Augustus Research Paper

Augustus, formerly known as Octavian, was the adopted son of dictator Julius Caesar and Emperor or Rome. Octavian set out to destroy his father’s murderers and assembled his own army in his quest for power and retribution. At the start, he shared rule with Mark Antony, however, their collaboration proved ineffective leading Augustus to pursue more and more control, culminating in the defeat of Antony in the battle of Actium and assuming rule as Emperor of Rome. Augustus did not inherit rule, his pursuit for power comprised of manipulative actions veiled under his generosity, concern for his people and charismatic tone and tenor. Res Gestae Divi Augusti expresses a sense of self adoration and honor in his quest for power and control, yet the subtext portrays a vastly different undertone, that of use of cajoling and propagandizing messages to benefit his position and accumulation of control of the republic. This Res Gestae is Augustus’ mechanism of self-promotion and adoration for his exceptional leadership qualities, concern and respect gleaned from his citizens and senate, and his military savvy to overpower and gain peace for the Romans, thus proclaiming his reign as one of prestige and importance.

The Deeds of the Divine Augustus By Augustus can answer all sorts of questions regarding how Augustus portrays himself. Augustus views himself almost as the greatest among men. After the Julius Creaser was declared a deity he demanded that he be called creaser and saw himself as “Divi filius” or “the son of the divine”. Almost like he was trying to use godliness of the former emperor to ensure to be viewed more highly or even be considered a deity himself. Upon Augustus’s death, Augustus left behind three scrolls. One of which scrolls instructed to have all of his accomplishments on a list, to be inscribed upon tablets made out of bronze and to be placed in front of the entry to his mausoleum. This inclines that he wants to be remembered for

Meanwhile, there were issues in Rome between Marc Antony, Octavian, and Lepidus (Julius Caesar’s allies), and Caesar's’ assassins, Brutus and Cassius. Both sides seeked Egypt’s support and Cleopatra joined forces with Caesar’s allies. In 42 B.C., Mark Antony and Octavian divided the power in Rome after defeating Brutus and Cassius in the battles of Philippi. Like all divided thrones, only one wants to be in charge. Marc Antony and Octavian, which was Caesar’s great-nephew became rivals. Marc Anthony sent for Cleopatra to get answers about Rome’s former leader, Caesar. Cleopatra accepted the request and welcomed him. Soon, Marc Antony fell in love with Cleopatra’s beauty and how she was as a person, then fell into a love affair with her. They had three children,there were twins named Alexander Helios and Cleopatra Selene. She had motivations of her own, in exchange for her help, she seeked for the eastern eastern Egypt’s empire to be under her power once again, that also included large areas of Lebanon and Syria. Marc Antony returned to Alexandria triumphant with Cleopatra by his side, in 34 B.C. People were all over them to take a look at the couple that were seated on golden thrones where they looked down upon everyone and sitting beside them were their

Around 71 B.C.,a few years before Augustus was born, Gaius Octavius started pursuing a job within the senate, but because of his latin instead of roman descent the pursuit of the job was very difficult for him. He continued pursuing the job in senate till around 70 B.C. when he won a quaestorship, a lower place in the government that entails supervising tax collection and doing special tasks for consuls in Rome, and joined the senate. Based on his latin descent winning a questorship was no small feat so it was no surprise when he was offered a spouse from one of Rome’s great trician clans. The only problem with this was he was already married to Ancharia who is not very well recorded in history so people have no firm evidence for why Gaius Octavius suddenly married Atia, a member of the Julian family making Julius Caesar his great-uncle. Together Atia and Gaius had two children, Octavius the younger and Gaius Octavian, named after his father, along with the one from Ancharia the second of the two being who we know as Augustus.

In the arising chaos of Caesar’s death, Mark Antony, Octavion, and others fought a series of five civil wars, which would end in the formation of the Roman Empire. The Roman middle and lower classes, with whom Caesar was popular, became angry that a small group of aristocrats had killed Caesar, especially after Antony gave a dramatic applause that appealed to the common people, a reflection of public opinion following Caesar's murder. About 43 B.C, the second triumvirate was formed between Octavion, Mark Antony, and Lepidus. Sometime after 43 B.C, Afterward, Mark Antony married Caesar's lover, Cleopatra, intending to use the fabulously wealthy Egypt as a base to dominate Rome. A third civil war broke out between Octavion and Antony. This final civil war resulted in the final ascendancy of Octavian, who became the first Roman emperor, under the name Caesar Augustus, a name that raised him to status of an idol.

Octavian, the heir to Rome’s previous leader Julius Caesar, was given the title of Augustus, meaning “Revered One” in 27 B.C. He took power of Rome in 43 B.C and formed the Second Triumvirate which consisted of Marc Antony, Lepidus, and himself. Octavian and Marc Antony quickly shut Lepidus out of power and then later had a civil war over control of Rome which Octavian won. Octavian was humble and generous to the Roman citizens, he kept peace, and restored damages in Rome. Due to his effective leadership qualities, Octavian earned his new title of Augustus.

Gaius Octavius Thurinus is a adopted son of Julius Caesar, He is the first true emperor of the Roman Empire, he was believed to be one of the most important emperor of Roma. In 43 EBC, Octavian gathered his army to kill the senate who planned the assassinate targeting Julius Caesar, his adoptive father. Then, he defeat Mark Antony and Cleopatra who was his allies but later betrayed him. Thus , he ended the war continued for decades and brought the great peace to Rome, In 29 EBC Octavian declared the pax romana, also know as the Roman peace. In 27 BCE, he was bestowed the title of Augustus by the Roman senate which was actually reestablished by Augustus himself. In order to remind the Romans the emperor’s power, Augustus ordered sculptor to sculpt the idealized form of him and send those sculptures to every provinces (Module 5 Session 6). The Augustus of Prima Porta is a great example of them.

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.

Augustus, who was once named C. Octavius, was the grand-nephew of Julius Caesar. Due to Caesar’s death from the uprising in 44 B.C., it was stated from his will, that Octavian was to be adopted as Caesar’s son. So his name was changed to C. Julius Caesar Octavianus (Porter, 2010). Later throughout his political and military career, he controlled Rome under the title Augustus (Brand, 2013). This begins a story of a young man to an emperor of the Roman world.

     Two problems facing the late Roman Empire was the instability and non unification caused by inner family civil wars. Rome's rapid expansion, after the Punic Wars, resulted in changes that permanently divided the state. Both Aristocrats and Plebeians wanted total control of Rome and tried to destroy each other. Civil war was the the only way to solve problems in politics. Consequently, the power of the military became strong. Control of Rome's armies changed from the government to the generals because the soldiers began to listen to their generals rather than to the Government. On dismissal from military service, the soldiers had no farms to return to, and they

     Upon the defeat and death of Antony, Octavian proclaimed the restoration of the Republic of Rome. However, he had no intention of stepping down as leader. In 27 BC Octavian placed the republic at the disposal of the Senate and the Roman people. Octavian’s position was now legitimized by the Senate’s request that he command and lead Rome. He was given the military command, known as Imperium for ten years. This office included the administration of Roman provinces that required the presence of the army. The official name of Octavian became Imperator Caesar Augustus From that time would be known as Augustus, which means “the Exalted”.

Essay Topic 4: Augustus made significant urban and architectural interventions on the city of Rome. Choose three buildings/monuments related to his reign and discuss how they reflect his impact. What representational messages were they designed to convey?

To reassure Roman Citizens that prosperity was evident Augustus set about reconstructing the city of Rome. Coins from the period (http://www.forumancientcoins.com/gallery/thumbnails.php?album=443) illustrate the ‘health of the republic’ which was an essential part in reinforcing the feelings of stability that the Augustus wanted his people to encompass. The use of propaganda was also in an attempt to bolster his power. The reconstruction of the city involved creating essential services such as roads and aqueducts and also glorified Augustus and set in stone his achievements.

However, in the year 43BC after a period of unstableness in Rome, Octavian and Antony came to the realisation that they needed to make a political alliance. Thus creating the Second Triumvirate, after the first which included Julius Caesar,

Gaius Octavius, better known to historians as Augustus, succeeded his great uncle Julius Caesar following his assassination. In his wake, Augustus would become the first Emperor of the newly formed Roman Empire and bring massive, sweeping revisions to Roman law as well as centralize the government, military and economic currency of the Empire. He also reemphasized the importance of art, music and literature in Roman culture, bringing about a new era of historically important artists, poets, sculptors, scribes and philosophers. While the beginnings