Augustus

== Legacy ==
{{Further|Cultural depictions of Augustus}}
[[File:Folio 22r - The Virgin, the Sibyl and the Emperor Augustus.jpg|thumb|The Virgin Mary and Child, the prophetess [[Temple of Vesta, Tivoli|Sibyl Tivoli]] bottom left and the emperor Augustus in the bottom right, from the {{lang|fr|[[Très Riches Heures du duc de Berry]]}}. The likeness of Augustus is that of the [[Byzantine emperor]] [[Manuel II Palaiologos]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=Setton |first=Kenneth M. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=i4OPORrVeXQC |title=The Papacy and the Levant (1204–1571), Volume I: The Thirteenth and Fourteenth Centuries |publisher=The American Philosophical Society |date=1976 |isbn=978-0-87169-114-9 |location=Philadelphia, Pennsylvania |page=375 |author-link=Kenneth Setton}}</ref>]]
[[File:Augustus kameo.jpg|thumb|The Augustus cameo at the center of the Medieval [[Cross of Lothair]]]]

Augustus created a regime which maintained peace and prosperity in the Roman west and the Greek east for two centuries. Its dominance also laid the foundations of a concept of [[Universal monarchy|universal empire]] in the [[Byzantine Empire]] and the [[Holy Roman Empire]]s down to their dissolutions in 1453 and 1806, respectively.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Hammond |first=Mason |date=1965 |title=The Sincerity of Augustus |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/310780 |journal=Harvard Studies in Classical Philology |volume=69 |page=152 |doi=10.2307/310780 |jstor=310780 |issn=0073-0688}}</ref> Both his adoptive surname, Caesar, and his title ''Augustus'' became the permanent titles of the rulers of the Roman Empire for fourteen centuries after his death, in use both at [[Rome|Old Rome]] and at [[Constantinople|New Rome]]. In many languages, ''Caesar'' became the word for ''emperor'', as in the German ''[[Kaiser]]'' and in the Bulgarian and subsequently Russian ''[[Tsar]]'' (sometimes ''Csar'' or ''Czar''). The cult of ''Divus Augustus'' continued until the state religion of the empire was changed to Christianity in 391 by [[Theodosius I]]. Consequently, there are many statues and busts of the first emperor. He had composed an account of his achievements, the ''[[Res Gestae Divi Augusti]]'', to be inscribed in bronze in front of his mausoleum.{{sfn|Suetonius||loc=''Augustus'' [https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Suetonius/12Caesars/Augustus*.html#101.4 101.4]}} Copies of the text were inscribed throughout the empire upon his death.{{Sfn|Eck|Takács|2003|pages=1–2}} The inscriptions in Latin featured translations in Greek beside it and were inscribed on many public edifices, such as the temple in [[Ankara]] dubbed the ''Monumentum Ancyranum'', called the "queen of inscriptions" by historian [[Theodor Mommsen]].{{Sfn|Eck|Takács|2003|page=2}}

The ''Res Gestae'' is the only work to have survived from antiquity, though Augustus is also known to have composed poems entitled ''Sicily'', ''Epiphanus'', and ''Ajax'', an autobiography of 13 books, a philosophical treatise, and a written rebuttal to Brutus's ''Eulogy of Cato''.{{Sfn|Bunson|1994|page=47}} Historians are able to analyze excerpts of letters penned by Augustus, preserved in other works, to others for additional facts or clues about his personal life.{{Sfn|Shaw-Smith|1971|page=213}}{{Sfn|Bourne|1918|pages=53–66}}{{Sfn|Ohst|2023|pages=262-268}}

Many consider Augustus to be Rome's greatest emperor; his policies certainly extended the empire's life span and initiated the celebrated ''Pax Romana'' or ''Pax Augusta''. The Roman Senate wished subsequent emperors to "[[Felicior Augusto, melior Traiano|be more fortunate than Augustus and better than Trajan]]". Augustus was intelligent, decisive, and a shrewd politician, but he was not perhaps as charismatic as Julius Caesar and was influenced on occasion by Livia (sometimes for the worse). Nevertheless, his legacy proved more enduring. The city of Rome was utterly transformed under Augustus, with Rome's first institutionalized [[History of criminal justice|police force]], [[firefighting]] force, and the establishment of the municipal [[praefectus|prefect]] as a permanent office. The police force was divided into cohorts of 500 men each, while the units of firemen ranged from 500 to 1,000 men each, with 7 units assigned to 14 divided city sectors.{{Sfn|Eck|Takács|2003|page=79}}

A ''[[praefectus vigilum]]'', or "Prefect of the Watch" was put in charge of the [[vigiles]], Rome's fire brigade and police.{{Sfn|Bunson|1994|page=345}} With Rome's civil wars at an end, Augustus was also able to create a [[standing army]] for the Roman Empire, fixed at a size of 28 legions of about 170,000 soldiers.{{Sfn|Eck|Takács|2003|pages=85–87}} This was supported by numerous [[auxilia]]ry units of 500 non-citizen soldiers each, often recruited from recently conquered areas.{{Sfn|Eck|Takács|2003|page=86}}

With his finances securing the maintenance of roads throughout Italy, Augustus installed an official [[courier]] system of relay stations overseen by a military officer known as the ''praefectus vehiculorum''.{{Sfn|Eck|Takács|2003|page=81}} Besides the advent of swifter communication among Italian polities, his extensive building of roads throughout Italy also allowed Rome's armies to march swiftly and at an unprecedented pace across the country.{{Sfn|Chisholm|Ferguson|1981|page=122}} In the year 6 Augustus established the ''[[aerarium militare]]'', donating 170&nbsp;million sesterces to the new military treasury that provided for both active and retired soldiers.{{Sfn|Bunson|1994|page=6}}

One of the most enduring institutions of Augustus was the establishment of the [[Praetorian Guard]] in 27&nbsp;BC, originally a personal bodyguard unit on the battlefield that evolved into an imperial guard as well as an important political force in Rome.{{Sfn|Bunson|1994|page=341}} They had the power to intimidate the Senate, install new emperors, and depose ones they disliked; the last emperor they served was [[Maxentius]], as it was [[Constantine the Great|Constantine I]] who disbanded them in the early 4th century and destroyed their barracks, the [[Castra Praetoria]].{{Sfn|Bunson|1994|page=341, 342}}

[[File:Augustus-in-Kalabsha.jpg|thumb|upright|left|Augustus as [[Roman pharaoh]] in an Egyptian-style depiction, a stone carving of the [[New Kalabsha|Kalabsha Temple]] in [[Nubia]]]]
Although the most powerful individual in the Roman Empire, Augustus wished to embody the spirit of Republican virtue and norms. He also wanted to relate to and connect with the concerns of the plebs and lay people. He achieved this through various means of generosity and a cutting back of lavish excess. In the year 29&nbsp;BC, Augustus gave 400 sesterces (equal to 1/10 of a Roman pound of gold) each to 250,000 citizens, 1,000 sesterces each to 120,000 veterans in the colonies, and spent 700&nbsp;million sesterces in purchasing land for his soldiers to settle upon.{{Sfn|Eder|2005|page=23}} He also restored 82 different temples to display his care for the [[Roman mythology|Roman pantheon]] of deities.{{Sfn|Eder|2005|page=23}} In 28&nbsp;BC, he melted down 80 silver statues erected in his likeness and in honor of him, an attempt of his to appear frugal and modest.{{Sfn|Eder|2005|page=23}}

The longevity of Augustus's reign and its legacy to the Roman world should not be overlooked as a key factor in its success. As Tacitus wrote, the younger generations alive in AD 14 had never known any form of government other than the principate.{{sfn|Tacitus|loc=[[s:The Annals (Tacitus)/Book 1#3|I.3]]}} Had Augustus died earlier, matters might have turned out differently. The attrition of the civil wars on the old Republican oligarchy and the longevity of Augustus, therefore, must be seen as major contributing factors in the transformation of the Roman state into a ''de facto'' monarchy in these years. Augustus's own experience, his patience, his tact, and his political acumen also played their parts. He directed the future of the empire down many lasting paths, from the existence of a standing professional army stationed at or near the frontiers, to the dynastic principle so often employed in the imperial succession, to the embellishment of the capital at the emperor's expense. Augustus's ultimate legacy was the peace and prosperity the Empire enjoyed for the next two centuries under the system he initiated. His memory was enshrined in the political ethos of the Imperial age as a paradigm of the good emperor. Every emperor of Rome adopted his name, Caesar Augustus, which gradually lost its character as a name and eventually became a title.{{Sfn|Eck|Takács|2003|page=124}} The [[Augustan poetry|Augustan era poets]] Virgil and Horace praised Augustus as a defender of Rome, an upholder of moral justice, and an individual who bore the brunt of responsibility in maintaining the empire.{{Sfn|Kelsall|1976|page=120}}

However, for his rule of Rome and establishing the principate, Augustus has also been subjected to criticism throughout the ages. The contemporary Roman jurist [[Marcus Antistius Labeo]], fond of the days of pre-Augustan republican liberty in which he had been born, openly criticized the Augustan regime. In the beginning of his ''[[Annals (Tacitus)|Annals]]'', Tacitus wrote that Augustus had cunningly subverted Republican Rome into a position of slavery. He continued to say that, with Augustus's death and swearing of loyalty to Tiberius, the people of Rome traded one slaveholder for another.{{Sfn|Starr|1952|page=5}} In a 2006 biography on Augustus, [[Anthony Everitt]] asserts that through the centuries, judgments on Augustus's reign have oscillated between these two extremes.

Tacitus was of the belief that [[Nerva]] (r. 96–98) successfully "mingled two formerly alien ideas, principate and liberty".{{Sfn|Starr|1952|page=6}} The 3rd-century historian [[Cassius Dio]] acknowledged Augustus as a benign, moderate ruler, yet like most other historians after the death of Augustus, Dio viewed Augustus as an [[Autocracy|autocrat]].{{Sfn|Starr|1952|page=5}} The poet [[Lucan|Marcus Annaeus Lucanus]] (AD 39–65) was of the opinion that Caesar's victory over Pompey and the fall of [[Cato the Younger]] (95 BC–46&nbsp;BC) marked the end of traditional liberty in Rome; historian [[Chester Starr]] writes of his avoidance of criticizing Augustus, "perhaps Augustus was too sacred a figure to accuse directly."{{Sfn|Starr|1952|page=6}}

The [[Anglo-Irish]] writer [[Jonathan Swift]] (1667–1745), in his ''Discourse on the Contests and Dissentions in Athens and Rome'', criticized Augustus for installing tyranny over Rome, and likened what he believed Great Britain's virtuous [[constitutional monarchy]] to Rome's moral Republic of the 2nd century BC. In his criticism of Augustus, the admiral and historian [[Thomas Gordon (Royal Scots Navy officer)|Thomas Gordon]] (1658–1741) compared Augustus to the puritanical tyrant [[Oliver Cromwell]] (1599–1658).{{Sfn|Kelsall|1976|page=118}} Thomas Gordon and the French political philosopher [[Montesquieu]] (1689–1755) both remarked that Augustus was a coward in battle.{{Sfn|Kelsall|1976|page=119}} In his ''Memoirs of the Court of Augustus'', the Scottish scholar [[Thomas Blackwell (scholar)|Thomas Blackwell]] (1701–1757) deemed Augustus a [[Machiavelli]]an ruler, "a bloodthirsty vindicative usurper", "wicked and worthless", "a mean spirit", and a "tyrant".{{Sfn|Kelsall|1976|page=119}}

=== Revenue reforms ===
[[File:AugustusCoinPudukottaiHoardIndia.jpg|thumb|left|Coin of Augustus found at the [[Pudukottai]] hoard, from an [[ancient Tamil country]], [[Pandyan Kingdom]] of present-day [[Tamil Nadu]] in India, a testimony to [[Indo-Roman trade]]. [[British Museum]]. Caption: AVGVSTVS DIVI F[ILIVS]. (The vertical slice, not part of the original design, was likely an old test cut to make sure the coin was solid rather than a [[fourrée]].)]]

Augustus's public [[revenue]] reforms had a great impact on the subsequent success of the Empire. Augustus brought a far greater portion of the Empire's expanded land base under consistent, direct taxation from Rome, instead of exacting varying, intermittent, and somewhat arbitrary tributes from each local province as Augustus's predecessors had done. This reform greatly increased Rome's net revenue from its territorial acquisitions, stabilized its flow, and regularized the financial relationship between Rome and the provinces, rather than provoking fresh resentments with each new arbitrary exaction of tribute.{{Sfn|Eck|Takács|2003|pages=83–84}}
[[File:HymiariteKingdomAugustusImitation1stCenturyCE.jpg|thumb|right|1st century coin of the [[Himyarite]] Kingdom, southern coast of the [[Arabian peninsula]]. This is also an imitation of a coin of Augustus.]]
The measures of taxation in the reign of Augustus were determined by population census, with fixed quotas for each province. Citizens of Rome and Italy paid indirect taxes, while direct taxes were exacted from the provinces. Indirect taxes included a 4% tax on the price of slaves, a 1% tax on goods sold at auction, and a 5% tax on the inheritance of estates valued at over 100,000 sesterces by persons other than the [[next of kin]].{{Sfn|Bunson|1994|page=404}}

An equally important reform was the abolition of private [[tax farming]], which was replaced by salaried civil service tax collectors. Private contractors who collected taxes for the State were the norm in the Republican era. Some of them were powerful enough to influence the number of votes for men running for offices in Rome. These tax farmers called [[publican]]s were infamous for their depredations, great private wealth, and the right to tax local areas.{{Sfn|Eck|Takács|2003|pages=83–84}}

The use of Egypt's immense land rents to finance the Empire's operations resulted from Augustus's conquest of Egypt and the shift to a Roman form of government.{{Sfn|Bunson|1994|page=144}} As it was effectively considered Augustus's private property rather than a province of the Empire, it became part of each succeeding emperor's patrimonium.{{Sfn|Bunson|1994|pages=144–145}}

Instead of a legate or proconsul, Augustus installed a prefect from the equestrian class to administer Egypt and maintain its lucrative seaports; this position became the highest political achievement for any equestrian besides becoming [[Praetorian prefect|Prefect of the Praetorian Guard]].{{Sfn|Bunson|1994|page=145}} The highly productive agricultural land of Egypt yielded enormous revenues that were available to Augustus and his successors to pay for public works and military expeditions.{{Sfn|Bunson|1994|page=144}}

=== Month of August ===
The month of August (Latin: ''Augustus'') is named after Augustus; until his time it was called [[Sextilis]] (named so because it had been the sixth month of the original [[Roman calendar]] and the Latin word for six is ''sex''). Commonly repeated lore has it that August has 31 days because Augustus wanted his month to match the length of Julius Caesar's July, but this is an invention of the 13th century scholar [[Johannes de Sacrobosco]]. Sextilis in fact had 31 days before it was renamed, and it was not chosen for its length (see [[Julian calendar]]).

According to a {{lang|la|senatus consultum}} quoted by [[Macrobius]], Sextilis was renamed to honor Augustus because several of the most significant events in his rise to power, culminating in the fall of Alexandria, fell in that month.<ref>Macrobius, ''Saturnalia'' [https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/L/Roman/Texts/Macrobius/Saturnalia/1*.html#12.35 1.12.35].</ref>

===Creation of "Italia"===
[[Roman Italy]] was established by Augustus in 7 BC with the Latin name "Italia". This was the first time that the [[Italian peninsula]] was united administratively and politically under the same name. Due to this act, Augustus was called the ''Father of Italy'' by Italian historians such as G. Giannelli.<ref>G. Giannelli (1965). ''Trattato di storia romana''. '''1'''. L'Italia antica e la Repubblica romana.</ref>

=== Building projects ===
{{Further|Vitruvius|De architectura}}
[[File:RomaAraPacisDecorazioneVegetale.jpg|thumb|Close up on the sculpted detail of the {{Lang|la|[[Ara Pacis]]|italic=no}} (Altar of Peace), 13&nbsp;BC to 9 BC]]

On his deathbed, Augustus boasted "I found a Rome of bricks; I leave to you one of marble." Although there is some truth in the literal meaning of this, Cassius Dio asserts that it was a metaphor for the Empire's strength.<ref name="dio 56.30.3">Dio [https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Cassius_Dio/56*.html#30 56.30.3]</ref> [[Marble]] could be found in buildings of Rome before Augustus, but it was not extensively used as a building material until the reign of Augustus.{{Sfn|Bunson|1994|page=34}}

Although this did not apply to the [[Suburra|Subura]] slums, which were still as rickety and fire-prone as ever, he did leave a mark on the monumental topography of the centre and of the [[Campus Martius]], with the {{Lang|la|[[Ara Pacis]]|italic=no}} (Altar of Peace) and monumental sundial, whose central [[gnomon]] was an [[obelisks of Rome|obelisk]] taken from Egypt.{{Sfn|Eck|Takács|2003|page=122}} The [[relief]] sculptures decorating the {{Lang|la|Ara Pacis|italic=no}} visually augmented the written record of Augustus's triumphs in the ''Res Gestae''. Its reliefs depicted the imperial pageants of the [[praetor]]ians, the Vestals, and the citizenry of Rome.{{Sfn|Bunson|1994|page=32}}

He also built the [[Temple of Caesar]], the [[Temple of Jupiter Tonans]], the [[Temple of Apollo Palatinus]] and the [[Baths of Agrippa]], and the [[Forum of Augustus]] with its [[Temple of Mars Ultor]].{{sfn|Res Gestae Divi Augusti}} Other projects were either encouraged by him, such as the [[Theatre of Balbus]], and Agrippa's construction of the [[Pantheon, Rome|Pantheon]], or funded by him in the name of others, often relations (e.g. [[Porticus Octaviae|Portico of Octavia]], [[Theatre of Marcellus]]). Even his [[Mausoleum of Augustus]] was built before his death to house members of his family.{{Sfn|Eck|Takács|2003|pages=118–121}} To celebrate his victory at the Battle of Actium, the [[Arch of Augustus, Rome|Arch of Augustus]] was built in 29&nbsp;BC near the entrance of the [[Temple of Castor and Pollux]], and widened in 19&nbsp;BC to include a triple-arch design.{{Sfn|Bunson|1994|page=34}}

[[File:Vienne - Temple d'Auguste et de Livie -1.jpg|thumb|The [[Temple of Augustus and Livia]] in [[Vienne, Isère|Vienne]], late 1st century BC]]
After the death of Agrippa in 12&nbsp;BC, a solution had to be found in maintaining Rome's water supply system. This came about because it was overseen by Agrippa when he served as aedile, and was even funded by him afterwards when he was a private citizen paying at his own expense. In that year, Augustus arranged a system where the Senate designated three of its members as prime commissioners in charge of the water supply and to ensure that Rome's aqueducts did not fall into disrepair.{{Sfn|Eck|Takács|2003|page=79}}

In the late Augustan era, the commission of five senators called the ''curatores locorum publicorum iudicandorum'' (translated as "Supervisors of Public Property") was put in charge of maintaining public buildings and temples of the state cult.{{Sfn|Eck|Takács|2003|page=79}} Augustus created the senatorial group of the ''curatores viarum'' (translated as "Supervisors for Roads") for the upkeep of roads; this senatorial commission worked with local officials and contractors to organize regular repairs.{{Sfn|Eck|Takács|2003|page=81}}

The [[Corinthian order]] of architectural style originating from ancient Greece was the dominant architectural style in the age of Augustus and the imperial phase of Rome. Suetonius once commented that Rome was unworthy of its status as an imperial capital, yet Augustus and Agrippa set out to dismantle this sentiment by transforming the appearance of Rome upon the classical Greek model.{{Sfn|Bunson|1994|page=34}}

====Residences====

The official residence of Augustus was the ''[[Domus Augusti]]'' on the Palatine which he made into a palace after buying it in 41/40 BC.{{sfn|Suetonius||loc=''Augustus'' 72}} He had other residences such as the ''[[Gardens of Maecenas|horti maecenati]]'' in Rome where Augustus preferred to stay whenever he became ill and which Maecenas left to him in his will in 8 BC.  The great villa of [[Vedius Pollio]] at [[Posilipo]] near Naples was beqeathed (probably forced) to him in 15 BC.{{sfn|Cassius Dio|loc=Book LIV 23}}

Augustus built the [[Palazzo a Mare]] palace on [[Capri]].<ref>Ring, Trudy; Salkin, Robert M.; Boda, Sharon La (1 January 1996). International Dictionary of Historic Places: Southern Europe. Taylor & Francis. pp. 121–. {{ISBN|978-1-884964-02-2}}. Retrieved 5 July 2012.</ref> He also built the immense [[Villa Giulia (Naples)|Villa Giulia]] on the island of [[Ventotene]] as a summer residence early in his reign. The family home of Augustus was probably the villa at [[Somma Vesuviana]], [[Nola]].<ref>{{Cite AV media |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AJAcZ8CWVMA | archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211027/AJAcZ8CWVMA| archive-date=27 October 2021|title=Villa where Augustus probably died is unearthed |date=16 November 2016 |medium=Documentary |work=[[Associated Press]] |access-date=9 April 2021}}{{cbignore}}</ref> This was the location where he died and where his father also died.<ref>Tacitus, [[Annals (Tacitus)|The Annals]] 1.5</ref>