Reign of Augustus

• 1. Rise To Power

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  In 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 ships. By August 30 BC, the forces of Octavian had defeated Antony and Cleopatra in Alexandria. Following this defeat, both Antony and Cleopatra took their own lives. The conquest of Ptolemaic Egypt relieved the financial debts incurred by Octavian during the civil wars. He controlled Roman Egypt directly and forbade Roman Senators from traveling there. An equestrian governor named Cornelius Gallus was appointed to supervise its administration and enormously lucrative taxation. While in Alexandria in 30 BC, Octavian visited the tomb of Alexander the Great. It is alleged in one ancient source that Octavian accidentally snapped off the nose of the body of Alexander in his tomb. This event marked the end of the Hellenistic period initiated by Alexander.

• 2. First Settlement

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  On the 13th of January 27 BC, Octavian made a show of returning full power to the Senate. He relinquished his control of the Roman provinces and their armies under his consulship. However, the Senate had little power in initiating legislation by introducing bills for senatorial debate. Octavian retained the loyalty of active duty soldiers and veterans alike. His financial power was unrivaled in the Roman Republic. On the 16th of January 27 BC he accepted a ten-year responsibility of overseeing provinces considered chaotic. These provinces included all of Hispania and Gaul, Syria, Cilicia, Cyprus, and Egypt. Command of these provinces provided Octavian with control over the majority of Rome's legions. The Senate still controlled North Africa, an important regional producer of grain, as well as Illyria and Macedonia. The Senate had control of only five or six legions distributed among three senatorial proconsuls compared to the twenty legions under the control of Octavian. Through the Senate, Octavian continued the appearance of a still-functional constitution. Feigning reluctance, he accepted this arrangement that allowed him to govern from Tarraco in Roman Spain from 26 to 24 BC.

• 3. Second Settlement

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  By 23 BC, some un-republican implications were becoming apparent concerning the settlement of 27 BC. Augustus resigned from the consulship on the 1st of July 23 BC after suffering a severe illness involving liver problems. He handed his signet ring to his favored general Agrippa but gave official documents to his co-consul Piso. This move surprised many who believed Augustus would have named an heir to his position as an unofficial emperor. The Marcus Primus affair later arose showing the need for the second settlement. In late 24 or early 23 BC, charges were brought against Marcus Primus, the former proconsul of Macedonia, for waging war without prior approval of the Senate. A second problem showed the need for the second settlement when Augustus appeared at the trial even though he had not been called as a witness. Under oath, Augustus declared that he gave no such order. The situation was so serious that Murena disbelieved Augustus's testimony and resented his attempt to subvert the trial. The Senate granted Augustus a form of general proconsular power that applied throughout the empire. Moreover, the Senate augmented Augustus's proconsular imperium into greater proconsular power.

• 4. Military Expansion

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  By AD 13, Augustus boasted 21 occasions where his troops proclaimed him Imperator after a successful battle. Almost the entire fourth chapter in his publicly released memoirs known as the Res Gestae is devoted to his military victories and honors. By the end of his reign, the armies of Augustus had conquered northern Hispania and the Alpine regions of Raetia and Noricum. They also conquered Illyricum and Pannonia and extended the borders of Africa Proconsularis to the east and south. In 25 BC Galatia was converted to a Roman province shortly after Amyntas of Galatia was killed by an avenging widow. The rebellious tribes of Asturias and Cantabria in modern-day Spain were finally quelled in 19 BC by Agrippa. Conquering the peoples of the Alps in 15 BC provided a large territorial buffer between the Roman citizens of Italy and Rome's enemies in Germania. Drusus's forces reached the Elbe River by 9 BC though he died shortly after from an injury sustained by falling off his horse. Tiberius rushed from Italy to Germany to see Drusus just before he died. After Illyrian tribes revolted in Illyricum in AD 6, their rebellion was quelled by forces under Tiberius and Germanicus in AD 9.

• 5. Diplomatic Relations

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  Augustus received emissaries from as far east as India and his court included political exiles from as far north as the British Isles with chieftains Dubnovellaunus and Tincomarus. Foreign embassies typically came to Augustus directly rather than to the Senate. When the Parthians sent ambassadors to Augustus in 20 BC, they referred them to the Senate but the latter sent them back to Augustus so they could negotiate solely with him instead. In AD 8, the elderly Augustus assigned the exhausting work of managing foreign embassies to three ex-consuls. The Roman historian Florus claimed that the silk-producing Seres possibly the Han Chinese visited the court of Augustus alongside emissaries from India. However, Augustus does not mention the Seres in his Res Gestae. Arguably Augustus's greatest diplomatic achievement was negotiating with Phraates IV of Parthia in 20 BC for the return of the battle standards lost by Crassus in the Battle of Carrhae. This event was celebrated in art such as the breastplate design on the statue Augustus of Prima Porta. Tiberius then restored Tigranes V to the throne of the Kingdom of Armenia in 20 BC personally placing the crown on his head.

• 6. Succession Crisis

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  The vague illness suffered by Augustus in 23 BC brought the problem of succession to the forefront of political issues. To ensure stability he needed to designate an heir to his unique position in Roman society and government. Some historians argue indications pointed toward his sister's son Marcellus who had been quickly married to Augustus's daughter Julia the Elder. After the death of Marcellus in 23 BC, Augustus married his daughter Julia to Agrippa in 21 BC. This union produced five children including Gaius Caesar and Lucius Caesar. In 18 BC Agrippa was granted a five-year term of administering the eastern half of the empire. Augustus's intent became apparent to make his grandsons Gaius and Lucius his heirs when he adopted them as his own children. He took the consulship in 5 BC and 2 BC so that he could personally usher them into their respective political careers. Gaius was nominated for the consulship of AD 1 after serving in the priesthood until age 21. Lucius died before his designated consulship. After Tiberius succeeded Augustus, he was most likely the one who had Agrippa killed in exile.

• 7. Death And Legacy

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  On the 19th of August AD 14, Augustus died while visiting Nola where his father had died. Both Tacitus and Cassius Dio wrote that Livia was rumored to have brought about Augustus's death by poisoning fresh figs. This element features in many modern works of historical fiction pertaining to Augustus's life but some historians view it as likely to have been a salacious fabrication made by those who had favored Postumus as heir. Alternatively it is possible that Livia did supply a poisoned fig she did cultivate a variety named for her that Augustus is said to have enjoyed but did so as a means of assisted suicide rather than murder. Augustus's famous last words were Have I played the part well? Then applaud as I exit. An enormous funerary procession of mourners traveled with Augustus's body from Nola to Rome. All public and private businesses closed on the day of his burial. Tiberius and his son Drusus delivered the eulogy while standing atop two rostra. Augustus's body was coffin-bound and cremated on a pyre close to his mausoleum. On the 17th of September 27 BC Augustus was proclaimed by the Senate to have joined the company of the gods.