He transformed Caesar, a cognomen for one branch of the Julian family, into a new family line that began with him. He failed to encourage enough senators to finance the building and maintenance of networks of roads in Italy in 20 BC, but he undertook direct responsibility for them. [69] This explicit arrogation of special powers lasting five years was then legalised by law passed by the plebs, unlike the unofficial First Triumvirate formed by Pompey, Julius Caesar, and Marcus Licinius Crassus. In the year 29 BC, Augustus gave 400 sesterces (equal to 1/10 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. A member of the Julio-Claudian dynasty, he was the son of Drusus and Antonia Minor. [192] 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. He, Mark Antony, and Marcus Lepidus formed the Second Triumvirate to defeat the assassins of Caesar. However, the sources agree that enacting the proscriptions was a means by all three factions to eliminate political enemies. He was only 18 when, against the advice of his stepfather and others, he decided to take up this perilous inheritance and proceeded to Rome. Legally, it was closed to patricians, a status that Augustus had acquired some years earlier when adopted by Julius Caesar. The tens of thousands who had fought on the republican side with Brutus and Cassius could easily ally with a political opponent of Octavian if not appeased, and they also required land. 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. The Roman emperors were the rulers of the Roman Empire dating from the granting of the … 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. Lepidus was left with the province of Africa, stymied by Antony, who conceded Hispania to Octavian instead. Battle of Philippi and division of territory, Primary reasons for the Second settlement, The dates of his rule are contemporary dates; Augustus lived under two calendars, the, He acted on the orders of Marcellus and Augustus – see Southern, p. 108 and Eck (2003), p. 55. At age 12 he made his debut by delivering the funeral speech for his grandmother Julia. Omissions? Trace the history of the Roman Empire from its foundation to its Golden Age in the 2nd century C.E. [161], Augustus was granted sole imperium within the city of Rome itself, in addition to being granted proconsular imperium maius and tribunician authority for life. Augustus was born Gaius Octavius into an old and wealthy equestrian branch of the plebeian gens Octavia. [251], After the death of Agrippa in 12 BC, a solution had to be found in maintaining Rome's water supply system. Publicly, though, his last words were, "Behold, I found Rome of clay, and leave her to you of marble." Augustus brought peace (“Pax Romana”) to the Greco-Roman world. 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's authority), his seat of governance stationed at Samos in the eastern Aegean. Alleinherrscher des Römischen Reiches. Once, a … [133] 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. In 27 BCE Augustus “restored” the republic of Rome, though he himself retained all real power as the princeps, or “first citizen,” of Rome. Pompeius's own son was put in charge as naval commander in the effort to cause widespread famine in Italy. His father, also called Gaius Octavius, was the governor of Macedonia. His illness of early 23 BC and the Caepio conspiracy showed that the regime's existence hung by the thin thread of the life of one man, Augustus himself, who suffered from several severe and dangerous illnesses throughout his life. He was born under the name of Gaius Octavius. Filial duty and a national emergency, in which there was no place for law-abiding conduct, had driven him to civil war—and this can neither be initiated nor maintained by decent methods. [135] Further, he was causing political problems by desiring to have his nephew Marcus Claudius Marcellus follow in his footsteps and eventually assume the Principate in his turn,[nb 5] alienating his three greatest supporters – Agrippa, Maecenas, and Livia. [217] 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 toward the two young Caesars, Gaius and Lucius—instead of Augustus, the real architect of his divorce and imperial demotion. [80] 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. First emperor of Rome and grandnephew of Julius Caesar. [105][106], In early 31 BC, Antony and Cleopatra were temporarily stationed in Greece when Octavian gained a preliminary victory: the navy successfully ferried troops across the Adriatic Sea under the command of Agrippa. [41] 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. "The Color of Life: Polychromy in Sculpture from Antiquity to the Present." [252] The relief sculptures decorating the Ara Pacis visually augmented the written record of Augustus's triumphs in the Res Gestae. In his will Caesar formally adopted Augustus as his son and identified him as his chief personal heir. [181], 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. His paternal great-grandfather Gaius Octavius was a military tribune in Sicily during the Second Punic War. [49] In September, the leading Optimate orator Marcus Tullius Cicero began to attack Antony in a series of speeches portraying him as a threat to the Republican order. Britannica Kids Holiday Bundle! Thus, Augustus, who is universally considered the first Roman emperor, was careful to always maintain the facade of republican rule, and did not take up … [187], 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 by Arminius, leader of the Cherusci, an apparent Roman ally. (115) [115], After Actium and the defeat of Antony and Cleopatra, Octavian was in a position to rule the entire Republic under an unofficial principate[116]—but he had to achieve this through incremental power gains. Ando, p. 140; Raaflaub, p. 426; Wells, p. 53, Syme, p. 333; Holland, p. 300; Southern, p. 108. Augustus was the sole reason the Roman … The emperors ruled Rome from 27 BCE until the end of the empire. 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. As Lepidus and Octavian accepted the surrender of Pompeius's troops, Lepidus attempted to claim Sicily for himself, ordering Octavian to leave. The Senate, encouraged by Cicero, broke with Antony, called upon Octavius for aid (granting him the rank of senator in spite of his youth), and joined the campaign of Mutina (Modena) against Antony, who was compelled to withdraw to Gaul. [127] Octavian became the most powerful political figure in the city of Rome and in most of its provinces, but he did not have a monopoly on political and martial power. [247] 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. folgten, und war von 31 v. Chr. He rejected the advice of some army officers to take refuge with the troops in Macedonia and sailed to Italy to ascertain whether he had any potential political fortunes or security. [203] Drusus's marriage to Augustus's niece Antonia was considered an unbreakable affair, whereas Vipsania was "only" the daughter of the late Agrippa from his first marriage. [207] This continued the tradition of presenting at least two generations of heirs. Mark Antony later used the examples of these battles as a means to belittle Octavian, as both battles were decisively won with the use of Antony's forces. [230], 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. All armed forces in the city had formerly been under the control of the urban praetors and consuls, but this situation now placed them under the sole authority of Augustus. This was only in part a personal trait, for upper-class Romans were educated to compete with one another and to excel. Philippus never had much of an interest in young Octavius. [30] Mark Antony later charged that Octavian had earned his adoption by Caesar through sexual favours, though Suetonius describes Antony's accusation as political slander. However, this position did not extend to the censor's ability to hold a census and determine the Senate's roster. [186], 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. In these situations, Augustus would have power as part of his tribunician authority but his constitutional imperium within the Pomerium would be less than that of a serving consul. Then applaud as I exit"—referring to the play-acting and regal authority that he had put on as emperor. After the death of his brother, Domitian was declared emperor by the Praetorian Guard.His 15-year reign was the longest since that of Tiberius. [79], After Philippi, a new territorial arrangement was made among the members of the Second Triumvirate.

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