the right to appoint magistrates, and allowed their division among themselves of the provinces not under the control of theliberatores in the east.[124] Octavian had previously been engaged toServilia, daughter ofPublius Servilius Isauricus, but instead became engaged toClaudia, stepdaughter of Antony, to solidify their political union.[125] Octavian also relinquished the consulship to Antony's allyPublius Ventidius.[126]
The triumvirs then set in motionproscriptions, in which some 300 men were targetedas outlaws, divided roughly evenly between senators and equestrians.[130] Thousands more had their properties confiscated.[m] Contemporary Roman historians provide conflicting reports as to which triumvir was most responsible for the proscriptions and killing.[134] However, the sources agree that the proscriptions enabled all three to eliminate political enemies.[135][n]
The triumvirs initiated the proscriptions partly to raise money to pay the salaries of their troops for the upcoming conflict against Caesar's assassins, Brutus and Cassius, but the main intention was the removal of wartime rivals.[143] The triumvirs seized the proscripts' property.[144] However much money was raised was insufficient,[145] so the triumvirs introduced a range of new taxes to fund their war. They reinstitutedproperty taxes and created new imposts on slaves, before also demanding property assessments for taxes on rich women that were reduced after apublic protest of women in Rome.[146]
Adenarius mintedc. 18 BC. Obverse:CAESAR AVGVSTVS; reverse: comet of eight rays with tail upward;DIVVS IVLIV[S], "divine Julius".
On 1 January 42 BC, with Lepidus as consul,[147] 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 wasdivi filius ('son of the divine').[148] Antony and Octavian then led twenty-eight legions east against Brutus and Cassius.[149] After twobattles at Philippi in Macedonia in October 42 BC, the Caesarians were victorious; Brutus and Cassius both died by suicide.[150] Claiming responsibility for both victories, Antony branded Octavian a coward for handing over his direct military control toMarcus Vipsanius Agrippa.[151] Octavian was bedridden with illness during the first battle,[152] allegedly removing himself from command over the camp per his doctor's advice,[153] but captured Brutus's camp during the second battle.[154]
After Philippi, the triumvirs again divided the provinces. Lepidus was suspected of colluding withSextus Pompey,[155] the son of Pompey and renegade general who had beengiven command over all Mediterranean coastlines by the anti-Caesarian Senate in 43 BC.[156][o] Cisalpine Gaul was combined withItalia and given to Octavian along with the provinces ofHispania Citerior andHispania Ulterior that Lepidus had to forfeit.[157] Antony travelled east toEgypt where he allied himself withCleopatra, a Roman client ruler, former lover of Julius Caesar, and mother of Caesar's sonCaesarion.[158] In addition to the eastern provinces, Antony controlledGallia Comata and took Gallia Narbonensis from Lepidus,[159] who was left with theprovince of Africa.[160]
Octavian was left to settle tens of thousands of discharged veterans in Italy.[161] Those who fought for Brutus and Cassius also required settlement for their pacification.[162] There was no more public land to allot, so Octavian chose to confiscate land from citizens, instead of alienating the soldiers who could mount a real threat to the regime in Italy.[163] The settlements affected some eighteen cities, with entire populations fully or partially evicted.[164]
Romanaureus bearing the portraits ofMark Antony (left) and Octavian (right), issued to celebrate their reconciliation in October 40 BCCleopatra andMark Antony on theobverse and reverse, respectively, of a silvertetradrachm struck at the mint ofAntioch in 36 BC, with Greeklegends
These veteran settlements brought Octavian widespread dissatisfaction. The disaffected rallied to Mark Antony's brotherLucius Antonius, who was supported by a majority in the Senate.[165] Meanwhile, Octavian asked for a divorce from Claudia, Antony's stepdaughter. He returned Claudia to her mother,Fulvia, claiming that their marriage had never been consummated.[166] Fulvia decided to take action. She and Lucius Antonius raised an army in Italy to fight for Antony's rights against Octavian.[167] Lucius even briefly took Rome, forcing Lepidus and his two legions to flee the city.[168] However, the Roman army still depended on the triumvirs for their salaries.[169] Lucius and his allies ended up in a defensive siege atPerusia, where Octavianforced their surrender in February 40 BC.[170] Octavian spared Lucius, while Fulvia fled toSicyon in Greece[171] and died shortly afterwards.[172] On 15 March, the anniversary of Julius Caesar's assassination, Octavian had 300 Roman senators and equestrians executed for allying with Lucius.[173][p] Perusia was also sacked,[175] though it is unclear if Octavian's troops or local inhabitants started the fires.[174] These reprisals sullied Octavian's reputation.[176]
Sextus Pompey affirmed his control ofSicily as part of an agreement with the triumvirate in 40 BC,[177] and gained control ofSardinia and Corsica in 39.[178] Both Antony and Octavian vied for an alliance with him.[179] Octavian established a temporary alliance in 40 BC when he marriedScribonia, an aunt of Sextus's wife.[180] A year later, Scribonia gave birth to Octavian's only natural child,Julia, on the same day that he divorced her to marryLivia Drusilla.[181] When Livia began her affair with Octavian, she was already married toTiberius Claudius Nero, had a sonTiberius with Nero, and was pregnant with their second child. She gave birth to her second son,Drusus, several months after her divorce from Nero and marriage to Octavian.[182]
While in Egypt, Antony had been engaged in an affair with Cleopatra and had fathered two children with her.[183][q] Antony's Gallic provinces fell into Octavian's hands after the death of Antony's legateQuintus Fufius Calenus in 40 BC.[186] 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. However, with both of their armies revolting, the men were forced to reconcile.[187] In late 40, the triumvirs divided the empire between Antony in the east, Octavian in the west, and Lepidus in Africa.[188] Italy was left open to all for the recruitment of soldiers, but in reality this provision was useless for Antony.[189] Now in a stronger position due to theParthian threat in Antony's provinces,[190] Octavian gave his sister,Octavia Minor, in marriage to Antony.[191]
Adenarius ofSextus Pompey, minted for his victory over Octavian's fleet. Obverse: the place where he defeated Octavian, Pharus ofMessina decorated with a statue of Neptune; before that galley adorned with aquila, sceptre & trident;MAG. PIVS IMP. ITER. Reverse, the monsterScylla, her torso of dogs and fish tails, wielding a rudder as a club. Caption:PRAEF[ECTUS] CLAS[SIS] ET ORAE MARIT[IMAE] EX S. C.
Before the battles of Philippi, Octavian had sentSalvidienus Rufus to remove Sextus Pompey from Sicily, but after Rufus's defeat, the triumvirs recognized Sextus's Mediterranean command at Brundisium in 40 BC.[192] When Sextus resumed his blockade, a starving angry mob in Rome blamed Octavian and Antony and attacked them in early 39 BC; Antony's forces rescued Octavian and dispersed the mob.[193] Another temporary peace agreement was reached in 39 BC atMisenum. Sextus lifted the blockade on Italy once Octavian granted himSardinia,Corsica,Sicily, and thePeloponnese and ensured him a future position in the consulship.[194][r]
The agreement between the triumvirate and Sextus began to crumble when Octavian divorced Scribonia and married Livia in 38 BC.[200] After Antony refused to relinquish the Peloponnese, Sextus reimposed his blockade, starting food riots at Rome.[201] Sextus's naval commanderMenas defected, handing over Corsica and Sardinia.[202] However, after Octavian's naval forces were defeated atCumae,[203] Octavian lacked the resources to confront Sextus alone, so he sought Antony's help, extending their terms for another five-year period beginning in 37 BC.[204]
In supporting Octavian, Antony expected to gain support for his own campaign against the Parthians.[205] AtTarentum in mid-37 BC,[206] Antony provided 120 ships for Octavian to use against Sextus,[207] while Octavian was to send 20,000 legionaries to Antony for useagainst Parthia. Two years later Octavian sent only a tenth of those promised, which Antony viewed as a provocation.[208] Meanwhile, Octavian tasked Agrippa with creating the artificial harborPortus Julius for the training and shipbuilding ofOctavian's naval fleet.[209]
Octavian and Lepidus launched a joint operation against Sextus in Sicily in 36 BC.[210] Octavian wasshipwrecked in Sicily,[211] but Agrippa defeated Sextusat Mylae in August[212] before almost destroying Sextus's forces atNaulochus in September.[213] Sextus fled to the east, but Antony had him executed atMiletus in 35 BC.[214]
As Lepidus and Octavian accepted the surrender of Sextus's troops, Lepidus attempted to claim Sicily for himself. However, Lepidus's troops deserted him after Octavian bribed them.[215] Octavian forced Lepidus into retirement but allowed him to remainpontifex maximus ('supreme pontiff').[216] Octavian protected Roman citizens' rights to property, settled his discharged soldiers outside of Italy,[217] and returned 30,000 slaves to their former Roman owners after they had fled to join Pompey's army and navy.[218] To ensure his family's safety once he returned to Rome, he had the Senate grant him, his wife, and his sistertribunician immunity, orsacrosanctitas.[219]
After defeating Sextus,Octavian campaigned in Illyricum (in what is now Croatia).[220] During the first campaign in 35 BC he destroyed Segesta (modernSiscia) and was wounded by a collapsingsiege ramp when he besieged Metulum (along theKolpa River).[221] The Senate lauded these efforts, though Octavian postponed a triumph for his victories,[222] and only later acknowledged the contributions of commanders Agrippa andStatilius Taurus.[223][s]
In 36 BC, Octavian ostentatiously declared the civil wars at an end and offered to step down as triumvir if only Antony would do the same. Antony refused.[226]Antony's Parthian campaign in 36 BC turned into a debacle, tarnishing his image as a leader.[227] The mere 2,000 legionaries sent by Octavian to Antony, traveling with his wife Octavia, were hardly enough to replenish his lost forces.[228] On the other hand, Cleopatra, with her enormous wealth, could restore his army to full strength.[229] Her and Antony's third child,Ptolemy Philadelphus, was born in 36 BC,[230] so in 35 BC Antony decided to send Octavia back to Rome.[231] Octavian attacked Antony for rejecting his Roman spouse for a foreign queen.[232] He also sought to convince the Senate that Antony had ambitions to diminish the preeminence of Rome.[233] When Octavian assumed the consulship of 33 BC, he opened the Senate with a vehement attack on Antony's grants of titles and territories to his relatives and Cleopatra, later known as theDonations of Alexandria.[234]
In early 32 BC, amid an intensewar of propaganda with Octavian, Antony divorced Octavia.[235] The new consulsGaius Sosius andGnaeus Domitius Ahenobarbus supported Antony and threatened to revoke Octavian's triumviral authority.[236] This prompted Octavian to enter theSenate house and denounce Antony and Sosius; both consuls and many senators then fled Rome for Antony.[237] However, two of Antony's key supporters,Lucius Munatius Plancus andMarcus Titius, defected to Octavian in autumn.[238] They offered him vital information about Antony's will, which Antony published after marching on theTemple of Vesta. The will would have given away Roman-conquered territories as kingdoms for his sons to rule and designatedAlexandria as the site of a tomb for him and Cleopatra.[239]
In late 32 BC, the Senate revoked Antony's consulship for the following year anddeclared war on Cleopatra.[240][t] Octavian used emergency powers (tumultus) to have men of military age throughout the Republic swear an oath of loyalty to him.[243] In early 31 BC, as Antony and Cleopatra moved to Greece, Octavian's forces under Agrippa transited the Adriatic Sea,[244] and cut off their main force from their supply routes in theIonian Sea.[245] Octavian then landed inEpirus,[246] and proceeded to march south.[247] Trapped on land and sea, Antony's men started to desert as Octavian prepared for battle.[248]
This mid-1st-century BCRoman wall painting in the House of Marcus Fabius Rufus,Pompeii, is most likely a depiction ofCleopatra VII ofPtolemaic Egypt asVenus Genetrix, with her sonCaesarion asCupid, similar in appearance to the now-lost statue of Cleopatra erected byJulius Caesar in theTemple of Venus Genetrix (within theForum of Caesar). Its owner walled off the room with this painting, most likely in immediate reaction to the execution of Caesarion on orders of Augustus in 30 BC, when artistic depictions of Caesarion would have been considered a sensitive issue for the ruling regime.[249]
Antony's fleet sailed through the bay ofActium along theAmbracian Gulf of western Greece to break theblockade.[250] There, they fought theBattle of Actium on 2 September 31 BC.[251] Cleopatra and her portion of the fleet withdrew early in the battle and Antony later joined them;[252] Cleopatra's fleet spared Antony's remaining forces in a last-ditch effort.[253] Antony's nearby forces on land surrendered to Octavian after attempting a retreat through Macedonia.[254][u] Variousclient kings now defected to Octavian.[256][v] Octavian would later establish a new city—Nicopolis ('victory city')—near the site of the battle at Actium.[258]
On 1 August 30 BC, Octaviandefeated Antony at Alexandria; Antony then died by suicide.[259] After meeting with Octavian and refusing to be paraded in a triumph at Rome,[260]Cleopatra took her own life with poison.[261] Octavian had exploited his position as Caesar's heir to further his own political career, and he was well aware of the dangers in allowing another person to do the same.[262] He therefore ordered the death of Cleopatra's son Caesarion.[263] He also had Antony's sonMarcus Antonius Antyllus killed,[264] but sparedIullus Antonius and Antony's children by Cleopatra.[265] Octavian had previously shown little mercy to surrendered enemies, yet he pardoned many of his opponents after the Battle of Actium.[266] He also ensured that Cleopatra was buried with Antonyin their tomb.[267] He appointed Cleopatra's daughterCleopatra Selene II and her husband,Juba II ofNumidia, as the new co-rulers ofMauretania following their marriage in 25 BC.[268]
Octavian would become thefirst Roman emperor as Augustus and also the firstRoman pharaoh of Egypt, though he did not partake inEgyptian coronation rites or worship of theApis bull,[275] and he never visited Egypt again after 30 BC.[276] Before returning to Rome, Octavian wintered in 30 BC on the Greek island ofSamos.[277] In August 29, he celebrated three triumphs in Rome for his victories in Illyria, Greece, and Egypt.[278] He and Agrippa were elected as the consuls for 28 BC,[279] and granted the powers of acensor so as to conduct thecensus.[280]
After defeating Antony and Cleopatra, Octavian was in a position to rule the entire Republic under an unofficialprincipate, with himself asprinceps ('leading citizen'[282] or 'first citizen'[283]).[w] He achieved this incrementally by courting theSenate and people of Rome while purporting not to aspire to dictatorship or monarchy.[285] The termprinceps was previously applied to influential aristocrats and Octavian would embrace this title as part of his self-representation as restorer of the Republic.[286]
Years of civil war had left Rome in a state of near lawlessness,[287] but republican tradition militated against an autocrat. At the same time, Octavian could not give up his authority without risking war.[288] The Senate and people desired a return to stability, traditional legality, civility, and the assurance offree elections—which would be conducted in name at least under Octavian, soon to beprinceps Augustus.[289][x] The gradual fashioning of this regime involved trial by error and experimentation,[291] popular support for legally sanctioned moves,[292] and appointed term limits for offices in perhaps a cautious attemp to avoid the same fate as Julius Caesar.[293][y]
On 13 January 27 BC, Octavian made a show of returning power to the Senate and relinquishing his provinces and armies.[295] He was no longer in direct control of the provinces and their armies, but he retained the loyalty of serving soldiers and veterans. The careers of many clients and adherentsdepended on his patronage, as his financial power was unrivaled.[296][z] Other senators refrained from spending to build and maintain roads in Italy in 20 BC, but Octavian undertook direct responsibility on behalf of the public. This was publicized on the Roman currency issued in 16 BC, after he donated vast amounts of money to theaerarium Saturni, the public treasury.[298]
Octavian as a magistrate. The statue's marble head was madec. 30–20 BC, the body sculpted in the 2nd century AD (Louvre, Paris)
In an agreement known as the first settlement,[299] Octavian was able to continue the appearance of a still-functionalconstitution through the Senate proposing to him that he once again assume control of the provinces. Feigning reluctance, on 16 January 27 BC he accepted a ten-year responsibility of overseeing provinces that were considered chaotic.[300] The provinces ceded to Octavian—now Augustus—for that ten-year period constituted much of the Roman world, including all of Hispania andGaul,Syria,Cilicia, Cyprus, andEgypt.[301] Moreover, command of these provinces provided Augustus with control over the majority of Rome's legions.[302] Octavian-Augustus's power was ultimately rooted in his control over Rome's military.[303]
Octavian-Augustus became the most powerful political figure in the Republic, but he did not have a monopoly on political and martial power.[304] The Senate still controlled thegrain-producing North Africa as well as the militarily strategic Illyria and Macedonia.[305] However, the Senate had control of only five or six legions distributed among three senatorial proconsuls, compared to the twenty legions under Augustus's control, and their control of these regions did not amount to any political or military challenge to Augustus.[306] TheSenate sharing control over provinces with proconsuls had precedent, and Augustus used republican legal frameworks to amass power.[307]
While Augustus acted as consul in Rome, he dispatched senators to the provinces under his command as his representatives to manage provincial affairs. The Senate chose governors to oversee the remaining provinces.[308] Augustus issued instructions and edicts not only tohis own legates but also to independent proconsuls governing public provinces that were nominally under senatorial control.[309] Augustus's control of entire provinces followed Republican-era precedents for the limited objective of securing peace and creating stability, with Pompey having been given asimilar level of command across theRoman world.[310][aa]
On 16 January 27 BC[316] the Senate gave Octavian the new title ofaugustus.[317][ab] It was a title of religious rather than political authority, and it indicated that Octavian now approached divinity.[327] FutureRoman emperors inherited the honorificaugustus, and it became their main title.[328] His former titleRomulus, after the legendary founder of Rome, was associated too strongly with notions ofmonarchy and kingship, an image that Octavian tried to avoid.[329] The Senate also confirmed his position asprinceps senatus ('leader of the Senate').[330] Augustus now styled himself asImperator Caesar divi filius ('Commander Caesar son of the deified one').[331][ac] With this title, he boasted his familial link to deified Julius Caesar, and the use ofimperator signified a permanent link to the Roman tradition of victory.[332][ad] He transformedCaesar, a cognomen for one branch of theJulian family, into a new imperial family line that began with him.[332]
Augustus was granted the right to hang thecorona civica ('civic crown') above his door and to have laurels drape his doorposts.[334] He renounced flaunting insignia of power such as holding a scepter, wearing adiadem, or wearing the golden crown and purple toga of Julius Caesar.[335] Nonetheless, the Senate awarded him with a golden shield displayed in the meeting hall of theCuria, bearing the inscriptionvirtus, pietas, clementia, iustitia ('valor, piety, clemency, and justice').[336] By the summer of 27 BC he left Rome and traveled toGaul.[337] From 26 to 24 BC he governed the Empire fromTarraco inRoman Spain, overseeingmilitary campaigns in the Iberian peninsula until his return to Rome.[338]
Portraits of Augustus show the emperor with idealized features.
By 23 BC, some of the un-republican implications were becoming apparent concerning the settlement of 27 BC. Augustus's retention of an annual consulate drew attention to hisde facto dominance over the Roman political system and cut in half the opportunities for others to achieve what was still nominally the preeminent position in the Roman state.[339] Augustus caused political problems by desiring to have his nephewMarcus Claudius Marcellus follow in his footsteps and eventually assume the principate in his turn.[340][ae] He appointed noted republicanCalpurnius Piso (who had fought against Julius Caesar and supported Cassius and Brutus[341]) as co-consul in 23 BC, after his choiceAulus Terentius Varro Murena died unexpectedly.[342]
Resignation from the consulship
In the late spring Augustus had asevere illness and on his supposed deathbed made arrangements that would ensure the continuation of the principate,[343][af] while allaying senators' suspicions of his anti-republicanism. Augustus prepared to hand down his signet ring to his favored general Agrippa, and 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. Augustus's supposedly favored nephew Marcellus came away empty-handed.[346] This was a surprise to many who believed Augustus would have named an heir to his position as an unofficial emperor.[347]
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.[348] Having sidelined him, it appears that Augustus did not view the 19-year-old Marcellus as being ready to inherit his position as princeps.[349] By giving his signet ring to Agrippa, Augustus signaled to the legions that Agrippa was a potential successor who they should obey,constitutional procedure notwithstanding.[350]
The emperor's illness subsided while under the care of his personalphysicianAntonius Musa,[352][ag] and soon afterwards on 1 July 23 BC Augustus gave up his consulship.[354] He would serve as consul only twice more, in 5 and 2 BC,[355] both times to introduce his grandsons into public life.[356] Augustus's resignation from the consulship allowed him to exercise wider patronage within the senatorial class while allowing aspiring senators a better chance to become consul.[357] However, Augustus desired to retain his consularimperium not just in his provinces but throughout the empire,[358] leading to another compromise between him and the Senate known as the second settlement.[359]
Marcus Primus affair
After Augustus relinquished the annual consulship, he was no longer in an official position to rule the state. However, his dominant position remained unchanged over his 'imperial' provinces where he was still a proconsul.[360] When he annually held the office of consul, he had the power to intervene with the affairs of the other provincial proconsuls appointed by the Senate throughout the empire, when he deemed necessary.[361]
A second problem later arose showing the need for the second settlement in what became known as the "Marcus Primus affair".[362] In late 24 or early 23 BC, charges were brought against Marcus Primus, the former proconsul (governor) of Macedonia, for waging a war without prior approval of the Senate on theOdrysian kingdom ofThrace, whose king was a Roman ally.[363]Lucius Licinius Varro Murena defended Primus, telling the trial that Augustus had ordered Primus to attack the client state.[364] Later, Primus testified that the orders came from the recently deceased Marcellus.[365] Such orders would have been considered a breach of the Senate's prerogative under the settlement of 27 BC, since Macedonia was a senatorial province under the Senate's jurisdiction, not an imperial province under the authority of Augustus. This had the potential to rip away Augustus's veneer of republican restoration, and expose his fraud of merely being a first among equals.[366] Marcellus's involvement provided proof that Augustus intended to have the youth take his place as princeps and establish a monarchy over Rome.[367]
Augustus asJupiter, holding a scepter and orb (first half of the 1st century AD)
The situation was so serious that Augustus appeared at the trial even though he had not been called as a witness. Under oath, he declared that he gave no such order.[368] Murena disbelieved Augustus's testimony and resented his attempt to subvert the trial by using hisauctoritas. He demanded to know why Augustus appeared at the trial; Augustus replied that he came in the public interest.[369] The jurors found Primus guilty,[370] though some voted to acquit, meaning that not everybody believed Augustus's testimony.[371]
Greater proconsular authority
The second settlement was completed in part to allay confusion and formalize Augustus's legal authority to intervene in senatorial provinces. The Senate granted Augustus a form of generalimperium proconsulare ('proconsular power') that applied throughout the empire, not solely to his provinces. Moreover, the Senate augmented Augustus's proconsular imperium intoimperium proconsulare maius ('greater proconsular power'). This form of proconsular imperium was applicable throughout the empire and in effectgave Augustus constitutional power superior to all other proconsuls.[372] Augustus stayed in Rome during the renewal process and provided veterans with lavish donations to gain their support, thereby ensuring that his status ofproconsular imperium maius was renewed in 13 BC.[373]
Additional powers
Portrait of Augustus. Sardonyx cameo; gilt silver mount with pearls, sapphires and red glass beads, 16th/17th centuries.The head of theVia Labicana Augustus statue depicting the emperor aspontifex maximus, Roman artwork of the late Augustan period, last decade of the 1st century BC
Powers of the tribune
During the second settlement, Augustus was also granted the power of atribune (tribunicia potestas) for life, though not the official title of tribune.[374] For some years, Augustus had been awardedtribunicia sacrosanctitas, the immunity given to a tribune of the plebs. Now he decided to assume the full powers of the magistracy, renewed annually, in perpetuity.[375] Legally, it was closed topatricians, a status that Augustus had acquired when adopted by Julius Caesar.[357] This power allowed him to convene the Senate and people at will and lay business before them, to veto the actions of either the Assembly or the Senate, to preside over elections, and to speak first at any meeting.[376] The office of thetribunus plebis began to lose its prestige due to Augustus's amassing of tribunal powers, so he revived its importance by making it a mandatory appointment for any plebeian desiring the praetorship.[377]
Powers of the censor
Also included in Augustus's tribunician authority were powers usually reserved for theRoman censor; these included the right to supervise public morals and scrutinize laws to ensure that they were in the public interest, as well as the ability to hold a census and determine the membership of the Senate.[378] 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.[379] 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.[377] Appealing to patriotic sentiments, Augustus is alleged to have used censorial powers to banall attire except the classictoga for those entering the Forum.[380] However, given garbled claims in primary sources, it is possible that his powers of the censorship may have only been temporary or even refused by Augustus.[381]
Imperium over the city of Rome
Augustus was granted soleimperium within the city of Rome in addition to being granted proconsularimperium maius and tribunician authority for life.[382] Traditionally, proconsuls (Roman provincial governors) lost theirimperium when they crossed thepomerium—the sacred boundary of Rome—and entered the city. In these situations, Augustus held tribunician authority, but the consuls held greater authority. While others would usually obey his wishes owing to hisauctoritas, there might be some difficulty. In either 23 or 19 BC,[383][ah] the Senate voted that Augustus'simperium proconsulare maius ('superior proconsular power') should not lapse when he was inside the city walls.[384] All armed forces in the city had formerly been under the control of the urban praetors and consuls, but they now came under the sole authority of Augustus.[385]
Augustus received credit for every Roman military victory after the second settlement,[386] because the majority of Rome's armies were stationed in imperial provinces commanded by Augustus through thelegati, his provincial deputies.[387] If a battle was fought in a senatorial province, Augustus's proconsularimperium maius allowed him to take command and credit for any major military victory.[388] With few exceptions Augustus was the only individual who could receive atriumph,[389] a tradition that began with Romulus,Rome's first king and first triumphant general.[387] For celebrating his victory against theGaramantes inRoman Libya in 19 BC,Cornelius Balbus was the last person outside the family of Augustus to receive a triumph.[390][ai] Tiberius, Augustus's eldest stepson, received a triumph in 7 BC for victories in Germania in 8 BC,[393] and again for victories in Illyria (Pannonia) in AD 9,[394] celebrated in AD 12.[395] For that campaign, his nephewGermanicus was instead granted theornamenta triumphalia ('triumphal honors'), a praetorship, and the ability to serve as a candidate for the consulship despite his young age.[394]
Augustus received emissaries fromas far east as India,[396] and his court included political exiles from as far north as theBritish Isles with the chieftainsDubnovellaunus andTincomarus.[397][aj] Foreign embassies typically came to Augustus directly rather than to the Senate,[399] though Augustus was careful to show respect to the Senate in certain cases. For instance, when theParthians sent ambassadors to Augustus in 20 BC, he referred them to the Senate, but the latter sent them back to Augustus so they could negotiate solely with him instead.[400] Petitions to Augustus fromprovinces and semi-autonomous municipalities were handled similarly to embassies of Roman client states and foreign countries, traveling to the emperor's court as his administration moved to different locations across the Empire.[401] In AD 8, the elderly Augustus assigned the exhausting work of managing foreign embassies to three ex-consuls, granting them the power to make all decisions that did not require his or the Senate's oversight.[402]
Many of the political subtleties of the second settlement seem to have evaded the comprehension of his supporters in the plebeian class, leading them to insist upon Augustus's participation in imperial affairs and form violent mobs on occasion.[403] When Augustus refused to stand for election as consul in 22 BC and traveled to Sicily on another tour of the Empire, theComitia centuriata voted in his absence to have him serve as co-consul for the following year, despite not being one of the candidates.[404] A riot occurred in Rome when only a single consulMarcus Lollius assumed office on 1 January 21 BC and the factions of the two remaining candidates fought each other. Infuriated, Augustus summoned both candidates to Sicily and settled on havingone of them serve out the year as co-consul.[405]
A food shortage in Rome during 22 BC sparked widespread panic, as many urban plebs called for Augustus to take on dictatorial powers to personally oversee the crisis. After a theatrical display of refusal before the Senate, Augustus finally accepted authority over Rome's grain supply through the use of his existing proconsularimperium, and ended the crisis almost immediately.[406] It was not until AD 8 that a food crisis of this sort prompted Augustus to establish apraefectus annonae, a permanent prefect who was in charge of procuring food supplies for Rome.[407]
Some people 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.[408] Some time prior to 1 September 22 BC, a certain Castricius provided Augustus with information about a conspiracy led by Fannius Caepio.[409] The conspirators, among whom was the consul Murena in the Marcus Primus affair, were tried in absentia with Tiberius acting as prosecutor; the jury found them guilty, but it was not a unanimous verdict.[410] All the accused were sentenced to death for treason and executed as soon as they were captured—without ever giving testimony in their defense.[411] Augustus ensured that the facade of republican government continued with an effective cover-up of the events.[412]
In 19 BC, the Senate granted Augustusimperium consulare maius proconsular powers in addition to those received in 23 BC, another instance of gaining power from offices he did not hold,[413] now fully applicable to Italy and Rome.[414] To assuage the restless populace,[415] Augustus was allowed to wear the consul's insignia in public and before the Senate,[385] as well as to sit in the symbolic chair between the two consuls and hold thefasces, an emblem of consular authority.[416] On 6 March 12 BC, after the death ofLepidus, he assumed the position ofpontifex maximus, the high priest of the College of Pontiffs.[417][ak] On 5 February 2 BC, the Senate gave Augustus the titlepater patriae ('father of the country'), which was then inscribed in various places in Rome such as theSenate chambers in theForum Romanum.[420]
HistorianRonald Syme wrote that Augustus's death could leave Rome subject to another round of civil war, given thepublic memory of theBattle of Pharsalus, the Ides of March, the proscriptions, Philippi, and Actium.[421] Possibly during the 20s BC and certainly by 18 BC,[422] proconsular imperium was conferred upon Agrippa for five years, similar to Augustus's power, in order to accomplish constitutional stability. The exact nature of the grant is uncertain but it probably covered Augustus's imperial provinces if not authority over senatorial provinces.[423] Like Augustus, Agrippa was also granted the powers of the tribunate.[424]
By AD 13, Augustus boasted 21 occasions where his troops proclaimed himimperator after a successful battle.[425] The fourth chapter in his publicly released memoirs of achievements known as theRes Gestae is devoted tohis military victories and honors.[426] Augustus also promoted the ideal of a superior Roman civilization, a sentiment the poetVirgil attributed to a legendary ancestor of Augustus:tu regere imperio populos, Romane, memento ('Roman, remember to rule the Earth's peoples with authority!').[380] The impulse forexpansionism was apparently prominent among all classes at Rome, and it is accorded divine sanction in Virgil'sAeneid, in whichJupiter promises Romeimperium sine fine ('sovereignty without end').[427][al]
By the end of Augustus's reign, his armies had conquered northern Hispania (modern Spain and Portugal) and theAlpine regions ofRaetia andNoricum (modern Switzerland, Bavaria, Austria, Slovenia),Illyricum and Pannonia (modern Albania, Croatia, Hungary, Serbia, etc.), and had extended the borders ofAfrica Proconsularis to the east and south.[429]Judea was added to theprovince of Syria when Augustus deposed theclient kingHerod Archelaus.[430] After the Senate assigned Syria to Augustus in 27 BC it was initially governed by legates under Agrippa,[431] and then by a high prefect of the equestrian class rather than by a proconsul or legate of Augustus.[429] In AD 6 Augustus also appointed an equestrian governor inSardinia afterpirate raids necessitated the presence of troops stationed there.[432]
Bust ofTiberius, a successful military commander under Augustus who was designated as his heir and successor,Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek, Copenhagen
No military effort was needed in 25 BC when the Romans madeGalatia (part of modern Turkey) a province after the murder of its king,Amyntas.[433] In 19 BC, Agrippafinally quelled the rebellious tribes ofAsturias andCantabria in modern-day Spain, and the territory fell under the provinces of Hispania andLusitania.[434] This region proved to be a major asset in funding Augustus's future military campaigns, as it was rich in mineral deposits that could be fostered in Roman mining projects, especially the very rich gold deposits atLas Médulas.[435]
Conquering the peoples of theAlps in 15 BC after thedisastrous defeat ofLollius in 17/16 BC was another important victory for Rome,[436][am] since it provided a large territorial buffer between the Roman citizens of Italy and Rome's enemies inGermania to the north.[437]Horace dedicated an ode to the victory, while the monumentalTrophy of Augustus was built inLa Turbie near Monaco to honor the occasion.[438] The capture of the Alpine region also served the next offensive in 12 BC, when Augustus's stepsons Tiberius and Drusus launched offensives against thePannonian tribes of Illyricum andagainst the Germanic tribes of the easternRhineland, respectively.Both campaigns were successful, as Drusus's forces reached theElbe River by 9 BC—though he died shortly after from an injury sustained by falling off his horse.[439] Tiberius rushed from Italy to Germany to see Drusus just before he died,[440] and escorted his brother's body back to Rome,[441] where he and Augustus provided eulogies for Drusus.[442] AfterIllyrian tribesrevolted in Illyricum in AD 6, Tiberius and Germanicus's forces quelled their rebellion in AD 9.[443] This was the only major rebellion within Roman provincial territory since Augustus had become emperor, and by this point he had reduced the standingRoman army from roughly 500,000 soldiersduring the civil wars down to 300,000 soldiers usedprimarily for foreign conquests.[444]
Augustus negotiated withPhraates IV ofParthia in 20 BC for the return of thebattle standards lost byCrassus in theBattle of Carrhae, a symbolic victory and great boost of morale for Rome.[447] HistoriansWerner Eck and Sarolta Takács claim that this was a great disappointment for Romans seeking to avenge Crassus's defeat by military means.[448] However, Augustus used the return of the standards aspropaganda symbolizing the submission of Parthia to Rome.[449] The event was celebrated in art such as the breastplate design on the statueAugustus of Prima Porta and in monuments such as theTemple of Mars Ultor ('Mars the Avenger') built to house the standards.[450] AfterPhraates V of Parthia managed to cleave Armenia away from Roman control, Augustus dispatched his grandsonGaius Caesar with an army to Syria in 1 BC, mounting a diplomatic pressure campaign that in AD 2 convinced Phraates V to concede to Roman demands.[451]
Parthia posed a threat to Rome inWest Asia, but the more pressing concern was the battlefront along theRhine andDanube rivers.[452] During the triumvirate, Octavian's campaigns against the tribes inDalmatia were the first step in expanding Roman dominions to the Danube.[453] Newly conquered territories were almost constantly retaken by Rome's enemies inGermania.[452] At theBattle of the Teutoburg Forest in AD 9,Arminius, the leader of theCherusci, destroyed three entire legions led byPublius Quinctilius Varus.[454] Augustus retaliated by dispatching Tiberius and Drusus to the Rhineland topacify it in AD 10 and AD 11, and these campaigns had some success.[455] However, Augustus advised Tiberius against further conquests after the defeat at Teutoburg,[456] and the Romans abandonedexpansion into Germany beyond the Rhine.[457] Although Augustus lamented the loss,[458] hisRes Gestae merely states that he pacified Germania up to themouth of the Elbe.[459][an] Under Augustus's successor Tiberius, Roman general Germanicus took advantage of a Cherusci civil war between Arminius andSegestes; at theBattle of Idistaviso in AD 16, he defeated Arminius.[461]
Augustus orderedGaius Petronius, Aelius Gallus's successor as prefect of Egypt, to invadeAethiopia,[467] afterQueenAmanirenas of theKingdom of Kush (in modernSudan) invaded Roman Egypt in 24 BC and sackedAswan andPhilae.[468] The Romans counterattacked, sackingNapata inNubia before withdrawing,[469] but Amanirenas invaded Roman Egypt again in 22 BC and threatenedPrimis (modernQasr Ibrim).[470] After Petronius withstood a Kushite assault, Amanirenas sent diplomats tonegotiate a peace treaty with Augustus on the island of Samos.[471] The treaty establishedMaharraqa as the new border with Kush (previously set at Aswan),[472] lessened the amount of Roman tribute gathered from Kush,[431] and guaranteed peaceful trade relations between Roman Egypt and Nubia.[473] Rome had better fortune in theMaghreb of North Africa, whereCossus Cornelius Lentulus quashed a rebellion of theGaetuli against Rome's Mauretanian client ruler Juba II in AD 6.[432]
The vague illness suffered by Augustus in 23 BC brought the problem of succession to the forefront.[474][ao] To ensure stability, he needed to designate an heir. This also needed to be done subtly so that it did not trigger fears of monarchy. If someone was to succeed to Augustus's position of power, he would first have to be recognized as meritful.[476]
Some historians argue that Augustus favored his nephew Marcellus, who had married Augustus's daughter Julia.[477] Other historians argue that Augustus's will, read to the Senate during his illness in 23 BC, indicated a preference forMarcus Agrippa,[478] who was Augustus's second in charge and a respected military commander.[479] After Marcellus died in 23 BC, Augustus remarried his daughter Julia to Agrippa in 21 BC.[480] This union produced five children, three sons and two daughters.[481] In 18 BC,[422] Agrippa was granted a five-year appointment to the eastern provinces with proconsular imperium and also thetribunicia potestas that Augustus possessed.[482] This grant showed Augustus's favor but upset some senators from the traditional aristocracy.[483]
Augustus adopted his grandsons Gaius andLucius, illuminating his intent to make them his heirs.[484] He served as consul in 5 and 2 BC so that he could personally usher them into their political careers.[485] Gaius was consul for AD 1, with Augustus having him wait until he turned 21,[486][ap] while Lucius died before his designated consulship.[488] Augustus also showed favor to his stepsons Tiberius and Drusus, granting them public offices while seeming to favor Drusus.[489] Tiberius married Agrippa's eldest daughter,Vipsania Agrippina,[490] while Drusus married Augustus's nieceAntonia.[491] After Agrippa died in 12 BC, Augustus ordered Tiberius to divorce Vipsania for the widowed Julia.[492] Drusus and Antonia's marriage was considered an unbreakable affair, whereas Vipsania was deemed less important.[493] Drusus died in 9 BC.[440]
Tiberius shared in Augustus's tribunician powers from 6 BC but shortly thereafter withdrew into retirement, reportedly wanting no further role in politics.[495] No specific reason is known for his departure, though it could have been a combination of reasons: a failing marriage with Julia,[496] whom Augustus exiled for adultery in 2 BC,[497] or his envy for the younger Gaius and Lucius.[498] Gaius and Lucius 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.[499]
After the deaths of Lucius in AD 2 and Gaius in AD 4, Augustus recalled Tiberius to Rome in June AD 4 and adopted him, on the condition that Tiberius adopt his nephew Germanicus.[500] This continued the tradition of presenting at least two generations of heirs.[501] In AD 4 Tiberius was also granted thetribunicia potestas and a proconsular post in Germany; for his efforts there and in Illyricum, he eventually triumphed.[502] By AD 13, he had received theimperium maius proconsulare equalling that of Augustus.[503]
The only other possible claimant wasAgrippa Postumus, Augustus's youngest grandson. However, Augustus had exiled him toSorrento in AD 6 and then toPlanasia AD 7.[504] Agrippa's banishment was made permanent by senatorial decree,[505] and Augustus officially disowned him for his lack of good character and alleged involvement in a conspiracy.[506] After Tiberius succeeded Augustus, he was most likely the one who had Agrippa killed in exile.[507]
Death of Augustus
On 19 August AD 14, Augustus died atNola, where his father had died.[508] BothTacitus and Cassius Dio claimed Livia poisoned him. Many historians dismiss the alleged poisoning, however, as a fabrication to discredit her son Tiberius. Livia had long been the target of similar (probably false) rumors of poisoning.[509] If poisoning is accepted, it is possible that Livia supplied a poisoned fig toassist death.[510] Augustus's health had declined in the months before his death and he had made significant preparations for a smooth transition in power to Tiberius.[511]
Augustus's famous last words were, "Have I played the part well? Then applaud as I exit" (Acta est fabula, plaudite).[512] An enormous procession of mourners travelled with Augustus's body from Nola to Rome, with all business closed on his funeral.[513] Tiberius and his sonDrusus delivered the eulogy while standing atop tworostra.[514] Augustus's body was coffin-bound and cremated on a pyre close tohis mausoleum.[515]
On 17 September 27 BC the Senate proclaimed Augustus to have joined the company of the gods and hisadoptive father Julius Caesar as a member of the Romanpantheon.[516] People in Rome's eastern provinces had worshipped Octavian as aliving deity since his victory at Actium.[517] There was even limited worship of him as a living god in some of Rome's western provinces, primarily atLugdunum (Sanctuary of the Three Gauls in modern Lyon, France) andOppidum Ubiorum (Ara Ubiorum in modern Cologne, Germany),[517] but not at Rome where such worship remained taboo. Only hisgenius (spirit or general divine nature) was allowed worship there.[518]
Left: Augustus in a copper engraving by Giovanni Battista Cavalieri; from the bookRomanorum Imperatorum effigies (1583), preserved in the Municipal Library ofTrento (Italy)Right: From theTrès Riches Heures du Duc de Berry (1412–1416), the Virgin Mary and Child (top), the prophetessSibyl Tivoli (bottom left) and Augustus (bottom right). The likeness of Augustus is that of theByzantine emperorManuel II Palaiologos.[519]
The surname Caesar and the titleaugustus became permanent titles of Roman rulers for fourteen centuries after Augustus's death, used in Rome andConstantinople following theEmpire's division.[526]Caesar formed the root of laterregnal titles such as the Germankaiser and Russianczar.[527] Emperors preferred his title ofcivilis princeps for three centuries until they adopted the titledomini ('lords'), beginning withDiocletian.[528] His adoptive nameImperator ('victorious general') served as the etymological root of the word 'emperor', though it did not possess this connotation in Augustus's lifetime.[529] The emperors alone held the office ofpontifex maximus untilthe fall of theWestern Roman Empire, after which thepapacy adopted it.[530]
Augustus composed an account of his achievements, theRes Gestae Divi Augusti, to be inscribed in bronze in front of his mausoleum.[531] Copies of the text were inscribed throughout the empire upon his death.[532] TheLatin inscriptions, along with Greek translations, were inscribed on many public edifices, and historianTheodor Mommsen called them the "queen of inscriptions".[533] TheRes Gestae is the only major work by Augustus to have survived, though he is also known to have composed poems entitled"Sicilia","Epiphanus", and"Ajax", an autobiography of 13 books, a philosophical treatise, and a written rebuttal to Brutus'sEulogy of Cato.[534] Augustus's private letters also reveal facts about his personal life.[535] The poetMartial preserved a sexually crude poem allegedly written by Octavian during the Perusine War, which pokes fun atGlaphyra, Antony, and Fulvia.[536]Pliny the Elder suggested that Augustus displayed and finished Agrippa'sworld map publicly exhibited in thePorticus Vipsania.[537] This map would later form the basis of variousmedieval world maps.[538]
In hisRes Gestae, Augustus defined the relative peace established by his reign as a peace "born of victories" (parta victoriis pax)[539] in the civil wars.[540] It ensured Romans and subjugated peoples within their Empire upheld a cohesive social pact: the latter would relinquish their sovereignty and pay taxes in exchange for the preservation of their customs and the protection of Rome.[539]Augustan artwork also incorporates this theme of peace being rooted in conquest.[541] By boasting of his many conquests, theRes Gestae emphasizes the samecode of honor found in Republicanfunerary inscriptions such asthose of the Scipios, a key element in elevating the political reputation of Roman families.[542]
Augustus throughly transformed the city of Rome, creating a permanentpolice force,firefighting force, andpraefectus ('municipal prefect').[543] Established in AD 6 and based on previous firefighting services established in 22 and 7 BC,[544] thevigiles was a combined fire brigade andpolice force divided into cohorts of 500 to 1,000 men each, with seven units assigned to fourteen divided city sectors.[543] Apraefectus vigilum ('prefect of the watch') was put in charge of thevigiles,[545] whereasvicomagistri officials had previously been in charge of each district following the fire of 7 BC.[546] Augustus created astanding army,[547] fixed at a size of 28 legions of about 170,000 soldiers,[548] reduced from 60 legions at the end of the civil wars in 30 BC.[549] This was supported by manyauxiliary units of 500 non-citizen soldiers each, often recruited from recently conquered areas.[550]
With his finances securing the maintenance of roads throughout Italy, Augustus installed an official system ofrelay stations overseen by a military officer known as thepraefectus vehiculorum.[551] Besides speeding communication in Italy, his extensive road construction allowed Roman armies to march swiftly across the country.[552] In AD 6 Augustus established theaerarium militare, donating 170 million sesterces to the new military treasury that provided for both active and retired soldiers.[553]
One of Augustus's most enduring institutions was the establishment of thePraetorian Guard in 27 BC,[554] commanded by twopraetorian prefects (later one) after Augustus created this office in 2 BC.[555] Originally a personal bodyguard unit on the battlefield, the praetorians evolved into an imperial guard as well as an important political force in Rome.[556] They served the emperors into the early 4th century.[557]
Augustus's tax reforms greatly impacted the subsequent success of the Empire, bringing it under direct taxation from Rome. This increased and stabilized Rome's revenues from its territories and regularized the financial relationship between Rome and its provinces, avoiding provincial resentments with arbitrary exaction.[558] An equally important reform was the abolition oftax farming. Thepublicani, Republican era private tax farmers, were infamous for their depredations and great wealth, so they were replaced by salaried tax collectors.[558]
Under Augustus, the measures of taxation were determined by censuses with fixed quotas for each province. Citizens of Rome and Italy paid indirect taxes, while direct taxes were exacted from the provinces. 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 thenext of kin.[559] Due to protest from equestrians, the suffect consuls for 9 AD modified and lessened penalties in theLex Papia Poppaea that affected the inheritance of estates by celibate, unmarried, or childless individuals, though it continued to generate revenues with properties of the deceased seized by the state.[560]
Augustus's annexation of Egypt allowed him to divert its immense wealth for imperial purposes.[561] Considered Augustus's private property rather than a province, it became part of each succeeding emperor's patrimonium.[562] Instead of a legate or proconsul, Augustus installed a prefect from the equestrian class to administer Egypt and maintain its lucrative seaports.[563] This position became the highest political achievement for any equestrian besides becomingpraetorian prefect.[564] Gold and silver found in the Ptolemaic royal treasury was melted down forcoins.[565] In his will, Augustus left money to his family but also 43 million sesterces to theRoman people, 1,000 sesterces to every praetorian, 500 sesterces to every soldier in urban cohorts, and 300 sesterces to each soldier.[566]
In 8 BC, theRoman month ofSextilis (orSextilus) was renamedAugust (Latin:Augustus) after Augustus.[567] Augustus chose Sextilis as it was the month of his first consulship and of his various victories.[568] In comparison, the month ofJuly (Latin:Iulius) in theJulian calendar was named after his adoptive father Julius Caesar,[569] the only other month in the Roman calendar named after a Roman.[570]
On his deathbed, Augustus boasted that he converted Rome from a city of bricks into one of marble.[573] Marble could be found inRoman buildings before Augustus, but it was not extensively used as a building material until his reign.[574][aq] He left a mark on the monumental topography of the city's center, as well as on the Campus Martius with theAra Pacis (Altar of Peace) and monumentalsundial, whose centralgnomon was anobelisktaken from Egypt.[575] Therelief sculptures decorating theAra Pacis visually augment Augustus's triumphs outlined in theRes Gestae. Its reliefs depictpraetorians, the Vestals, and the citizenry of Rome.[576]TheCorinthian order of architectural style originating fromancient Greece was the dominant architectural style in the age of Augustus.[577] Suetonius once commented that Rome was unworthy of its status as an imperial capital, yet Augustus and Agrippa set out to dismantle this sentiment.[574] They transformed the appearance of Rome upon theGreek model,[578] incorporating bothClassical andHellenistic elements with manyAthenian monuments as direct inspirations.[579]
Augustus put Agrippa in charge ofRome's water supply,sanitation,drainage system,public baths, androads.[590] Agrippa had overseen these works when he served as aedile in 33 BC,[591] and even privately funded them afterwards.[592] In 33 BC he built theAqua Julia aqueduct, along with newcisterns andwater towers.[593] After Agrippa’s death in 12 BC, Augustus had to find a solution to maintain Rome's water supply system,[594] and he arranged a system where the Senate designated three of its members as commissioners in charge of the water supply andrepair of aqueducts.[592]
During the triumvirate and early reign of Augustus, Agrippa oversaw the construction of new roads for military purposes to the Rhine frontier.[595] Augustus created the senatorial commission of thecuratores viarum ('supervisors for roads'), which worked with local officials and contractors to organizeregular repairs to roads.[551] Augustus repaired allbridges in Rome except theMilvian and Minucian ones, and paved theVia Flaminia between Rome andAriminum.[596] In his late reign, he tasked a commission of five senators, thecuratores locorum publicorum iudicandorum ('Supervisors of Public Property'), with maintaining public buildings and temples.[592]
Augustus's official residence was theDomus Augusti ('House of Augustus') on thePalatine Hill, though its identification is not certain.[597] According to Suetonius thehome was somewhat modest,[598] but if it was the Carettoni house west of thePalatine temple of Apollo, then Augustus's residence would have been substantially larger and more luxurious than literary sources admit.[599] Augustus dedicated this temple toApollo near his home in 28 BC, and he often appears on coinage wearing thecivic crown with laurels highly associated with Apollo.[600] TheDomus Augusti is also located near theCasa Romuli ('House of Romulus'), purportedly that of Rome's legendary founder Romulus.[601] TheHouse of Livia is located nearby, though it is unclear if Augustus's wife occupied the residence before his death.[602]
Writers throughout the ages have both praised and criticized Augustus. The contemporary Roman juristMarcus Antistius Labeo, fond of the days of pre-Augustan republican liberty in which he had been born, openly criticized the Augustan regime. In hisAnnals, Tacitus wrote that Augustus had cunningly subverted Republican Rome into a position of slavery, and that the people of Rome traded one slaveholder for another with the succession of Tiberius.[610] Tacitus believed that EmperorNerva (r. 96–98) successfully "mingled two formerly alien ideas, principate and liberty".[611] The 3rd-century historianCassius Dio acknowledged Augustus as a benign, moderate ruler, yet like most other post-Augustan historians he viewed Augustus as anautocrat.[610] The 1st-century poetMarcus Annaeus Lucanus argued that Caesar's victory over Pompey and the death ofCato the Younger in 46 BC marked the end of traditional liberty in Rome.[611]
Modern academics still debate the extent to which Augustuscensored criticism of him.[612] As triumvir, Octavian destroyed all public records dating from the Ides of March 44 BC to the defeat of Sextus Pompey in 36 BC, a convenient political move that aligned with popular sentiment for purging painful memories about the proscriptions.[613]Augustan poets sometimes openly criticized the emperor, such asSextus Propertius when he disapproved of the execution of prisoners during the Perusine War.[176] Some of Virgil and Horace's poetry has been interpreted as praising their patron Augustus as an upholder ofmoral justice, and for maintaining the Empire.[614] Octavian was Virgil's patron when the latter penned hisEclogues, which express the discontented views of impoverished farmers and landowners during the triumvirate.[615] Through private letters it appears that Augustus maintained genuine friendships with Virgil and Horace, with no evidence that he intervened directly in their writing of poems.[616][as] Yet inc. AD 8 Augustus had the poetOvid exiled[618] andhis literature banned.[619][at]
Tacitus claimed that thediscipline of history declined under Augustus due tohistorians flattering the emperor rather than by active suppression.[621]Livy wrote his highly influential and encompassingHistory of Rome during Augustus's reign. Despite championing many of the emperor's views, Livy wrote independently and Tacitus later claimed that Augustus even lightly criticized Livy for glorifying the career of Pompey.[622] Augustus may have quietly had his niece Antonia Minor pressure her sonClaudius, a future emperor, to refrain from writing a history on Rome's civil wars.[623]
Views on Augustus varied during the early modern period. TheAnglo-Irish writerJonathan Swift criticized Augustus for installing tyranny over Rome, likening the virtues of the previous Roman Republic to those ofGreat Britain'sconstitutional monarchy.[628] French political philosopherMontesquieu remarked that Augustus was a coward in battle,[629] his alleged cowardliness also hinted at strongly by English playwrightWilliam Shakespeare in his portrayal of 'Caesar' in the 1607 playAntony & Cleopatra.[630] Scottish scholarThomas Blackwell deemed Augustus as a bloodthirsty usurper and tyrant,[629] views that were shared by Montesquieu andVoltaire.[631] During the 19th century Augustus was widely considered a reformer who brought peace and prosperity after the chaos caused by a failed Republic,[632] thoughNapoleon Bonaparte emulated Julius Caesar as a role-model and was slightly dismissive of Augustus, refusing to use his name as atitle.[633]
Attitudes about Augustus shifted once again during the 20th century,[634] as scholarship duringthe upheavals offascism in the 1930s and 1940s generally held negative views about Augustus's seizure of power.[635] In 1937–1938,Benito Mussolini held an 'Augustan exhibition' in Rome to celebrate the bimillenary of the birth of Augustus, an event which influencedarchitectural trends ofFascist Italy.[636] Mussolini also styled himself asIl Duce afterdux Augustus.[637] Ronald Syme expressed apprehension about Mussolini's espousal of Augustus.[638] He sparked debate by publishing the then controversialThe Roman Revolution (1939) at the onset of the second world war, acknowledging the political climate that impacted his research.[639] He rejectedfascist appropriations ofancient Rome while examining deceptive political terminology employed by totalitarian regimes.[640] Subsequently more peaceful times have led to a greater focus on the art and literature produced in the Augustan age.[641] In 2014 the historianAdrian Goldsworthy stressed that, in modern terms, Augustus was essentially a military dictator,[642] but argued that Augustus was no more ruthless than "other warlords", and that comparing him to Mussolini or other modern dictators is anachronistic and inaccurate.[643]
The Roman Revolution was not widely circulated in continental Europe until 1952,[644] but this and other works by Syme left a major impact on scholarship in theEnglish-speaking world and its views on Augustus in particular.[645] Syme viewed Octavian as a "sickly and sinister youth," and his political faction as an entity somewhat analogous to a moderncrime syndicate.[646] Syme criticized some academics for attributing Julius Caesar's political achievements to Octavian, their ready acceptance of Augustan propaganda about Mark Antony, and the view of Augustus as a flawless organizer and peacemaker.[647] Goldsworthy largely agrees with Syme's analysis, but argues that he was very favorable toward Antony and far too harsh in criticizing Augustus's supporters, "especially the majority who came from outside the established aristocracy".[643] Modern academics debate whether or not Augustus attempted to distance himself from Caesar the dictator when embracing thedeified Caesar.[648] Octavian-Augustus placed more emphasis on his own role as princeps over time.[649]
Modern historians have also highlighted the many positive effects of Augustus's reign, the longevity of which is viewed as a major contributing factor in the transformation of Rome into ade facto monarchy.[650] Eck and Takács stress that Augustus was responsible for establishing a standing professional army, the dynastic principle of the imperial succession, the embellishment of the capital at the emperor's expense, and relative peace and prosperity for over two centuries.[650] Historian Walter Eder contends that Augustus promoted Republican Roman virtues and addressed the concerns of theplebs by means of generosity and cutting back on lavish excess. In 29 BC, Augustus gave 400 sesterces (equal to one-tenth of a Roman pound of gold) 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.[651] He also restored 82 differenttemples to display his care for theRoman pantheon of deities.[651] In 28 BC, he melted down 80 silver statues commemorating him in an attempt to appear frugal and modest.[651]
Suetonius'sTwelve Caesars includes a biography of Augustus and details about his appearance.[av] According to Goldsworthy, descriptions of hair color in ancient Roman sources are difficult to decipher, and Suetonius's comment that Augustus's curly hair was inclined towards golden (subflavum) could mean either "slightly blond" or "simply mean brown rather than black" hair.[653] Scientific analysis oftraces of paint found in his official statues shows that he most likely had naturally light brown hair.[654] Augustus was likely about 5 feet 9 inches (1.75 m) tall, and, conscious of his short stature, may have worn built-up soles to appear taller.[653]Among the best knownportraits of Augustus are thePrima Porta Statue,[655] his sculpted relief on theAra Pacis,[656] and the sculptedVia Labicana Augustus.[657] Prominentcameo portraits include theBlacas Cameo andGemma Augustea.[658] The official imagery was tightly controlled and idealized, drawing from a tradition ofHellenistic portraiture. Fromc. 29 BC, his portraits proliferated across the Roman world,[659] and they emphasized a youthful appearance until his death.[660]
Julius Caesar first introduced personalized portraits of living individuals onRoman coins in the 40s BC, and Augustus's image on coins is perhaps one means by which heemulated Caesar.[661] It is highly likely Augustus personally dictated how these portraits appeared.[662] Augustus's name and image became universal on coinage throughout the Empire. Goldsworthy notes how the 'Caesar' mentioned byJesus in theNew Testament in reference tothe figure on silver coins used by Jews and others for paying taxes was most likely Augustus rather than Tiberius.[663] Later emperors minted coins that depicted themselves but also previous rulers such as Augustus.[664]
Augustus is not as widely known as his great-uncle Julius Caesar and is often sidelined as a minor character or brooding villain in theatrical plays, films, TV series, comics, and novels.[668] Goldsworthy attributes this to the fact thatShakespeare never wrotea play centered around him.[669] Shakespeare's 1599 playJulius Caesar features the character of Octavius, while in the 1607 playAntony and Cleopatra he plays a weak, cowardly, and manipulative foe to Antony under the name Caesar.[630] This view is perhaps based onancient primary sources that reflect the propaganda war waged between Antony and Octavian, manifested in the cold performance of actorRoddy McDowall as Octavian in the 1963 filmCleopatra.[669] Robert Graves's 1934 novelI, Claudius and its subsequent 1976television series depict the older Augustus in a far more sympathetic light as he is outmaneuvered by his murderous wife Livia, though he plays only asupporting character.[670]
^The dates of his rule are contemporary dates; Augustus lived under two calendars, theRoman Republican until 45BC and theJulian after 45 BC. Due to departures fromJulius Caesar's intentions, Augustus finished restoring the Julian calendar in March AD 4 and the correspondence between theproleptic Julian calendar and the calendar observed in Rome is uncertain before 8 BC.[2]
^Cassius Dio instead gives him the nameCaepias, probably a corruption ofScaptia, the name of Octavius' birthtribe.[8]
^Historians Anne-Marie Lewis andKarl Galinsky explain the scholarly debate surrounding Octavius's precise date of birth. Evidence that it had occurred on 22 September is based on statements by historians such asSuetonius andVelleius Paterculus, thoughCassius Dio affirms that it occurred on 23 September, and confusion also stems from the transition of using the early RepublicanRoman calendar to using theJulian Calendar during Octavius's lifetime.[25]
^A later senatorial investigation into the disappearance of the public funds took no action against Octavian since he then used that money to raise troops against the Senate's enemy Mark Antony.[71]
^Defending Octavian againstMark Antony's taunts about Octavian's lack of noble lineage and aping of Julius Caesar's name,Marcus Tullius Cicero stated "we have no more brilliant example of traditional piety among our youth".[102]
^Men such asSextus Pompey not present in the city were also convicted, even if they had nothing to do with the assassination.[117]
^aug refers to the religious office ofaugur, not the titleaugustus created in 27BC.[127]
^Ancient sources differ considerably as to how many men were targeted.Hinard 1985, pp. 266–269, reviews the evidence. Plutarch in three different lives –Brutus (27.6),Cicero (46.2), andAntony (20.2) – gives figures of 200, a bit more than 200, and 300 men, respectively.Livy,Periochae, 120.4, gave only 130 senators and manyequites besides.Florus, 2.16.3, gave 140 senators.Appian,Bella Civilia, 4.7, gives 17 names at first before, in two rounds, 130 and 150 others were added.Appian,Bella Civilia, 4.5.7, also gives a total of 300 senators and some 2,000equites,[131] but this figure describes all persons who were killed or had properties confiscated between 43 and the treaty of Misenum in 39.[132] The number of victims was not necessarily the number proscribed; figures given in Orosius (6.18.10) are corrupt. Around 160 of the proscribed are known by name.[133]
^Velleius Paterculus asserted that Octavian tried to avoid proscribing officials whereas Lepidus and Antony were to blame for initiating them.[136]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.[137] This claim was rejected byAppian, who maintained that Octavian shared an equal interest with Lepidus and Antony in eradicating his enemies.[138]Suetonius said that Octavian was reluctant at first to proscribe officials but did pursue his enemies with more vigor than the other triumvirs.[139]Plutarch described the proscriptions as a ruthless and cutthroat swapping of friends and family among the triumvirs,[136] with Octavian allowing the proscription of his ally Cicero,[140] Antony the proscription of his uncleLucius Julius Caesar (the consul for 64 BC), and Lepidus his brotherPaullus.[141] Plutarch insisted that Octavian initially defended Cicero but gave way to Antony, but Octavian may also have sought Cicero's death.[142]
^Ratified on 20 March 43 BC, the Senate bestowedSextus Pompey with the office ofpraefectus classis et orae maritimae for theRoman navy, granting him control over all coastal areas of theMediterranean Sea.[156]
^HistorianAdrian Goldsworthy downplays this event as a potential exaggeration due to rumors and legend preserved in primary sources: "Rumour and hostile propaganda soon turned this into another ghastly massacre, with 300 leading citizens being sacrificed toJulius Caesar’s spirit – an invention no doubt inspired byAchilles' killing ofTrojan prisoners at the funeral of his comradePatroclus in theIliad.Suetonius claims that pleas for mercy and excuses were met by the youngtriumvir with alaconic 'He must die' or 'You must die' –moriendum esse inLatin. Yet on the whole reprisals were limited. The rebel soldiers were spared, and many no doubt were recruited intoCaesar's legions.Lucius Antonius was not only left unharmed, but was sent to govern one of theSpanish provinces".[174]
^According toPatricia Southern, other stipulations of theTreaty of Misenum includedSextus Pompey's position asconsul designate for 38 BC (withMark Antony assigned as consul for the same year), being allowed to join thecollege ofaugurs, and being made responsible for maintainingRome's grain supply, but that he was not allowed to station any of his troops inRoman Italy.[195] According toKlaus Bringmann, Sextus Pompey was guaranteed the consulship for 35 BC, and was made responsible for managing the grain supply to Rome.[196] Both Southern and Bringmann relate how various proscribed republicanliberatores were given amnesty and allowed to return to Rome.[197] CitingAppian (BCiv 5.73), historianKathryn Welch states that Sextus Pompey was consul designate with Octavian for 33 BC.[198] HistorianAdrian Goldsworthy agrees the claims about Sicily, Sardinia, Corsica, the Peloponnese, and the college of augurs, but says that "Pompey's son was scheduled to be consul in 33 BC in elections controlled by the triumvirate".[199]
^As historiansDuane W. Roller,Adrian Goldsworthy,Patricia Southern, and Prudence Jones point out, war was declared specifically againstCleopatra and herPtolemaic Kingdom, not againstfellow citizenMark Antony, which was easier to sell to theRoman people who were wary of further civil wars among Romans, but who could stomach a war against a foreign queen who posed a legitimate threat.[241] Additionally, Roller highlights how the legal grounds for the war were based on the fact that Cleopatra was illicitly arming and supplying troops to a private Roman citizen, Antony, whosetriumviral authority had by now technically expired.[242]
^After Actium, Octavian returned toItaly in order to settle affairs there with thelegions that were formerly underMark Antony, to pacify them with money or lands. Only a month after landing atBrundisium, Octavian set out again for the east, traveling first toGreece, then toSyria, and from there marched his forces intoPtolemaic Egypt.[255]
^Alternatively,Werner Eck and Sarolta Takács describeprinceps as "first or chief man in the state".[284]
^Adrian Goldsworthy highlights this with the example of the Senate under consul Octavian decreeing that the doors to theTemple of Janus should be shut on 11 January 29 BC, a ritual that declared Rome was no longer at war, despite ongoing campaigns in Gaul and Hispania.[290]
^HistorianAdrian Goldsworthy stresses that Augustus did not have a carefully planned design in fashioning this principate regime, which was far from inevitable, and relied much on chance, experimentation, improvisation, and trial-by-error.[291] In his "Caesar Augustus: A Call to Order" historianT. P. Wiseman argues that, given the overwhelmingly positive reception of Augustus in contemporary Roman sources, Augustus should not be viewed as an unlawful usurper masking his monarchical intentions or autocratic wishes.[292]Patricia Southern surmises that Octavian needed to at least keep up the appearance of being bound by term limits for the consulship and other offices: "Octavian probably remembered very starkly that Caesar did not survive for more than a few weeks after accepting the appointment asdictator perpetuo".[294]
^HistoriansWerner Eck and Sarolta Takács state the following aboutpatronage and other matters: "The sum of his power derived first of all from various powers of office delegated to him by the Senate and people, secondly from his immense private fortune, and thirdly from numerous patron-client relationships he established with individuals and groups throughout the Empire. All of them taken together formed the basis of hisauctoritas, which he himself emphasized as the foundation of his political actions.[297]
^The historianDuane W. Roller writes thatMunatius Plancus was responsible not only for building theTemple of Saturn in Rome and leading thediplomatic negotiations that ensured peace with theParthians in 20 BC, but also for recommending the titleaugustus to Octavian in 27 BC.[318] HistoriansWerner Eck, Sarolta Takács, andAdrian Goldsworthy clarify that Munatius Plancus introduced the motion in the Senate for honoring Octavian,[319] and may have been operating on his instructions.[320] Augustus, from the Latinaugere 'to increase',[321] can be translated as "illustrious one",[322] "sublime",[323] or "revered".[324] HistorianAdrian Goldsworthy notes that the equivalent title inAncient Greek issebastos (Σεβαστός), which he translates as 'the reverend' or 'august one'.[325] Goldsworthy explains further: "Augustus carried heavy religious overtones of the very Roman tradition of seeking divine guidance and approval throughaugury.Ennius, Rome’s earliest and most revered poet, spoke of the City being founded with 'august augury' in a passage as familiar to Romans as the most famousShakespearean quotes are to us today".[326]
^Adrian Goldsworthy includes the title 'Augustus' in the emperor's full name, rendering it asImperator Caesar Augustus divi filius.[326]
^Adrian Goldsworthy notes howAntonius Musa, who most likely hailed from theHellenized areas of the eastern half of the Roman Empire, reversed thetypical treatment of warm compresses, favoring cold ones. After recovering from his illness, Augustus lavished Musa with gifts and theRoman Senate gave him additional money plus the right to wear a golden ring. In honor of his medical treatment of Augustus, he was also grantedexemption from taxation and a statue of him was erected next to that ofAsclepius, the god of healing.[353]
^Cotton & Yakobson (2002, pp. 199–200) discusses the possibility of this happening with the "second settlement" of 23 BC, when Augustus already had control over thepraetorian cohorts, and certainly with the grant ofimperium proconsulare maius in 19 BC that gave Augustus authority over Italy and Rome, not just the Roman provinces
^Licinius Crassus (grandson of the triumvir) was awarded a triumph for his victories in Thrace against the GermanicBastarnae in 29–27 BC, but was denied other traditional honors.[386] Agrippa was awarded a triumph for victories inSpain in 19 BC but he refused to celebrate it.[391]Marcus Vipsanius Agrippa had also refused to celebrate a triumph during his consulship of 37 BC during thetriumvirate, after he returned from Gaul in 38 BC. Ancient historians claim that this was a move to avoid highlighting recent failures by Octavian.Patricia Southern states that it is equally likely that "the refusal was part of Octavian's wish to limit the numbers of men who were permitted to hold a triumph to immediate family members. Generals parading to the Capitol in their triumphant garb might just start to develop ideas above their station".[392]
^The date is provided by inscribed calendars.[418] Dio reports this under 13 BC, probably as the year in which Lepidus died.[419]
^Patricia Southern writes that this concept ofimperium sine fine ('sovereignty without end') only came into doubt after the disastrous loss at theBattle of Teutoburg Forest in AD 9 and the withdrawal fromGermania beyond theRhine River, whereas the Romans had previously established their control as far as theElbe.[428]
^HistorianPatricia Southern writes that "Tiberius retrieved the losses, remaining inGermany for another two years, in AD 10 watching in case the tribesmen penetrated to theRhine and in AD 11 campaigning inside German territory — but not too far. Augustus wrote in theRes Gestae that he pacified Germany to the mouth of theElbe, passing over in silence the losses of AD 9."[460] Southern hints that "earlier versions of theRes Gestae, drafted before AD 9, would probably have stated 'I pacified Germany to the Elbe,' but after the disaster of Varus, the claims that German territory was overrun were reduced to the more modest 'to the mouth of the Elbe'.[460] As for Augustus's territorial ambitions, Southern writes about his establishment of "an altar on the north bank" of the Elbe River in AD 1, and "perhaps at that date the concept ofimperium sine fine was still valid, but whatever Augustus's initial intentions had been, dreams of conquest had faded. Augustus never recovered from the Varian disaster, and turned his back on expansion of the Empire. He was said to give vent to his feelings on occasion by shouting out loud, 'Quinctilius Varus, give me back mylegions! and he certainly advised Tiberius not to attempt further conquests".[459]
^The cause of Augustus's health problems is not clear. It may have been feigned orpsychosomatic; if real, some scholars have suggested aliver abscess.[475]
^Gaius Caesar had won election as consul in 6 BC.Patricia Southern argues that Augustus was testing public reaction to the 14-year-old Gaius as consul. Augustus insisted that this age was suitable enough, since Augustus had become consul at age 19 as Octavian, just before forming the triumvirate.[487]
^This transformation ofRome with new marble edifices did not apply to theSubura slums, which were still as rickety and fire-prone as ever.[574]
^Over two centuries later Dio wrote that some of the structures built for this occasion were still standing.[589]
^However, it is possible that in 19 BC Augustus defied the deathbed wishes of Virgil to have theAeneid burned, having the poetLucius Varius Rufus preserve and publish it instead.[617]
^Florentine authors began to develop negative views about Augustus during theItalian Renaissance, while the 1515publication of Tacitus'sAnnals byFilippo Beroaldo advanced views that Augustus was a hypocritical and calculating destroyer of the Republic.[627]
^Suetonius,Augustus, 79, described Augustus 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 inclined 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 modern units, just under 1.7 m or 5 ft 7 in], 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".
^Morstein-Marx, Robert (2021).Julius Caesar and the Roman People. Cambridge University Press. p. 491 n. 17.doi:10.1017/9781108943260.ISBN978-1-108-83784-2.LCCN2021024626.S2CID242729962.Mommsen's restoration ofFasti Capit. Cons. sub anno 44, making Octaviusmagister equitum designatus for 44, has now been disproved by the newly published fragments of the Privernum Fasti.
^Zevi, Fausto; Cassola, Filippo (2016). "I Fasti di "Privernum"".Zeitschrift für Papyrologie und Epigraphik (in Italian).197:287–309.ISSN0084-5388.JSTOR43910005.
^Tatum 2024, p. 146, noting Caesar'scondicio nominis ferendi ("action of taking a name") "must not be confused with actual adoption";Lindsay 2009, p. 84–85, noting full adoption by testament was "impossible", 182ff.;Southern 2014, p. 37, asserting that in Caesar's will Octavius was entitled "if he so wished, to style himself Gaius Julius Caesar Octavianus".;Syme 1988, p. 159.
^Tatum 2024, p. 146, calling the claim of adoption "a transparent falsehood for anyone conversant with Roman law";Lindsay 2009, p. 183, noting consensus that the adoption was legally dubious;Levick 2009, p. 209;Goldsworthy 2014, p. 87, summarizes the scholarly debate, notes technicality that "such full adoption could only occur in the father's lifetime and could not be posthumous";Southern 2014, p. 37, insisting on the "adoption" and that his inherited name Gaius Julius Caesar Octavianus "followed the customary Roman fashion, indicating that Octavius had been adopted into the family of the Julii Caesares from his original family of the Octavii".
^Lindsay 2009, p. 89, citing among others Cicero,Ad Atticum, 14.12, 15.12, 16.8–9, 16.12, 16.14;Southern 2014, p. 45, quoting Cicero, which also points out the example of stepfather Philippus;Galinsky 2012, p. 16, noting only the example of Cicero;Goldsworthy 2014, pp. 88–89, noting how "enemies called him Octavianus to stress that his real family was obscure" while also noting on p. 110 how Cicero started referring to him as Caesar after he recruited two legions that were previously loyal to Antony.
^Hinard 1985, p. 269. « Au total... on trouve un chiffre d'environ 300 proscrits se répartissant également entre sénateurs et chevaliers. »;Southern 2014, pp. 97–98, pointing out the conflicting numbers reported by Appian and Livy, suggesting Appian's figure of 300 senators may have included those who fled and Livy's figure of 130 senators may have included only those who were killed
^Hinard 1985, pp. 267–268. « Mais il n'est pas vraisemblable, compte tenu des chiffres que nous avons cru pouvoir établir pour la première proscription, que la seconde ait pu compter tant de victimes. »
^Richardson 2012, p. 37. After protests led byHortensia, the taxes on women were scaled back considerably.Southern 2014, p. 101 states that the list of roughly 1,400 women listed for making contributions to the state was reduced to about 400 women after protests led by Hortensia, which were supported byOctavian's sister and evenMark Antony's mother. See alsoGoldsworthy 2014, pp. 133–134 for a similar description about the proposed tax on 1,400 wealthy women, Hortensia's protest, and the reduction of taxes levied from only 400 wealthy women.Tributum and abeyance since 167 BC:Burton 2012.
^Cotton & Yakobson 2002, pp. 203–204, with p. 204 twice labeling it a "first settlement" with the Senate in 27 BC, in the context of statements made in theRes Gestae, and noting Octavian's feigned "resignation speech" on 13 January 27 BC;Zerbey IV 2016, p. 27, also explicitly labeling this event in 27 BC and name change from Octavian to Augustus as the "first settlement".
^"Arco d'Augusto" [Arch of Augustus].riminiturismo.it (in Italian). 18 March 2021.Archived from the original on 16 January 2024. Retrieved16 January 2024.
^Eck & Takács 2003, p. 187, calling it a "settlement" with the Senate in 23 BC;Goldsworthy 2014, p. 272, calling "his supremacy" over the Roman world after 23 BC the "Second Augustan Settlement";Southern 2014, p. 204–208, though without calling it the "second settlement" specifically, writing on p. 205 that it was a "compromise" with the Senate when Augustus resigned the consulship;Cotton & Yakobson 2002, p. 200, which calls the agreement reached with the Senate in 23 BC "the 'second settlement'" while discussing whether or not 23 BC or 19 BC should be considered the date in which Augustus received fullimperium maius and authority over Rome and Italy, not just the provinces.
^Cotton & Yakobson 2002, pp. 199–203, which notes academic debate on this issue of either 23 or 19 BC when Augustus gained full control over Italy and Rome, not just the Roman provinces.
^Cotton & Yakobson 2002, pp. 200–202, citing Cassius Dio's account about the Roman people, "the urbanplebs" as written on p. 201, clamoring for Augustus to hold thefasces but also to wield consular powers.
^Mackay 2004, p. 186;Eck & Takács 2007, pp. 3, 75–76;Goldsworthy 2014, pp. 394–396, 405;Southern 2014, pp. 291–292, though without mentioning the honorary inscriptions such as the one in the Roman Senate House, the Curia Julia in Rome.
^Eck & Takács 2003, p. 124;Goldsworthy 2014, p. 471, with the precise date of 17 September;Southern 2014, pp. 101–104, for the official deification of Julius Caesar in 42 BC, pp. 318, 323, for the official deification of Augustus, with Caesar mentioned.
^Brockkötter 2025, pp. 495–498;Claes 2022, p. 80, in the context of how coins were commonly used by later emperors to conveypietas towards Augustus, pay homage to his founding of the principate, and how "suchimitatio Augusti could recall various aspects of Augustus' reign"; also p. 81, with author's intent to "document when an emperor tried to style himself as a new Augustus (imitatio Augusti) through his coin messages".
^Bunson 1994, p. 47;Cavalieri et al. 2022, pp. 13–15, 26–27 which mentions theRes Gestae surviving, the lost autobiography, and the poems"Sicilia" and"Ajax", but not the poem"Epiphanus", the philosophical treatise, or the rebuttal to Brutus'sEulogy of Cato.
^Goldsworthy 2014, pp. 403–404, 408–409;Cavalieri et al. 2022, pp. 7–9, with Athenian models for inspiration mentioned specifically on p. 7, though only the Classical era influence is highlighted, not the Hellenistic era architecture as Goldsworthy also emphasizes.
^Bunson 1994, p. 34;Southern 2014, pp. 334–336, Fig. A1.3;Goldsworthy 2014, p. 305, noting that it was instead near the Temple of the Divine Julius in the Forum Romanum.
^Goldsworthy 2014, pp. 10–11, 409–411, saying there is no explicit evidence for it on pp. 10–11;Cavalieri et al. 2022, pp. 13, 17–18, in the context of Augustus being overshadowed by Julius Caesar in popularity and the public's memory about Ancient Rome since the Late Middle Ages.
^Southern 2014, p. 322, noting some uncertainty but likelihood that this was the case;Claes 2022, p. 80–81, using far more certain language than Southern 2014, and how various emperors having control over messaging in coinage can be strongly inferred through images and text on coins.
^Claes 2022, pp. 80–87, 90–99, documenting the different eras and reigns in which Augustus was featured on coins, and periods when his image lapsed or disappeared on Imperial Roman coinage.
^Goldsworthy 2014, pp. 2–3, specifically mentions plays, films, TV series, and novels, and the comparison to Julius Caesar;Brizzi 2022, pp. 35–36, specifically mentions television, film, and comics, while pp. 38–39 mention films and comics as well as the greater popularity of Julius Caesar, and p. 40 continues this comparison to Caesar.
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