Augustus
Princeps
The Augustus of Prima Porta, a Roman marble statue created c. AD 15 (based on a c. 20 BC bronze original), found at the Villa of Livia, now in the Vatican Museums[1]
Roman emperor
Reign	16 January 27 BC – 19 August AD 14
Successor	Tiberius
Born	Gaius Octavius 23 September 63 BC Rome, Italy
Died	19 August AD 14 (aged 75) Nola, Italy
Burial	Mausoleum of Augustus, Rome
Spouses	Claudia (m. 42 BC; div. 40 BC) Scribonia (m. 40 BC; div. 38 BC) Livia (m. 37 BC)
Children	Julia the Elder Gaius Caesar (adopted) Lucius Caesar (adopted) Agrippa Postumus (adopted) Tiberius (adopted)
Regnal name Imperator Caesar Augustus
Dynasty	Julio-Claudian
Father	Gaius Octavius Julius Caesar (adoptive)
Mother	Atia
Occupation	Consul (43, 33, 31–23, 5, 2 BC) Triumvir (43–27 BC) Pontifex Maximus (from 12 BC)
Military service
Allegiance	Roman Republic Roman Empire
Years of service	43–25 BC
Battles/wars	War of Mutina Battle of Forum Gallorum Battle of Mutina Liberators' Civil War Battle of Philippi Perusine War Bellum Siculum Battle of Tauromenium Illyricum Campaigns War of Actium Battle of Actium Battle of Alexandria Cantabrian Wars

Augustus (born Gaius Octavius; 23 September 63 BC – 19 August AD 14), also known as Octavian (Latin: Octavianus), was the founder of the Roman Empire and the first Roman emperor from 27 BC until his death in AD 14.^[a] The reign of Augustus initiated an imperial cult and an era of imperial peace (the Pax Romana or Pax Augusta) in which the Roman world was largely free of armed conflict. The principate, a style of government where the emperor showed nominal deference to the Senate,^[3] was established during his reign and lasted until the Crisis of the Third Century.

Octavian was born into an equestrian branch of the plebeian gens Octavia. After his great-uncle, the dictator Julius Caesar, was assassinated in 44 BC, Octavian, whom Caesar named as his primary heir in his will, inherited Caesar's estate and assumed his name. He fought for the loyalty of Caesar's legions. He was made a senator during a state emergency and seized power by marching on Rome in 43 BC, becoming its youngest elected consul. He, Mark Antony, and Marcus Lepidus formed a triumvirate regime with legally sanctioned powers to outlaw and oppose the assassins of Caesar and their allies. Following their victory at the Battle of Philippi in 42 BC, the triumvirate divided the Roman Republic among themselves and ruled as de facto autocrats. The triumvirate was eventually torn apart by the competing ambitions of its members; Octavian had Lepidus exiled in 36 BC for opposing him in Sicily, while Marcus Agrippa, Octavian's naval commander, defeated Antony in Greece at the Battle of Actium in 31 BC. Antony and his wife Cleopatra, the Ptolemaic queen of Egypt, killed themselves during Octavian's invasion of Egypt, which then became Octavian's personal property.

After the demise of the triumvirate, Augustus reached an accord with the remaining Roman elite: he would restore the facade of a free republic, centered around the Senate, the executive magistrates and the legislative assemblies. But his control of the military and half of Rome's provinces meant he maintained autocratic power legitimized by his appointment as commander-in-chief of most Roman armies. To avoid the appearance of monarchy or dictatorship, he eventually refused to stand for reelection to the consulship, but the Senate granted him the powers of the tribunate and censorship and the titles princeps ('first citizen'), augustus ('the revered'), and pater patriae (lit. 'father of the country'), and named the month of August after him. After the death of Lepidus, Augustus also assumed the title of pontifex maximus ('supreme pontiff').

Augustus dramatically enlarged the Empire, annexing Egypt, Dalmatia, Pannonia, Noricum, and Raetia, expanding possessions in Africa, and completing the conquest of Hispania. His expansionism, however, suffered a major setback in Germania. Beyond the frontiers, he secured the empire with a buffer region of client states and negotiated peace treaties with the Parthian Empire and Kingdom of Kush. He reformed the Roman system of taxation and currency, developed networks of roads with an official courier system, established a standing professional army, established the Praetorian Guard as well as official police and fire-fighting services for Rome, and renovated much of the city during his reign. Augustus was a writer and patron of poets such as Virgil, and has been featured in various works of art from ancient to modern times. Augustus died in AD 14 at age 75 from natural causes, and the Senate posthumously deified him. Persistent rumors have claimed his wife Livia poisoned him. He was succeeded as emperor by his stepson and adoptive son Tiberius.

Augustus (/ɔːˈɡʌstəs/ aw-GUST-əs) was known by many names throughout his life:^[4]

• Gaius Octavius:^[5] (/ɒkˈteɪviəs/ ok-TAY-vee-əs; Latin: [ˈɡaːiʊs ɔkˈtaːwiʊs]). According to Suetonius, the cognomen Thurinus (Latin: [tʰuːˈriːnʊs], 'of Thurii') was given in his infancy to commemorate his father's victory there.^[6][b] Julius Caesar's assassin Marcus Junius Brutus referred to Octavian as Octavius, rejecting Octavian's claim to testamentary adoption.^[8]
• Gaius Julius Caesar:^[9] After his adoption by Julius Caesar on the latter's death in 44 BC, he took Caesar's nomen and cognomen.^[10] Historians often distinguished him from his adoptive father by adding Octavianus (Latin: [ɔktaːwiˈaːnʊs]) after the name,^[11] denoting that he was a former member of the gens Octavia. There is no evidence that Augustus did this himself,^[12] although Cicero and some other contemporaries called him Gaius Octavius,^[13] Gaius Julius Caesar Octavianus,^[14] or "young Caesar".^[8] In English he is mainly known as Octavian (/ɒkˈteɪviən/ ok-TAY-vee-ən) for the period between 44 and 27 BC.^[15]
• Imperator Caesar:^[16] Octavian's early coins and inscriptions all refer to him simply as Gaius Caesar, but by 38 BC he had replaced Gaius with the victory title imperator ('commander').^[17] His family line would continue the use of the name Caesar, a cognomen for one branch of the Julian family, and eventually this would form a standard imperial title.^[18]
• Imperator Caesar Augustus:^[19] In 27 BC the Senate granted him the honorific Augustus (Latin: [au̯ˈɡʊstʊs]) ('the revered').^[20] Historians use this name, or its converse Augustus Caesar, to refer to him from 27 BC until his death in AD 14.^[21]

Octavian was born Gaius Octavius in Rome on 23 September 63 BC,^[23][c] at a family property on the Palatine Hill.^[26] His paternal family was from Velitrae,^[27] located near Rome,^[28] where Octavius spent part of his childhood.^[29] Octavius's homonymous father came from a moderately wealthy equestrian family of the gens Octavia.^[30] His father ascended the cursus honorum,^[31][d] and served as a proconsular governor of Macedonia.^[33][e] His mother Atia was a niece of Julius Caesar.^[35]

After Octavius's father died in 59 BC^[36] or 58 BC,^[37] his mother married Lucius Marcius Philippus.^[38] Elected as consul in 56 BC,^[39] Octavius's stepfather served as a role model for how to deftly navigate politics and manage personal wealth.^[40] Octavius was also partly raised by his grandmother Julia, the sister of Julius Caesar.^[41] When Julia died in 52 or 51 BC, Octavius delivered her funeral oration, his first public appearance.^[42]

A Greek slave tutor named Sphaerus educated Octavius in reading, writing, arithmetic, and Greek. Octavius later freed Sphaerus and gave him a state funeral in 40 BC.^[43] As a teenager, he studied philosophy under the tutelage of Areios of Alexandria and Athenodorus of Tarsus, Latin rhetoric under Marcus Epidius, and Greek rhetoric under Apollodorus of Pergamon.^[44]

Julius Caesar had formed an informal alliance with Pompey and Crassus in 60 BC,^[45] but by 49 BC it had fallen apart and Pompey and Caesar were fighting a protracted civil war.^[46] In 47 BC, after Octavius donned the toga virilis and became an adult citizen,^[47] he was elected as a pontiff at Caesar's request, replacing Lucius Domitius Ahenobarbus, an opponent of Caesar who was killed in battle.^[48] The following year, Octavius presided over the Greek games commemorating the opening of Caesar's Temple of Venus Genetrix.^[49] He wished to join Caesar's staff for the African campaign but gave way when his mother Atia protested over his poor health.^[50] Caesar allowed Octavius to proceed next to his chariot during his triumph celebrating the campaign and awarded Octavius with military decorations as if he had been present.^[51] In 45 BC Octavius traveled to Hispania to join Caesar's Spanish campaign against Gnaeus Pompeius Magnus the Younger.^[52] On 13 September 45 BC Caesar deposited a new will with the Vestal Virgins naming Octavius as his principal heir.^[53][f]

In 44 BC, Octavius was at Apollonia, Illyria, when Julius Caesar was made Rome's first dictator perpetuo ('dictator in perpetuity') in February,^[57] and then assassinated on the Ides of March (15 March).^[58] Octavius consulted with Caesar's officers in Macedonia before sailing for Italy to ascertain his political fortunes.^[59] Caesar had no living legitimate children under Roman law.^[60] His will made Octavius his main heir with the condition that he assume the dead dictator's name.^[61] After landing near Brundisium in southern Italy,^[62] Octavius received a copy of the will, which bequeathed three-quarters of Caesar's estate.^[63][g] Octavius's stepfather Philippus advised him against accepting Caesar's will, but Octavius accepted it on 8 May 44 BC.^[66]

Accepting the inheritance before the urban praetor,^[67] Octavius purported that Caesar adopted him as his son, a legally spurious but politically powerful claim, and assumed the name Gaius Julius Caesar.^[68] There is no evidence that he himself used the name Octavianus,^[69] but some of his contemporaries did refer to him as Octavianus, such as his stepfather and Cicero.^[70] Historians usually refer to him as Octavian between his adoption and his assumption of the name Augustus in 27 BC,^[71] to avoid confusing the dead Caesar with his heir.^[72]

Octavian could not rely on his limited funds to make a successful entry into politics.^[73] After a warm welcome by Caesar's soldiers at Brundisium,^[74] Octavian demanded a portion of the funds allotted by Caesar for his eastern war against the Parthians.^[73] This amounted to 700 million sesterces stored at Brundisium, the staging ground in Italy for military operations in the east.^[75][h] Octavian made another bold move when, without official permission, he appropriated the annual tribute from Rome's province of Asia to Italy.^[77]

Octavian also began to recruit Caesar's veterans and men designated for the Parthian war, emphasizing his status as heir to Caesar.^[78] On his march to Rome through Italy, Octavian's presence and newly acquired riches won over many, including Caesar's veterans stationed in Campania.^[79] By June, he had gathered an army of 3,000 men, paying each a bonus of 500 denarii,^[80] which was more than twice a soldier's annual pay.^[81]

Arriving to Rome on 6 May 44 BC,^[82] Octavian found consul Mark 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.^[83] 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.^[84]

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 supporters of Caesar when he initially opposed the motion to elevate Caesar to divine status.^[85] He also refused to give Octavian the money due him as Caesar's heir, possibly on grounds that it would take time to disentangle it from state funds.^[86] It was also a delaying tactic by Antony to halt Octavian from dispersing 300 sesterces per capita to the urban plebs of Rome in accordance with Caesar's will.^[87] As consul, Antony blocked the curiate assembly from hearing Octavian's petition to legitimize his supposed adoption by Caesar,^[88] Octavian's attempts to reinstate Caesar's golden throne for public view at games staged in April and June, and Octavian's attempts to have Caesar formally deified after a comet seen in July during games honoring Caesar (and Venus) was widely interpreted as a sign of his divinity.^[89] 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.^[90]

During the summer of 44 BC, Octavian won the support of more veterans and also made common cause with those senators—many of whom were themselves former Caesarians—who perceived Antony as a threat to the state.^[91] Antony had lictors 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 the Temple of Jupiter Optimus Maximus.^[92] Thereafter, Antony's bellicose edicts against the assassins Marcus Junius Brutus and Gaius Cassius Longinus alienated him from the moderate Caesarian senators, who feared a renewed civil war.^[93] In September, Marcus Tullius Cicero, now a political ally of Octavian, began to attack Antony in a series of speeches portraying him as a threat to the Republic.^[94]

With opinion in Rome turning against him and his consulship concluding, Antony illegally passed a law that would assign him the province of Cisalpine Gaul in northern Italy, rather than the province of Macedonia.^[95] Octavian meanwhile built up a private army in Italy by recruiting Caesarian veterans,^[96] and in early November entered Rome with this private force to challenge Antony.^[97] However, they vacated the city shortly afterwards,^[98] 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.^[99] Nevertheless, on 28 November, Octavian won over two of Antony's legions with the enticing offer of monetary gain.^[100]

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 left Rome for Cisalpine Gaul,^[101] which was to be handed to him on 1 January 43 BC.^[102] However, the province had earlier been assigned to Decimus Junius Brutus Albinus, one of Caesar's assassins, who now refused to yield to Antony.^[103] Antony besieged him at Mutina,^[104] and ignored senatorial decrees demanding an end to the fighting. With the Senate largely disarmed, this provided an opportunity for Octavian, whose private army was at hand.^[105] Cicero also defended Octavian against Antony's taunts about Octavian's lack of noble lineage and aping of Julius Caesar's name.^[106][i]

At Cicero's urging, Octavian was inducted as a senator on 1 January 43 BC, given the power to vote alongside the former consuls, and the privilege to stand for election at an earlier age than usual.^[108] In addition, he was granted imperium pro praetore, which legitimized his command, and was dispatched with the consuls to relieve the siege of Mutina.^[109] He assumed the fasces on 7 January,^[110] a date that he would later commemorate as the beginning of his public career.^[111] Antony retreated to Transalpine Gaul after his forces were defeated at the battles of Forum Gallorum (14 April) and Mutina (21 April). Both consuls were killed, however, leaving Octavian in sole command of their armies.^[112] These victories earned him his first acclamation as imperator, a title reserved for victorious commanders.^[113]

The Senate heaped many more rewards on Decimus Brutus than on Octavian for defeating Antony and then attempted to give command of the consular legions to Decimus Brutus.^[114] In response, Octavian stayed in the Po Valley and refused to pursue Antony.^[115] In July, an embassy of centurions sent by Octavian entered Rome; they demanded the now-vacant consulship for Octavian,^[116] with Cicero as co-consul,^[117] and the rescission of the decree declaring Antony a public enemy.^[118] When this was refused, he marched on the city.^[119] He encountered no military opposition in Rome and, on 19 August 43 BC aged 19, was made consul with his relative Quintus Pedius as colleague.^[120]

Pedius passed 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.^[121][j] Octavian also induced the curiate assembly to have him adrogated into Caesar's family, legitimizing his dubious claim of testamentary adoption.^[123] Meanwhile, Antony formed an alliance with Marcus Aemilius Lepidus, then governor of Gallia Narbonensis.^[124] The Senate branded Lepidus, a fellow Caesarian, as a public enemy for joining Antony.^[125] While Octavian marched north to fight Decimus Brutus and meet with Antony, Pedius convinced the Senate to revoke the law branding Antony and Lepidus as outlaws.^[126]

In a meeting near Bononia in October 43 BC, Octavian joined with Antony and Lepidus to form the triumvirate, ostensibly for the stability of the Roman Republic.^[127] Their agreement, legitimized by law for five years, was then enacted by the lex Titia on 27 November that year.^[128] 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 the liberatores in the east.^[129] Octavian had previously been engaged to Servilia, daughter of Publius Servilius Isauricus, but instead became engaged to Claudia, stepdaughter of Antony, to solidify their political union.^[130] Octavian also relinquished the consulship to Antony's ally Publius Ventidius.^[131]

The triumvirs then set in motion proscriptions, in which some 300 men were targeted as outlaws, divided roughly evenly between senators and equestrians.^[135] 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.^[139] However, the sources agree that the proscriptions enabled all three to eliminate political enemies.^[140][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.^[148] The triumvirs seized the proscripts' property.^[149] However much money was raised was insufficient,^[150] so the triumvirs introduced a range of new taxes to fund their war. They reinstituted property taxes and created new imposts on slaves, before also demanding property assessments for taxes on rich women that were reduced after a public protest of women in Rome.^[151]

On 1 January 42 BC, with Lepidus as consul,^[152] 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 the divine').^[153] Antony and Octavian then led twenty-eight legions east against Brutus and Cassius.^[154] After two battles at Philippi in Macedonia in October 42 BC, the Caesarians were victorious; Brutus and Cassius both died by suicide.^[155] Claiming responsibility for both victories, Antony branded Octavian a coward for handing over his direct military control to Marcus Vipsanius Agrippa.^[156] Octavian was bedridden with illness during the first battle,^[157] allegedly removing himself from command over the camp per his doctor's advice,^[158] but captured Brutus's camp during the second battle.^[159]

After Philippi, the triumvirs again divided the provinces. Lepidus was suspected of colluding with Sextus Pompey,^[160] the son of Pompey and renegade general who had been given command over all Mediterranean coastlines by the anti-Caesarian Senate in 43 BC.^[161][o] Cisalpine Gaul was combined with Italia and given to Octavian along with the provinces of Hispania Citerior and Hispania Ulterior that Lepidus had to forfeit.^[162] Antony travelled east to Egypt where he allied himself with Cleopatra, a Roman client ruler, former lover of Julius Caesar, and mother of Caesar's son Caesarion.^[163] In addition to the eastern provinces, Antony controlled Gallia Comata and took Gallia Narbonensis from Lepidus,^[164] who was left with the province of Africa.^[165]

Octavian was left to settle tens of thousands of discharged veterans in Italy.^[166] Those who fought for Brutus and Cassius also required settlement for their pacification.^[167] 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.^[168] The settlements affected some eighteen cities, with entire populations fully or partially evicted.^[169]

There was widespread dissatisfaction with Octavian over these veteran settlements. The disaffected rallied to Mark Antony's brother Lucius Antonius, who was supported by a majority in the Senate.^[170] 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.^[171] Fulvia decided to take action. She and Lucius Antonius raised an army in Italy to fight for Antony's rights against Octavian.^[172] Lucius even briefly took Rome, forcing Lepidus and his two legions to flee the city.^[173] However, the Roman army still depended on the triumvirs for their salaries.^[174] Lucius and his allies ended up in a defensive siege at Perusia, where Octavian forced their surrender in February 40 BC.^[175] Octavian spared Lucius, while Fulvia fled to Sicyon in Greece^[176] and died shortly afterwards.^[177] On 15 March, the anniversary of Julius Caesar's assassination, Octavian had 300 Roman senators and equestrians executed for allying with Lucius.^[178][p] Perusia was also sacked,^[180] though it is unclear if Octavian's troops or local inhabitants started the fires.^[179] These reprisals sullied Octavian's reputation.^[181]

Sextus Pompey affirmed his control of Sicily as part of an agreement with the triumvirate in 40 BC,^[182] and gained control of Sardinia and Corsica in 39.^[183] Both Antony and Octavian vied for an alliance with him.^[184] Octavian succeeded in a temporary alliance in 40 BC when he married Scribonia, an aunt of Sextus Pompey's wife.^[185] A year later, Scribonia gave birth to Octavian's only natural child, Julia, on the same day that he divorced her to marry Livia Drusilla.^[186] Octavian's affair with Livia also began while she was already married and pregnant.^[187]

While in Egypt, Antony had been engaged in an affair with Cleopatra and had fathered two children with her.^[188][q] Antony's Gallic provinces fell into Octavian's hands after the death of Antony's legate Quintus Fufius Calenus in 40 BC.^[191] 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.^[192] In late 40, the triumvirs divided the empire between Antony in the east, Octavian in the west, and Lepidus in Africa.^[193] Italy was left open to all for the recruitment of soldiers, but in reality this provision was useless for Antony.^[194] Octavian, who was now in a stronger position due to the Parthian threat in Antony's provinces,^[195] gave his sister, Octavia Minor, in marriage to Antony.^[196]

Before the battles of Philippi, Octavian had sent Salvidienus Rufus to remove Sextus Pompey from Sicily, but after Rufus's defeat, the triumvirs recognized Sextus's Mediterranean command at Brundisium in 40 BC.^[197] 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.^[198] Another temporary peace agreement was reached in 39 BC at Misenum. Sextus lifted the blockade on Italy once Octavian granted him Sardinia, Corsica, Sicily, and the Peloponnese and ensured him a future position in the consulship.^[199][r]

The agreement between the triumvirate and Sextus began to crumble when Octavian divorced Scribonia and married Livia in 38 BC.^[205] After Antony refused to relinquish the Peloponnese, Sextus reimposed his blockade, starting food riots at Rome.^[206] Sextus's naval commander Menas defected, handing over Corsica and Sardinia.^[207] However, after Octavian's naval forces were defeated at Cumae,^[208] Octavian lacked the resources to confront Pompey alone, so he sought Antony's help, extending their terms for another five-year period beginning in 37 BC.^[209]

In supporting Octavian, Antony expected to gain support for his own campaign against the Parthians.^[210] At Tarentum in mid-37 BC,^[211] Antony provided 120 ships for Octavian to use against Sextus,^[212] while Octavian was to send 20,000 legionaries to Antony for use against Parthia. Two years later Octavian sent only a tenth of those promised, which Antony viewed as a provocation.^[213] Meanwhile, Agrippa was tasked with creating the artificial harbor Portus Julius near Cumae by joining the Lucrinus and Avernus lakes for the training and shipbuilding of Octavian's naval fleet.^[214]

Octavian and Lepidus launched a joint operation against Sextus in Sicily in 36 BC.^[215] Octavian was shipwrecked in Sicily,^[216] but Agrippa defeated Sextus at Mylae in August^[217] before almost destroying Sextus's forces at Naulochus in September.^[218] Sextus fled to the east, but Antony had him executed at Miletus in 35 BC.^[219]

As Lepidus and Octavian accepted the surrender of Sextus's troops, Lepidus attempted to claim Sicily for himself. However, enticed by Octavian's promises of money and unwilling to fight, Lepidus's troops deserted him.^[220] Octavian forced Lepidus into retirement but allowed him to remain pontifex maximus ('supreme pontiff').^[221] Octavian ensured Rome's citizens of their rights to property, settled his discharged soldiers outside of Italy,^[222] and returned 30,000 slaves to their former Roman owners after they had fled to join Pompey's army and navy.^[223] He had the Senate grant him, his wife, and his sister tribunician immunity, or sacrosanctitas, in order to ensure the family's safety once he returned to Rome.^[224]

After defeating Sextus, Octavian campaigned in Illyricum (in what is now Croatia).^[225] During the first campaign, he destroyed Segesta (modern Siscia) and was wounded by a collapsing siege ramp when he besieged Metulum (along the Kolpa River).^[226] The Senate lauded these efforts, though Octavian postponed a triumph for his victories,^[227] and only later acknowledged the contributions of commanders Agrippa and Statilius Taurus.^[228] Nevertheless both Octavian and Antony's generals celebrated triumphs during the 30s BC.^[229][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.^[230] Antony's Parthian campaign in 36 BC turned into a debacle, tarnishing his image as a leader.^[231] The mere 2,000 legionaries sent by Octavian to Antony, traveling with his wife Octavia, were hardly enough to replenish his lost forces.^[232] On the other hand, Cleopatra, with her enormous wealth, could restore his army to full strength.^[233] Her and Antony's third child, Ptolemy Philadelphus, was born in 36 BC,^[234] so in 35 BC Antony decided to send Octavia back to Rome.^[235] Octavian attacked Antony for rejecting his Roman spouse to favor a foreign queen.^[236] He also sought to convince the Senate that Antony had ambitions to diminish the preeminence of Rome.^[237] 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 the Donations of Alexandria.^[238]

In early 32 BC, amid an intense war of propaganda between him and Octavian, Antony divorced Octavia.^[239] The new consuls Gaius Sosius and Gnaeus Domitius Ahenobarbus supported Antony and threatened to revoke Octavian's triumviral authority.^[240] This prompted Octavian to enter the Senate house and denounce Antony and Sosius; both consuls and many senators then fled Rome for Antony.^[241] However, two of Antony's key supporters, Lucius Munatius Plancus and Marcus Titius, defected to Octavian in autumn.^[242] They offered him vital information about Antony's will, which Antony published after marching on the Temple of Vesta. The will would have given away Roman-conquered territories as kingdoms for his sons to rule and designated Alexandria as the site of a tomb for him and Cleopatra.^[243]

In late 32 BC, the Senate revoked Antony's consulship for the following year and declared war on Cleopatra.^[244][t] Octavian used emergency powers (tumultus) to have men of military age throughout the Republic swear an oath of loyalty to him.^[247] In early 31 BC, as Antony and Cleopatra moved to Greece, Octavian's forces under Agrippa transited the Adriatic Sea,^[248] and cut off their main force from their supply routes in the Ionian Sea.^[249] Octavian then landed in Epirus,^[250] and proceeded to march south.^[251] Trapped on land and sea, Antony's men started to desert as Octavian prepared for battle.^[252]

Antony's fleet sailed through the bay of Actium along the Ambracian Gulf of western Greece to break the blockade.^[254] There, they fought the Battle of Actium on 2 September 31 BC.^[255] Cleopatra and her portion of the fleet withdrew early in the battle and were later joined by Antony;^[256] Cleopatra's fleet spared Antony's remaining forces in a last-ditch effort.^[257] All of Antony's nearby forces on land surrendered to Octavian after initially attempting a retreat through Macedonia.^[258][u] Various client kings now defected to Octavian.^[260][v] Octavian would later establish a new city—Nicopolis ('victory city')—near the site of the battle at Actium.^[262]

On 1 August 30 BC, Octavian defeated Antony at Alexandria; Antony then died by suicide.^[263] After meeting with Octavian and refusing to be paraded in a triumph at Rome,^[264] Cleopatra took her own life with poison.^[265] 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.^[266] He therefore ordered the death of Cleopatra's son Caesarion.^[267] He also had Antony's son Marcus Antonius Antyllus killed,^[268] but spared Iullus Antonius and Antony's children by Cleopatra.^[269] Octavian had previously shown little mercy to surrendered enemies, yet he pardoned many of his opponents after the Battle of Actium.^[270] He also ensured that Cleopatra was buried with Antony in their tomb.^[271] He appointed Cleopatra's daughter Cleopatra Selene II and her husband, Juba II of Numidia, as the new co-rulers of Mauretania following their marriage in 25 BC.^[272]

The conquest of Egypt greatly relieved Octavian's debts incurred from the civil wars.^[274] He controlled Roman Egypt directly, forbade senators to travel there, and appointed equestrian governor Cornelius Gallus to supervise its administration and enormously lucrative taxation.^[275] While in Alexandria in 30 BC, Octavian visited the tomb of Alexander the Great, the conqueror he emulated and associated with in artistic portraits.^[276] Octavian's conquest of Egypt brought an end to the Hellenistic period;^[277] it also led to the cultural formation of a Greek East and Latin West in the Mediterranean and a cosmopolitan universal monarchy centered on Rome.^[278]

Octavian would become the first Roman emperor as Augustus and also the first Roman pharaoh of Egypt, though he did not partake in Egyptian coronation rites or worship of the Apis bull,^[279] and he never traveled to Egypt again after 30 BC.^[280] Before returning to Rome, Octavian wintered in 30 BC on the Greek island of Samos.^[281] The next year, in August 29, he celebrated three triumphs in Rome for his victories in Illyria, Greece, and Egypt.^[282] He and Agrippa were elected as the consuls for 28 BC,^[283] and granted the powers of a censor so as to conduct the census.^[284]

After defeating Antony and Cleopatra, Octavian was in a position to rule the entire Republic under an unofficial principate, with himself as princeps ('leading citizen').^[286][w] He achieved this incrementally by courting the Senate and people of Rome while purporting not to aspire to dictatorship or monarchy.^[292] The term princeps was previously applied to influential aristocrats and Octavian would embrace this title as part of his self-representation as restorer of the Republic.^[293]

Years of civil war had left Rome in a state of near lawlessness,^[294] but republican tradition militated against an autocrat. At the same time, Octavian could not give up his authority without risking war.^[295] The Senate and people desired a return to stability, traditional legality, civility, and the assurance of free elections—which would be conducted in name at least under Octavian, soon to be princeps Augustus.^[296][x] The gradual fashioning of this regime involved trial by error and experimentation,^[298] popular support for legally sanctioned moves,^[299] and appointed term limits for offices in perhaps a cautious attemp to avoid the same fate as his great-uncle Julius Caesar.^[300][y]

On 13 January 27 BC, Octavian made a show of returning power to the Senate and relinquishing his provinces and armies.^[302] Under his consulship, however, the Senate had little power in initiating legislation by introducing bills for debate. Octavian 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 adherents depended on his patronage, as his financial power was unrivaled.^[303][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 the aerarium Saturni, the public treasury.^[305]

Octavian was able to continue the appearance of a still-functional constitution 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.^[306] The provinces ceded to Augustus for that ten-year period constituted much of the conquered Roman world, including all of Hispania and Gaul, Syria, Cilicia, Cyprus, and Egypt.^[307] Moreover, command of these provinces provided Octavian with control over the majority of Rome's legions.^[308] Historian H. H. Scullard stresses that Octavian's authority was based on his military power, "however much the fact was disguised".^[309]

Octavian became the most powerful political figure in the Republic, but he did not have a monopoly on political and martial power.^[310] The Senate still controlled the grain-producing North Africa as well as the militarily strategic Illyria and Macedonia.^[311] However, the Senate had control of only five or six legions distributed among three senatorial proconsuls, compared to the twenty legions under Octavian's control, and their control of these regions did not amount to any political or military challenge to Octavian.^[312] The Senate's control over some provinces helped maintain a republican facade for the autocratic principate.^[313]

While Octavian acted as consul in Rome, he dispatched senators to the provinces under his command as his representatives to manage provincial affairs. The provinces not under Octavian's control were overseen by governors chosen by the Senate.^[314] However, by virtue of his imperium maius, the later reigning Augustus issued instructions and edicts not only to his own legates but also to independent proconsuls governing public provinces that were nominally under senatorial control.^[315] Octavian's control of entire provinces followed Republican-era precedents for the limited objective of securing peace and creating stability, with Pompey having been given a similar level of command across the Roman world.^[316][aa]

On 16 January 27 BC^[322] the Senate gave Octavian the new title of augustus.^[323][ab] It was a title of religious authority rather than a political one, and it indicated that Octavian now approached divinity.^[333] Future Roman emperors inherited the honorific augustus, and it became their main title.^[334] His former title Romulus, after the legendary founder of Rome, was associated too strongly with notions of monarchy and kingship, an image that Octavian tried to avoid.^[335] The Senate also confirmed his position as princeps senatus ('leader of the Senate').^[336] Augustus now styled himself as Imperator Caesar divi filius ('Commander Caesar son of the deified one').^[337][ac] With this title, he boasted his familial link to deified Julius Caesar, and the use of imperator signified a permanent link to the Roman tradition of victory.^[338][ad] He transformed Caesar, a cognomen for one branch of the Julian family, into a new family line that began with him.^[338]

Augustus was granted the right to hang the corona civica ('civic crown') above his door and to have laurels drape his doorposts.^[340] However, he renounced flaunting insignia of power such as holding a scepter, wearing a diadem, or wearing the golden crown and purple toga of Julius Caesar.^[341] Nonetheless, the Senate 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').^[342] By the summer of 27 BC he left Rome and traveled to Gaul.^[343] From 26 to 24 BC he then governed the Empire from Tarraco in Roman Spain, overseeing military campaigns in the Iberian peninsula until his return to Rome.^[344]

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 his de 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.^[345] Further, he caused political problems by desiring to have his nephew Marcus Claudius Marcellus follow in his footsteps and eventually assume the principate in his turn,^[346][ae] alienating his three greatest supporters: Agrippa, Maecenas, and Livia.^[347] He appointed noted republican Calpurnius Piso (who had fought against Julius Caesar and supported Cassius and Brutus^[348]) as co-consul in 23 BC, after his choice Aulus Terentius Varro Murena died unexpectedly.^[349]

In the late spring Augustus had a severe illness and on his supposed deathbed made arrangements that would ensure the continuation of the principate,^[350][af] while allaying 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's supposedly favored nephew Marcellus came away empty-handed.^[353] This was a surprise to many who believed Augustus would have named an heir to his position as an unofficial emperor.^[354]

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.^[355] With regards to the principate, it was obvious to Augustus that the 19-year-old Marcellus was not ready to take on his position.^[356] 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.^[357]

The emperor's illness subsided while under the care of his personal physician Antonius Musa,^[359][ag] and soon afterwards on 1 July 23 BC Augustus gave up his consulship.^[361] He would serve as consul only twice more, in 5 and 2 BC,^[362] both times to introduce his grandsons into public life.^[363] This was a clever ploy by Augustus; ceasing to serve as one of two annually elected consuls allowed aspiring senators a better chance to attain the consular position while allowing Augustus to exercise wider patronage within the senatorial class.^[364] Although Augustus had resigned as consul, he desired to retain his consular imperium not just in his provinces but throughout the empire.^[365] This desire, as well as the Marcus Primus affair, led to another compromise between him and the Senate known as the second settlement.^[366]

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.^[367] 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.^[368]

A second problem later arose showing the need for the second settlement in what became known as the "Marcus Primus affair".^[369] 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 the Odrysian kingdom of Thrace, whose king was a Roman ally.^[370] Lucius Licinius Varro Murena defended Primus, telling the trial that Primus had received specific instructions from Augustus ordering him to attack the client state.^[371] Later, Primus testified that the orders came from the recently deceased Marcellus.^[372] 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.^[373] Marcellus's involvement provided proof that Augustus intended to have the youth take his place as princeps and establish a monarchy over Rome.^[374]

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.^[375] Murena disbelieved Augustus's testimony and resented his attempt to subvert the trial by using his auctoritas. He demanded to know why Augustus appeared at a trial to which he had not been called; Augustus replied that he came in the public interest.^[376] The jurors found Primus guilty,^[377] though some voted to acquit, meaning that not everybody believed Augustus's testimony.^[378]

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 general imperium proconsulare ('proconsular power') that applied throughout the empire, not solely to his provinces. Moreover, the Senate augmented Augustus's proconsular imperium into imperium proconsulare maius ('greater proconsular power'). This form of proconsular imperium was applicable throughout the empire and in effect gave Augustus constitutional power superior to all other proconsuls.^[379] Augustus stayed in Rome during the renewal process and provided veterans with lavish donations to gain their support, thereby ensuring that his status of proconsular imperium maius was renewed in 13 BC.^[380]

During the second settlement, Augustus was also granted the power of a tribune (tribunicia potestas) for life, though not the official title of tribune.^[381] For some years, Augustus had been awarded tribunicia 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.^[382] Legally, it was closed to patricians, a status that Augustus had acquired when adopted by Julius Caesar.^[364] 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.^[383] The office of the tribunus 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.^[384]

Also included in Augustus's tribunician authority were powers usually reserved for the Roman 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.^[385] 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.^[386] 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.^[384] Appealing to patriotic sentiments, Augustus is alleged to have used censorial powers to ban all attire except the classic toga for those entering the Forum.^[387] 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.^[388]

Augustus was granted sole imperium within the city of Rome in addition to being granted proconsular imperium maius and tribunician authority for life.^[389] Traditionally, proconsuls (Roman provincial governors) lost their proconsular imperium when they crossed the Pomerium—the sacred boundary of Rome—and entered the city. In these situations, Augustus held tribunician authority, but the consuls were the constitutional magistrates with the most authority. Given to his prestige or auctoritas, his wishes would usually be obeyed, but there might be some difficulty. To avoid conflict, the Senate voted that Augustus's imperium proconsulare maius ('superior proconsular power') should not lapse when he was inside the city walls.^[390] 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.^[391]

Credit was given to Augustus for every Roman military victory after the second settlement,^[392] because the majority of Rome's armies were stationed in imperial provinces commanded by Augustus through the legatus who were deputies of the princeps in the provinces.^[393] Moreover, if a battle was fought in a senatorial province, Augustus's proconsular imperium maius allowed him to take command of (or credit for) any major military victory.^[394] With few exceptions Augustus was the only individual who could receive a triumph,^[395] a tradition that began with Romulus, Rome's first king and first triumphant general.^[393] For celebrating his victory against the Garamantes in Roman Libya in 19 BC, Cornelius Balbus was the last person outside the family of Augustus to receive a triumph.^[396][ah] Tiberius, Augustus's eldest stepson by Livia, received a triumph in 7 BC for victories in Germania in 8 BC,^[399] and again for victories in Illyria (Pannonia) in AD 9,^[400] celebrated in AD 12.^[401] For that campaign, his nephew and fellow commander Germanicus was instead granted the ornamenta triumphalia ('triumphal honors'), a praetorship, and the ability to serve as a candidate for the consulship despite his young age.^[400]

Augustus received emissaries from as far east as India,^[402] and his court included political exiles from as far north as the British Isles with the chieftains Dubnovellaunus and Tincomarus.^[403][ai] Foreign embassies typically came to Augustus directly rather than to the Senate,^[405] though Augustus was careful to show respect to the Senate in certain cases. For instance, when the Parthians 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.^[406] Petitions to Augustus from provinces and semi-autonomous municipalities were handled similarly to embassies of Roman client states and foreign countries, traveling to the court of the emperor as his administration moved to different locations across the Empire.^[407] 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 serious debate in the Senate or oversight by the emperor.^[408]

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.^[409] When Augustus refused to stand for election as consul in 22 BC and traveled to Sicily on another tour of the Empire, the Comitia centuriata voted in his absence to have him serve as co-consul for the following year, despite not being one of the candidates.^[410] A riot occurred in Rome when only a single consul Marcus 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 having one of them serve out the year as co-consul.^[411]

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 proconsular imperium, and ended the crisis almost immediately.^[412] 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.^[413]

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.^[414] Some time prior to 1 September 22 BC, a certain Castricius provided Augustus with information about a conspiracy led by Fannius Caepio.^[415] 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.^[416] All the accused were sentenced to death for treason and executed as soon as they were captured—without ever giving testimony in their defense.^[417] Augustus ensured that the facade of republican government continued with an effective cover-up of the events.^[418]

In 19 BC, the Senate granted Augustus a form of general consular imperium similar to the imperium consulare maius proconsular powers he had received in 23 BC, another instance of gaining power from offices he did not hold.^[419] To assuage the restless populace, Augustus was allowed to wear the consul's insignia in public and before the Senate,^[391] as well as to sit in the symbolic chair between the two consuls and hold the fasces, an emblem of consular authority.^[420] On 6 March 12 BC, after the death of Lepidus, he additionally took up the position of pontifex maximus, the high priest of the College of Pontiffs.^[421][aj] On 5 February 2 BC, Augustus was given the title pater patriae ('father of the country'), which was then inscribed in various places in Rome such as the Senate chambers in the Forum Romanum.^[424]

In terms of constitutional stability, historian Ronald Syme wrote that if Augustus were to die from natural causes or fall victim to assassination, Rome could be subjected to another round of civil war, given the public memory of the Battle of Pharsalus, the Ides of March, the proscriptions, Philippi, and Actium.^[425] Possibly during the 20s BC and certainly by 18 BC,^[426] proconsular imperium was conferred upon Agrippa for five years, similar to Augustus's power, in order to accomplish this constitutional stability. The exact nature of the grant is uncertain but it probably covered Augustus's imperial provinces if not authority over senatorial provinces.^[427] Like Augustus, Agrippa was also granted the powers of the tribunate.^[428]

By AD 13, Augustus boasted 21 occasions where his troops proclaimed him imperator after a successful battle.^[429] Almost the entire fourth chapter in his publicly released memoirs of achievements known as the Res Gestae is devoted to his military victories and honors.^[430] Augustus also promoted the ideal of a superior Roman civilization, a sentiment the poet Virgil attributed to a legendary ancestor of Augustus: tu regere imperio populos, Romane, memento ('Roman, remember to rule the Earth's peoples with authority!').^[387] The impulse for expansionism was apparently prominent among all classes at Rome, and it is accorded divine sanction in Virgil's Aeneid, in which Jupiter promises Rome imperium sine fine ('sovereignty without end').^[431][ak]

By the end of Augustus's reign, his armies had conquered northern Hispania (modern Spain and Portugal) and the Alpine regions of Raetia and Noricum (modern Switzerland, Bavaria, Austria, Slovenia), Illyricum and Pannonia (modern Albania, Croatia, Hungary, Serbia, etc.), and had extended the borders of Africa Proconsularis to the east and south.^[433] Judea was added to the province of Syria when Augustus deposed the client king Herod Archelaus.^[434] After the Senate assigned Syria to Augustus in 27 BC it was initially governed by legates under Agrippa,^[435] and then by a high prefect of the equestrian class rather than by a proconsul or legate of Augustus (much like Egypt after Antony).^[433] In AD 6 Augustus also appointed an equestrian governor in Sardinia after pirate raids necessitated the presence of troops stationed there.^[436]

No military effort was needed in 25 BC when Galatia (part of modern Turkey) was converted to a Roman province shortly after the murder of its king, Amyntas.^[437] In 19 BC, Agrippa finally quelled the rebellious tribes of Asturias and Cantabria in modern-day Spain, and the territory fell under the provinces of Hispania and Lusitania.^[438] 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 at Las Médulas.^[439]

Conquering the peoples of the Alps in 15 BC after the disastrous defeat of Lollius in 17/16 BC was another important victory for Rome,^[440][al] since it provided a large territorial buffer between the Roman citizens of Italy and Rome's enemies in Germania to the north.^[441] Horace dedicated an ode to the victory, while the monumental Trophy of Augustus was built in La Turbie near Monaco to honor the occasion.^[442] The capture of the Alpine region also served the next offensive in 12 BC, when Augustus's stepsons Tiberius and Drusus launched offensives against the Pannonian tribes of Illyricum and against the Germanic tribes of the eastern Rhineland, respectively. Both campaigns were successful, as Drusus's forces reached the Elbe River by 9 BC—though he died shortly after from an injury sustained by falling off his horse.^[443] Tiberius rushed from Italy to Germany to see Drusus just before he died,^[444] and escorted his brother's body back to Rome,^[445] where he and Augustus provided eulogies for Drusus.^[446] After Illyrian tribes revolted in Illyricum in AD 6, their rebellion was quelled by forces under Tiberius and Germanicus in AD 9.^[447] This was the only major rebellion within Roman provincial territory since Augustus had become emperor, and by this point he had reduced the standing Roman army from roughly 500,000 soldiers during the civil wars down to 300,000 soldiers used primarily for foreign conquests.^[448]

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 that could raise their own troops for defense. To ensure security of the empire's eastern flank, Augustus stationed a Roman army in Syria, while Tiberius negotiated with the Parthians as Rome's diplomat to the East.^[449] Tiberius then restored Tigranes V to the throne of the Kingdom of Armenia in 20 BC, personally placing the crown on his head.^[450]

Arguably Augustus's greatest diplomatic achievement was negotiating with Phraates IV of Parthia 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.^[451] Historians Werner Eck and Sarolta Takács claim that this was a great disappointment for Romans seeking to avenge Crassus's defeat by military means.^[452] However, Augustus used the return of the standards as propaganda symbolizing the submission of Parthia to Rome.^[453] 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.^[454] After Phraates V of Parthia managed to cleave Armenia away from Roman control, Augustus dispatched his grandson Gaius 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.^[455]

Parthia posed a threat to Rome in West Asia, but the more pressing concern was the battlefront along the Rhine and Danube rivers.^[456] Before the final fight with Antony, Octavian's campaigns against the tribes in Dalmatia were the first step in expanding Roman dominions to the Danube.^[457] Victory in battle was not always a permanent success, as newly conquered territories were constantly retaken by Rome's enemies in Germania.^[456] At the Battle of the Teutoburg Forest in AD 9, three entire legions led by Publius Quinctilius Varus were destroyed by Arminius, leader of the Cherusci, a Roman citizen and apparent Roman ally.^[458] Augustus retaliated by dispatching Tiberius and Drusus to the Rhineland to pacify it in AD 10 and AD 11, and these campaigns had some success.^[459] However, Augustus advised Tiberius against further conquests after the defeat at Teutoburg,^[460] and the Romans abandoned expansion into Germany beyond the Rhine.^[461] Augustus lamented the loss,^[462] but it is glossed over entirely in his Res Gestae, which merely states that he pacified Germania up to the mouth of the Elbe.^[463][am] Under Augustus's successor Tiberius, Roman general Germanicus took advantage of a Cherusci civil war between Arminius and Segestes; at the Battle of Idistaviso in AD 16, he defeated Arminius.^[465]

Rome also experienced loss to the south in Arabia Felix against the Kingdom of Saba (in modern Yemen). In 26 BC Augustus had Gaius Aelius Gallus, prefect of Egypt, invade South Arabia with Roman troops supported by Jewish and Nabataean Arab auxiliaries.^[466] They aimed to conquer the Sabaeans or force them to accept client state status so that Rome could gain a share of their profitable trade with India.^[467] Roman forces laid siege to Marib,^[468] but retreated to Hejaz (under allied Nabataean control) after a shortage of water supplies.^[469] Southern suggests that this campaign might have been part of a failed attempt to flank the Parthian Empire, considering how Augustus encouraged Tiridates II of Parthia to invade Mesopotamia and reclaim his throne the same year.^[470]

Augustus ordered Gaius Petronius, Aelius Gallus's successor as prefect of Egypt, to invade Aethiopia,^[471] after Queen Amanirenas of the Kingdom of Kush (in modern Sudan) invaded Roman Egypt in 24 BC and sacked Aswan and Philae.^[472] The Romans counterattacked, sacking Napata in Nubia before withdrawing,^[473] but Amanirenas invaded Roman Egypt again in 22 BC and threatened Primis (modern Qasr Ibrim).^[474] Petronius bolstered its defenses and withstood a Kushite assault, after which Amanirenas sent diplomats to negotiate a favorable peace treaty with Augustus while he was on the island of Samos.^[475] The treaty established Maharraqa as the new border with Kush (previously set at Aswan),^[476] and lessened the amount of Roman tribute gathered from Kush.^[435] It also guaranteed peaceful trade relations between Roman Egypt and Nubia for the next three centuries.^[477] Rome had better fortune in the Maghreb of North Africa, where Cossus Cornelius Lentulus quashed a rebellion of the Gaetuli against Rome's Mauretanian client ruler Juba II in AD 6.^[436]

The vague illness suffered by Augustus in 23 BC brought the problem of succession to the forefront.^[478][an] 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.^[480]

Left: A Roman bust of Julia the Elder, Augustus's daughter, housed in the Musée Saint-Raymond, France

Center: A Roman bust of Livia, Augustus's wife, Musée Saint-Raymond, France

Right: A Roman bust of Marcus Vipsanius Agrippa, Augustus's son-in-law and confidant, the Louvre Museum, Paris, France

Some historians argue that indications pointed toward his nephew Marcellus, who had married Augustus's daughter Julia.^[481] Other historians argue that Augustus's will, read to the Senate during his illness in 23 BC, indicated a preference for Marcus Agrippa,^[482] who was Augustus's second in charge and arguably the only one of his associates with the necessary military prestige.^[483]

After the death of Marcellus in 23 BC, Augustus remarried his daughter Julia to Agrippa in 21 BC.^[484] This union produced five children, three sons and two daughters.^[485] In 18 BC (and perhaps also earlier),^[426] Agrippa was granted a five-year appointment to the eastern provinces with proconsular imperium and also the tribunicia potestas that Augustus possessed.^[486] This grant showed Augustus's favor but upset some senators from the traditional aristocracy.^[487]

Augustus adopted his grandsons Gaius and Lucius, illuminating his intent to make them his heirs.^[488] He served as consul in 5 and 2 BC so that he could personally usher them into their political careers.^[489] Gaius was consul for AD 1; although he had won election in 6 BC, Augustus had him wait until he turned 21.^[490][ao] Lucius, however, died before his designated consulship.^[492] Augustus also showed favor to his stepsons Tiberius and Drusus, Livia's children from her first marriage, granting them public offices, though seeming to favor Drusus.^[493] Tiberius married Agrippa's eldest daughter, Vipsania Agrippina,^[494] while Drusus married Augustus's niece Antonia.^[495] After Agrippa died in 12 BC, Tiberius was ordered to divorce Vipsania for Augustus's widowed daughter, Julia, as soon as a period of mourning for Agrippa had ended.^[496] Drusus and Antonia's marriage was considered an unbreakable affair, whereas Vipsania was deemed less important.^[497]

Tiberius shared in Augustus's tribunician powers from 6 BC but shortly thereafter withdrew into retirement, reportedly wanting no further role in politics.^[499] No specific reason is known for his departure, though it could have been a combination of reasons: a failing marriage with Julia,^[500] who in 2 BC was banished to the island of Pandateria (modern Ventotene) by Augustus for adultery,^[501] or his envy for the younger Gaius and Lucius.^[502] 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.^[503]

After the deaths of Drusus in 9 BC, 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.^[504] This continued the tradition of presenting at least two generations of heirs.^[505] In AD 4 Tiberius was also granted the tribunicia potestas and a proconsular post in Germany; for his efforts there and in Illyricum, he eventually triumphed.^[506] By AD 13, he had received the imperium maius proconsulare equalling that of Augustus.^[507]

The only other possible claimant was Agrippa Postumus, Augustus's youngest grandson. However, Augustus had exiled him to Sorrento in AD 6 and then to Planasia AD 7.^[508] Agrippa's banishment was made permanent by senatorial decree,^[509] and Augustus officially disowned him for his lack of good character and alleged involvement in a conspiracy.^[510] After Tiberius succeeded Augustus, he was most likely the one who had Agrippa killed in exile.^[511]

On 19 August AD 14, Augustus died at Nola, where his father had died.^[512] Both Tacitus 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.^[513] If poisoning is accepted, it is possible that Livia supplied a poisoned fig to assist death.^[514] 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.^[515] Augustus likely did not expect to return from Nola, but it has been speculated that his health improved and Livia ended his life so not to endanger Tiberius's accession.^[514]

Augustus's famous last words were, "Have I played the part well? Then applaud as I exit" (Acta est fabula, plaudite)—referring to the play-acting and regal authority that he had put on as emperor.^[516] An enormous procession of mourners travelled with Augustus's body from Nola to Rome, with all business closed on his funeral.^[517] Tiberius and his son Drusus delivered the eulogy while standing atop two rostra.^[518] Augustus's body was coffin-bound and cremated on a pyre close to his mausoleum.^[519]

On 17 September 27 BC the Senate proclaimed Augustus to have joined the company of the gods and his adoptive father Julius Caesar as a member of the Roman pantheon.^[520] People in Rome's eastern provinces had worshipped him as a living deity since his victory at Actium.^[521] There was even limited worship of him as a living god in some of Rome's western provinces, primarily at Lugdunum (Sanctuary of the Three Gauls in modern Lyon, France) and Oppidum Ubiorum (Ara Ubiorum in modern Cologne, Germany),^[521] but not at Rome where such worship remained taboo. Only his genius (spirit or general divine nature) was allowed worship there.^[522]

Left: Augustus in a copper engraving by Giovanni Battista Cavalieri; from the book Romanorum Imperatorum effigies (1583), preserved in the Municipal Library of Trento (Italy)

Right: From the Très Riches Heures du Duc de Berry (1412–1416), the Virgin Mary and Child (top), the prophetess Sibyl Tivoli (bottom left) and Augustus (bottom right). The likeness of Augustus is that of the Byzantine emperor Manuel II Palaiologos.^[523]

Augustus created a regime that maintained relative peace and prosperity in the Latin West and Greek East for two centuries,^[524] initiating the celebrated Pax Romana (or Pax Augusta),^[525] though the Augustan golden age myth may obscure the complicated political challenges faced by Augustus.^[526] His regime laid the foundations of a concept of universal monarchy in the Byzantine and Holy Roman Empires down to their dissolutions in 1453 and 1806, respectively.^[527] Later Romans viewed his reign favorably, embodied by the Senate's formal wish to every emperor after Trajan that they "be more fortunate than Augustus and better than Trajan".^[528] This positive overall image was also helped by his successors copying many of Augustus's policies and forms of self-promotion, which modern research calls imitatio Augusti.^[529]

Augustus's adoptive surname, Caesar, and his title augustus became permanent titles of Roman rulers for fourteen centuries after his death, used in Rome and Constantinople following the reign of Constantine I and the Empire's division.^[530] His adoptive name Caesar formed the root of later regnal titles such as the German kaiser and Russian czar.^[531] Emperors preferred his title of civilis princeps for three centuries until they adopted the title domini ('lords'), beginning with Diocletian.^[532] His adoptive name Imperator ('victorious general') served as the etymological root of the word 'emperor', though it did not possess this connotation in Augustus's lifetime.^[533] The emperors alone held the office of pontifex maximus until the fall of the Western Roman Empire, after which the papacy adopted it.^[534]

Augustus composed an account of his achievements, the Res Gestae Divi Augusti, to be inscribed in bronze in front of his mausoleum.^[535] Copies of the text were inscribed throughout the empire upon his death.^[536] The inscriptions in Latin featured translations in Greek beside it, were inscribed on many public edifices such as the temple in Ankara dubbed the Monumentum Ancyranum, and were called the "queen of inscriptions" by historian Theodor Mommsen.^[537] The Res 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's Eulogy of Cato.^[538] Private letters penned by Augustus also reveal facts about his personal life.^[539] The poet Martial preserved a sexually crude poem allegedly written by Octavian during the Perusine War, which pokes fun at Glaphyra, Antony, and Fulvia.^[540] Pliny the Elder suggested that Augustus displayed and allegedly finished Agrippa's world map publicly exhibited in the Porticus Vipsania.^[541] This map would later form the basis of various medieval world maps.^[542]

In his Res Gestae, Augustus defined the relative peace established by his reign as a peace "born of victories" (parta victoriis pax)^[543] in the civil wars.^[544] 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.^[543] This theme of peace being rooted in conquest is also featured prominently in Augustan artwork.^[545] By boasting of his many conquests, the Res Gestae emphasizes the same code of honor found in Republican funerary inscriptions such as those of the Scipios, a key element in elevating the political reputation of Roman families.^[546]

The city of Rome was thoroughly transformed under Augustus, who created a permanent police force, firefighting force, and praefectus ('municipal prefect').^[547] Established in AD 6 and based on previous firefighting services established in 22 and 7 BC,^[548] the vigiles was a combined fire brigade and police force divided into cohorts of 500 to 1,000 men each, with seven units assigned to fourteen divided city sectors.^[547] A praefectus vigilum ('prefect of the watch') was put in charge of the vigiles,^[549] whereas vicomagistri officials had previously been in charge of each district following the fire of 7 BC.^[550] Augustus created a standing army,^[551] fixed at a size of 28 legions of about 170,000 soldiers,^[552] reduced from 60 legions at the end of the civil wars in 30 BC.^[553] This was supported by many auxiliary units of 500 non-citizen soldiers each, often recruited from recently conquered areas.^[554]

With his finances securing the maintenance of roads throughout Italy, Augustus installed an official system of relay stations overseen by a military officer known as the praefectus vehiculorum.^[555] Besides speeding communication in Italy, his extensive road construction allowed Roman armies to march swiftly across the country.^[556] In AD 6 Augustus established the aerarium militare, donating 170 million sesterces to the new military treasury that provided for both active and retired soldiers.^[557]

One of Augustus's most enduring institutions was the establishment of the Praetorian Guard in 27 BC,^[558] commanded by two praetorian prefects (later one) after this office was created by Augustus in 2 BC.^[559] Originally a personal bodyguard unit on the battlefield, the praetorians evolved into an imperial guard as well as an important political force in Rome.^[560] The last emperor they served was Maxentius, as Constantine I disbanded them in the early 4th century and destroyed their barracks.^[561]

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.^[562] An equally important reform was the abolition of tax farming. The publicani, Republican era private tax farmers, were infamous for their depredations and great wealth, so they were replaced by salaried tax collectors.^[562]

The measures of taxation in the reign of Augustus 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 the next of kin.^[563] Due to protest from equestrians, the suffect consuls for 9 AD modified and lessened penalties in the Lex 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.^[564]

Augustus's annexation of Egypt allowed him to divert its immense wealth for imperial purposes.^[565] Considered Augustus's private property rather than a province, it became part of each succeeding emperor's patrimonium.^[566] Instead of a legate or proconsul, Augustus installed a prefect from the equestrian class to administer Egypt and maintain its lucrative seaports.^[567] This position became the highest political achievement for any equestrian besides becoming praetorian prefect.^[568] Gold and silver found in the Ptolemaic royal treasury was melted down for coins.^[569] In his will, Augustus left money to his family but also 43 million sesterces to the Roman people, 1,000 sesterces to every praetorian, 500 sesterces to every soldier in urban cohorts, and 300 sesterces to each soldier.^[570]

The month of August (Latin: Augustus) was named after Augustus in 8 BC.^[571] Until his time, it was called Sextilis (or Sextilus), so named because it was the sixth month of the original Roman calendar.^[572] Augustus chose Sextilis as it was the month of his first consulship and of his various victories.^[573] In comparison, the month of July (Latin: Iulius) in the Julian calendar was named after his adoptive father Julius Caesar,^[574] the only other month in the Roman calendar named after a Roman.^[575]

Left: Sculpted reliefs on the south side of the Ara Pacis ('Altar of Peace') in Rome showing unidentified members of the imperial family, dedicated to the Pax Romana, decreed by the Roman Senate in 13 BC, and completed on 30 January 9 BC with Augustus attending its dedication ceremony^[576]

Right: The Tropaeum Alpium (Trophy of Augustus), a victory monument built by Augustus at La Turbie, France (near Monaco) in honor of the Roman conquest of Rhetia and the Alps^[577]

On his deathbed, Augustus boasted that he converted Rome from a city of bricks into one of marble.^[578] Marble could be found in Roman buildings before Augustus, but it was not extensively used as a building material until his reign.^[579][ap] He left a mark on the monumental topography of the city's center, as well as on the Campus Martius with the Ara Pacis (Altar of Peace) and monumental sundial, whose central gnomon was an obelisk taken from Egypt.^[580] The relief sculptures decorating the Ara Pacis visually augment Augustus's triumphs outlined in the Res Gestae. Its reliefs depict praetorians, the Vestals, and the citizenry of Rome.^[581] The Corinthian order of architectural style originating from ancient Greece was the dominant architectural style in the age of Augustus.^[582] Suetonius once commented that Rome was unworthy of its status as an imperial capital, yet Augustus and Agrippa set out to dismantle this sentiment.^[579] They transformed the appearance of Rome upon the Greek model,^[583] incorporating both Classical and Hellenistic elements with many Athenian monuments as direct inspirations.^[584]

Augustus was responsible for the erection of the temples of Caesar, Jupiter Tonans, and Apollo Palatinus as well as the Baths of Agrippa and the Forum of Augustus with its Temple of Mars Ultor. He encouraged the establishment of the Theatre of Balbus and Agrippa's construction of the Pantheon, and funded additional projects in the name of others, often relations (e.g. Portico of Octavia, Theatre of Marcellus).^[585] Even his tomb in Rome was built before his death to house members of his family.^[586] 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.^[587] He also completed projects left unfinished by Julius Caesar,^[588] such as the Curia Julia, the Forum of Caesar, and the Temple of Venus Genetrix.^[589] He rebuilt the Basilica Aemilia by 2 BC (previously burned down in a fire of 35 BC).^[590]

Augustus also provided grand spectacles in Rome. The amphitheater constructed by Statilius Taurus from 34 to 29 BC was the first stone amphitheater built in the city, and opened with gladiator games around the time Octavian staged shows of live combat and the first ever killing of a rhino and hippopotamus for entertainment in Rome.^[591] Augustus staged lion hunts in the Circus Maximus, temporarily flooded the Circus Flaminius for slaughtering crocodiles, and held gladiatorial bouts in the Saepta Julia.^[592] In 2 BC he also staged an elaborate mock naval battle, the naumachia Augusti, by creating an artificial lake on the west bank of the Tiber, its waters fed by a newly built aqueduct, the Aqua Alsietina that stretched for over twenty miles. In a lethal performance, the combatants reenacted the 480 BC Battle of Salamis between the Greek city-states led by Athens and the Persian Achaemenid Empire.^[593][aq]

Augustus put Agrippa in charge of Rome's water supply, sanitation, drainage system, public baths, and roads.^[595] Agrippa had overseen these works when he served as aedile in 33 BC,^[596] and even privately funded them afterwards.^[597] In 33 BC he built the Aqua Julia aqueduct, along with new cisterns and water towers.^[598] After Agrippa’s death in 12 BC, a solution had to be found in maintaining Rome's water supply system,^[599] and Augustus arranged a system where the Senate designated three of its members as commissioners in charge of the water supply and repair of aqueducts.^[597]

During the triumvirate and early reign of Augustus, Agrippa oversaw the construction of new roads for military purposes to the Rhine frontier.^[600] Augustus created the senatorial group of the curatores viarum ('supervisors for roads') for the upkeep of roads; this senatorial commission worked with local officials and contractors to organize regular repairs.^[555] Augustus repaired all bridges in Rome except the Milvian and Minucian ones, and paved the Via Flaminia between Rome and Ariminum.^[601] In the late Augustan era, the commission of five senators called the curatores locorum publicorum iudicandorum ('Supervisors of Public Property') was tasked with maintaining public buildings and temples.^[597]

Augustus's official residence was the Domus Augusti ('House of Augustus') on the Palatine Hill, though its identification is not certain.^[602] According to Suetonius the home was somewhat modest,^[603] but if it was the Carettoni house west of the Palatine temple of Apollo, then Augustus's residence would have been substantially larger and more luxurious than literary sources admit.^[604] Augustus dedicated this temple to Apollo near his home in 28 BC, and he often appears on coinage wearing the civic crown with laurels highly associated with Apollo.^[605] The Domus Augusti is also located near the Casa Romuli ('House of Romulus'), purportedly that of Rome's legendary founder Romulus.^[606] The House of Livia is located nearby, identified with an inscription on a lead water pipe, though it is unclear if Augustus's wife occupied the residence before his death.^[607]

Outside of Rome, Augustus owned three countryside villas, which were not extravagant by contemporary standards but did have ornamental gardens.^[608] Augustus built the Palazzo a Mare palace on the island of Capri,^[609] where he hosted a sizable collection of fossils and what may have been dinosaur bones.^[610] At the Villa Giulia on the island of Ventotene, where Augustus exiled his daughter Julia, he constructed a sophisticated hypocaust central heating system for two large bathtubs and a caldarium hot plunge bath.^[611] Augustus's family home was a villa located in Nola, where he and his father died.^[612] This residence was probably the villa discovered at Somma Vesuviana.^[613]

Writers throughout the ages have both praised and criticized Augustus. The contemporary Roman jurist Marcus Antistius Labeo, fond of the days of pre-Augustan republican liberty in which he had been born, openly criticized the Augustan regime. In his Annals, 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.^[615] Tacitus believed that Emperor Nerva (r. 96–98) successfully "mingled two formerly alien ideas, principate and liberty".^[616] The 3rd-century historian Cassius Dio acknowledged Augustus as a benign, moderate ruler, yet like most other post-Augustan historians he viewed Augustus as an autocrat.^[615] The 1st-century poet Marcus Annaeus Lucanus argued that Caesar's victory over Pompey and the death of Cato the Younger in 46 BC marked the end of traditional liberty in Rome.^[616]

Debate still exists among modern academics about the extent to which Augustus censored criticism of him.^[617] As triumvir, Octavian destroyed all public records dating from the Ides of March 44 BC to the defeat Sextus Pompey in 36 BC, a convenient political move that aligned with popular sentiment for purging painful memories about the proscriptions.^[618] Augustan poets sometimes openly criticized the emperor, such as Sextus Propertius when he disapproved of the execution of prisoners during the Perusine War.^[181] Some of Virgil and Horace's poetry has been interpreted as praising their patron Augustus as an upholder of moral justice, and for maintaining the Empire.^[619] Octavian was Virgil's patron when the latter penned his Eclogues, which express the discontented views of impoverished farmers and landowners during the triumvirate.^[620] 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.^[621][ar] Yet in c. AD 8 Augustus had the poet Ovid exiled^[623] and his literature banned.^[624][as]

Tacitus claimed that the discipline of history declined under Augustus due to historians flattering the emperor rather than by active suppression.^[626] Livy wrote his highly influential and encompassing History 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.^[627] Augustus may have quietly had his niece Antonia Minor pressure her son Claudius, a future emperor, to refrain from writing a history on Rome's civil wars.^[628]

Augustus became a revered figure in Christendom during the Middle Ages due to his depiction by church fathers Orosius, Ambrose, and Bede as a divinely ordained peacemaker who created a stable realm for the arrival of Christ.^[629] The c. 1250 Golden Legend hagiographical anthology promoted the legend of the Tiburtine Sibyl, in which Augustus had an alleged vision of Jesus and his mother Mary.^[630] Petrarch viewed Augustus as a righteous ruler, an idea widely accepted in Renaissance humanist literature until the 16th century when more negative views found acceptance.^[631][at]

Views on Augustus varied during the early modern period. The Anglo-Irish writer Jonathan Swift criticized Augustus for installing tyranny over Rome, likening the virtues of the previous Roman Republic to those of Great Britain's constitutional monarchy.^[633] French political philosopher Montesquieu remarked that Augustus was a coward in battle,^[634] his alleged cowardliness also hinted at strongly by English playwright William Shakespeare in his portrayal of 'Caesar' in the 1607 play Antony & Cleopatra.^[635] Scottish scholar Thomas Blackwell deemed Augustus as a bloodthirsty usurper and tyrant,^[634] views that were shared by Montesquieu and Voltaire.^[636] During the 19th century Augustus was widely considered a reformer who brought peace and prosperity after the chaos caused by a failed Republic,^[637] though Napoleon Bonaparte emulated Julius Caesar as a role-model and was slightly dismissive of Augustus, refusing to use his name as a title.^[638]

Attitudes about Augustus shifted once again during the 20th century,^[639] as scholarship during the upheavals of fascism in the 1930s and 1940s generally held negative views about Augustus's seizure of power.^[640] In 1937–1938, Benito Mussolini held an 'Augustan exhibition' in Rome to celebrate the bimillenary of the birth of Augustus, an event which influenced architectural trends of Fascist Italy.^[641] Mussolini also styled himself as Il Duce after dux Augustus.^[642] Ronald Syme expressed apprehension about Mussolini's espousal of Augustus.^[643] He sparked debate by publishing the then controversial The Roman Revolution (1939) at the onset of the second world war, acknowledging the political climate that impacted his research.^[644] He rejected fascist appropriations of ancient Rome while examining deceptive political terminology employed by totalitarian regimes.^[645] Subsequently more peaceful times have led to a greater focus on the art and literature produced in the Augustan age.^[646] In 2014 the historian Adrian Goldsworthy stressed that Augustus was essentially a military dictator,^[647] but argued that Augustus was no more ruthless than "other warlords", and that comparing him to Mussolini, Hitler or Stalin is anachronistic and inaccurate.^[648]

The Roman Revolution was not widely circulated in continental Europe until 1952,^[649] but this and other works by Syme left a major impact on scholarship in the English-speaking world and its views on Augustus in particular.^[650] Syme viewed Octavian as a "sickly and sinister youth," and the so-called "party of Augustus" as an entity somewhat analogous to a modern crime syndicate.^[651] Syme criticized some academics for attributing to Octavian various political achievements that were initiated by Julius Caesar, their ready acceptance of Augustan propaganda about Mark Antony, and the view of Augustus as a flawless organizer and peacemaker.^[652] Goldsworthy largely agrees with Syme's analysis, but argues that he was "extremely charitable in his judgements of Antony", and far too harsh in criticizing Augustus's supporters, "especially the majority who came from outside the established aristocracy".^[648]

Modern academics debate whether or not Augustus attempted to distance himself from Julius Caesar the man and dictator when embracing the deified Caesar.^[653] This idea is implied in Augustan literature, which generally portrays Caesar as divine while rarely mentioning his acts as dictator. Octavian-Augustus also placed less emphasis on Divus Julius and more on his own role as princeps over time.^[654]

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 a de facto monarchy.^[655] 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.^[655] Historian Walter Eder contends that Augustus promoted Republican Roman virtues and addressed the concerns of the plebs by means of generosity and cutting back on lavish excess. In the year 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.^[656] He also restored 82 different temples to display his care for the Roman pantheon of deities.^[656] 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.^[656]

Left: The bronze Meroë Head of Augustus, excavated from a Nubian temple in Meroë in the Kingdom of Kush (modern Sudan), taken as a trophy of war during the invasion of Roman Egypt by Queen Amanirenas, dated 27–25 BC^[657]

Right: Faience head of Augustus, early 1st-century AD, Museo degli Argenti, Florence

In The Twelve Caesars, Suetonius provided a biography on Augustus and wrote about his appearance.^[au] 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.^[658] Scientific analysis of traces of paint found in his official statues shows that he most likely had naturally light brown hair.^[659] 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.^[658] Among the best known portraits of Augustus are the Prima Porta Statue,^[660] his sculpted relief on the Ara Pacis,^[661] and the sculpted Via Labicana Augustus, the latter which depicts him in his role as pontifex maximus.^[662] Prominent cameo portraits include the Blacas Cameo and Gemma Augustea.^[663] The official imagery was tightly controlled and idealized, drawing from a tradition of Hellenistic portraiture rather than republican verism. From c. 29 BC, his portraits proliferated across the Roman world,^[664] and they emphasized a youthful appearance until his death.^[665]

Julius Caesar first introduced personalized portraits of living individuals on Roman coins in the 40s BC, and Augustus's image on coins is perhaps one means by which he emulated Caesar.^[666] It is possible Augustus personally dictated how these portraits appeared.^[667] Augustus's name and image became universal on coinage throughout the Empire. Goldsworthy notes how the 'Caesar' mentioned by Jesus in the New Testament in reference to the figure on silver coins used by Jews and others for paying taxes was most likely Augustus rather than Tiberius.^[668]

Augustus has also been depicted in various artworks following classical antiquity. For instance, he is featured on the Hereford Mappa Mundi dated c. 1300 wearing a papal tiara as he orders geographers to create a survey of the world.^[669] In 1765 Louis XV commissioned French painter Charles-André van Loo to create a painting depicting Augustus closing the gates of the Temple of Janus in the Forum, a signal that Rome was at peace. Louis XV disliked the painting and had it removed from his hunting lodge, but historian Mary Beard contends that van Loo's painting served as "an appropriate backdrop" during the signing of the 1802 Treaty of Amiens during the Napoleonic Wars.^[670] Napoleon III commissioned French painter Jean-Léon Gérôme to create the painting titled The Age of Augustus, the Birth of Christ (c. 1852–1854), which blends classical and gothic elements and depicts Augustus on an imperial dais above a nativity scene, juxtaposing the birth of Jesus with the peace brought about by the reign of Augustus. It was exhibited in Paris at the 1855 Universal Exposition.^[671]

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.^[672] Goldsworthy attributes this to the fact that Shakespeare never wrote a play centered around him.^[673] Shakespeare's 1599 play Julius Caesar features the character of Octavius, and Augustus is named as Caesar in the 1607 play Antony and Cleopatra, in which he plays a foil to Antony as a weak, cowardly, and manipulative foe.^[635] This view is perhaps based on ancient primary sources that reflect the propaganda war waged between Antony and Octavian, manifested in the cold performance of actor Roddy McDowall as Octavian in the 1963 film Cleopatra.^[673] The 1934 historical fiction novel I, Claudius by Robert Graves and its subsequent 1976 television series depict the older Augustus in a far more sympathetic light as he is outmaneuvered by his murderous wife Livia, though he plays only a supporting character.^[674]