Augustus Caesar: The First Emperor Of Rome

“I found Rome built of bricks; I leave her clothed in marble.” These enduring words are the last spoken by Augustus Caesar, the first emperor of Rome. Before he was deemed Princeps Civitatis-translated to mean first citizen of Rome-he was a leading member of the second triumvirate called Octavian. One of the triumvirate’s other members, Antony, caused a break in this three pronged power when he aided his wife and Queen of Egypt, Cleopatra. When Rome declared war on Egypt, a series of battles ensued and ended with the death of Antony and Cleopatra, and a great victory for Octavian. These wars left Octavian with a new title of Augustus as well as the undisputed dominant power over Rome. Now that he had attained such power, he wanted to maintain

In order to accomplish this, Augustus turned where countless other great leaders have: propaganda. The type of propaganda that Augustus spread wasn’t much different from what can be seen in today’s news media, its purpose was to persuade the public into thinking that Augustus was a mighty and just leader, as well to perpetuate the image that he was far superior to any other man. This same type of propaganda can be seen in the news of world leaders like Vladimir Putin, Russia’s Prime Minister. Even though Augusts or Putin certainly have financial backing and status; they lead others in the general public to believe that they are of a much higher standard than the common man. The only real difference in his propaganda and the type found in modern times is the medium in which he chose to spread

Because epic poetry was so integral to the Roman society, Augustus saw this medium as a great opportunity to further strengthen public relations. Virgil’s decision to write an epic is one that almost anyone in his situation might make. Not only does he have a great opportunity to create a poem that will earn him fame for years to come, he also had continuous funding from the Roman Empire to accomplish it. After this great commission from the first emperor of Rome, Virgil dedicated the rest of life to writing The Aeneid. The piece had to serve multiple purposes: it not only had to commend Augustus for his great works; the poem had to emulate the greatness of the ones produced by the Greeks. The Odyssey, by Homer, is considered by many literary scholars to be the greatest of all Greek epics. In analyzing the epics literary qualities, it is easy to see why Virgil might take aspects of the story and use them for his new master