Curated playlist
Augustus
- Constitutional reforms of AugustusThe constitutional reforms of Augustus reshaped the Roman world without anyone quite noticing a republic had ended. Between 30 BC and 2 BC, the man who would become Rome's first emperor dismantled centuries of republican governance and…
- AugustusOn the 8th of May 44 BC, a teenager named Gaius Octavius accepted a dead man's will and, with it, the most dangerous inheritance in the Roman world. Julius Caesar, his great-uncle and Rome's dictator in perpetuity, had been stabbed to…
- Rise of AugustusOctavian, later known to history as Augustus, marched eight legions into Rome on the 19th of August 43 BC. He was nineteen years old and held no official standing. He became Rome's youngest consul that day, his soldiers stationed on the…
- Bellum SiculumOn the 15th of March 44 BC, Julius Caesar lay dead on the floor of the Senate House. His assassination triggered a chain reaction that placed Sextus Pompey's name on a proscription list created by Lepidus, Mark Antony, and Octavian. Those…
- Battle of PhilippiPlutarch records that Brutus was visited by a ghost in the months before the Battle of Philippi. A huge and shadowy form appeared before him one night. He asked it: "What and whence art thou?" It answered: "Thy evil spirit, Brutus: I shall…
- Battle of ActiumThe Battle of Actium, fought on the 2nd of September 31 BC, decided who would rule the known world. On one side sat Octavian, heir to Julius Caesar's name and fortune. On the other stood Mark Antony, Caesar's greatest general, sailing…
- War of ActiumThe War of Actium ended the Roman Republic, and it began with a will. Octavian had illegally seized the document from the Temple of Vesta, and when he read its contents aloud to the Roman Senate, the room went silent. Mark Antony had left…
- Reign of AugustusIn 31 BC, the naval forces of Mark Antony and Cleopatra met their end at the Battle of Actium off the northwestern coast of Roman Greece. Octavian's general Marcus Vipsanius Agrippa commanded the victorious fleet that destroyed the enemy…
- Augustus (title)Augustus is one of the most durable words in the history of power. On the 16th of January, 27 BC, the Roman Senate gave this title to a man named Octavian, and in doing so, invented a word that would echo across empires for nearly fifteen…
- Cantabrian WarsThe Cantabrian Wars began in 29 BC, the last stand of the last independent Celtic nations of Hispania against the full weight of the Roman Empire. For two centuries, Rome had been grinding its way across the Iberian Peninsula. By the time…
- Divi filiusThe phrase divi filius translates directly to son of a god in Latin. This definition anchors the entire political and religious history that follows. Roman citizens understood these words as a claim to divine bloodline rather than mere…
- Second TriumvirateThe Second Triumvirate was born on the 27th of November 43 BC, when three men divided the Roman world between them and gave themselves powers no Roman had legally held before. Mark Antony, Lepidus, and Octavian could issue binding edicts,…
- Augustan literature (ancient Rome)Augustan literature names a body of Latin writing produced during the reign of Augustus, Rome's first emperor, from 27 BC to AD 14. Virgil, Horace, Propertius, and Livy were its central figures. The poets and prose writers who flourished…
- Battle of the Teutoburg ForestThe Battle of the Teutoburg Forest began with a payday. On the morning of the 7th of September, 9 CE, the Roman army mustered to move out, and the muster was combined with the third payday of the year. Coins were distributed in large…
- Pax RomanaPax Romana, Latin for Roman Peace, names roughly two hundred years during which Rome stood as the undisputed center of the ancient world. On the 2nd of September 31 BC, Octavian defeated Mark Antony and Cleopatra at the Battle of Actium…
- Res Gestae Divi AugustiRes Gestae Divi Augusti was completed just one month before Augustus died, on the 19th of August AD 14. He left the text beside his will, instructing the Senate to engrave it and display it publicly. The original was cut into a pair of…