Augustus (63 BCE - 14 CE), born Gaius Octavius, was the first Roman emperor, ruling from 27 BCE until his death. [1] The great-nephew and adopted heir of Julius Caesar, he emerged from the civil wars that destroyed the Roman Republic as sole ruler after defeating Mark Antony and Cleopatra at Actium in 31 BCE. [2] He rebuilt Roman government around his own authority while preserving republican forms, beginning a period of internal stability known as the Pax Romana. [3]
Early life and the rise to power
Gaius Octavius was born in Rome in 63 BCE into a wealthy family of the equestrian order; his mother was a niece of Julius Caesar. He was nineteen and studying in Illyria when Caesar was assassinated in March 44 BCE, and learned that Caesar's will had adopted him as son and principal heir. He returned to Italy at once to claim the inheritance and the political capital of Caesar's name. [1]
Initially at odds with Mark Antony, he formed with Antony and Lepidus the Second Triumvirate in 43 BCE, a formal commission to reconstitute the state. The triumvirs proscribed their opponents, among them Cicero, and defeated Caesar's assassins Brutus and Cassius at Philippi in 42 BCE. The empire was divided among them, with Octavian taking the West. [2]
Actium and sole rule
Relations with Antony, who governed the East and allied himself with Cleopatra VII of Egypt, deteriorated over the following decade. Octavian used propaganda to present the conflict as a defence of Rome against a foreign queen. The decisive naval battle at Actium in 31 BCE ended in victory for his commander Agrippa; Antony and Cleopatra died the following year, and Egypt was annexed. [1]
In 27 BCE Octavian formally returned his extraordinary powers to the Senate and people, which in turn granted him the name Augustus and a set of provincial commands and legal privileges that left him in effective control. He preferred the title princeps, or first citizen, and the system he created is accordingly known as the principate. [3]
Government and reforms
Augustus reorganised the administration of the provinces, professionalised the army with fixed terms of service and a treasury to pay discharge benefits, created the praetorian guard, and established permanent services for policing and firefighting in Rome. He reformed taxation and the census, built or restored numerous public buildings and temples, and sponsored a programme of moral and religious legislation intended to restore traditional practice. [2]
His reign coincided with a flowering of Latin literature under patrons close to him, including the work of Virgil, Horace, and Livy. His own account of his achievements, the Res Gestae Divi Augusti, was inscribed and displayed across the empire. [1]
Succession and death
Augustus had no surviving son, and a succession of intended heirs, including Marcellus, Agrippa, and his grandsons Gaius and Lucius, died before him. He eventually adopted his stepson Tiberius, who succeeded him without disruption. [3]
He died at Nola in Campania on 19 August 14 CE, after a reign of more than forty years, and was deified by the Senate. [1]
Legacy
The imperial system Augustus founded governed the Mediterranean world for centuries and was imitated long afterwards; the titles Caesar and Augustus passed into the vocabulary of monarchy across Europe and the Near East. The month of August is named for him. [2] His reign is conventionally taken as the dividing line between the Roman Republic and the Roman Empire, and the political settlement he devised remained the framework of Roman government until the reforms of the third and fourth centuries. [4]
