Within the Ancient world, political leaders manipulated the balance between religion and politics to further their own power. In particular, Gaius Octavius (63 BC – 14 AD) later known as Imperator Caesar Divi Filius Augustus, exploited the ‘imperial cult’ as a political tool within the Roman Empire. Termed by modern historians, the imperial cult was a combination of local religious cults where people worshipped the emperor as a deity who received divine honours exceeding all other living entities. By directly allowing the imperial cult in the Roman provinces, this achieved much required unity and stability throughout the Empire. Consequently, this enabled Augustus to indirectly incorporate the cult into Rome’s ritualistic polytheism practices. …show more content…
This was necessasy, as after Julius Caesar’s death, a period of civil wars ensued, where Augustus aimed to avenge Caesar’s death and consolidate his own role as principate. After this volatile period, Augustus implemented various reforms that brought peace and ‘good government’ to provinces. Eastern citizens showed their gratitude and loyalty in “a manner appropriate to local custom” (Hennessey, 1990). Henry Burton (1912), a credible historian, describes how the East had pre-established practices of placing divine honours onto living individuals that had syncretised from Hellenistic monarchs, including Alexander the Great, and Egyptian pharaohs. Through this, heroes of Rome such as Romulus, founder of the nation, were honoured as deities and considered of divine descent. It was therefore fitting for Augustus, who had founded a new and greater Rome, be “regarded as a god and accorded the same homage” (Burton, 1912). Thus, Augustus did not need to establish the cult, rather, enhance …show more content…
Augustus (14 ACE) states citizens prayed at shrines for his health and celebrated games for his life.Cassius Dio, a Greek-born Roman historian, corroborates this. In Roman History, Dio (1924) outlines how the Circensian games, that determined the succession of priests, were permanently celebrated on Augustus’ birthday to celebrate his life and originated from an event held in honour of Augustus’ Actium victory. As a senator who authors almost two hundred years after events, Dio reflects the dominant view of upper-class Romans sympathetic to the principate established by Augustus. Nevertheless, Roman History forms the most extensive account of Augustus’ reign and is considered reliable. An inscription discovered at a forum in Gaul further validates acts of festival and sacrifices,
From ages past, the actions of conquerors, kings and tyrants had brought the Roman Republic to a stance that opposed any idea of a singular leader, of a single man that held total power over the entirety of the state. Their rejection of the various ruthless Etruscan rulers that had previously dictated them brought the Republic to existence in 509 BC , and as a republic their prominence throughout the provinces of the world exponentially expanded. Throughout these years, the traditions of the Romans changed to varying degrees, most noticeably as a result of the cultural influence that its subject nations had upon the republic, as well as the ever-changing nature of Roman society in relation to then-current events. However, it was not until the rise of Augustus, the first of a long line of succeeding emperors, that many core aspects of the Republic were greatly changed. These were collectively known as the “Augustan Reforms”, and consisted of largely a variety of revisions to the social, religious, political, legal and administrative aspects of the republic’s infrastructure. Through Augustus, who revelled in the old traditional ways of the past, the immoral, unrestraint society that Rome was gradually falling to being was converted to a society where infidelities and corruption was harshly looked upon and judged. The Roman historian Suetonius states, “He corrected many ill practices, which, to the detriment of the public, had either survived the licentious habits of the late civil wars, or else originated in the long peace” . Through Augustus and his reforms, the Republic was transformed into an Empire, and through this transformation, Rome experienced one of its greatest and stabl...
Following the successful side of Julius Caesar leadership, Augustus hosted many games and other measures such as ensuring the Gods were frequently celebrated. Augustus made sure the water supply was improved, and public baths had been put in place, these acts kept society happy and gained Augustus’s popularity. To please the people and allow for peace, Augustus never claimed the title of “Emperor” or “King” as they were part of the reason for his uncle’s downfall. Augustus took the name of “Princeps” instead, which was a much safer and smarter option. Augustus received high office via the Senate and was also the head of Rome’s religious and political affairs. After many years of civil riots, Augustus was able to deliver peace and prosperity to Roman society and allowed for the 200 years of Pax Romana. Augustus could have put his power to use in an evil and self-serving way, but instead, he was generous with all of the society including
Hello and welcome to the first episode of a history of the Roman World in 200 objects here at the Royal Ontario Museum. I your host today, Rahman Salehi, will take you on a journey 2000 years back in time, in which the Roman Empire was one of the greatest powers of the Ancient world. The Roman Empire was a very heterogeneous society with various ethnic groups such as the Latin’s, Etruscans, Greeks, Phoenicians, Italians, Carthaginians and so forth. However, they all had one thing in common. That is, religion played a very important role in the daily lives of individuals of Rome. Romans believed that gods controlled their lives and, hence, spent a great deal amount of time worshiping deities.
Over the span of five-hundred years, the Roman Republic grew to be the most dominant force in the early Western world. As the Republic continued to grow around the year 47 B.C it began to go through some changes with the rise of Julius Caesar and the degeneration of the first triumvirate. Caesar sought to bring Rome to an even greater glory but many in the Senate believed that he had abused his power, viewing his rule more as a dictatorship. The Senate desired that Rome continued to run as a republic. Though Rome continued to be glorified, the rule of Caesar Octavian Augustus finally converted Rome to an Empire after many years of civil war. Examining a few selections from a few ancient authors, insight is provided as to how the republic fell and what the result was because of this.
414-443. Antony Kamm The Romans: An Introduction Second Edition, Published in 2008, pages 47, 93. Dio Cassius Roman History (as presented in Antiquity 2). Augustus (Octavian) Res Gestae Divi Augusti (as presented in Antiquity 2). Eck, The Age of Augustus, p.45 (as presented in Antiquity 2).
Livius, Titus. The Early History of Rome. Trans. Aubrey De Sélincourt. London: Penguin Group, 2002. N. pag. Print.
In the early first century AD, the Roman Empire was subject to autocratic rule and the old Republic was long dead. Augustus had been ruling for forty years and most of that time he was loved and praised by the Senate and the people of Rome. Throughout his reign, Augustus had the one lingering problem of finding a successor to take over the role of Emperor. He had chosen 3 different heirs in his time of rule; however, they all passed before they had the chance to inherit Augustus’ esteemed power. His fourth choice, Tiberius, was the one to succeed Augustus. He was often referred to, by Augustus, as an outstanding general and the only one capable of defending Rome against her enemies. The statement, ‘Tiberius is condemned by many ancient historians (including Tacitus), and his reign is often portrayed as being detrimental to the welfare of the Roman Empire’ is invalid as he treated the senate fairly, created strong economics and security in the state and boosted the empire into an unprecedented state of prosperity. This hypothesis will be proven through this essay by analyzing factors such as Tiberius’ administration of the Empire, his relationship with the senate, his financial control, the effect of Sejanus over his rule and why were his last years as Emperor referred to as a ‘reign of terror’ by Tacitus.
Augustus created the office of emperor with the Augustan Principate, which was “to have no institutionalized authoritarian power, no perpetual dictatorship such as Julius Caesar had had himself voted early in 44, or anything like it (Stockton, 124).” Despite his wishes the people of Rome ended up giving Augustus eternal office, and powers to control the Senate with the rights to dictate agendas and veto (Stockton, 128). The people of Rome had created a position of absolute power, the exact thing Augustus was attempting to prevent. At the time the people of Rome could not have realized what they were creating in the office of emperor, for Augustus was a great man whose leadership created a great shadow over the shoulder of any future emperor.
Augustus was the first emperor of Rome and was the self proclaimed “Restorer of the Republic. “His ancestral values were monogamy, chastity and piety. Therefor he created many political reforms that would improve the roman society and create a new Roman Government. The reason for the reforms was to revive the traditional Roman religions. To succeed in this Augustus restored public monuments such as temples to the Gods and constructed many more. An example would be his construction of the Ara Pacis Augustine, which contained symbols and scenes of religious rites and ceremonies, as well as Augustus and his “ideal” Roman family, this was all meant to inspire Roman pride. After Augustus’s movement in religion, he sought to renew the practice
There were several strengths of the Roman Empire which enabled it to survive for more than four hundred years. These strengths included a strong foundation, having been built off of the Roman Republic; the standardization across the empire of many aspects of life, such as language, law, and especially the extension of citizenship, which made the empire more cohesive and easier to rule; and strong leaders, who were able to utilize the manipulation of the upper class and Senate, and the management of the military.
Throughout the history of Rome, from the monarchy to the late empire, religion had played a great role in it's society and was involved in almost every aspect of the life of the Roman citizen. It was common for each house to have it's own patron god/gods and ,on special occasions, the head of the house would make a sacrifice to the personal gods of the family. Also, great festivals were usually held in honor of certain gods and would include spectacles like chariot races and Gladiatorial fights.
“Augustus: Res Gestae Divi Augusti (14 CE).” ABC-CLIO. N.p., n.d. Web. 13 Dec. 2013. <>.
Factors Which Led to the Spread of Christianity in the Roman Empire Christianity was not born in a vacumn. There were many social, geographical, historical and religious issues prevailing at the time of Christ and all of which were favorable to the spread of Christianity. Geograpicly, Christianity came into being in the Meditation world, the largest of the various centers of civilization at that time. Israel stands almost central to the five continents, dividing the east and west.
The statue of Augustus Prima Porta clearly exemplifies with his appearance the idea of a Mediterranean hero. Regardless of the beauty of the sculpture, its main purpose was to portrait his personality and the way it wanted to be remembered as an immortal character which accomplishes one of the functions of art that is to commemorate. In brief, we look at a Roman Emperor, which points his right hand above into the distance in a savant commanding way. The detail that we can appreciate in his amour represents the grandeur of his victories and his supreme imperial power.
The World of the. Retrieved March 25, 2014, from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Augustus_of_Prima_Porta Augustus, the Principate, and Propaganda. n.d. - n.d. - n.d. Augustus, the Principate, and the Propaganda. Retrieved March 29, 2014, from http://www.vroma.org/bmcmanus/augustus2.html Cassius Dio: Roman History.