Augustus

===Change to Augustus===
[[File:Augustus first century aureus obverse.png|thumb|[[Aureus]] minted {{circa}} AD 13, marked: "Caesar Augustus Divi F Pater Patriae"]]
On 16 January 27&nbsp;BC{{Refn|''[[Fasti Praenestini]]''<ref>[[Inscriptiones Latinae Selectae|InscrIt-13-02]] and [https://web.archive.org/web/20120118182420/http://oracle-vm.ku-eichstaett.de:8888/epigr/epieinzel_en?p_belegstelle=InscrIt-13-02%2C+00017&r_sortierung=Belegstelle 00017]: ''XVII'' —[[Roman calendar|Kalendas Februarias]]— ''c(omitialis) Imp(erator) Caesar [Augustus est a]ppell[a]tus ipso VII et Agrip[pa III co(n)s(ulibus)]''.</ref>''[[Feriale Cumanum]]''.<ref>[[Corpus Inscriptionum Latinarum|CIL]] [http://db.edcs.eu/epigr/epi_einzel.php?s_sprache=de&p_belegstelle=CIL+10%2C+08375 8375] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210608013701/http://db.edcs.eu/epigr/epi_einzel.php?s_sprache=de&p_belegstelle=CIL+10,+08375 |date=8 June 2021 }}: "''[X]VII K(alendas) Febr(uarias) eo di[e Caesar Augustu]s appellatus est supplicatio Augusto''".</ref> [[Ovid's Fasti]] gives 13 January, the very same date in which the Senate powers were "restored".<ref>[[Ovid]] [https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/8738/pg8738.html 587-590] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210608013703/https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/8738/pg8738.html |date=8 June 2021 }}: "''[[Ides (calendar)|Id.]] [...] Populo provinciae redditae. Octaviano Augusti nomen datum''".</ref> The 3rd century [[Censorinus|''De die Natali'']] gives 17 January, a mistake.<ref>[[Censorinus]] [https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/L/Roman/Texts/Censorinus/text*.html#21.8 XXI.8] : "''quamvis ex ante diem XVI kal. Febr. imperator Caesar''". The number is right, but the phrasing is not.</ref>}} the Senate gave Octavian the new title of ''[[Augustus (title)|augustus]]''.{{Sfn|Eck|Takács|2003|page=50}} ''Augustus'' is from the Latin word ''augere'' (meaning "to increase") and can be translated as "illustrious one" or "sublime".<ref name=":0" />{{Sfn|Eck|Takács|2003|page=50}} It was a title of religious authority rather than political one, and it indicated that Octavian now approached divinity.{{Sfn|Eder|2005||page=24}} His name of Augustus was also more favorable than ''Romulus'', the previous one which he styled for himself in reference to the story of [[Romulus|the legendary founder of Rome]], which symbolized a second founding of Rome.{{Sfn|Eck|Takács|2003|page=49}} The title of ''Romulus'' was associated too strongly with notions of monarchy and kingship, an image that Octavian tried to avoid.{{Sfn|Eck|Takács|2003|page=149}} The Senate also confirmed his position as ''[[princeps senatus]]'', which originally meant the member of the Senate with the highest precedence,<ref>{{Cite book |last=Roberts |first=John |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9780192801463 |title=Oxford Dictionary of the Classical World |publisher=[[Oxford Reference]] |date=2007 |isbn=978-0-19-280146-3 |pages=858 |chapter=Princeps senatus |doi=10.1093/acref/9780192801463.001.0001 |chapter-url=http://www.oxfordreference.com/view/10.1093/oi/authority.20110803100345995 }}{{Dead link|date=August 2023 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref> but in this case it became an almost regnal title for a leader who was first in charge.{{Sfn|Eck|Takács|2003|pages=3, 149}} The honorific ''augustus'' was inherited by all future emperors and became the ''de facto'' main title of the emperor.<ref name=":0">{{Cite journal|last=Strothmann|first=Meret (Bochum)|date=1 October 2006|title=Augustus [2]|url=https://referenceworks.brillonline.com/entries/brill-s-new-pauly/augustus-2-e12220040|journal=Brill's New Pauly}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|last=Hammond|first=Mason|author-link=Mason Hammond|year=1957|title=Imperial Elements in the Formula of the Roman Emperors during the First Two and a Half Centuries of the Empire|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/4238646|url-access=subscription|journal=Memoirs of the American Academy in Rome|volume=25|pages=29–31|doi=10.2307/4238646 |jstor=4238646 }}</ref> As a result, modern historians usually regard this event as the beginning of his reign as "emperor".{{Efn|Ancient historians, however, often give him a rule of 56 years. None of them seem to agree on the exact start date, though.<ref>[[Josephus]] (1st century), ''[[The Jewish War]]'' [https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/2850/pg2850-images.html Book II, 9] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211209203545/https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/2850/pg2850-images.html |date=9 December 2021 }}. "Fifty-seven years, six months, and two days". 17&nbsp;February 44 BC; 15 March is probably intended.</ref><ref>[[Suetonius]] (121) ''[[Life of Augustus]]'' 8., "With Antony alone for nearly twelve years, and finally by himself for forty-four." 56 years in total (from 43 BC).</ref><ref>[[Theophilus of Antioch|Theophilus]] (180–192), ''[https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Page:Ante-Nicene_Christian_Library_Vol_3.djvu/142 To Autolycus]'' XXVII {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211207223048/https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Page:Ante-Nicene_Christian_Library_Vol_3.djvu/142 |date=7 December 2021 }}. "56&nbsp;years 4 months 1 day". 18 April; referencing either his first acclamation as ''[[imperator]]'' (16 April) or, more likely, his victory at the [[Battle of Mutina]] (21 April).</ref><ref>[[Cassius Dio]] (230). ''[[Historia Romana]]'' 56, 5. "Forty-four years lacking thirteen days." Dio is one of the few writers that reckons from the [[Battle of Actium]].</ref><ref>[[Jerome]] (4th century), ''[[Chronicon (Jerome)|Chronicon]]'', [http://www.attalus.org/translate/jerome2.html 184.2.] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120609023200/http://www.attalus.org/translate/jerome2.html |date=9 June 2012 }} "56 years and 6 months." February/March 43 BC; this incorrect calculation is followed by most later historians.</ref>}} Augustus himself appears to have reckoned his "reign" from 27&nbsp;BC.<ref>''[[Res Gestae Divi Augusti|Res Gestae]]'' [https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Augustus/Res_Gestae/1*.html# I.7], "For ten years in succession I was one of the triumvirs for the re-establishment of the constitution. To the day of writing this [June/July AD&nbsp;14] I have been ''[[princeps senatus]]'' for forty years." </ref>{{efn|[[Cassius Dio]] [https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Cassius_Dio/53*.html#1 (53.1)] indicates that he took the title ''princeps senatus'' in 28 BC. However, he also states that Augustus "added five years to his own terms as ''princeps'', since his ten-year period was about to expire (this was in the consulship of [[Publius Cornelius Lentulus Marcellinus|Publius]] and [[Gnaeus Cornelius Lentulus (consul 18 BC)|Gnaeus Lentulus]] [18&nbsp;BC])" [https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Cassius_Dio/54*.html#12 (54.12)], meaning that his official tenure as ''princeps'' began in 27&nbsp;BC.}}

Augustus styled himself as ''Imperator Caesar divi filius'', "Commander Caesar son of the deified one". With this title, he boasted his familial link to deified Julius Caesar, and the use of ''[[imperator]]'' signified a permanent link to the Roman tradition of victory.{{efn|He was first proclaimed ''imperator'' on 16 April 43&nbsp;BC, after the [[Battle of Forum Gallorum]].{{sfn|Fishwick|2004|p=250}}}} He transformed ''Caesar'', a cognomen for one branch of the [[Julia gens|Julian family]], into a new family line that began with him.{{Sfn|Eck|Takács|2003|page=50}}

[[File:Arch of Augustus at Ariminum, dedicated to the Emperor Augustus by the Roman Senate in 27 BC, the oldest Roman arch which survives, Rimini, Italy (19948839545).jpg|thumb|left|upright|The [[Arch of Augustus (Rimini)|Arch of Augustus]] in [[Rimini]] ({{Lang|la|Ariminum}}), dedicated to Augustus by the [[Roman Senate]] in 27 BC, is one of the oldest preserved arches in Italy.<ref name=":2">{{Cite web |date=18 March 2021 |title=Arco d'Augusto |trans-title=Arch of Augustus |url=https://riminiturismo.it/visitatori/scopri-il-territorio/arte-e-cultura/archi-e-porte/arco-daugusto |access-date=16 January 2024 |website=riminiturismo.it |language=it |archive-date=16 January 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240116214941/https://riminiturismo.it/visitatori/scopri-il-territorio/arte-e-cultura/archi-e-porte/arco-daugusto |url-status=live}}</ref>]]

Augustus was granted the right to hang the ''[[Civic Crown|corona civica]]'' (civic crown) above his door and to have laurels drape his doorposts.{{Sfn|Eder|2005|page=24}} However, he renounced flaunting insignia of power such as holding a scepter, wearing a diadem, or wearing the golden crown and purple toga of his predecessor Julius Caesar.{{Sfn|Eder|2005|page=13}} If he refused to symbolize his power by donning and bearing these items on his person, the Senate nonetheless awarded him with a golden shield displayed in the meeting hall of the [[Curia]], bearing the inscription ''virtus'', ''pietas'', ''clementia'', ''iustitia''—"valor, piety, clemency, and justice."{{Sfn|Eder|2005|page=24}}{{Sfn|Eck|Takács|2003|page=3}}