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Introduction

Augustus Caesar

He ruled an empire that stretched from Spain to Judea and turned the Mediterranean Sea into a peaceful Roman lake. Augustus Caesar, born Gaius Octavius Thurinus, was a part of the triumvirate that took over the rule of Rome after the murder of Julius Caesar in 44 BC. When the triumvirate fell apart, he took sole power of Rome in 27 BC when the Roman Senate voted him the title of Augustus, which means “illustrious one.” Later they would worship him, and all the emperors that followed him, as a god. Augustus’s rule marked the beginning of nearly 200 years of peace called the Pax Romana.

Essential Facts

1. Augustus was already an adult when Julius Caesar adopted him. Caesar had no male heir and had been impressed when the then-named Octavius made a perilous journey through hostile territory to join Caesar’s army. Octavius was a plebeian, the lower class of Rome, until his adoption by Caesar made him a patrician.
2. Part of the reason for the deterioration of the triumvirate of Octavius, Marc Antony, and Marcus Lepidus was Antony’s involvement with Cleopatra. Antony was already married to Octavius’s sister when he made a marriage contract with Cleopatra. This duplicity did not sit well and Octavius used the incident to raise an army to defeat Antony.
3. Augustus’s reorganization of the provincial Roman system created a stable environment for collecting taxes and administrating government throughout the empire.
4. Augustus married Livia Drusilla, who had been married to Tiberius Claudius Nero. Both Augustus and Livia divorced their respective spouses to marry.
5. Augustus lived a long life and served Rome well. When he died in AD 14 at the age of 77, he was declared a Roman god, and every emperor after him adopted the title of Caesar.