A.D.Frankish 6E Form 6/7 AS Classics 2014
Discuss the methods Augustus used in his rise to power from 44 to 29 B.C.E
After the untimely death of Julius Caesar a power vacuum began in Rome, which was gradually filled by Gaius Octavius his grandnephew; later known as Augustus. Octavian adapted to the situations presented to him and deftly manoevered through political chaos to eventually become princeps. The ability to rise from a modest background, compete with the powerful in Rome at age 19 and eventually triumph is put down to his immensely canny Modus operandi.
Gaius Octavius was born into a modest family, his father died when he was only four years old, diminishing the chances of any political life for himself.
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Caesar, manipulates the power of Cicero, which earned him the right of imperium, through the senate. With this he serves alongside the consuls in the campaign against Antonius in Cisalpine Gaul [this side of the Alps]. Coincidentally, to his enormous advantage both the consuls were killed in action. Caesar’s political skill is displayed here again. He has no legal right to Consulship but registers that the position may be taken by force. Caesar marches his 8 legions upon Rome, ‘persuading’ the senators of his position. “When the Senate hesitated, the delegation’s leader, Cornelius, a centurion, threw back his cloak, showed the sword hilt, and actually said in the Senate House, ‘This will elect him if you don’t first.’” Shortly after, Caesar met with Antonius his former enemy, and Lepidus, the two other Caesarian leaders. The three made a formal agreement, each becoming triumvirs. This was effective on Caesar’s part as he was conscious not to become a dictator like his father. Caesar stepped carefully, to avoid appearance as another
Augustus as the adopted son of Julius Caesar, which gave or given him a stable foundation for a sudden rush of power. Elected as triumvr along with Lepidus and Mark Antony in a promise of revenge upon the killers of his father, Augustus then granted the great auctoritas (authority), being supported only by his group of colleagues. Reelected of a country until 27BC, Augustus had gained further agreeing with, or related to, the Constitution power at age 23, going beyond his fellow colleagues within the senate.
Julius Caesar was and still is considered to be one of the greatest military generals in history. His combination of leadership skills, military genius, and speaking ability propelled him to the forefront of Roman society. Born on June 12/13 100 B.C., Caesar was born into an ancient aristocratic family. Around the age of 16 after his father had died, Caesar had joined the military. It was apparent from this time onward that Caesar was especially gifted in the arts of strategy and warfare. By the age of 30 Caesar had begun making political strides in his perpetual quest for glory and prominence. During this time he would work closely with his friend and future mortal enemy, Pompey. In the next ten years, Caesar would become governor of Spain and ascend to the position of consul. His partnership with Marcus Licinius Crassus further increased Caesar’s rise to power, as Crassus himself was a powerful politician and general, who was arguably the wealthiest man in all of Rome. Along with Pompey, the three men formed what came to be known as the First Triumvirate. Although Caesar was aligned with Pompey, he never ceased to find ways outmaneuver him, qualities that would eventually precipitate Rome’s civil war. Continuing his military conquests, Caesar would become the governor of Gaul, which is now modern day Belgium and France. After ascending to this position, he’d engage in a near decade-long conquest of Gaul known as the Gallic War. Probably his most successful battle and
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.
Julius Caesar was among the most powerful Roman dictator in ancient Roman Empire. Caesar was becoming powerful and popular that he was the ancient Roman citizen’s conqueror. His unique leadership became his way forward to consulship in 59 B.C. and ultimately a powerful ruler. His power became a fear for Roman ruling class. His power controlled the three important areas in Roman’s life: the military, religion, and politics. His power allowed him to establish a rule to control Rome. In 46 B.C, Caesar secured his office to become a dictator for ten years, which many prominent ruling class was zealously hated him. His dictatorship secured his position as a ruler. Julius Caesar wanted the shift and improved the life of Romans; even so, he needs the blessing of the Senate to pass his laws. The Roman Senate could block the passing of laws which would aid the Roman state. But, Caesar was found not to be manipulated by the Senate. He increased the number of senators to nine hundred to fill vacant positions. He selected senators for a variety of places and positions. The new appointed senators outnumbered the old senate position, mostly supporters of Caesar. Ceasar’s rule was instrumental in reforming and transforming Roman empire. He improved the Roman calendar, and re-arranged the local form of government. He then
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.
To seek to keep the established constitution unchanged argues a good citizen and a good man (Augustus) A. Augustus, otherwise known as Octavian, was an excellent Emperor and was considered to be the best ever. B. He had a rather rough history, after losing his parents at a young age his uncle, Julius Ceaser, took over as his guardian, and made Octavian a very good and humble man. C. Octavian had a fairly good education after being taught by Apollodurus.
He became driven and wanted to get to the highest positions in Roman politics. In 65 BC, Caesar was appointed an 'adele' and put in charge of public entertainment in Rome. He also courted the friendship of Rome's richest man, Crassus. In 59 BC, Caesar was appointed a consul and in 58 BC he went to Gaul, France where he served as governor. He was successful in this position and conquered even more land for the Roman Empire. Julius was a general and commanded an army of over 50,000 loyal men. In 49 BC the Senate ordered Caesar to hand over his army to their control. He refused. Instead Caesar advanced on Italy but paused at the line that divided France Gaul and Italy - the River Rubicon. Roman law said that a governor was not allowed to leave his province. Caesar ignored this law, crossed the Rubicon and advanced to confront his enemies in Rome. The Senate considered this to be a treasonable offence but there was little they could do. Caesar had a very powerful and experienced army following the defeat of his enemies Julius Caesar returned to Rome in 45 BC as a dictator.
Caesar’s first military leadership experience was when he was sent to Spain where he commanded many troops in order to maintain a rebellion. While there, it is said the “First Triumvirate” was born, an alliance between Caesar, Pompey, and Crassus. This alliance helped him gain the upper hand, and begin his ascension into political power. With this political power he became Governor of Gaul, and once Governor he defeated the Helvetians, Germans, and Nervii.
The army sent three people from three different divisions to try and become emperor. Septimius Severus’ was one of the three and his region along the Danube was able to expand his control which helped him in his quest to be emperor (Boatwright, Gargola, Talbert 406). When Septimius went to Rome with his army from the Danube he was given imperial powers by the senate (Matyszak 131).When Augustus became emperor however he was mean and sneaky. He made the Romans turn against the current ruler Antony so that they would throw him out. For example, he illegally obtained Antony’s will and read it to the Roman people. Antony’s will had information like the fact that he would give all his money to his children by Cleopatra of Egypt and that he would like his body returned to her. This event was the last straw for the Romans and the senate declared war on Antony. Augustus became emperor in a devious way whereas Septimius Severus was the best man for the position and truthfully received the position (roman-empire.net).
Octavian (Augustus) had become a Roman empire he to make Rome a well-going city-state. His mindset goal was to bring Rome to a superior city-state, within doing a life changing for the war, people and city. One of his goals was too “demonstrated his political genius by reconciling his military monarchy with republican institutions” (Western Civilization TextBook Pg 140) the Roman Republic had a majority of problems and difficulties of living when Julius was the ruler of the Roman empire. Julius Caesar made Rome go through war and had a misconducted and none guidance of leadership within the military group. Rome had lost half of their military by them getting killed by other countries and losing their lives fighting for their country. Octavian wanted his military to be a more civil-military with no wars nor loss of power. He didn't want to create any type of civil war. All Octavian wanted was to have peace with other countries and to help one another. Octivaina also changed the rules of violence
Octavian enabled the long, nonviolent time of the Pax Romana, (Latin for Roman peace) by changing Rome from a frail, collapsing republican government to a powerful empire. He is known as the first, and one of the greatest, Roman Emperors ever. Octavian was born on September 23, 63 BC, and died in 14 AD. Born with the name Gaius Octavius Thurinus, he was adopted posthumously by his great-uncle Gaius Julius Caesar via his will, and then was named Gaius Julius Caesar Octavianus. This happened in 44 BC when his great uncle, Julius Caesar, was assassinated by a group of conspirators. Additionally, he received the name “Augustus” a term meaning “the revered one” from the Roman Senate in 27 BC. Because of the various names he had, it is
became the protector of the Roman people. His backbone of his power was his army but
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
Julius Caesar, a man born in around 12 to 13, 100 BC, was considered the start of a new legacy in the history of Rome. Participating in several wars, becoming dictator after forming multiple military alliances, to being assassinated on the Ides of March, Julius Caesar was a politically-flexible, popular leader of the Roman Empire. (Julius Caesar Biography, April 23, 2014) Although Caesar’s birth was never confirmed on the exact date, he was born and raised by his mother, Aurelia, and by his father, Gaius Julius Caesar. (Julius Caesar: Historical Background, April 23, 2014)
But it was a sham that was successful because ultimately people believed in it. Augustus acted like he was not gaining these powers for himself, in contrast to Caesar. His tribunal and proconsular powers were only in periods of 5 to 10 years this gave the illusion that he could have these powers revoked at any time as they were not for life. This gave the citizens of Rome a false sense of moving towards a republic when instead they were falling into Augustus scheme. The skills that Augustus had to make the Principate successful were immense. He manipulated the citizens of Rome against their own ideology. They had just assassinated their Emperor Julius Caesar for being a dictator and wanted to go back to a republic. Augustus new this and skilfully obtained powers from the senate that gave him the power he needed to singerly rule Rome, without appearing as a dictator. Augustus new that Rome needed a dictator whether it was official or not. So, he found the perfect balance that allowed him to mask his dictatorship which ultimately brought peace and stability to