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.
According to Morey (1901), following Caesar’s death, the first who took advantage was Marcus Antononus, or Mark Antony for short. With the aid of Lepidus he possessed Caesar’s will as well as his documents and treasury. Antony influenced the Senate to confirm all of Caesar’s acts and obtained permission to speak at Caesar’s funeral (Morey, 1901). He made a strong appeal to the populace to avenge the death of Caesar; thus the populace stormed to the streets swearing to so called liberator’s death. With Antony having Caesar’s papers and the Senate to confirm his acts, he remained supreme to cease control of Rome.
Antony’s dream of Rome came crumbling down thanks to the appearance of Octavius (Morey, 1901). At a young age, he was a born politician who soon becomes Antony’s rival. He showed skill that put Antony in a bad light. By Octavius’ words, he raised false hopes of the reading of Caesar’s will. The people heard it, but they had not received the promised legacies. To humiliate Antony, Octavius sold his own estates, borrowed money from his friends, and paid the legacies which Caesar promised towards his people so that he may rise in popularity (Morey, 1901). Thanks to this act, Antony was displaced as the people’s friend. He grew so rapidly that he was sought by Cicero, who...
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...vided between the senate and the emperor. The revenues of the senate went to the aerarium while those of the imperial went towards the fiscus (Morey, 1901). Augustus laid the foundation of a new financial system to rise and expanded the public money in the most economic and least burdensome manner in the history of Rome.
Works Cited
Boatwright, M., Gargola, D., Lenski, N., and Talbert, R. (2012). The Romans: From Village to Empire. 2nd Edition. Oxford University Press. New York, NY.
Brand, P. (2013). Lecture Notes on Ancient Roman Civilization. Personal Collection of P. Brand, University of Memphis, Memphis, TN.
Morey, W. (1901). Outline of Roman History. Retrieved 11-07-2013 from http://forumromanum.org/history/morey22.html.
Porter, J. (2010). Octavian and Antony: the Rise of Augustus. Retrieved from http://homepage.usask.ca/-jrp636/CourseNotes/Octavian.html.
T.J. Cornell, The Beginnings of Rome: Italy and Rome from the Bronze Age to the Punic Wars (c. 1000-264 BC), London and New York: Routledge, 1995
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.
Morey, William C. "Outlines of Roman History, Chapter 26." Outlines of Roman History, Chapter 26. American Book Company, 1901. Web. 6 Nov. 2013. .
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.
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.
8. Edmondson, J. C., and MyiLibrary. “Augustus”. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2009. eBook Academic Collection (EBSCOhost). Web. 4 May 2014.
Marcel Le Glay, Jean-Louis Voisin, Yann Le Bohec. A History of Rome. West Sussex, UK: Wiley-Blackwell, 2009.
Kleiner, Fred S. A History of Roman Art. Boston, MA: Wadsworth, Cengage Learning, 2010. Print.
It was the senate that gave Augustus his power and many titles, yet he managed to manipulate them from the outset, on 16th January, Octavian was given the title Augustus, the revered one. Augustus wanted to convince the people that he was merely the first citizen at a free community. Augustus form of government is now known as the principate. The roles and responsibilities of the senate 1have amended overtime.
1. Tim Cornell, John Matthews, Atlas of the Roman World, Facts On File Inc, 1982. (pg.216)
3)Gwynn, David M. The Roman Republic: A Very Short Introduction. Oxford: Oxford UP, 2012. Print.
The development of an empire is a change strongly emphasized in the Archeology as a radical departure from the Hellenic tradition, and consequently a major source of conflict among the Greeks. Prior to the adven...
After marching to Rome, Sulla became dictator in 82 BC. After Sulla, the First Triumvirate: Pompey, Crassus, and Caesar, owned virtually all power in Rome, yet each had his own desire to defeat the other two and become Emperor. When Crassus died in battle, Caesar had his chance. He defeated Pompey and marched to Rome, victorious. After declaring himself Dictator for Life, Caesar was assassinated, and another Civil War ensued.... ...
Although both Roman and Greek civilizations shared similarities in the areas of art and literature, their differences were many and prominent. Their contrasting aspects rest mainly upon political systems and engineering progress, but there are also several small discrepancies that distinguish between these two societies. This essay will examine these differences and explain why, ultimately, Rome was the more advanced civilization of the two.