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Augustus – Roman Emperor: 27 B.C. – 14 A.D.
Augustus & Rhoemetalkes Client King of Thrace
Bronze 14mm (1.86 grams) from the Greek Kingdom of Thrace circa 11 B.C. – 12
A.D.
Reference: RPC 1706
Throne.
Ritual axe.
Thrace did not become a Roman province until the reign of Claudius (A.D. 46).
Augustus created Rhoemetalkes I ruler of the whole of Thrace in 11 B.C. and he
governed the country well for almost a quarter of a century until his death in
A.D. 12. Thereafter the Kingdom had a troubled history culminating in the
murder, by his wife, of the last ruler Rhoemetalkes III.
Son of Kotys and Sapaean, Rhoemetalkes had a long political career in the
earlier part of which he acted as the guardian of the children of Kotys III. He
became King of Thrace in 11 B.C. and remained a loyal ally of the Romans
throughout his reign.
You are bidding on the exact item pictured,
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Authenticity.
Augustus (Latin:
Imperator Caesar Divi F. Augustus,
23 September 63 BC – 19 August 14 AD) was the founder of the
Roman Empire
and its first
Emperor
, ruling from 27 BC until his death in
14 AD.
Born Gaius Octavius into an old and wealthy
equestrian branch
of the
plebeian
Octavii
family, in 44 BC he was
adopted
posthumously
by his maternal great-uncle
Gaius Julius Caesar
following Caesar’s
assassination. Together with
Mark Antony
and
Marcus Lepidus
, he formed the
Second Triumvirate
to defeat the assassins of
Caesar. Following their victory at
Phillipi
, the Triumvirate divided the
Roman Republic
among themselves and ruled as
military dictators
.[note
3] The Triumvirate was eventually torn apart under the
competing ambitions of its members: Lepidus was driven into exile and stripped
of his position, and Antony committed suicide following his defeat at the
Battle of Actium
by Augustus in 31 BC.
After the demise of the Second Triumvirate, Augustus restored the outward
facade of the free Republic, with governmental power vested in the
Roman Senate
, the
executive magistrates
, and the
legislative assemblies
. In reality, however, he
retained his autocratic power over the Republic as a military dictator. By law,
Augustus held a collection of powers granted to him for life by the Senate,
including
supreme military command
, and those of
tribune
and
censor
. It took several years for Augustus to
develop the framework within which a formally republican state could be led
under his sole rule. He rejected monarchical titles, and instead called himself
Princeps Civitatis
(“First Citizen”). The
resulting
constitutional framework
became known as the
Principate
, the first phase of the
Roman Empire
.
The reign of Augustus initiated an era of relative peace known as the
Pax Romana
(The Roman Peace).
Despite continuous wars or imperial expansion on the Empire’s frontiers and one
year-long civil war
over the imperial
succession, the Roman world was largely free from large-scale conflict for more
than two centuries. Augustus dramatically enlarged the Empire, annexing
Egypt
,
Dalmatia
,
Pannonia
,
Noricum
, and
Raetia
, expanded possessions in
Africa
, expanded into
Germania
, and completed the conquest of
Hispania
.
Beyond the frontiers, he secured the Empire with a buffer region of
client states
, and made peace with the
Parthian Empire
through diplomacy. He reformed
the Roman system of taxation, developed
networks of roads
with an official
courier
system, established a standing army,
established the
Praetorian Guard
, created official
police
and
fire-fighting services
for Rome, and rebuilt
much of the city during his reign.
Augustus died in 14 AD at the age of 75. He may have died from natural
causes, although there were unconfirmed rumors that his wife Livia poisoned him.
He was succeeded as Emperor by his adopted son (also stepson and former
son-in-law), Tiberius
.
Name
Throughout his life, the man historians refer to as Augustus was
known by many names:
- At birth he was named Gaius Octavius after his
biological father
. Historians typically
refer to him simply as Octavius (or Octavian) between his birth in 63
until his posthumous adoption by
Julius Caesar
in 44 BC.
- Upon his adoption by Caesar, he took Caesar’s name and become Gaius
Julius Caesar Octavianus in accordance with
Roman adoption naming standards
. Though he
quickly dropped “Octavianus” from his name and his contemporaries referred
to him as “Caesar” during this period, historians refer to him as
Octavian between 44 BC and 27 BC.
- As part of his actions to strengthen his political ties to Caesar’s
former soldiers, in 42 BC, following the
deification
of Caesar, Octavian added
Divi Filius (Son of the Divine) to his name, becoming Gaius
Julius Caesar Divi Filius.
- In 38 BC, Octavian replaced his
praenomen
“Gaius” and
nomen
“Julius” with Imperator,
the title by which troops hailed their leader after
military success
, officially becoming Imperator Caesar Divi
Filius
- In 27 BC, following his defeat of
Mark Antony
and
Cleopatra
, the
Roman Senate
voted new titles for him,
officially becoming Imperator Caesar Divi Filius Augustus. It is the
events of 27 BC from which he obtained his traditional name of Augustus,
which historians use in reference from 27 BC until his death in 14 AD.
Rise to power
Heir to Caesar
The Death of Caesar, by
Jean-Léon Gérôme
(1867). On 15
March 44 BC, Octavius’s adoptive father Julius Caesar was
assassinated by a conspiracy led by
Marcus Junius Brutus
and
Gaius Cassius Longinus
.
Walters Art Museum
,
Baltimore
.
At the time
Caesar was killed
on the
Ides of March
(15 March) 44 BC, Octavius was
studying and undergoing military training in
Apollonia, Illyria
. Rejecting the advice of
some army officers to take refuge with the troops in
Macedonia
, he sailed to
Italia
to ascertain whether he had any
potential political fortunes or security. After landing at Lupiae near
Brundisium
, he learned the contents of Caesar’s
will, and only then did he decide to become Caesar’s political heir as well as
heir to two-thirds of his estate
Having no living legitimate children, Caesar had adopted his great-nephew
Octavius as his son and main heir. Upon his
adoption
, Octavius assumed his great-uncle’s
name, Gaius Julius Caesar. Although Romans who had been adopted into a
new family usually retained their old
nomen
in
cognomen
form (e.g. Octavianus for one
who had been an Octavius, Aemilianus for one who had been an Aemilius,
etc.) there is no evidence that he ever bore the name Octavianus, as it
would have made his modest origins too obvious.
Despite the fact that he never officially bore the name Octavianus,
however, to save confusing the dead dictator with his heir, historians often
refer to the new Caesar—between his adoption and his assumption, in 27 BC, of
the name Augustus—as Octavian.
Mark Antony
later charged that Octavian had
earned his adoption by Caesar through sexual favours, though
Suetonius
, in his work
Lives of the Twelve Caesars
, describes
Antony’s accusation as political slander.
To make a successful entry into the upper echelons of the Roman political
hierarchy, Octavian could not rely on his limited funds. After a warm welcome by
Caesar’s soldiers at Brundisium, Octavian demanded a portion of the funds that
were allotted by Caesar for the intended war against
Parthia
in the Middle East. This amounted to
700 million sesterces
stored at Brundisium, the staging
ground in Italy for military operations in the east.
A later senatorial investigation into the disappearance of the public funds
made no action against Octavian, since he subsequently used that money to raise
troops against the Senate’s arch enemy, Mark Antony. Octavian made another bold
move in 44 BC when without official permission he appropriated the annual
tribute that had been sent from Rome’s
Near Eastern
province to Italy.
Octavian began to bolster his personal forces with Caesar’s veteran
legionaries and with troops designated for the Parthian war, gathering support
by emphasizing his status as heir to Caesar. On his march to Rome through Italy,
Octavian’s presence and newly acquired funds attracted many, winning over
Caesar’s former veterans stationed in
Campania
. By June he had gathered an army of
3,000 loyal veterans, paying each a salary of 500
denarii
.
A statue of Augustus as a younger Octavian, dated ca. 30 BC
Arriving in Rome on 6 May 44 BC, Octavian found the consul
Mark Antony
, Caesar’s former colleague, in an
uneasy truce with the dictator’s assassins; they had been granted a general
amnesty on 17 March, yet Antony succeeded in driving most of them out of Rome.
This was due to his “inflammatory” eulogy given at Caesar’s funeral, mounting
public opinion against the assassins.
Although Mark Antony was amassing political support, Octavian still had
opportunity to rival him as the leading member of the faction supporting Caesar.
Mark Antony had lost the support of many Romans and supporters of Caesar when
he, at first, opposed the motion to elevate Caesar to divine status. Octavian
failed to persuade Antony to relinquish Caesar’s money to him. During the summer
he managed to win support from Caesarian sympathizers, however, who saw the
younger heir as the lesser evil and hoped to manipulate him, or to bear with him
during their efforts to get rid of Antony.
Octavian began to make common cause with the
Optimates
, the former enemies of Caesar. In
September, a leading Optimate orator
Marcus Tullius Cicero
began to attack Antony in
a series of speeches
portraying him as a threat
to the Republican order.With opinion in Rome turning against him and his year of
consular power nearing its end, Antony attempted to pass laws which would lend
him control over
Cisalpine Gaul
, which had been assigned as part
of his province, from
Decimus Junius Brutus Albinus
, one of Caesar’s
assassins.
Octavian meanwhile built up a private army in Italy by recruiting Caesarian
veterans, and on 28 November won over two of Antony’s legions with the enticing
offer of monetary gain.In the face of Octavian’s large and capable force, Antony
saw the danger of staying in Rome, and to the relief of the Senate, he fled to
Cisalpine Gaul, which was to be handed to him on 1 January.
First conflict
with Antony
Bust of Augustus in
Musei Capitolini
, Rome
After Decimus Brutus refused to give up Cisalpine Gaul, Antony besieged him
at
Mutina
. The resolutions passed by the Senate to
stop the violence were rejected by Antony, as the Senate had no army of its own
to challenge him; this provided an opportunity for Octavian, who already was
known to have armed forces. Cicero also defended Octavian against Antony’s
taunts about Octavian’s lack of noble lineage and aping of Julius Caesar’s name;
he stated “we have no more brilliant example of traditional piety among our
youth.”
At the urging of Cicero, the Senate inducted Octavian as senator on 1 January
43 BC, yet he also was given the power to vote alongside the former consuls. In
addition, Octavian was granted
imperium
(commanding power), which made his
command of troops legal, sending him to relieve the siege along with
Hirtius
and
Pansa
(the consuls for 43 BC).In April 43 BC,
Antony’s forces were defeated at the battles of
Forum Gallorum
and
Mutina
, forcing Antony to retreat to
Transalpine Gaul
. Both consuls were killed,
however, leaving Octavian in sole command of their armies.
After heaping many more rewards on Decimus Brutus than on Octavian for
defeating Antony, the Senate attempted to give command of the consular legions
to Decimus Brutus, yet Octavian decided not to cooperate. Instead, Octavian
stayed in the Po Valley
and refused to aid any further
offensive against Antony. In July, an embassy of
centurions
sent by Octavian entered Rome and
demanded that he receive the consulship left vacant by Hirtius and Pansa.
Octavian also demanded that the decree declaring Antony a public enemy should
be rescinded. When this was refused, he marched on the city with eight legions.
He encountered no military opposition in Rome, and on 19 August 43 BC was
elected consul with his relative
Quintus Pedius
as co-consul. Meanwhile, Antony
formed an alliance with
Marcus Aemilius Lepidus
, another leading
Caesarian.
Second Triumvirate
Proscriptions
Roman aureus
bearing the portraits of
Mark Antony
(left) and Octavian
(right), issued in 41 BC to celebrate the establishment of the
Second Triumvirate
by Octavian,
Antony and
Marcus Lepidus
in 43 BC. Both sides
bear the inscription “III VIR R P C”, meaning “One of Three Men for
the Regulation of the Republic”.[52]
In a meeting near
Bologna
in October 43 BC, Octavian, Antony, and
Lepidus formed a
junta
called the
Second Triumvirate
. This explicit arrogation of
special powers lasting five years was then supported by law passed by the
plebs
, unlike the unofficial
First Triumvirate
formed by
Gnaeus Pompey Magnus
,
Julius Caesar
, and
Marcus Licinius Crassus
. The triumvirs then set
in motion
proscriptions
in which 300 senators and 2,000
equites
, allegedly were branded as
outlaws
and deprived of their property and, for
those who failed to escape, their lives.
The estimation that 300 senators were proscribed was presented by
Appian
, although his earlier contemporary
Livy asserted that only 130 senators had been proscribed. This decree
issued by the triumvirate was motivated in part by a need to raise money to pay
the salaries of their troops for the upcoming conflict against Caesar’s
assassins,
Marcus Junius Brutus
and
Gaius Cassius Longinus
. Rewards for their
arrest gave incentive for Romans to capture those proscribed, while the assets
and properties of those arrested were seized by the triumvirs.
Contemporary Roman historians provide conflicting reports as to which
triumvir was more responsible for the proscriptions and killing, however, the
sources agree that enacting the proscriptions was a means by all three factions
to eliminate political enemies.
Marcus Velleius Paterculus
asserted that
Octavian tried to avoid proscribing officials whereas Lepidus and Antony were to
blame for initiating them.
Cassius Dio
defended Augustus 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.
This claim was rejected by Appian, who maintained that Octavian shared an
equal interest with Lepidus and Antony in eradicating his enemies.
Suetonius
presents the case that Octavian,
although reluctant at first to proscribe officials, nonetheless pursued his
enemies with more rigor than the other triumvirs.
Plutarch
describes the proscriptions as a
ruthless and cutthroat swapping of friends and family among Antony, Lepidus, and
Octavian. For example, Octavian allowed the proscription of his ally Cicero,
Antony the proscription of his maternal uncle
Lucius Julius Caesar
(the consul of 64 BC), and
Lepidus his brother
Paullus
.
A denarius
minted c. 18 BC. Obverse:
CAESAR AVGVSTVS; reverse: DIVVS IVLIV[S] (DIVINE JULIUS)
Battle of Philippi and division of territory
Further information:
Liberators’ civil war
On 1 January 42 BC, the
Senate
posthumously recognized Julius Caesar as
a divinity of the Roman state,
Divus Iulius
. Octavian was able to further
his cause by emphasizing the fact that he was
Divi filius
, “Son of God”. Antony and
Octavian then sent 28
legions
by sea to face the armies of Brutus and
Cassius, who had built their base of power in Greece. After two
battles at Philippi
in
Macedonia
in October 42, the Caesarian army was
victorious and
Brutus
and
Cassius
committed
suicide
. Mark Antony would later use the
examples of these battles as a means to belittle Octavian, as both battles were
decisively won with the use of Antony’s forces. In addition to claiming
responsibility for both victories, Antony also branded Octavian as a coward for
handing over his direct military control to
Marcus Vipsanius Agrippa
instead.
After Philippi, a new territorial arrangement was made among the members of
the Second Triumvirate. While Antony placed
Gaul, the provinces of
Hispania
, and
Italia
in the hands of Octavian, Antony
traveled east to Egypt
where he allied himself with Queen
Cleopatra VII
, the former lover of Julius
Caesar and mother of Caesar’s infant son,
Caesarion
. Lepidus was left with the
province of Africa
, stymied by Antony, who
conceded Hispania to Octavian instead.
Octavian was left to decide where in Italy to settle the tens of thousands of
veterans of the Macedonian campaign, whom the triumvirs had promised to
discharge. The tens of thousands who had fought on the republican side with
Brutus and Cassius, who could easily ally with a political opponent of Octavian
if not appeased, also required land. There was no more government-controlled
land to allot as settlements for their soldiers, so Octavian had to choose one
of two options: alienating many Roman citizens by confiscating their land, or
alienating many Roman soldiers who could mount a considerable opposition against
him in the Roman heartland. Octavian chose the former. There were as many as
eighteen Roman towns affected by the new settlements, with entire populations
driven out or at least given partial evictions.
Rebellion
and marriage alliances
Widespread dissatisfaction with Octavian over these settlements of his
soldiers encouraged many to rally at the side of
Lucius Antonius
, who was brother of Mark Antony
and supported by a majority in the Senate. Meanwhile, Octavian asked for a
divorce from
Clodia Pulchra
, the daughter of
Fulvia
and her first husband
Publius Clodius Pulcher
. Claiming that his
marriage with Clodia had never been consummated, he returned her to her mother,
Mark Antony’s wife. Fulvia decided to take action. Together with Lucius
Antonius, she raised an army in Italy to fight for Antony’s rights against
Octavian. Lucius and Fulvia took a political and martial gamble in opposing
Octavian, however, since the Roman army still depended on the triumvirs for
their salaries. Lucius and his allies ended up in a defensive siege at
Perusia
(modern
Perugia
), where Octavian forced them into
surrender in early 40 BC.
Lucius and his army were spared, due to his kinship with Antony, the
strongman of the East, while Fulvia was exiled to
Sicyon
. Octavian showed no mercy, however, for
the mass of allies loyal to Lucius; on 15 March, the anniversary of Julius
Caesar’s assassination, he had 300 Roman senators and equestrians executed for
allying with Lucius. Perusia also was pillaged and burned as a warning for
others. This bloody event sullied Octavian’s reputation and was criticized by
many, such as the Augustan poet
Sextus Propertius
.
Sextus Pompeius
, son of the First Triumvir
Pompey
and still a renegade general following
Julius Caesar’s victory over his father, was established in
Sicily
and
Sardinia
as part of an agreement reached with
the Second Triumvirate in 39 BC. Both Antony and Octavian were vying for an
alliance with Pompeius, who, ironically, was a member of the republican party,
not the Caesarian faction. Octavian succeeded in a temporary alliance when in
40 BC he married
Scribonia
, a daughter of
Lucius Scribonius Libo
who was a follower of
Pompeius as well as his father-in-law. Scribonia gave birth to Octavian’s only
natural child,
Julia
, who was born the same day that he
divorced her to marry Livia Drusilla
, little more than a year after
their marriage.
While in Egypt, Antony had been engaged in an affair with
Cleopatra
and had fathered three children with
her. Aware of his deteriorating relationship with Octavian, Antony left
Cleopatra; he sailed to Italy in 40 BC with a large force to oppose Octavian,
laying siege to
Brundisium
. This new conflict proved untenable
for both Octavian and Antony, however. Their
centurions
, who had become important figures
politically, refused to fight due to their Caesarian cause, while the legions
under their command followed suit.Meanwhile in Sicyon, Antony’s wife Fulvia died
of a sudden illness while Antony was en route to meet her. Fulvia’s death and
the mutiny of their centurions allowed the two remaining triumvirs to effect a
reconciliation.
In the autumn of 40, Octavian and Antony approved the Treaty of Brundisium,
by which Lepidus would remain in Africa, Antony in the East, Octavian in the
West. The Italian peninsula was left open to all for the recruitment of
soldiers, but in reality, this provision was useless for Antony in the East. To
further cement relations of alliance with Mark Antony, Octavian gave his sister,
Octavia Minor
, in marriage to Antony in late
40 BC. During their marriage, Octavia gave birth to two daughters (known as
Antonia Major
and
Antonia Minor
).
War with Pompeius
A denarius
of
Sextus Pompeius
, minted for his
victory over Octavian’s fleet, on the obverse the Pharus of
Messina
, who defeated Octavian, on
the reverse, the monster
Scylla
Sextus Pompeius threatened Octavian in Italy by denying to the peninsula
shipments of grain through the Mediterranean; Pompeius’ own son was put in
charge as naval commander in the effort to cause widespread famine in Italy.
Pompeius’ control over the sea prompted him to take on the name Neptuni
filius, “son of
Neptune
“. A temporary peace agreement was
reached in 39 BC with the treaty of Misenum; the blockade on Italy was lifted
once Octavian granted Pompeius Sardinia,
Corsica
, Sicily, and the
Peloponnese
, and ensured him a future position
as consul for 35 BC.
The territorial agreement between the triumvirate and Sextus Pompeius began
to crumble once Octavian divorced Scribonia and married Livia on 17 January
38 BC. One of Pompeius’ naval commanders betrayed him and handed over Corsica
and Sardinia to Octavian. Octavian lacked the resources to confront Pompeius
alone, however, so an agreement was reached with the Second Triumvirate’s
extension for another five-year period beginning in 37 BC.
In supporting Octavian, Antony expected to gain support for his own campaign
against Parthia, desiring to avenge Rome’s
defeat at Carrhae
in 53 BC. In an agreement
reached at Tarentum
, Antony provided 120 ships for
Octavian to use against Pompeius, while Octavian was to send 20,000
legionaries
to Antony for use against Parthia.
Octavian sent only a tenth the number of those promised, however, which Antony
viewed as an intentional provocation.
Octavian and Lepidus launched a joint operation against Sextus in Sicily in
36 BC. Despite setbacks for Octavian, the naval fleet of Sextus Pompeius was
almost entirely destroyed on 3 September by general Agrippa at the naval
battle of Naulochus
. Sextus fled with his
remaining forces to the east, where he was captured and executed in
Miletus
by one of Antony’s generals the
following year. As Lepidus and Octavian accepted the surrender of Pompeius’
troops, Lepidus attempted claim Sicily for himself, ordering Octavian to leave.
Lepidus’ troops deserted him, however, and defected to Octavian since they were
weary of fighting and found Octavian’s promises of money to be enticing.
Lepidus surrendered to Octavian and was permitted to retain the office of
pontifex maximus
(head of the college of
priests), but was ejected from the Triumvirate, his public career at an end, and
effectively was exiled to a
villa
at Cape Circei in Italy. The Roman
dominions were now divided between Octavian in the West and Antony in the East.
To maintain peace and stability in his portion of the Empire, Octavian ensured
Rome’s citizens of their rights to property. This time he settled his discharged
soldiers outside of Italy while returning 30,000 slaves to former Roman owners
that had previously fled to Pompeius to join his army and navy. To ensure his
own safety and that of Livia and Octavia once he returned to Rome, Octavian had
the Senate grant him, his wife, and his sister
tribunal
immunity
, or sacrosanctitas.
War with Antony
Anthony and Cleopatra, by
Lawrence Alma-Tadema
Meanwhile, Antony’s campaign against Parthia turned disastrous, tarnishing
his image as a leader, and the mere 2,000 legionaries sent by Octavian to Antony
were hardly enough to replenish his forces. On the other hand, Cleopatra could
restore his army to full strength, and since he already was engaged in a
romantic affair with her, he decided to send Octavia back to Rome. Octavian used
this to spread
propaganda
implying that Antony was becoming
less than Roman because he rejected a legitimate Roman spouse for an “Oriental
paramour
“. In 36 BC, Octavian used a political
ploy to make himself look less autocratic and Antony more the villain by
proclaiming that the civil wars were coming to an end, and that he would step
down as triumvir, if only Antony would do the same; Antony refused.
After Roman troops captured the
Kingdom of Armenia
in 34 BC, Antony made his
son Alexander Helios the ruler of Armenia; he also awarded the title “Queen of
Kings” to Cleopatra, acts which Octavian used to convince the Roman Senate that
Antony had ambitions to diminish the preeminence of Rome. When Octavian became
consul once again on 1 January 33 BC, he opened the following session in the
Senate with a vehement attack on Antony’s grants of titles and territories to
his relatives and to his queen.
The breach between Antony and Octavian prompted a large portion of the
Senators as well as both of that year’s consuls to leave Rome and defect to
Antony; however Octavian received two key deserters from Antony in the autumn of
32 BC. These defectors, Munatius Plancus and Marcus Titius, gave Octavian the
information he needed to confirm with the Senate all the accusations he made
against Antony.
Octavian forcibly entered the temple of the Vestal Virgins and seized
Antony’s secret will, which he promptly publicized. The will would have given
away Roman-conquered territories as kingdoms for his sons to rule, and
designated Alexandria
as the site for a tomb for him and
his queen.In late 32 BC, the Senate officially revoked Antony’s powers as consul
and declared war on Cleopatra’s regime in Egypt.
The
Battle of Actium
, by Lorenzo
Castro, painted 1672, National Maritime Museum, London
In early 31 BC, while Antony and Cleopatra were temporarily stationed in
Greece, Octavian gained a preliminary victory when the navy under the command of
Agrippa successfully ferried troops across the
Adriatic Sea
. While Agrippa cut off Antony and
Cleopatra’s main force from their supply routes at sea, Octavian landed on the
mainland opposite the island of Corcyra (modern
Corfu
) and marched south. Trapped on land and
sea, deserters of Antony’s army fled to Octavian’s side daily while Octavian’s
forces were comfortable enough to make preparations.
In a desperate attempt to break free of the
naval blockade
, Antony’s fleet sailed through
the bay of Actium
on the western coast of Greece. It was
there that Antony’s fleet faced the much larger fleet of smaller, more
maneuverable ships under commanders Agrippa and
Gaius Sosius
in the
battle of Actium
on 2 September 31 BC. Antony
and his remaining forces were spared only due to a last-ditch effort by
Cleopatra’s fleet that had been waiting nearby.
Octavian pursued them, and after another defeat in Alexandria on 1 August
30 BC, Antony and Cleopatra committed suicide; Antony fell on his own sword and
was taken by his soldiers back to Alexandria where he died in Cleopatra’s arms.
Cleopatra died soon after, reputedly by the venomous bite of an
asp
or by poison. Having exploited his position
as Caesar’s heir to further his own political career, Octavian was only too well
aware of the dangers in allowing another to do so and, reportedly commenting
that “two Caesars are one too many”, he ordered
Caesarion
—Julius Caesar’s son by Cleopatra—to
be killed, whilst sparing Cleopatra’s children by Antony, with the exception of
Antony’s
older son
.[
Octavian had previously shown little mercy to surrendered enemies and acted
in ways that had proven unpopular with the Roman people, yet he was given credit
for pardoning many of his opponents after the Battle of Actium.
Octavian becomes
Augustus
Aureus
of Octavian, circa 30 BC,
British Museum
After Actium and the defeat of Antony and Cleopatra, Octavian was in a
position to rule the entire Republic under an unofficial
principate
, but would have to achieve this
through incremental power gains, courting the Senate and the people, while
upholding the republican traditions of Rome, to appear that he was not aspiring
to dictatorship or monarchy. Marching into Rome, Octavian and
Marcus Agrippa
were elected as dual
consuls
by the Senate.
Years of civil war had left Rome in a state of near lawlessness, but the
Republic was not prepared to accept the control of Octavian as a despot. At the
same time, Octavian could not simply give up his authority without risking
further civil wars amongst the Roman generals, and even if he desired no
position of authority whatsoever, his position demanded that he look to the
well-being of the city of Rome and the
Roman provinces
. Octavian’s aims from this
point forward were to return Rome to a state of stability, traditional legality
and civility by lifting the overt political pressure imposed on the courts of
law and ensuring free elections in name at least.
First settlement
Augustus as a magistrate. The statue’s marble head was made c.
30–20 BC, the body sculpted in the 2nd century AD (Louvre,
Paris
).
In 27 BC, Octavian made a show of returning full power to the
Roman Senate
and relinquishing his control of
the Roman provinces and their armies. Under his consulship, however, the Senate
had little power in initiating legislation by introducing
bills
for senatorial debate. Although Octavian
was no longer in direct control of the provinces and their armies, he retained
the loyalty of active duty soldiers and veterans alike. The careers of many
clients and adherents depended on his patronage, as his financial power in the
Roman Republic was unrivaled. The historian
Werner Eck
states:
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 his auctoritas, which he himself
emphasized as the foundation of his political actions.
To a large extent the public was aware of the vast financial resources
Augustus commanded. When he failed to encourage enough senators to finance the
building and maintenance of networks of roads in Italy, he undertook direct
responsibility for them in 20 BC. This was publicized on the Roman currency
issued in 16 BC, after he donated vast amounts of money to the
aerarium Saturni
, the public treasury.
According to H.H. Scullard, however, Augustus’s power was based on the
exercise of “a predominant military power and … the ultimate sanction of his
authority was force, however much the fact was disguised.”
The Senate proposed to Octavian, the victor of Rome’s civil wars, that he
once again assume command of the provinces. The Senate’s proposal was a
ratification of Octavian’s extra-constitutional power. Through the Senate
Octavian was able to continue the appearance of a still-functional
constitution
. Feigning reluctance, he accepted
a ten-year responsibility of overseeing provinces that were considered chaotic.
The provinces ceded to him, that he might pacify them within the promised
ten-year period, comprised much of the conquered Roman world, including all of
Hispania
and
Gaul,
Syria
,
Cilicia
,
Cyprus
, and
Egypt
.Moreover, command of these provinces
provided Octavian with control over the majority of Rome’s legions.
While Octavian acted as consul in Rome, he dispatched senators to the
provinces under his command as his representatives to manage provincial affairs
and ensure his orders were carried out. On the other hand, the provinces not
under Octavian’s control were overseen by governors chosen by the Roman Senate.
Octavian became the most powerful political figure in the city of Rome and in
most of its provinces, but did not have sole monopoly on political and martial
power.
The Senate still controlled North Africa, an important regional
producer of grain
, as well as
Illyria
and Macedonia, two martially strategic
regions with several legions. However, with control of only five or six legions
distributed amongst three senatorial proconsuls, compared to the twenty legions
under the control of Augustus, the Senate’s control of these regions did not
amount to any political or military challenge to Octavian
The Senate’s control over some of the Roman provinces helped maintain a
republican façade for the autocratic Principate. Also, Octavian’s control of
entire provinces for the objective of securing peace and creating stability
followed Republican-era precedents, in which such prominent Romans as
Pompey
had been granted similar military powers
in times of crisis and instability.
Bust of Augustus, wearing the
Civic Crown
.
Glyptothek
,
Munich
.
On 16 January 27 BC the Senate gave Octavian the new titles of
Augustus
and
Princeps
. Augustus, from the Latin
word Augere (meaning to increase), can be translated as “the illustrious
one”.[100]
It was a title of religious rather than political authority.
According to Roman religious beliefs, the title symbolized a stamp of
authority over humanity—and in fact nature—that went beyond any constitutional
definition of his status. After the harsh methods employed in consolidating his
control, the change in name would also serve to demarcate his benign reign as
Augustus from his reign of terror as Octavian. His new title of Augustus was
also more favorable than Romulus, the previous one he styled for himself
in reference to the story of
Romulus and Remus
(founders of Rome), which
would symbolize a second founding of Rome.
However, the title of Romulus was associated too strongly with notions
of monarchy and kingship, an image Octavian tried to avoid. Princeps,
comes from the Latin phrase primum caput, “the first head”, originally
meaning the oldest or most distinguished senator whose name would appear first
on the senatorial roster
; in the case of Augustus it became an
almost regnal title for a leader who was first in charge. Princeps had
also been a title under the Republic for those who had served the state well;
for example, Pompey
had held the title. Augustus also styled
himself as Imperator Caesar divi filius, “Commander Caesar son of the
deified one”.
With this title he not only boasted his familial link to deified Julius
Caesar, but the use of
Imperator
signified a permanent link to the
Roman tradition of victory. The word Caesar was merely a
cognomen
for one branch of the
Julian family
, yet Augustus transformed
Caesar into a new family line that began with him.
Augustus was granted the right to hang the
corona civica
, the “civic crown” made from
oak, above his door and have laurels drape his doorposts. This crown was usually
held above the head of a Roman general during a
triumph
, with the individual holding the crown
charged to continually repeat “memento
mori“, or, “Remember, you are mortal”, to the triumphant general.
Additionally, laurel wreaths were important in several state ceremonies, and
crowns of laurel were rewarded to champions of athletic, racing, and dramatic
contests. Thus, both the laurel and the oak were integral symbols of Roman
religion and statecraft; placing them on Augustus’ doorposts was tantamount to
declaring his home the capital. However, Augustus renounced flaunting insignia
of power such as holding a
scepter
, wearing a
diadem
, or wearing the golden crown and purple
toga of his predecessor Julius Caesar. If he refused to symbolize his
power by donning and bearing these items on his person, the Senate nonetheless
awarded him with a golden shield displayed in the meeting hall of the
Curia
, bearing the inscription virtus,
pietas, clementia, iustitia—”valor, piety, clemency, and
justice.”
Second settlement
This portrait of Augustus shows the emperor with idealized features.
Walters Art Museum
,
Baltimore
.
By 23 BC, some of the implications of the settlement of 27 BC were becoming
apparent. Augustus’ holding of an annual consulate made his dominance over the
Roman political system too obvious, whilst at the same time halving the
opportunities for others to achieve what was still purported to be the head of
the Roman state. Further, his desire to have his nephew
Marcus Claudius Marcellus
follow in his
footsteps and eventually assume the Principate in his turn was causing political
problems and alienating his three biggest supporters – Agrippa, Maecenas and
Livia. Feeling pressure from his own core group of adherents, Augustus turned to
the Senate in an attempt to bolster his support there, especially with the
Republicans; after his choice for co-consul in 23 BC,
Aulus Terentius Varro Murena
died before taking
office he appointed the noted Republican
Calpurnius Piso
, who had fought against Julius
Caesar and supported Cassius and Brutus.
In the late spring Augustus suffered a severe illness, and on his supposed
deathbed made arrangements that would ensure the continuation of the Principate
in some form, whilst at the same time put in doubt the senators’ suspicions of
his anti-republicanism. Augustus prepared to hand down his
signet ring
to his favored general Agrippa.
However, Augustus handed over to his co-consul Piso all of his official
documents, an account of public finances, and authority over listed troops in
the provinces while Augustus’ supposedly favored nephew Marcellus came away
empty-handed. This was a surprise to many who believed Augustus would have named
an heir to his position as an unofficial emperor.
Augustus bestowed only properties and possessions to his designated heirs, as
an obvious system of institutionalized imperial inheritance would have provoked
resistance and hostility amongst the republican-minded Romans fearful of
monarchy. With regards to the Principate, it was obvious to Augustus that
Marcellus was not ready to take on his position; nonetheless, by giving his
signet ring to Agrippa, it was Augustus’ intent to signal to the legions that
Agrippa was to be his successor, and that no matter what the constitutional
rules were, they would continue to obey Agrippa.
The
Blacas Cameo
showing Augustus
wearing a
gorgoneion
on a three layered
sardonyx
cameo, AD 20-50
Soon after his bout of illness subsided, Augustus gave up his permanent
consulship. The only other times Augustus would serve as consul would be in the
years 5 and 2 BC’, both times to introduce his grandsons into public life.
Although he had resigned as consul, Augustus retained his consular
imperium
, leading to a second compromise
between him and the Senate known as the Second Settlement. This was a clever
ploy by Augustus; by stepping down as one of two consuls, this allowed aspiring
senators a better chance to fill that position, while at the same time Augustus
could “exercise wider patronage within the senatorial class.”
Augustus was no longer in an official position to rule the state, yet his
dominant position over the Roman provinces remained unchanged as he became a
proconsul
.When he was a consul he had the power
to intervene, when he deemed necessary, with the affairs of provincial
proconsuls appointed by the Senate. As a proconsul he would ordinarily have lost
this power; he wanted to keep it, so imperium proconsulare maius, or
“power over all the proconsuls” was granted to Augustus by the Senate. The
existence of imperium maius is debated by scholars, and it is also argued
that he was only granted imperium aequum, or power equal to that of the
governors, but his supreme influence allowed him to control the affairs of the
provinces.
Augustus was also granted the power of a
tribune
(tribunicia potestas) for life,
though not the official title of tribune. Legally it was closed to
patricians
, a status that Augustus had acquired
years ago when adopted by Julius Caesar. This allowed him to convene the Senate
and people at will and lay business before it, veto the actions of either the
Assembly or the Senate, preside over elections, and the right to speak first at
any meeting.Also included in Augustus’ tribunician authority were powers usually
reserved for the
Roman censor
; these included the right to
supervise public morals and scrutinize laws to ensure they were in the public
interest, as well as the ability to hold a
census
and determine the membership of the
Senate.
With the powers of a censor, Augustus appealed to virtues of Roman patriotism
by banning all other attire besides the classic
toga while entering the Forum. 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.
Julius Caesar
had been granted similar powers,
wherein he was charged with supervising the morals of the state, however this
position did not extend to the censor’s ability to hold a census and determine
the Senate’s roster. The office of the tribunus plebis began to lose its
prestige due to Augustus’ amassing of tribunal powers, so he revived its
importance by making it a mandatory appointment for any plebeian desiring the
praetorship
.
The
Via Labicana Augustus
—Augustus
as
Pontifex Maximus
.
In addition to tribunician authority, Augustus was granted sole imperium
within the city of Rome itself: all armed forces in the city, formerly under the
control of the prefects
and consuls, were now under the sole
authority of Augustus. With maius imperium proconsulare, Augustus was the
only individual able to receive a
triumph
as he was legally the head of every
Roman army. In 19 BC,
Lucius Cornelius Balbus
, governor of Africa and
conqueror of the
Garamantes
, was the first man of provincial
origin to receive this award, as well as the last.
For every following Roman victory the credit was given to Augustus, because
Rome’s armies were commanded by the
legatus
, who were deputies of the princeps in
the provinces. Augustus’ eldest son by marriage to Livia,
Tiberius
, was the only exception to this rule
when he received a triumph for victories in
Germania
in 7 BC. Ensuring that his status of
maius imperium proconsulare was renewed in 13 BC, Augustus stayed in Rome
during the renewal process and provided veterans with lavish donations to gain
their support.
Many of the political subtleties of the Second Settlement seem to have evaded
the comprehension of the Plebeian class. When Augustus failed to stand for
election as consul in 22 BC, fears arose once again that Augustus was being
forced from power by the aristocratic Senate. In 22, 21, and 19 BC, the people
rioted in response, and only allowed a single consul to be elected for each of
those years, ostensibly to leave the other position open for Augustus. In 22 BC
there was a food shortage in Rome which sparked panic, while many urban plebs
called for Augustus to take on dictatorial powers to personally oversee the
crisis.
After a theatrical display of refusal before the Senate, Augustus finally
accepted authority over Rome’s grain supply “by virtue of his proconsular
imperium“, and ended the crisis almost immediately. It was not until AD 8
that a food crisis of this sort prompted Augustus to establish a praefectus
annonae, a permanent prefect who was in charge of procuring food supplies
for Rome.
Nevertheless, there were some who were concerned by the expansion of powers
granted to Augustus by the Second Settlement, and this came to a head with the
apparent conspiracy of Fannius Caepio and
Lucius Lucinius Varro Murena
.[144]
In early 22 BC, charges were brought against
Marcus Primus
, the former
proconsul
(governor) of
Macedonia
, of waging a war on the
Odrysian
kingdom of
Thrace
, whose king was a Roman ally, without
prior approval of the
Senate
. He was defended by Murena, who told the
trial that his client had received specific instructions from Augustus, ordering
him to attack the client state. Later, Primus testified that the orders came
from the recently deceased Marcellus.
Under the Constitutional settlement of 27 BC such orders, had they been
given, would have been considered a breach of the Senate’s prerogative, as
Macedonia was under the Senate’s jurisdiction, not that of the Princeps. Such an
action would have ripped away the veneer of Republican restoration as promoted
by Augustus, and exposed his fraud of merely being the first citizen, a first
among equals. Even worse, the involvement of Marcellus provided some measure of
proof that Augustus’s policy was to have the youth take his place as Princeps,
instituting a form of monarchy – accusations that had already played out during
the crisis of 23 BC.
The situation was so serious that Augustus himself appeared at the trial,
even though he had not been called as a witness. Under oath, Augustus declared
that he gave no such order. Murena, disbelieving Augustus’s testimony and
resentful of his attempt to subvert the trial by using his
auctoritas
, rudely demanded to know why
Augustus had turned up to a trial to which he had not been called; Augustus
replied that he came in the public interest.[149]
Although Primus was found guilty, some jurors voted to acquit, meaning that not
everybody believed Augustus’s testimony.
Then, sometime prior to 1 September 22 BC a certain Castricius provided
Augustus with information about a conspiracy led by Fannius Caepio against the
Princeps. Murena was named among the conspirators. Tried in absentia, with
Tiberius
acting as prosecutor, the jury found
the conspirators guilty, but it was not a unanimous verdict. Sentenced to death
for treason, all the accused were executed as soon as they were captured without
ever giving testimony in their defence.[153]
Augustus ensured that the facade of Republican government continued with an
effective cover-up of the events.
In 19 BC, the Senate voted to allow Augustus to wear the consul’s insignia in
public and before the Senate, as well as sit in the symbolic chair between the
two consuls and hold the
fasces
, an emblem of consular authority. Like
his tribune authority, the granting of consular powers to him was another
instance of holding power of offices he did not hold. This seems to have
assuaged the populace; regardless of whether or not Augustus was a consul, the
importance was that he appeared as one before the people. On 6 March 12 BC,
after the death of
Lepidus
, he additionally took up the position
of
pontifex maximus
, the high priest of the
collegium of the Pontifices, the most important position in Roman religion. On 5
February 2 BC, Augustus was also given the title
pater patriae
, or “father of the country”.
Later Roman Emperors would generally be limited to the powers and titles
originally granted to Augustus, though often, to display humility, newly
appointed Emperors would decline one or more of the honorifics given to
Augustus. Just as often, as their reign progressed, Emperors would appropriate
all of the titles, regardless of whether they had been granted them by the
Senate. The civic crown, which later Emperors took to wearing, consular
insignia, and later the purple robes of a Triumphant general (toga
picta) became the imperial insignia well into the
Byzantine
era.
War and expansion
Extent of the Roman Empire under Augustus. The yellow legend
represents the extent of the Republic in 31 BC, the shades of green
represent gradually conquered territories under the reign of
Augustus, and pink areas on the map represent
client states
; however, areas under
Roman control shown here were subject to change even during
Augustus’ reign, especially in
Germania
.
Imperator Caesar Divi Filius Augustus chose Imperator,
“victorious commander” to be his first name, since he wanted to make the notion
of victory associated with him emphatically clear. By the year 13, Augustus
boasted 21 occasions where his troops proclaimed “imperator” as his title after
a successful battle. Almost the entire fourth chapter in his publicly released
memoirs of achievements known as the
Res Gestae
was devoted to his military
victories and honors.
Augustus also promoted the ideal of a superior Roman civilization with a task
of ruling the world (the extent to which the Romans knew it), a sentiment
embodied in words that the contemporary poet
Virgil
attributes to a legendary ancestor of
Augustus: tu regere imperio populos, Romane, memento—”Roman, remember by
your strength to rule the Earth’s peoples!” The impulse for
expansionism
, apparently prominent among all
classes at Rome, is accorded divine sanction by Virgil’s Jupiter, who in Book 1
of the Aeneid
promises Rome imperium sine fine,
“sovereignty without limit”.
By the end of his reign, the armies of Augustus had conquered northern
Hispania
(modern
Spain
and
Portugal
), the
Alpine regions of
Raetia
and
Noricum
(modern Switzerland, Bavaria, Austria,
Slovenia),
Illyricum
and
Pannonia
(modern Albania, Croatia, Hungary,
Serbia, etc.), and extended the borders of the
Africa Province
to the east and south.
Bust of
Tiberius
, a successful military
commander under Augustus before he was designated as his heir and
successor.
After the reign of the
client king
Herod the Great
(73–4 BC),
Judea
was added to the
province of Syria
when Augustus deposed his
successor
Herod Archelaus
. Like Egypt which had been
conquered after the defeat of Antony in 30 BC, Syria was governed not by a
proconsul or legate of Augustus, but a high prefect of the equestrian class.
Again, no military effort was needed in 25 BC when
Galatia
(modern Turkey) was converted to a
Roman province shortly after
Amyntas of Galatia
was killed by an avenging
widow of a slain prince from Homonada. When the rebellious tribes of
Cantabria
in modern-day Spain were finally
quelled in 19 BC, the territory fell under the provinces of Hispania and
Lusitania
. This region proved to be a major
asset in funding Augustus’ future military campaigns, as it was rich in mineral
deposits that could be fostered in Roman
mining
projects, especially the very rich
gold deposits at
Las Medulas
for example.
Conquering the peoples of the Alps in 16 BC was another important victory for
Rome since it provided a large territorial buffer between the Roman citizens of
Italy and Rome’s enemies in
Germania
to the north. The poet
Horace
dedicated an ode to the victory, while
the monument
Trophy of Augustus
near
Monaco
was built to honor the occasion. The
capture of the Alpine region also served the next offensive in 12 BC, when
Tiberius
began the offensive against the
Pannonian tribes of Illyricum and his brother
Nero Claudius Drusus
against the Germanic
tribes of the eastern
Rhineland
. Both campaigns were successful, as
Drusus’ forces reached the
Elbe River by 9 BC, yet he died shortly after by falling off his
horse. It was recorded that the pious Tiberius walked in front of his brother’s
body all the way back to Rome.
Muziris
in the
Chera Kingdom
of
Southern India
, as shown in the
Tabula Peutingeriana
, with
depiction of a “Temple of Augustus” (“Templum Augusti”), an
illustration of
Indo-Roman relations
in the period.
To protect Rome’s eastern territories from the
Parthian Empire
, Augustus relied on the
client states
of the east to act as territorial
buffers
and areas which could raise their own
troops for defense. To ensure security of the Empire’s eastern flank, Augustus
stationed a Roman army in Syria, while his skilled stepson Tiberius negotiated
with the Parthians as Rome’s diplomat to the East. Tiberius was responsible for
restoring
Tigranes V
to the throne of the Kingdom of
Armenia.
Yet arguably his greatest diplomatic achievement was negotiating with
Phraates IV of Parthia
(37–2 BC) in 20 BC for
the return of the
battle standards
lost by
Crassus
in the
Battle of Carrhae
, a symbolic victory and great
boost of morale for Rome.[168]
Werner Eck claims that this was a great disappointment for Romans seeking to
avenge Crassus’ defeat by military means. However, Maria Brosius explains that
Augustus used the return of the standards as
propaganda
symbolizing the submission of
Parthia to Rome. The event was celebrated in art such as the breastplate design
on the statue
Augustus of Prima Porta
and in monuments such
as the
Temple of Mars Ultor
(‘Mars
the Avenger‘) built to house the standards.
Although Parthia always posed a threat to Rome in the east, the real
battlefront was along the
Rhine
and
Danube
rivers. Before the final fight with
Antony, Octavian’s campaigns against the tribes in
Dalmatia
was the first step in expanding Roman
dominions to the Danube. Victory in battle was not always a permanent success,
as newly conquered territories were constantly retaken by Rome’s enemies in
Germania.
A prime example of Roman loss in battle was the
Battle of Teutoburg Forest
in AD 9, where three
entire legions led by
Publius Quinctilius Varus
were destroyed with
few survivors by
Arminius
, leader of the
Cherusci
, an apparent Roman ally.[173]
Augustus retaliated by dispatching Tiberius and Drusus to the Rhineland to
pacify it, which had some success although the battle of AD 9 brought the end to
Roman expansion into Germany. The Roman general
Germanicus
took advantage of a Cherusci civil
war between Arminius and
Segestes
; they defeated Arminius, who fled that
battle but was killed later in 21 due to treachery.
Death and succession
A Roman aureus
struck under Augustus, c.
AD 13–14; the reverse shows
Tiberius
riding on a
quadriga
, celebrating the fifteenth
renewal of his tribunal power. At least six potential heirs,
including Agrippa and his sons, had expired or proven incapable of
succeeding Augustus, before he finally settled on Tiberius in AD 9.
The illness of Augustus in 23 BC brought the problem of succession to the
forefront of political issues and the public. To ensure stability, he needed to
designate an heir to his unique position in Roman society and government. This
was to be achieved in small, undramatic, and incremental ways that did not stir
senatorial fears of monarchy. If someone was to succeed his unofficial position
of power, they were going to have to earn it through their own publicly proven
merits.
Some Augustan historians argue that indications pointed toward his sister’s
son
Marcellus
, who had been quickly married to
Augustus’ daughter
Julia the Elder
. Other historians dispute this
due to Augustus’ will read aloud to the Senate while he was seriously ill in
23 BC, instead indicating a preference for Marcus Agrippa, who was Augustus’
second in charge and arguably the only one of his associates who could have
controlled the legions and held the Empire together.[17]
After the death of Marcellus in 23 BC, Augustus married his daughter to
Agrippa. This union produced five children, three sons and two daughters:
Gaius Caesar
,
Lucius Caesar
,
Vipsania Julia
,
Agrippina the Elder
, and
Postumus Agrippa
, so named because he was born
after Marcus Agrippa died. Shortly after the Second Settlement, Agrippa was
granted a five-year term of administering the eastern half of the Empire with
the imperium of a proconsul and the same tribunicia potestas
granted to Augustus (although not trumping Augustus’ authority), his seat of
governance stationed at
Samos
in the eastern
Aegean
. Although this granting of power would
have shown Augustus’ favor for Agrippa, it was also a measure to please members
of his Caesarian party by allowing one of their members to share a considerable
amount of power with him.
The
Mausoleum of Augustus
Augustus’ intent to make Gaius and Lucius Caesar his heirs was apparent when
he adopted them as his own children. He took the consulship in 5 and 2 BC so he
could personally usher them into their political careers, and they were
nominated for the consulships of AD 1 and 4. Augustus also showed favor to his
stepsons, Livia’s children from her first marriage,
Nero Claudius Drusus Germanicus
(henceforth
referred to as Drusus) and
Tiberius Claudius
(henceforth Tiberius)
granting them military commands and public office, though seeming to favor
Drusus. After Agrippa died in 12 BC, Tiberius was ordered to divorce his own
wife Vipsania and marry Agrippa’s widow, Augustus’ daughter Julia — as soon as a
period of mourning for Agrippa had ended. While Drusus’ marriage to Antonia was
considered an unbreakable affair, Vipsania was “only” the daughter of the late
Agrippa from his first marriage.
Tiberius shared in Augustus’ tribune powers as of 6 BC, but shortly
thereafter went into retirement, reportedly wanting no further role in politics
while he exiled himself to
Rhodes
.Although no specific reason is known for
his departure, it could have been a combination of reasons, including a failing
marriage with Julia, as well as a sense of envy and exclusion over Augustus’
apparent favouring of his young grandchildren-turned-sons, Gaius and Lucius, who
joined the college of priests at an early age, were presented to spectators in a
more favorable light, and were introduced to the army in Gaul.
After the early deaths of both Lucius and Gaius in AD 2 and 4 respectively,
and the earlier death of his brother Drusus (9 BC), Tiberius was recalled to
Rome in June AD 4, where he was adopted by Augustus on the condition that he, in
turn, adopt his nephew
Germanicus
. This continued the tradition of
presenting at least two generations of heirs. In that year, Tiberius was also
granted the powers of a tribune and proconsul, emissaries from foreign kings had
to pay their respects to him, and by 13 was awarded with his second triumph and
equal level of imperium with that of Augustus.
The deified Augustus hovers over Tiberius and other Julio-Claudians
in the
Great Cameo of France
The only other possible claimant as heir was
Postumus Agrippa
, who had been exiled by
Augustus in AD 7, his banishment made permanent by senatorial decree, and
Augustus officially disowned him. He certainly fell out of Augustus’ favor as an
heir; the historian Erich S. Gruen notes various contemporary sources that state
Postumus Agrippa was a “vulgar young man, brutal and brutish, and of depraved
character.” Postumus Agrippa was murdered at his place of exile either shortly
before or after the death of Augustus.
On 19 August AD 14, Augustus died while visiting the place of his birth
father’s death at Nola
. Both Tacitus and Cassius Dio wrote that
Livia brought about Augustus’ death by poisoning fresh figs, though this
allegation remains unproven.Tiberius, who was present alongside Livia at
Augustus’ deathbed, was named his heir. Augustus’ famous last words were, “Have
I played the part well? Then applaud as I exit”—referring to the play-acting and
regal authority that he had put on as emperor. Publicly, though, his last words
were, “Behold, I found Rome of clay, and leave her to you of marble.” An
enormous funerary procession of mourners traveled with Augustus’ body from Nola
to Rome, and on the day of his burial all public and private businesses closed
for the day.
Tiberius and his son Drusus delivered the eulogy while standing atop two
rostra
. Coffin-bound, Augustus’ body was
cremated on a pyre close to
his mausoleum
. It was proclaimed that Augustus
joined the company of the gods as a member of the Roman
pantheon
. In 410, during the
Sack of Rome
, the mausoleum was despoiled by
the Goths and his ashes scattered.
The historian D.C.A. Shotter states that Augustus’ policy of favoring the
Julian family line over the Claudian might have afforded Tiberius sufficient
cause to show open disdain for Augustus after the latter’s death; instead,
Tiberius was always quick to rebuke those who criticized Augustus. Shotter
suggests that Augustus’ deification, coupled with Tiberius’ “extremely
conservative” attitude towards religion, obliged Tiberius to suppress any open
resentment he might have harbored.
Also, the historian R. Shaw-Smith points to letters of Augustus to Tiberius
which display affection towards Tiberius and high regard for his military
merits. Shotter states that Tiberius focused his anger and criticism on
Gaius Asinius Gallus
(for marrying Vipsania
after Augustus forced Tiberius to divorce her) as well as the two young Caesars
Gaius and Lucius, instead of Augustus, the real architect of his divorce and
imperial demotion.
Legacy
Laureate bust of Augustus
Augustus’ reign laid the foundations of a regime that lasted for nearly
fifteen hundred years through the ultimate
decline of the Western Roman Empire
and until
the
Fall of Constantinople
in 1453. Both his
adoptive surname, Caesar, and his title Augustus became the permanent
titles of the rulers of
Roman Empire
for fourteen centuries after his
death, in use both at Old Rome
and at
New Rome
. In many languages, Caesar
became the word for Emperor, as in the German
Kaiser
and in the Bulgarian and
subsequently Russian
Tsar. The cult of Divus Augustus continued until the state
religion of the Empire was changed to
Christianity
in 391 by
Theodosius I
. Consequently, there are many
excellent statues and busts of the first emperor. He had composed an account of
his achievements, the
Res Gestae Divi Augusti
, to be inscribed in
bronze in front of
his mausoleum
. Copies of the text were
inscribed throughout the Empire upon his death. The inscriptions in Latin
featured translations in Greek beside it, and were inscribed on many public
edifices, such as the temple in
Ankara
dubbed the Monumentum Ancyranum,
called the “queen of inscriptions” by historian
Theodor Mommsen
.
There are a few known written works by Augustus that have survived. This
includes his poems Sicily, Epiphanus, and Ajax, an
autobiography of 13 books, a philosophical treatise, and his written rebuttal to
Brutus’ Eulogy of Cato. However, historians are able to analyze existing
letters penned by Augustus to others for additional facts or clues about his
personal life.
Many consider Augustus to be Rome’s greatest emperor; his policies certainly
extended the Empire’s life span and initiated the celebrated
Pax Romana
or Pax Augusta. The Roman
Senate wished subsequent emperors to “be
more fortunate than Augustus and better than Trajan“. Augustus was
intelligent, decisive, and a shrewd politician, but he was not perhaps as
charismatic as
Julius Caesar
, and was influenced on occasion
by his third wife, Livia (sometimes for the worse). Nevertheless, his legacy
proved more enduring. The city of Rome was utterly transformed under Augustus,
with Rome’s first institutionalized
police force
,
fire fighting
force, and the establishment of
the municipal prefect
as a permanent office.[203]
The police force was divided into cohorts of 500 men each, while the units of
firemen ranged from 500 to 1,000 men each, with 7 units assigned to 14 divided
city sectors.
A praefectus vigilum, or “Prefect of the Watch” was put in charge of
the vigiles
, Rome’s fire brigade and police. With
Rome’s civil wars at an end, Augustus was also able to create a
standing army
for the Roman Empire, fixed at a
size of 28 legions of about 170,000 soldiers. This was supported by numerous
auxiliary
units of 500 soldiers each, often
recruited from recently conquered areas.
With his finances securing the maintenance of roads throughout Italy,
Augustus also installed an official
courier
system of relay stations overseen by a
military officer known as the praefectus vehiculorum. Besides the advent
of swifter communication amongst Italian polities, his extensive building of
roads throughout Italy also allowed Rome’s armies to march swiftly and at an
unprecedented pace across the country. In the year 6 Augustus established the
aerarium militare
, donating 170 million
sesterces to the new military treasury that provided for both active and retired
soldiers.
One of the most enduring institutions of Augustus was the establishment of
the
Praetorian Guard
in 27 BC, originally a
personal bodyguard unit on the battlefield that evolved into an imperial guard
as well as an important political force in Rome. They had the power to
intimidate the Senate, install new emperors, and depose ones they disliked; the
last emperor they served was
Maxentius
, as it was
Constantine I
who disbanded them in the early
4th century and destroyed their barracks, the
Castra Praetoria
.
Although the most powerful individual in the Roman Empire, Augustus wished to
embody the spirit of Republican virtue and norms. He also wanted to relate to
and connect with the concerns of the plebs and lay people. He achieved this
through various means of generosity and a cutting back of lavish excess. In the
year 29 BC, Augustus paid 400
sesterces
each to 250,000 citizens, 1,000
sesterces each to 120,000 veterans in the colonies, and spent 700 million
sesterces in purchasing land for his soldiers to settle upon. He also restored
82 different temples to display his care for the
Roman pantheon
of deities. In 28 BC, he melted
down 80 silver statues erected in his likeness and in honor of him, an attempt
of his to appear frugal and modest.
The longevity of Augustus’ reign and its legacy to the Roman world should not
be overlooked as a key factor in its success. As
Tacitus
wrote, the younger generations alive in
AD 14 had never known any form of government other than the Principate.[213]
Had Augustus died earlier (in 23 BC, for instance), matters might have turned
out differently. The attrition of the civil wars on the old Republican oligarchy
and the longevity of Augustus, therefore, must be seen as major contributing
factors in the transformation of the Roman state into a
de facto
monarchy in these years. Augustus’ own
experience, his patience, his tact, and his political acumen also played their
parts. He directed the future of the Empire down many lasting paths, from the
existence of a standing professional army stationed at or near the frontiers, to
the dynastic principle so often employed in the imperial succession, to the
embellishment of the capital at the emperor’s expense. Augustus’ ultimate legacy
was the peace and prosperity the Empire enjoyed for the next two centuries under
the system he initiated. His memory was enshrined in the political ethos of the
Imperial age as a paradigm of the good emperor. Every Emperor of Rome adopted
his name, Caesar Augustus, which gradually lost its character as a name and
eventually became a title. The Augustan era poets Virgil and Horace praised
Augustus as a defender of Rome, an upholder of moral justice, and an individual
who bore the brunt of responsibility in maintaining the empire.
However, for his rule of Rome and establishing the principate, Augustus has
also been subjected to criticism throughout the ages. The contemporary Roman
jurist
Marcus Antistius Labeo
(d. AD 10/11), fond of
the days of pre-Augustan republican
liberty
in which he had been born, openly
criticized the Augustan regime. In the beginning of his
Annals
, the Roman historian
Tacitus
(c. 56–c.117) wrote that Augustus had
cunningly subverted Republican Rome into a position of slavery. He continued to
say that, with Augustus’ death and swearing of loyalty to Tiberius, the people
of Rome simply traded one slaveholder for another.[215]
Tacitus, however, records two contradictory but common views of Augustus:
Fragment of a bronze equestrian statue of Augustus, 1st century AD
Revenue reforms
Coin of Augustus found at the
Pudukottai
hoard, from an
ancient Tamil country
,
Pandyan Kingdom
of present day
Tamil Nadu
in
India
.
British Museum
Augustus’ public
revenue
reforms had a great impact on the
subsequent success of the Empire. Augustus brought a far greater portion of the
Empire’s expanded land base under consistent, direct taxation from Rome, instead
of exacting varying, intermittent, and somewhat arbitrary tributes from each
local province as Augustus’ predecessors had done. This reform greatly increased
Rome’s net revenue from its territorial acquisitions, stabilized its flow, and
regularized the financial relationship between Rome and the provinces, rather
than provoking fresh resentments with each new arbitrary exaction of tribute.
The measures of taxation in the reign of Augustus were determined by
population census
, 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 the
next of kin
.
An equally important reform was the abolition of private
tax farming
, which was replaced by salaried
civil service tax collectors. Private contractors that raised taxes had been the
norm in the Republican era, and some had grown powerful enough to influence the
amount of votes for politicians in Rome. The tax farmers had gained great infamy
for their depredations, as well as great private wealth, by winning the right to
tax local areas.
Rome’s revenue was the amount of the successful bids, and the tax farmers’
profits consisted of any additional amounts they could forcibly wring from the
populace with Rome’s blessing. Lack of effective supervision, combined with tax
farmers’ desire to maximize their profits, had produced a system of arbitrary
exactions that was often barbarously cruel to taxpayers, widely (and accurately)
perceived as unfair, and very harmful to investment and the economy.
The use of
Egypt
‘s immense land rents to finance the
Empire’s operations resulted from Augustus’ conquest of Egypt and the shift to a
Roman form of government. As it was effectively considered Augustus’ private
property rather than a province of the Empire, it became part of each succeeding
emperor’s patrimonium. Instead of a legate or proconsul, Augustus installed a
prefect from the equestrian class to administer Egypt and maintain its lucrative
seaports; this position became the highest political achievement for any
equestrian besides becoming
Prefect of the Praetorian Guard
.[26]
The highly productive agricultural land of Egypt yielded enormous revenues that
were available to Augustus and his successors to pay for public works and
military expeditions, as well as bread and circuses for the population of Rome.
Month of August
The month of August (Latin: Augustus) is named after Augustus; until
his time it was called
Sextilis
(named so because it had been the
sixth month of the original
Roman calendar
and the Latin word for six is
sex). Commonly repeated lore has it that August has 31 days because Augustus
wanted his month to match the length of
Julius Caesar
‘s July, but this is an invention
of the 13th century scholar
Johannes de Sacrobosco
. Sextilis in fact had 31
days before it was renamed, and it was not chosen for its length (see
Julian calendar
). According to a senatus
consultum quoted by
Macrobius
, Sextilis was renamed to honor
Augustus because several of the most significant events in his rise to power,
culminating in the fall of
Alexandria
, fell in that month.
Building projects
On his deathbed, Augustus boasted “I found a Rome of bricks; I leave to you
one of marble”. Although there is some truth in the literal meaning of this,
Cassius Dio
asserts that it was a metaphor for
the Empire’s strength.[228]
Marble
could be found in buildings of Rome
before Augustus, but it was not extensively used as a building material until
the reign of Augustus.
Although this did not apply to the
Subura
slums, which were still as rickety and
fire-prone as ever, he did leave a mark on the monumental topography of the
centre and of the
Campus Martius
, with the
Ara Pacis
(Altar of Peace) and monumental
sundial, whose central
gnomon
was an
obelisk
taken from Egypt. The
relief
sculptures decorating the Ara Pacis
visually augmented the written record of Augustus’ triumphs in the
Res Gestae
. Its reliefs depicted the
imperial pageants of the
praetorians
, the Vestals, and the citizenry of
Rome.
He also built the
Temple of Caesar
, the
Baths of Agrippa
, and the
Forum of Augustus
with its
Temple of Mars Ultor
.[232]
Other projects were either encouraged by him, such as the
Theatre of Balbus
, and Agrippa’s construction
of the
Pantheon
, or funded by him in the name of
others, often relations (e.g.
Portico of Octavia
,
Theatre of Marcellus
). Even his
Mausoleum of Augustus
was built before his
death to house members of his family.
To celebrate his victory at the Battle of Actium, the
Arch of Augustus
was built in 29 BC near the
entrance of the
Temple of Castor and Pollux
, and widened in
19 BC to include a triple-arch design. There are also many buildings outside of
the city of Rome that bear Augustus’ name and legacy, such as the
Theatre of Merida
in modern Spain, the
Maison Carrée
built at
Nîmes
in today’s southern France, as well as
the
Trophy of Augustus
at
La Turbie
, located near
Monaco
.
The Temple of Augustus and Livia in
Vienne
, late 1st century BC
After the death of Agrippa in 12 BC, a solution had to be found in
maintaining Rome’s water supply system. This came about because it was overseen
by Agrippa when he served as aedile, and was even funded by him afterwards when
he was a private citizen paying at his own expense. In that year, Augustus
arranged a system where the Senate designated three of its members as prime
commissioners in charge of the water supply and to ensure that Rome’s aqueducts
did not fall into disrepair.
In the late Augustan era, the commission of five senators called the
curatores locorum publicorum iudicandorum (translated as “Supervisors of
Public Property”) was put in charge of maintaining public buildings and temples
of the state cult. Augustus created the senatorial group of the curatores
viarum (translated as “Supervisors for Roads”) for the upkeep of roads; this
senatorial commission worked with local officials and contractors to organize
regular repairs.
The
Corinthian order
of architectural style
originating from ancient Greece was the dominant architectural style in the age
of Augustus and the imperial phase of Rome.
Suetonius
once commented that Rome was unworthy
of its status as an imperial capital, yet Augustus and Agrippa set out to
dismantle this sentiment by transforming the appearance of Rome upon the
classical Greek model.
Physical appearance and official images
His biographer
Suetonius
, writing about a century after
Augustus’ death, described his appearance as: “… unusually handsome and
exceedingly graceful at all periods of his life, though he cared nothing for
personal adornment. He was so far from being particular about the dressing of
his hair, that he would have several barbers working in a hurry at the same
time, and as for his beard he now had it clipped and now shaved, while at the
very same time he would either be reading or writing something … He had clear,
bright eyes … His teeth were wide apart, small, and ill-kept; his hair was
slightly curly and inclining to
golden
; his eyebrows met. His ears were of
moderate size, and his nose projected a little at the top and then bent ever so
slightly inward. His complexion was between dark and fair. He was short of
stature (although Julius Marathus, his freedman and keeper of his records, says
that he was five feet and nine inches in height), but this was concealed by the
fine proportion and symmetry of his figure, and was noticeable only by
comparison with some taller person standing beside him. … “
His official images were very tightly controlled and idealized, drawing from
a tradition of
Hellenistic
royal portraiture rather than the
tradition of realism in
Roman portraiture
. He first appeared on
coins
at the age of 19, and from about 29 BC
“the explosion in the number of Augustan portraits attests a concerted
propaganda campaign aimed at dominating all aspects of civil, religious,
economic and military life with Augustus’ person”. The early images did indeed
depict a young man, but although there were gradual changes his images remained
youthful until he died in his seventies, by which time they had “a distanced air
of ageless majesty”.
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