Earliest usage (14–37) marked '''' Some thirty years before its first association with Caesar's heir,
augustus was an obscure honorific with religious associations. One early context (58 BC) associates it with provincial
Lares (Roman household gods). In Latin poetry and prose, it signifies the further elevation or augmentation of what is already sacred or religious. Some Roman sources connected it to
augury, and Rome was said to have been founded with the "august augury" of Romulus.
Imperial honorific (276–282), marked The first true Roman known as "Augustus" (and first counted as a
Roman emperor) was
Octavian. He was the grand-nephew and later posthumously adopted as the son and heir of
Julius Caesar, who had been murdered for his seeming aspiration to divine monarchy, then subsequently and officially deified. Octavian studiously avoided any association with Caesar's claims, other than acknowledging his position and duties as
Divi filius ("son of the deified one"). Nevertheless, his position was unique and extraordinary. He had ended Rome's prolonged and bloody civil war with his victory at
Actium, and established a lasting peace. He was self-evidently favoured by the gods. As
princeps senatus ("first man or head of the senate") he presided at senatorial meetings. He was
pontifex maximus, chief priest of Roman state religion. He held
consular
imperium, with
authority equal to the official chief executive. He was supreme commander of all
Roman legions, and held
tribunicia potestas ("tribunician power"). As a tribune, his person was inviolable (
sacrosanctitas) and he had the right to
veto any act or proposal by any magistrate within Rome. He was officially renamed
Augustus by the
Roman Senate on 16 January 27 BC – or perhaps the Senate ratified his own careful choice; "Romulus" had been considered, and rejected. This name was deemed too blatant as it would make Octavius the second founder of Rome. So his official renaming in a form vaguely associated with a traditionally Republican religiosity, but unprecedented as a
cognomen, may have served to show that he owed his position to the approval of Rome and its gods, and possibly his own unique, elevated, "godlike" nature and talents. The first emperor bequeathed the title
Augustus to his adopted heir and successor
Tiberius in his will. From then on, though it conferred no specific legal powers,
Augustus was a titular element of the imperial name. Vespasian adopted the name , with
Augustus used as a
cognomen to help legitimize his reign and the
Flavian dynastic assumption of Julio-Claudian
patrimony. After the victory over the
Sasanian Empire in the
Byzantine–Sasanian War of 602–628, the 7th century final phase of the
Roman–Persian Wars, the emperor
Heraclius introduced the and the title
Augoustos lost importance.). The Greek titles were used in the
Byzantine Empire until its extinction in 1453, although
sebastos lost its imperial exclusivity and
autokratōr along with
basileus became the exclusive title of the emperor after the 8th century.
Feminine equivalent Augusta was the female equivalent of
Augustus, and had similar origins as an obscure descriptor with vaguely religious overtones. It was bestowed on some women of the Imperial dynasties, as an indicator of worldly power and influence and a status near to divinity. There was no qualification with higher prestige. The title or honorific was shared by state goddesses associated with the Imperial regime's generosity and provision, such as
Ceres,
Bona Dea,
Juno,
Minerva, and
Ops, and by local or minor goddesses around the empire. Other personifications perceived as essentially female and given the title Augusta include
Pax (peace) and
Victoria (victory). The first woman to receive the honorific Augusta was
Livia Drusilla, by the last will of her husband
Augustus. From his death (14 AD) she was known as
Julia Augusta, until her own death in AD 29. ==Other uses==