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Curated playlist

Augustus

  • Constitutional reforms of AugustusIn 27 BC, Augustus offered to return all his powers to the Senate, and senators begged him to reconsider.
  • AugustusAt nineteen, Augustus accepted a dead man's will and took Julius Caesar's name.
  • Rise of AugustusAt nineteen, Octavian marched eight legions into Rome and became its youngest consul.
  • War between Sextus Pompey and the Second TriumvirateSextus Pompey was the last surviving son of Pompey the Great, and by 42 BC he had turned the island of Sicily into a fortress. From that base, he choked off the grain supply to Rome itself, sending the Roman people into riots while the…
  • Battle of PhilippiBefore the Battle of Philippi, Brutus was visited by a huge, shadowy ghost.
  • Battle of ActiumAt the Battle of Actium, Cleopatra's ships sailed away mid-fight. Antony's fleet lost its lead and his army fled.
  • War of ActiumA stolen will read aloud in the Roman Senate helped start the War of Actium.
  • Reign of AugustusThe reign of Augustus, Rome's first emperor, is said to have closed with a line borrowed from the theatre. His famous last words were, "Have I played the part well? Then applaud as I exit." In Latin that is Acta est fabula, plaudite. The…
  • Augustus (title)Octavian needed a title for supreme power that would not make him look like a king. The Senate chose Augustus.
  • Cantabrian WarsRome took no prisoners in the Cantabrian Wars, and many trapped fighters chose poison over surrender.
  • Divi filiusDivi filius is a Latin phrase meaning "son of a god", and one man wore it more proudly than anyone else: the emperor Augustus. He was the grand-nephew of Julius Caesar, and he made a political weapon out of that family tie. How does a…
  • Second TriumvirateRome's Second Triumvirate was legally appointed to restore the republic it was dismantling.
  • Augustan literature (ancient Rome)Augustus exiled Ovid, though Ovid's poems were wildly popular across the Roman world.
  • Battle of the Teutoburg ForestA trusted friend of the Roman general Varus led three legions into a deadly ambush in 9 CE. His name was Arminius.
  • Pax RomanaThe Pax Romana got its name only in AD 55, generations after it began. Seneca the Younger wrote the first surviving use.
  • Res Gestae Divi AugustiAugustus named his enemies in his own life story only as "pirate" or "he with whom I fought the war."

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