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AUGUSTUS

(Gk. Augoústos)

Augustus Caesar, the first emperor at Rome. Born 19 September 63 b.c.e., Gaius Octavius was the grandson of Julius Caesar’s sister Julia. For almost a century Rome had endured the chaos of a series of civil conflicts and war between powerful factions of nobles, each vying for ultimate and lasting power in an archaic and dying Roman Republic. By 46 b.c.e. Julius Caesar, arguably the Republic’s greatest military figure, had consolidated military and political power, soon to be named head of the Roman state for life. An emperor in all but name, Caesar was assassinated on the Ides of March 44 b.c.e. Caesar’s will named Octavius his heir and posthumously adopted son (now called Gaius Julius Caesar Octavianus, after taking his adoptive father’s name with the cognomen “Octavian” denoting his original family name). In the 13 years of chaos which followed Caesar’s death Octavian gradually expanded his own political influence and military resources, finally to defeat Marc Antony and Cleopatra in 31 at the Battle of Actium and thus emerge as sole ruler of Rome’s empire, expanded by his own conquest and annexation of Egypt.

Octavian reorganized the outmoded Roman government to maintain supremacy for himself and his followers, masking what was in effect the sovereignty of an emperor with the constitutional trappings of the old republican system. In this manner the politically adroit Octavian avoided Caesar’s insensitivity to the Roman penchant against outward forms of monarchy. He was merely known as princeps (lit., “first citizen”) and his government is identified by history as the Principate. For thus “restoring the Republic” Octavian was honored with yet another change in nomenclature — henceforth to be known as Imperator Augustus Caesar. The names were personal (lit., “he who rules, the ever increasing Caesar”) but all three later became titles for the ruler of Rome.

The long 45-year reign of Augustus is considered Rome’s golden age. Augustus’ legions guarded the long frontiers of the vast empire maintaining Pax Augusta, the Augustan peace. Peace brought prosperity, and prosperity nourished the arts. Great achievements in literature remain even today as a witness of the times. Less enduring were the physical monuments erected by Augustus as he transformed the city of brick into a city of marble. The princeps’ own popularity seemed without bound. An adoring populace named him “father of his country” and “second founder of Rome.” In the provinces, Augustus insisted on just administration, with the result that the whole empire benefited from his rule, with many provincials striving to win the coveted appellation of Roman citizen and quite willing to pay Augustus the unrequested honor of a living divinity in their temples.

Augustus outlived his friend, son-in-law, and heir, Marcus Agrippa, and also his grandsons and heirs, Gaius and Lucius Caesar, so that nearing death he had only his stepson Tiberius to whom he could entrust Rome and its empire. With Augustus’ death in 14 c.e. the Principate came to an end; Tiberius had no hesitation about openly calling himself emperor. Though the “Empire” derived from the Principate, Augustus’ achievement is nevertheless recognized as revitalizing Rome and so permitting the continuation of its civilizing and unifying force for half a millennium to come.

Bibliography. K. Galinsky, Augustan Culture (Princeton, 1996); F. Millar, The Emperor in the Roman World, 31 b.c.–a.d. 337 (1977, repr. Princeton, 1992); R. Syme, The Roman Revolution (1939, repr. Oxford, 1960).

John F. Hall

Prayer Tents Bible References - Prayer Tents

AUGUSTUS

Eerdmans Dictionary of the Bible (2000)