For the ancient Roman title, please see Augustus (honorific)
Quick facts for kids Gaius Julius Caesar Augustus |
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| Emperor of the Roman Empire | |||||
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| Reign | 16 January 27 BC – 19 August 14 AD | ||||
| Successor | Tiberius | ||||
| Born | 23 September 63 BC (Roman calendar) Rome, Roman Republic |
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| Died | 19 August 14 AD (Julian calendar) (aged 75) Nola, Italy, Roman Empire |
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| Burial | Mausoleum of Augustus, Rome | ||||
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| Issue | Julia the Elder; Gaius Caesar (adoptive); Lucius Caesar (adoptive); Tiberius (adoptive) |
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| Imperial Dynasty | Julio-Claudian | ||||
| Father | Natural: Gaius Octavius; Adoptive: Julius Caesar (in 44 BC) |
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| Mother | Atia Balba Caesonia | ||||
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| These articles cover Ancient Rome and the fall of the Republic | |
| Roman Republic, First Triumvirate, Assassination of Julius Caesar, Mark Antony, Cleopatra VII, Pompey, Cicero, Second Triumvirate |
Augustus (Gaius Julius Caesar Augustus, 23 September 63 BC – 19 August AD 14) was the first and one of the most important Roman Emperors. He led Rome in its transition from a Republic to a great Empire.
Contents
Early Life
Augustus was born at Rome with the name Gaius Octavius Thurinus. His father, also Gaius Octavius, came from a respectable but undistinguished family of the equestrian order and was governor of Macedonia before his death in 58 BC. More importantly, his mother Atia was the niece of Rome's greatest general and de facto ruler, Julius Caesar. In 46 BC Caesar, who had no legitimate children, took his grand-nephew soldiering in Hispania, and adopted him by testament as his heir. By virtue of his adoption, following Roman custom, Octavius then assumed the name C. Julius Caesar Octavianus (hereafter "Octavian").
When Caesar was assassinated in March 44 BC, his young heir was with the army at Apollonia, in what is now Albania. At the time, he was only eighteen years old.
Reign
Having gained power by means of great audacity, Augustus ruled with great prudence. In exchange for near absolute power, he gave Rome 40 years of civic peace and increasing prosperity, celebrated in history as the Pax Romana, or Roman Peace. He created Rome's first permanent army and navy and stationed the legions along the Empire's borders, where they could not meddle in politics. A special unit, the Praetorian Guard, garrisoned Rome and protected the Emperor's person. He also reformed Rome's finance and tax systems.
Augustus waged no major wars.
In domestic matters, Augustus channeled the enormous wealth brought in from the Empire to keeping the army happy with generous payments, and keeping the Romans happy by beautifying the capital and staging magnificent games.
Augustus also strongly supported worship of Roman gods, especially Apollo, and depicted Roman defeat of Egypt as Roman gods defeating Egypt's. He sponsored Vergil's Aeneid in the hopes that it would increase pride in Roman heritage. Augustus also launched a morality crusade, promoting marriage, family, and childbirth while discouraging luxury and adultery. It was largely unsuccessful.
A patron of the arts, Augustus showered favors on poets, artists, sculptors, and architects, and his reign is considered the Golden Age of Roman literature.
Augustus's legacy
Augustus was deified soon after his death, and both his borrowed surname, Caesar, and his title, Augustus, became the permanent titles of the rulers of Rome for the next 400 years, and were still in use at Constantinople fourteen centuries after his death, (and the derived titles "Kaiser" and "Tsar" would be used until the early part of the 20th century). The cult of the Divine Augustus continued until Constantine the Great converted the State Religion of the Empire to Christianity in the 4th century.
Many consider Augustus as Rome's greatest emperor; his policies certainly extended the empire's life span and initiated the celebrated "Pax Romana" or "Pax Augusta". He was handsome, intelligent, decisive, and a very shrewd politician, but he was not perhaps as charismatic as the earlier Caesar or his rival Antony; as a result, Augustus is not as renowned as either man, and is often confused with Julius Caesar. Nevertheless, his legacy has proved more enduring.
The month of August (Latin Augustus) is named after Augustus; until his time it was called Sextilis.
In looking back on the reign of Augustus and its legacy to the Roman world, its longevity ought not to be overlooked as a key factor in its success. Augustus's ultimate legacy, however, was the peace and prosperity the empire was to enjoy for the next two centuries under the system he initiated.
Images for kids
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Bust of Augustus, palace of Versailles, 17th century
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Bust of Augustus in old-age, palace of Versailles
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A denarius from 44 BC, showing Julius Caesar on the obverse and the goddess Venus on the reverse of the coin
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A reconstructed statue of Augustus as a younger Octavian, dated ca. 30 BC
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Bust of Augustus in Musei Capitolini, Rome
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Roman aureus bearing the portraits of Mark Antony (left) and Octavian (right), issued in 41 BC to celebrate the establishment of the Second Triumvirate by Octavian, Antony and Marcus Lepidus in 43 BC. Both sides bear the inscription "III VIR R P C", meaning "One of Three Men for the Regulation of the Republic".
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A denarius minted c. 18 BC. Obverse: CAESAR AVGVSTVS; reverse: DIVVS IVLIV[S] (DIVINE JULIUS)
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Fresco paintings inside the House of Augustus, his residence during his reign as emperor
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Anthony and Cleopatra, by Lawrence Alma-Tadema
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The Battle of Actium, by Laureys a Castro, painted 1672, National Maritime Museum, London
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Aureus of Octavian, circa 30 BC, British Museum
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Bust of Augustus, wearing the Civic Crown. Glyptothek, Munich.
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The Blacas Cameo showing Augustus wearing a gorgoneion on a three layered sardonyx cameo, AD 20–50
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The Via Labicana Augustus—Augustus as Pontifex Maximus.
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A colossal statue of Augustus, seated and wearing a laurel wreath
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Extent of the Roman Empire under Augustus. The yellow legend represents the extent of the Republic in 31 BC, the shades of green represent gradually conquered territories under the reign of Augustus, and pink areas on the map represent client states; however, areas under Roman control shown here were subject to change even during Augustus' reign, especially in Germania.
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Bust of Tiberius, a successful military commander under Augustus before he was designated as his heir and successor.
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Muziris in the Chera Kingdom of Southern India, as shown in the Tabula Peutingeriana, with depiction of a "Temple of Augustus" ("Templum Augusti"), an illustration of Indo-Roman relations in the period.
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Coin of Kushan ruler Kujula Kadphises, in the style of Roman emperor Augustus. British Museum.
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A Parthian returning an aquila, relief in the heroic cuirass of the Augustus of Prima Porta statue.
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The Mausoleum of Augustus
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The deified Augustus hovers over Tiberius and other Julio-Claudians in the Great Cameo of France
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The Virgin Mary and Child, the prophetess Sibyl Tivoli bottom left and the Emperor Augustus in the bottom right, from the Très Riches Heures du duc de Berry. The likeness of Augustus is that of the Byzantine emperor Manuel II Palaiologos
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The Augustus cameo at the center of the Medieval Cross of Lothair
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Augustus in an Egyptian-style depiction, a stone carving of the Kalabsha Temple in Nubia.
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Fragment of a bronze equestrian statue of Augustus, 1st century AD, National Archaeological Museum of Athens.
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Coin of Augustus found at the Pudukottai hoard, from an ancient Tamil country, Pandyan Kingdom of present-day Tamil Nadu in India. British Museum
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Coin of the Himyarite Kingdom, southern coast of the Arabian peninsula. This is also an imitation of a coin of Augustus. 1st century
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Close up on the sculpted detail of the Ara Pacis (Altar of Peace), 13 BC to 9 BC
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The Temple of Augustus and Livia in Vienne, late 1st century BC
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The Meroë Head of Augustus, bronze Roman portraiture bust from Meroë, Kingdom of Kush (Nubia, modern Sudan), 27-25 BC
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