Augustus (63 BCE–14 CE) was the first emperor of ancient Rome. He came to power in 27 BCE and ruled the empire for nearly forty-one years. His reign brought peace and prosperity to Rome but also marked the end of the Roman Republic.
Early Life and Rise to Power
Augustus’s original name was Gaius Octavius, and concerning his early life historians usually refer to him as Octavian. His mother was Julius Caesar’s niece. Julius Caesar thought highly of Octavian, and he planned to give Octavian a senior command in his army. However, before he could do so, Caesar was assassinated. Caesar’s will revealed that he had adopted Octavian as his son, greatly increasing the young man’s importance as a potential successor.
Driven by ambition and a desire for revenge, Octavian – who was only nineteen at the time of Caesar’s death – embarked on a course of action that was to see him become the most powerful man in the world. In Rome he found power in the hands of two generals, Mark Antony and Aemilius Lepidus. Rather than attempt to defeat them in battle, Octavian formed a pact with them. Their combined armies then defeated Caesar’s assassins, Brutus and Cassius, at the Battle of Philippi in northern Greece in 42 BCE.
|
 |
|
|
|
IN HIS BIOGRAPHY OF AUGUSTUS, THE LIFE OF THE DEIFIED AUGUSTUS, SUETONIUS DESCRIBES THE EMPEROR: He was 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 … while … he would either be reading or writing something.
| |
|
|
|
|
|
The three victors divided the empire between them. Not long after this battle, Lepidus was stripped of his military power for trying to defy Octavian, and the Roman world belonged to Octavian and Antony.
The Battle of Actium
Despite his marriage to Octavian’s sister, Antony fell in love with Queen Cleopatra of Egypt, and he remained there, living a life of luxury and excess. Such behavior was regarded as very un-Roman. When Octavian denounced Antony as a traitor in the Roman senate, the senate agreed to declare war on Cleopatra.
Octavian’s forces met Antony’s at Actium on the west coast of Greece on September 2, 31 BCE. Octavian won, and the following year Antony and Cleopatra both committed suicide in Egypt. Octavian was now effectively sole ruler of the empire.
Stability and the "Golden Age"
The fate of Julius Caesar taught Octavian that if he set himself up as a dictator and ignored the wishes of the senate, he would not last very long. So he publicly gave up his power to the senate, which then promptly returned it to him. The senators knew that Octavian held the real power, as he commanded the armies and controlled the provinces, and without him there would be more civil wars. Octavian’s approach was clever: it allowed the senate to retain its pride and made him appear to be in favor of democracy.
In 27 BCE Octavian was given the title Augustus, meaning "sacred" – a great public honor. In 19 BCE the senate persuaded him to become the head of state, and the stage was set for the Augustan Age.
Between 19 BCE and his death in 14 CE, Augustus repaired and rebuilt Rome. He improved sanitation, constructed new buildings, and streamlined the city’s civil administration. As famously claimed, he "found Rome brick and left it marble." He also brought about religious and moral reforms whose aim was to revive traditional Roman values, such as hard work and faithful marriage.
Augustus lived up to these values himself: according to the historian Suetonius he lived simply in a "modest dwelling … without any marble decorations or handsome pavements." He ate simply, drank little, and even banished his own daughter and granddaughter because they had committed adultery. His own marriage, to Livia Drusilla, lasted over fifty years, from 38 BCE to the emperor’s death.
