Augustus Research Paper

Romans were a civilization that originated after the Greek culture. They, like Greeks, saw an extreme significance in the idea of a love for one’s country and loyalty. The Romans, however, were more concerned with public affairs such as education, sanitation, and health. They held a strong connection with their ancestors and wished to imitate what the ancient Romans did. Although Romans rejected the idea of a Rex, or king, they favored the common hero. They wanted a leader who a “regular Joe”, someone who was average and could still led an average life after doing extraordinary things. The Romans also had a very defined government that was broken into consuls, senate, and assembly. There were two consuls who served in place of the king as the leaders of the Roman Empire. Next in succession was the senate, comprised only of patricians who debated and passed legislation. Finally, there was the assembly made for the plebeians to approve laws.

Rome was mostly run by their Consuls. They had the power to run the military and are also the supreme masters of the government. They could bring matters to debate to the Senate and could pass the majority ruling of the Assemblies. However, the Senate was in charge of proposing laws, had control over the treasury, handled crimes needing investigation and could send diplomats. The Assemblies

Augustus had constantly gained control over Rome and the Empire. Through his political moving around & misleading and tricking. According to Tacitus, senator and history expert of the Roman Empire. This source points to show the

Rome was a very large and powerful city by the first BC but the reign of Augustus transformed it into an imperial city. In 31 BCE, Augustus became the supreme commander of the Roman Republic. During the Augustan Revolution, art and architecture pushed a political agenda. Art portraying Augustus remains common throughout his reign. The art and architecture helped reinforce Augustus’ political message that he was the restorer of Rome.

Alexander Thomas Augusta was born in Norfolk, Virginia in 1825. To free African American blacks. Alexander had a go childhood, he didn’t go to school until college. Sometimes Alexander got bullied for being a free black boy. While he was a teenager he was a barber, he lived in Norfolk, Virginia at this time. Alexander got his medical degree at Trinity College of the University of Toronto.

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.

Gaius Julius Caesar rose through the ranks from Roman general to Emperor. A critical role he played in Roman politics, was his role in the events that were to lead to the downfall of the Roman Republic and the growth of the Roman Empire. He joined with Crassus and Pompey to form a political alliance. This alliance of three would go on to dominate politics in Rome for several years. “Pompey, Caesar, and Crassus now formed a triple pact, jointly swearing to oppose all public policies in which any of them might disapprove” (Graves and Suetonius 19). The conservative ruling class of the Roman Senate opposed their attempts to accumulate power through the use of populist tactics.

     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

Werner Eck’s chapter on Augustus takes the form of a biography, from the murder of his adoptive father Gaius Julius Caesar, through his rise through the republic to his empire, and finally to his own death. Eck also breaks his narrative down into sections, ranging from wars to legislation to matters of succession. This is not, however, a simple retelling of a story. Eck sites a few notes, as well as further readings one could go into if they wanted to know more about Augustus. Overall it is a very solid secondary source that covers the essential basics to his reign.

In the age of Augustus myth played a large role in Roman identity, with myths being used to justify alliances and political activities. The search for a common mythological ancestor amongst cities or countries offered a sense of legitimacy to the alliances that were struck because of these links. On a smaller scale, Romans sought to find familial links that meant that they were more qualified to make a decision, and Augustus was no exception to this. Augustus’ family were an old and distinguished family, however were not patrician, and he was ashamed of the fact that his great-grandfather was an ex-slave, the lowest on the social chain in Rome. In order to justify his leadership, and offer a more glamourous family background Augustus worked hard to establish his and Julius Caesar’s link to the Prince of Troy, Aeneas. Not only that, but Augustus was focused on establishing divine familial ties,

This was mostly because of all his achievements for the empire. He divided Rome into fourteen districts, each with an administrator elected by the locals, to make the empire easier to manage, thus solving Rome’s previous expansion problem. After the death of Caesar, the number of senators had increased greatly. Many of them were unworthy and had gotten the position through bribery. In order to lower the number of senators, Augustus instructed each member to nominate one another and then chose personally from that list of names. In doing this, Augustus was able to cut the number of senators from 1000 to 600. This raised the standards of being a senator and lowered the chance of corruption. Furthermore, Augustus extended the borders of the empire in the Iberian Peninsula, Gaul, Germany, Middle East and Asia Minor. He created alliances with other kingdoms that wanted to avoid war with the Romans. Augustus also restored and erected great public buildings, temples, theatres, bathhouses, arches and his own mausoleum. He repaired roads and aqueducts using both his own money and war spoils. Augustus even boasted that he: “found Rome built of bricks; I leave her clothed in marble.” Architecture during his time was an example of his central policy: the concept of building new and better things on the ruins of the past. In the end, Augustus satisfied the Romans by exceeding the

Augustus, during his reign as emperor proved effective in ruling through the ideas he implemented to solidify his country. Tacitus stated “nullo adversante” which translates into English “Wholly unopposed” (http://janusquirinus.org/Quotes/QuotesHome.html) this identifies the effectiveness of his reign and the strength he had politically over Rome. Important actions such as the creation of religious and moral reforms, the constitutional agreement and the implementation of the building programme all succeeded in creating stability within the Roman Empire.

As Rome conquered more people, it started to develop problems political, economical, and socially. The expansion of the Roman military created social conflicts and tension to the existing political institutions that was unable to be managed. The early Roman republic was an aristocracy before Caesar was elected consul. Legions were considered to be more loyal to their generals than they were in the republic. Rome set up three forms of government (monarchy, aristocracy, and democracy) to create the guidelines for the constitution. Roman senators killed Caesar because he was going to destroy the Roman Republic. The senate was a mixture of the legislature and giant advisory council. Rome was divided into three types of orders known as the patricians, equestrians, and the plebeians. The senate’s main job was

This encyclopedia page is much like the previous one. It first gives a general overview of Aristotle and then expands on various aspects of Aristotle’s studies. It differs in the fact that what subjects it expands on are different. Stanford’s encyclopedia focuses on more sciences while the encyclopedia of philosophy understandably focused more on his philosophical findings.

Nevertheless, Tacitus also wrote after the time of Augustus at the end of the first century AD, however unlike other sources he conveys a very bias perspective on Augustus and his rule. This may be due to the change that Augustus made to the government, especially when the empire was left to be run by power hungry successors after Augustus’s death. This in hand would of left Tacitus blaming Augustus as he was the first roman emperor, leaving Tacitus to experience tyranny, corruption and decadence which may explain his bitter and ironic political analysis. This is also seen as his writings are filled with snide remarks (innuendo) of Augustus and essentially how he created corruption, governmental scandal and innocent people being destroyed because of his lust for power. Overall, these three sources are equally biased because they were all issued after Augustus’s reign yet still show a depiction of Augustus which is an opposing view to that found in other sources, as all three of the primary sources believed that an emperor