Augustus Principate Analysis

Compare the following descriptions of Augustus’ rise to power, one by Augustus himself and one by Tacitus (the second-century historian), and discuss their historical validity.

The Roman's executive branch, had two consuls and they were elected by the assembly for one year to be the chief executives of the government and the commanders-in-chief of the army. In the judicial branch, the Praetors and the eight judges are chosen for one year by the Centuriate Assembly. Both the Praetor and the eight judges oversee the civil and criminal courts. To become a citizens you have to be an adult male landowner. The citizens had the right to vote, to make legal contracts, to have a lawful marriage, and to have a trial. A common citizen would vote to elect tribunes and to make laws. The Romans had the Twelve Tablets which, were a list of rules that was the basis of the Roman legal system. The laws in the Twelve Tablets talked about property, crime, family, theft, and inheritance.

He preserved all of the traditional offices while slowly taking many of the offices for him self. He was both consul and tribune. Commander and chief of the military and the senate also gave him direct control of many provinces, these provinces supplied men for his armies and food for them also, not to the senate. Augustus knew the importance of religion in roman society, he then named himself pontifex maximus which means supreme priest. He encourages the construction of temples dedicated to Rome and Augustus. None of these innovations in his ruling method altered the Roman constitution. The laws he did change however were the laws of the provinces of Rome which made them more romanized, so Augustus could be open about his actions so the senate would not bring him down and be with him. The Romans had a strong sense of there traditions and were fascinated by there history they loved when they could point out how the gods operated in there empire and allowed them much conquest of the western world. Before Augustus it looked for the romans as if the gods had left them, for they killed each other in revolutions and civil wars. Augustus’s many military victories and expansion of the empire through land and a political sense, show that the gods where on his side. He glorified Rome by hiring painters, sculptures, architects, and painters to design and build beautiful structures. He has paved the way for future Roman emperors to come.

In order to keep peace in Rome, he created the Pax Romana, this lasted two centuries, where there was no major war and the economy flourished. Augustus had to make an entirely new government so Rome could survive, and was able to take past mistakes Rome had made and use it to help his people, based on the information Augustus was a great leader.

Augustus was the first emperor, and founder, of the Roman Empire. He was a generous leader, and had a sense of caution in mind with every decision. His document, Res Gestae Divi Augusti, notes all of his accomplishments during his reign. He established an especially impressive army during his time. In the first paragraph, he introduces the beginning of his kingship, “In my nineteenth year… I raised an army with which I set free the state, which was oppressed by the domination of a faction” (Res Gestae Divi Augusti, 1). In the second to fourteenth paragraphs he touches on the politics of his career and the events that transpired. In paragraphs fifteen through twenty-four, he notes his donations of money, land, public works, ect. Paragraphs twenty-five through thirty-three take his military and alliances into account. In the final two paragraphs, thirty-four and thirty-five, he discusses Roman people’s assessment of his reign. Augustus was a very powerful leader with his well planned strategies, and made the people of Rome very proud.

Augustus’ role as a political strategist is first seen when he initially gained access to the political hierarchy of Rome. His first act was to demand funds that had been allocated for war. He used these funds to raise an army against Mark Antony who was considered the greatest enemy by the Senate at the time (Everitt 7). Since Augustus had limited finances, he knew that one of the simplest ways to gain power was through acquiring wealth and another way was through acquiring a great army. With this move Augustus was able to kill two birds with one stone. His actions were not questioned since they seemed to be in line with the interests of Rome (Everitt 7).

Augustus was later appointed by the senate to be a senator, despite his young age, and under the influence of Cicero, broke off allegiance with Antony, and Cicero supported the new senator. Augustus was also able to win some of the former dictator’s troops’ allegiance by helping in celebrating public games, trying to help integrate him into the cities populous.

Augustus legal reforms established a Roman government that lasted for 3 centuries. His new system was termed the ‘Principate’ (Augustus et al., 1967). By the end of Caeasr’s life the Roman Republic has not been functioning for many years. Upon Sextus Pompeius defeat in 36 BC Augustus declared that all the records of his past acts should be destroyed (Augustus et al., 1967). He was starting over and so began to form the Principate. He began his reform of the Roman Empire’s administration by moving the senate from being the chief of state to being a subordinate entity of administrators that were at Augustus’s disposal. To prevent uprising from the senate Augustus complimented this move by creating ‘suffect consulships, a supplementary consulship’ (Flower, 2004). This almost doubled the amount of consuls,

He also, had people build the temple of Mars the Avenger, the temple of Apollo, the temple of Jupiter Tohans as as well as a dam. This was done to help with the growing population and to keep the Tiber for flooding and destroying the city in killing Rome's people. When a group of robbers started to stealing for the government, he did not rest until they had been found and convicted. He stood by his friend Asprenus side when he was falsely accused for slander. In the ended the case was thrown out of court. This show that Augustus cared about the people living in Rome and that he was not going to let anyone mistreat them or steal from them. The people named him " Father of His Country" when he returned home to Rome after the war. Augustus cried and thanked the people for honoring him with that title. I believe that this show that Augustus knows how to be humble when people gives him praise. Augustus did not care about his physical appearance, but he did barber's that keep his hair manageable. His physical appearance changed as he got old and when he was on his death bed. He did not like the servant going in and out of his room even though they were waiting on him. He died on August 19, 14, at 7 pm at this time he was only 75 years old. He remains were carried from city to city before he was buried in Mausoleum of Augustus, Metropolitan City of Rome, Italy. His life is also called "the Augustan Age".

The optimates advocated for traditional governance approaches pertinent to Rome while the Populares advocated for the growth of the powers of the Plebeian assembly. Before the rift could be addressed, the Plebian assembly and the Senate started antagonizing each other. The senate managed to outwit the Plebian assembly and assume powers as the highest political organ in the Republic. Around the same period, there was influx of money and goods into Rome. This had the effect of turning the Roman system from land ownership controlled to a social setting where a few individuals who were mainly senators were able to enrich themselves (Morato, p.4). With wealth, the fight for political power would soon emerge turning the senators against each other. Tiberius and his brother Gaius ended up being assassinated along with their followers because they sought to shield the Senate from the corruption. Unrest began within the republic in the 2nd century B.C.E. Marius reorganized the army during the social war. He would later fight in the civil war against Lucius Sulla who eventually won. Sulla sought to shield his power through doubling of the number of senators. Most of the new senators were those loyal to him. The doubling of the senate ensured that it had veto powers over the assembly. Julius Caesar took advantage of the unrest to gain authority as consul and consolidate power with what was referred to as the 1st Triumvirate with two others. The powers of the senate and the assembly had been depleted leaving the institutions only as titles. The Republic was falling apart and leading to the rise of the Roman Empire (Wiseman,

At the beginning Rome wasn´t a Republic, they were ruled by a king before. That fact helped The Senate to listen to the people, listen to their thoughts and feelings, and that thing made them overthrew their king and start making a Republic. As you read, people elected their own governors and also, they elected two top Senators, called consuls. The consuls had to do what the members of the Senate suggested and always look for the benefit of the citizens. However, they were just elected for a year and then they had to be elected again. This method worked very

Around the year 753 B.C.E the city of Rome was discovered along the shores of the Tiber River by the mythical characters Romulus and Remus. Throughout the estimated 12 centuries of existence, Roman civilisation shifted from a monarch to a classical republic and then to an increasingly autocratic empire. During this time emperor Octavian or otherwise known as Augustus, ruled from the year 44 B.C.E until 14 A.D. Octavian’s power was considered unassailable and during 27 B.C.E the Roman Senate formally granted him overarching power and the new title Augustus , effectively marking the end of the Roman Republic.

To what extent was Augustus ' achievement of power a continuation of the phenomenon we have been examining throughout this course? How was Augustus different? By the time of his death in AD 14, what had changed since the epoch of Scipio Aemilianus?

     Augustus received the tribuncian power for life and assumed the role of protector of the Roman people. He also received the right to intervene in those provinces administered by the Senate. The backbone of Augustus’ power came from being Imperium of the military. It was of great importantance

In this section I will be analysing how Octavian/Augustus rose to become the first Emperor of Rome and his reign thereafter. I will also be looking at how he gained his position and what being and