Augustus Caesar, born in 63 B.C.E in Velletri, Italy as Gaius Octavius, was Rome’s first emperor. Throughout history there have been outstanding characters. Alexander the Great, Winston Churchill, George Washington and so much more. Their names will stand the test of time. One name, life, and legacy will survive until the end of time. The actions and ideals of Augustus Caesar have been seemingly mimicked in history, creating the idea of a “Ghost of Augustus”. In the Western Civilization course, we observed many examples in which the Ghost of Augustus was present. Gaius Octavius lost his father at the age of four and his mother remarried to Julius Caesar’s brother-in-law, Lucius Marcius Philippus. This makes it much easier for a middle-class Gaius to ascend the political ladder to be put into a place of power. While growing up he attended school and in school, he met a very important person. The first was his future military general, Marcus Vipsanius Agrippa. Discussed in Prof. Thulin’s class, most of the military conquests during Augustus’ reign as emperor were led by Agrippa, and allowed Augustus to claim the credit for various military victories. As Gaius grew older, civil war was on the brink. Julius Caesar, former Consul, was returning to Rome after conquests in Gaul and the Senate and current Consul, Gaius’ brother-in-law Gaius Philippus Marcellus, were anxious to bring Caesar to justice for his constitutional crimes as Consul. Civil war broke out in Italy and
Philosophical thinker John Locke spoke on the rights of revolution, and how every man was given the birth-right of overthrowing restricting power. In multiple cases, the only means of challenging the vigors is death and brute force as demonstrated with Brutus in the tragedy Julius Caesar. These acts of violence demonstrate the will of the people -- the distance they are willing to go for their beliefs. When culminating their numbers, this will inevitably lead to the downfall of a once great leader. This is called the epitaph of a tyrant, the death of a controlling iron first -- a synonym for the dawn of a new day.
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.
Gaius Julius Caesar Octavianus Augustus was born on July 12th or 13th, 100BC into the prestigious Julius clan. He and his family were closely related to the Marion faction in Roman politics. Caesar started to progress within the Roman political system. He became a succession quaestor in 69 BC, aedile in 65 BC, and praetor in 62 BC.61-60 BC he served as governor of the Roman Province of Spain. Later in Rome in 60 BC, Caesar made a pact with Pompey and Crassus, which helped
“I love the name of honor, more than I fear death,” a quote said by one of the most famous Roman leaders named Julius Caesar. Julius Caesar was born in July 100 BC and he died on March 15, 44B.C. Caesar was a general, politician, and a dictator. Caesar was loved by many people for guiding them and providing safety for them, but he was also hated by a countless number of people. That hate ended up in him being murdered. He gave Rome hope for a better future and a promise of new land, jobs, and wealth. Caesar accomplished many things for his country like win many victories, developed the Julian calendar, and redistributed land to the poor. He used many different tactics and strategies to win his wars. Through brilliant military tactics, Julius Caesar, ruler of Rome from 49 B.C. to 44 B.C., guided the people of Italy and Rome to achieve many victories, allowing him to become a powerful ruler, hero, and inspiration and leaving a legacy that still shapes the world today.
Julius Caesar was a military commander that emerged from the chaos of civil war to take charge of the republic. He later became known as the dictator of Rome, the absolute ruler of Rome. He made many reforms and created a new program to employ the jobless and gave public land to the poor. Julius Caesar was a powerful man and becoming too powerful was what led him to corruption. The Senate was afraid and jealous of his power and they were worried he might plan to make himself king of Rome. Needless to say, the Senate wanted to save the republic and so they went against him. Julius Caesar became corrupt because he was too powerful, the Senate was jealous, and his actions posed a threat.
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.
Brutus, Cassius, Caesar, and the other Senators held the power to do things others could not. With this authority came their ability to use poor judgement. In William Shakespeare’s tragic play Julius Caesar the theme Power Corrupts is arrayed thoroughly. Murder, treason, and ethical/moral corruption were three prevalent themes that proved the overall topic of Power Corrupts.
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.
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.
Gill, author of the article titled, who were the Gracchi Brothers of ancient Rome?, states that Gaius continued to expand his older brothers reform issues when he became tribune in 123 B.C., ten years after the death of his oldest brother. Gaius was not alone because as soon as he became a tribune he created a coalition of men that agreed to stand up with him against the senate to pass legislation. In addition to that Gill states, “Gaius was able to found colonies in Italy and Carthage, and instituted more humane laws surrounding military conscription”. The military laws that he enacted proposed that the state would pay for all the equipment that is needed to go to war and that the state could only enlarge its military with teenagers being over the age of seventeen. Although Gaius could not accomplish much either because he committed suicide after one of his opponents getting killed which then led the state to declare his as an enemy of the state, the only charge that existed of being an enemy was execution without a trial by
Suetonius wrote The Twelve Caesars as a biography about twelve Roman Caesars. This essay will compare and contrast two of them, Divus Julius and Nero. Even though the two men both became Emperors who ruled Rome, they could not have been more different. Both had certain authority and public powers during each of their reigns. Their lives were also scattered with times of virtue and scandal. This was a different time from today. Human behavior and morals played a significant role in those ruling over others. Some had them and some not so much. In the end, their stories will ultimately give the reader an illustration of these two men and what their stories tell us about the lives of Roman emperors in the first century.
Gaius Julius Caesar Octavian hereinafter referred to “Augustus”, was given the title of imperium by age of 19, to gain this, he amassed a private army and marched on the Senate in Revenge for his adopted father’s murder. Augustus developed a peaceful and cultural Ancient Rome . In contrast, both Caesar and Sulla before him, were appointed to dictator under the Lex Valeria (Valerian law) , both had ultimate goals of monarchy, but where Caesar, used the people to ascertain if this would be accepted , Sulla ruled with an iron fist.
to break free, Antony lost the battle but he and Cleopatra managed to flee the battle early
Caesar was a man who came from an old, dying, and notorious family, who sought to restore their previous fame. He had used his family’s fame to slowly rise to power. Conquering Gaul; the construction of Public Buildings and roads; and extending Roman citizenship to the conquered lands were some of the reasons why Julius Caesar was popular. Augustus, formerly Octavian Caesar, is Julius Caesar’s grandnephew, and was accepted by the Roman people also for his government reformations. His rise to power was partly due to his relationship with Julius Caesar. Unlike Julius however, Augustus had refused to take the title of “Dictator.” He was instead described as a “princeps,” or first
Julius Caesar is a work of art by William Shakespeare in 1599. Within this play Julius Caesar is portrayed as a tragic hero. A tragic hero is defined as “the main character of a tragedy [who is] usually dignified, courageous, and high ranking” (novel study guide). Also vital to defining a tragic hero is that, “the hero’s downfall is caused by a tragic flaw” ( novel study guide). It is very evident that Julius Caesar in William Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar is a tragic hero given that he is of noble stature, has a fatal flaw and comes to an unhappy end.