in an
Egyptian-style stone carving at the
Temple of Kalabsha in
Nubia; Augustus was commonly depicted in
Egyptian art performing sacrifices to
Egyptian deities.|alt=Egyptian relief depicting Augustus as pharaoh
Control of Egypt The
conquest of Egypt greatly relieved Octavian's debts incurred from the civil wars. He controlled
Roman Egypt directly, forbade senators to travel there, and appointed
equestrian governor Cornelius Gallus to supervise its administration and enormously
lucrative taxation. While in Alexandria in 30 BC, Octavian visited
the tomb of
Alexander the Great, the conqueror he emulated and imitated in his own
artistic portraits. Octavian's conquest of Egypt brought an end to the
Hellenistic period; it also cemented the cultural formation of a
Greek East and Latin West in the Mediterranean and a cosmopolitan
universal monarchy centered on Rome. Octavian would become
the first Roman emperor as Augustus and also the first
Roman pharaoh of Egypt, though he did not partake in
Egyptian coronation rites or worship of the
Apis bull, and he never visited Egypt again after 30 BC. Before returning to Rome, Octavian wintered in 30 BC on the Greek island of
Samos. In August 29, he celebrated three triumphs in Rome for his victories in Illyria, Greece, and Egypt. He and Agrippa were elected as the consuls for 28 BC, and granted the powers of a
censor so as to conduct the
census.
Principate , his alleged but not verified
residence on the
Palatine Hill during his reign as
emperor|alt=A room with frescos along the walls After defeating Antony and Cleopatra, Octavian could rule the entire Republic under an unofficial
principate, with himself as ('leading citizen' or 'first citizen'). He achieved this incrementally by courting the
Senate and people of Rome while purporting not to aspire to dictatorship or monarchy. Influential aristocrats were previously called and Octavian would embrace this title as part of his self-representation as restorer of the Republic. Years of civil war had left Rome in a state of near lawlessness, but republican tradition opposed autocracy. At the same time, Octavian could not give up his authority without risking war. The Senate and people desired a return to stability, traditional legality, civility, and the assurance of
free elections—which would be conducted in name at least under Octavian, soon to be Augustus. The gradual fashioning of this regime involved trial by error and experimentation, popular support for legally sanctioned moves, and appointed term limits for offices in perhaps a cautious attempt to avoid the same fate as his adoptive father Julius Caesar.
First settlement Control of provinces On 13 January 27 BC, Octavian made a show of returning power to the Senate and relinquishing his provinces and armies. However, he retained the loyalty of serving soldiers and veterans. The careers of many clients and adherents
depended on his patronage, as his financial power was unrivaled. Other senators refrained from spending to build and maintain roads in Italy in 20 BC, but Octavian undertook direct responsibility on behalf of the public. The Roman currency issued in 16 BC publicized Octavian's involvement, after he donated vast amounts of money to the , the public treasury. . The statue's marble head was made , the body sculpted in the 2nd century AD (
Louvre, Paris)|alt=Full-length statue depicting Augustus as a magistrate. He holds a scroll in his left hand. In an agreement known as the first settlement, Octavian was able to continue the appearance of a still-functional
constitution through the Senate proposing to him that he once again assume control of the provinces. Feigning reluctance, on 16 January 27 BC he accepted a ten-year responsibility of overseeing provinces that were considered chaotic. The provinces ceded to him constituted much of the Roman world, including Hispania,
Gaul,
Syria,
Cilicia, Cyprus, and
Egypt. Moreover, command of these provinces provided him control over the majority of Rome's legions. Octavian-Augustus's power ultimately rested in his control over Rome's military. However, Octavian-Augustus did not have a monopoly on political and martial power. The Senate still controlled the
grain-producing North Africa as well as the militarily strategic Illyria and Macedonia. However, the Senate had control of only five or six legions distributed among three senatorial proconsuls, compared to the twenty legions under Augustus's control, and their control of these regions did not significantly challenge his authority.
Divided control between senators and proconsuls had precedent, and Augustus used republican legal frameworks to amass power. While Augustus acted as consul in Rome, he dispatched senators to the provinces under his command as his representatives to manage provincial affairs. The Senate chose governors to oversee the remaining provinces. Augustus issued instructions and edicts not only to
his own legates but also to independent proconsuls governing public provinces that were nominally under senatorial control. Augustus's control of entire provinces followed Republican-era precedents for the limited objective of securing peace and creating stability, with Pompey having been given a
similar level of command across the
Roman world.
Title of Augustus minted , marked: |alt=Ancient Roman golden coin of Augustus On 16 January 27 BC the Senate gave Octavian the new title of ('revered'). It was a title of religious rather than political authority, and it indicated that Octavian now approached divinity. Future
Roman emperors inherited the honorific , and it became their main title. Another titular option, that of , after the legendary founder of Rome, was associated too strongly with
monarchy, an association Octavian sought to avoid. The Senate also confirmed his position as ('leader of the Senate'). Augustus now styled himself as ('Commander Caesar son of the deified one'), boasting his familial link to deified Julius Caesar. The use of signified a permanent link to the Roman tradition of victory. Augustus transformed , a cognomen for one branch of the
Julian family, into a new imperial family line that began with him. in
Rimini (), dedicated to Augustus by the Senate in 27 BC, is
one of the oldest preserved
triumphal arches in Italy.|alt=Roman triumphal arch in Italy with modern buildings in the background The Senate allowed Augustus to hang the ('civic crown') above his door and to have laurels drape his doorposts. He renounced flaunting insignia of power such as holding a scepter, wearing a
diadem, or wearing the golden crown and purple toga of Julius Caesar. Nonetheless, the Senate awarded him with a golden shield displayed in the meeting hall of the
Curia, bearing the inscription ('valor, piety, clemency, and justice'). By the summer of 27 BC he left Rome and traveled to
Gaul. From 26 to 24 BC he governed the Empire from
Tarraco in
Roman Spain, overseeing
military campaigns in the Iberian peninsula until his return to Rome.
Second settlement By 23 BC, some of the un-republican implications of the first settlement were becoming apparent. Augustus's continuous consulships drew attention to his de facto dominance of politics and halved the opportunities for others to achieve what was still nominally the preeminent position in the Roman state. His desire to have his nephew
Marcus Claudius Marcellus eventually assume the principate in his turn also caused problems. To signal reconciliation with pro-republican aristocrats, Augustus appointed the noted republican
Calpurnius Piso, who had opposed Julius Caesar and supported the assassins, as co-consul in 23 BC, after his choice
Aulus Terentius Varro Murena died unexpectedly.
Resignation from the consulship In the late spring Augustus was severely ill, apparently with a
liver disease. Expecting his death, he made arrangements ensuring the continuation of the principate while allaying senators' suspicions of his anti-republicanism. He prepared to hand down his signet ring to his friend and general Agrippa but handed to his co-consul Piso all of his official documents, an account of public finances, and authority over troops in the provinces. Augustus's supposedly favored nephew Marcellus came away empty-handed. This surprised many who expected Augustus to name an heir to his position as an unofficial emperor. Augustus bestowed only properties and possessions to his designated heirs, as an obvious system of institutionalized imperial inheritance would have provoked resistance and hostility among the republican-minded Romans fearful of monarchy. It appears that Augustus did not view the 19-year-old Marcellus as being ready to inherit his political pre-eminence. By giving his signet ring to Agrippa, however, Augustus signaled to the legions that Agrippa was a potential successor who they should obey,
constitutional procedure notwithstanding. showing Augustus wearing a
gorgoneion on a three layered
sardonyx cameo, and wearing a
diadem that was added during the
Middle Ages, and original artwork dated to AD 20–50|alt=Ancient Roman sardonyx cameo depicting Augustus wearing a Gorgon head The emperor's illness subsided while under the care of his personal
physician Antonius Musa, and soon afterwards on 1 July 23 BC Augustus gave up his consulship. He would serve as consul only twice more, in 5 and 2 BC, both times to introduce his grandsons into public life. Augustus's resignation from the consulship allowed him to exercise wider patronage within the senatorial class while allowing other senators a better chance to become consul. However, Augustus desired to retain his consular throughout the empire, leading to another compromise between him and the Senate known as the second settlement.
Marcus Primus affair After Augustus relinquished the annual consulship, he was no longer in an official position to rule the state. However, his dominant position remained unchanged over his 'imperial' provinces where he was still a proconsul. When he annually held the office of consul, he had the power to intervene with the affairs of the other provincial proconsuls appointed by the Senate throughout the empire, when he deemed necessary. A second problem later arose showing the need for the second settlement in what became known as the "Marcus Primus affair". In late 24 or early 23 BC, charges were brought against Marcus Primus, former proconsular governor of Macedonia, for waging a war without approval of the Senate on the
Odrysian kingdom of
Thrace, whose king was a Roman ally.
Lucius Licinius Varro Murena defended Primus, arguing that Augustus had ordered Primus to attack the client state. Later, Primus testified that the orders came from the recently deceased Marcellus. Such orders suggested that Augustus intended to have his nephew take his place as princeps and establish a monarchy over Rome, and would have been considered a breach of the Senate's prerogatives under the settlement of 27 BC, since Macedonia was a province under senatorial jurisdiction, not Augustus's imperial authority. , holding a scepter and orb (first half of the 1st century AD)|alt=Roman statue of Augustus seated, holding a scepter in his left hand and an orb in his right The situation was so serious that Augustus appeared at the trial even though he had not been called as a witness. Under oath, he declared that he gave no such order. Murena disbelieved Augustus's testimony and resented his attempt to subvert the trial by using his . He demanded to know why Augustus appeared at the trial; Augustus replied that he came in the public interest. The jurors found Primus guilty, though some voted to acquit, suggesting that some disbelieved Augustus's claims.
Greater proconsular authority The Senate negotiated the second settlement with Augustus partly to allay confusion and formalize his legal authority to intervene in senatorial provinces, granting him a form of general ('proconsular power') that applied throughout the empire, not solely to his provinces. Moreover, the Senate augmented Augustus's proconsular imperium into ('greater proconsular power'). This form of proconsular imperium was applicable throughout the empire and in effect
gave Augustus constitutional power superior to all other proconsuls. Augustus stayed in Rome during the renewal process and obtained veterans' support for the renewal of his in 13 BC by providing them with lavish donations.
Additional powers Powers of the tribune During the second settlement, Augustus was also granted the power of a
tribune () for life, though not the official title of tribune. For some years, Augustus had been awarded , the immunity given to a tribune of the plebs. Now he decided to assume the full powers of the magistracy, renewed annually, in perpetuity. Legally, it was closed to
patricians, a status that Augustus had acquired when adopted by Julius Caesar. This power allowed him to convene the Senate and people at will, lay business before them, and veto their decisions, to preside over elections, and to speak first at any meeting. Augustus's amassing of tribunal powers caused the office of to lose prestige, so he revived its importance by making it a mandatory appointment for any plebeian desiring the praetorship.
Powers of the censor Also included in Augustus's tribunician authority were powers usually reserved for the
Roman censor; these included the right to supervise public morals and scrutinize laws to ensure that they were in the public interest, as well as the ability to hold a census and determine the membership of the Senate. There was no precedent within the Roman system for combining the powers of the tribune and the censor, nor was Augustus ever elected to the office of censor. Julius Caesar had been granted similar powers, wherein he was charged with supervising the morals of the state. However, this position did not extend to the censor's ability to hold a census and determine the Senate's roster. Appealing to patriotic sentiments, Augustus is alleged to have used censorial powers to ban
all attire except the classic
toga for those entering the Forum. However, the powers of the censorship may have only been temporary or even refused by Augustus.
Imperium over the city of Rome The Senate also granted Augustus sole within the city of Rome. Traditionally,
proconsuls lost their when they crossed the
pomerium—the sacred boundary of Rome—and entered the city. In these situations, Augustus held tribunician authority, but the consuls held greater authority. While others would usually obey his wishes owing to his , there might be some difficulty. In either 23 or 19 BC, the Senate voted that Augustus's ('superior proconsular power') should not lapse when he was inside the city walls. The city's armed forces had formerly been under the control of the urban praetors and consuls, but they now came under the sole authority of Augustus.
The Roman triumph After 19 BC, Augustus received credit for every Roman military victory, because the majority of Rome's armies were stationed in imperial provinces overseen by the , his provincial deputies. If a battle was fought in a senatorial province, Augustus's proconsular allowed him to take command and credit for any major victory. With few exceptions Augustus was the only individual who could receive a
triumph, a tradition that allegedly began with
Romulus, the legendary first
king of Rome. For celebrating his victory against the
Garamantes in
Roman Libya in 19 BC,
Cornelius Balbus was the last person outside Augustus's family to receive a triumph. Tiberius, Augustus's eldest stepson, received triumphs in 7 BC and AD 12, respectively for victories in Germania and Illyria (
Pannonia). For the latter campaign, his nephew
Germanicus instead received the ('triumphal honors'), a praetorship, and the ability to stand for the consulship despite his young age.
Diplomacy Augustus received emissaries from
as far east as India, and his court included political exiles from as far north as the
British Isles with the chieftains
Dubnovellaunus and
Tincomarus. Foreign embassies typically came to Augustus directly rather than to the Senate, though Augustus was careful to show respect to the Senate in certain cases. For instance, in 20 BC he referred
Parthian ambassadors to the Senate, but the latter sent them back to Augustus so they could negotiate solely with him instead. As with Roman client states and foreign countries, representatives from
provinces and semi-autonomous municipalities travelled to the emperor's court as his administration moved to different locations across the Empire. In AD 8, the elderly Augustus assigned the exhausting work of managing foreign embassies to three ex-consuls, granting them the power to make all decisions that did not require his or the Senate's oversight.
Conspiracy, titles, and the share of power of
Herculaneum, seated and wearing a
laurel wreath|alt=Augustus holds a scroll in his left hand. Many of the political subtleties of the second settlement seem to have evaded the comprehension of Augustus's plebeian supporters, leading them to insist upon his participation in imperial affairs and form violent mobs on occasion. When Augustus refused to stand for election as consul in 22 BC and traveled to Sicily on another tour of the Empire, the voted in his absence to have him serve as co-consul for the following year, despite not being one of the candidates. A riot occurred in Rome when only a single consul
Marcus Lollius assumed office on 1 January 21 BC and the factions of the two remaining candidates fought each other. Infuriated, Augustus summoned both candidates to Sicily and settled on having
one of them serve as Lollius's co-consul. A food shortage in Rome during 22 BC sparked widespread panic, as many urban plebs called for Augustus to take on dictatorial powers to personally oversee the crisis. After a theatrical display of refusal before the Senate, Augustus finally accepted authority over Rome's grain supply through the use of his existing proconsular , and ended the crisis almost immediately. Another food crisis in AD 8 prompted Augustus to establish a , a permanent prefect who was in charge of procuring food supplies for Rome. Augustus's expansive powers concerned some people, and this came to a head with the apparent conspiracy of Fannius Caepio. Some time prior to 1 September 22 BC, a certain Castricius provided Augustus with information about a conspiracy led by Fannius Caepio. The conspirators, among whom was the consul Murena in the Marcus Primus affair, were tried in absentia with Tiberius acting as prosecutor; the jury found them guilty, but it was not a unanimous verdict. All the accused were executed for treason as soon as they were captured—without ever giving testimony in their defense. Augustus ensured that the facade of republican government continued with an effective cover-up of the events. In 19 BC, the Senate granted Augustus proconsular powers in addition to those received in 23 BC, another instance of gaining power from offices he did not hold, now fully applicable to Italy and Rome. To assuage the restless populace, Augustus was allowed to wear the consul's insignia in public and before the Senate, to sit in the symbolic chair between the two consuls, and to hold the magisterial
fasces. On 6 March 12 BC, after the death of
Lepidus, he assumed the position of , the high priest of the College of Pontiffs. On 5 February 2 BC, the Senate gave Augustus the title ('father of the country'), which was then inscribed in various places in Rome such as the
Senate chambers in the
Forum Romanum. , at
Glyptothek, Munich|alt=Roman bust of Augustus wearing a laurel crown Historian
Ronald Syme wrote that Augustus's death could leave Rome subject to further civil war, given the
public memory of recent wars and Caesar's assassination. Possibly during the 20s BC and certainly by 18 BC, the Senate granted Agrippa proconsular imperium for five years, similar to Augustus's power, in order to accomplish constitutional stability. The grant probably covered Augustus's imperial provinces if not authority over senatorial provinces. Like Augustus, Agrippa was also granted the powers of the tribunate.
War and expansion By AD 13, Augustus's troops had proclaimed him 21 times following successful battles. The fourth chapter in his publicly released memoirs of achievements known as the is devoted to
his military victories and honors. Augustus also promoted the ideal of a superior Roman civilization, a sentiment the poet
Virgil attributed to a legendary ancestor of Augustus. All classes at Rome apparently sought
expansionism, and this impulse is accorded divine sanction in Virgil's
Aeneid, in which
Jupiter promises Rome ('sovereignty without end'). By the end of Augustus's reign, his armies had conquered northern Hispania (modern Spain and Portugal) and the
Alpine regions of
Raetia and
Noricum (modern Switzerland, Bavaria, Austria, Slovenia),
Illyricum and Pannonia (modern Albania, Croatia, Hungary, Serbia, etc.), and had extended the borders of
Africa Proconsularis to the east and south.
Judea was added to the
province of Syria when Augustus deposed the
client king Herod Archelaus. After the Senate assigned Syria to Augustus in 27 BC, it was governed first by legates under Agrippa and then by an equestrian high prefect. In AD 6 Augustus also appointed an equestrian governor in
Sardinia after
pirate raids necessitated the presence of troops stationed there. In 25 BC the Romans made
Galatia (part of modern Turkey) a province without any military effort after the murder of its king,
Amyntas, while in 19 BC Agrippa
incorporated Asturias and Cantabria in modern-day Spain under the provinces of Hispania and
Lusitania. This region proved to be a major asset in funding Augustus's future military campaigns, as it was rich in mineral deposits that could be fostered in Roman mining projects.
Conquering the peoples of the
Alps in 15 BC after the
disastrous defeat of Lollius was another important victory for Rome, since it provided a large territorial buffer between the Roman citizens of Italy and Rome's enemies in
Germania to the north.
Horace dedicated an ode to the victory, while the monumental
Trophy of Augustus was built in
La Turbie near Monaco to honor the occasion. , a successful military commander under Augustus who was designated as his heir and successor,
Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek, Copenhagen|alt=Roman bust of Tiberius The capture of the Alpine region also served the next offensive in 12 BC, when Augustus's stepsons Tiberius and Drusus launched offensives against the
Pannonian tribes of Illyricum and
against the Germanic tribes of the eastern
Rhineland, respectively.
Both campaigns were successful, as Drusus's forces reached the
Elbe River by 9 BC. Drusus died shortly after from an injury sustained by falling off his horse. Tiberius rushed from Italy to Germany to see his brother and escorted Drusus's body to Rome, where he and Augustus provided eulogies for Drusus. After
Illyrian tribes revolted in Illyricum in AD 6, Tiberius and Germanicus's forces quelled their rebellion in AD 9. This was the only major rebellion within Roman provincial territory since Augustus had become emperor, and by this point he had reduced the standing
Roman army from roughly 500,000 soldiers
during the civil wars down to 300,000 soldiers used
primarily for foreign conquests. To protect Rome's eastern territories from the
Parthian Empire, Augustus relied on eastern client states to act as territorial
buffers and areas that could raise their own troops for defense. Augustus stationed a Roman army in Syria, while Tiberius
negotiated with the Parthians as
Rome's diplomat to the East. Tiberius then restored
Tigranes V to the
Armenian throne in 20 BC, personally placing the crown on his head. Augustus negotiated with
Phraates IV of
Parthia in 20 BC for the return of the
battle standards lost by
Crassus in the
Battle of Carrhae, a symbolic victory and great boost of morale for Rome. Historians
Werner Eck and Sarolta Takács claim that this was a great disappointment for Romans seeking to avenge Crassus's defeat by military means. However, Augustus used the return of the standards as
propaganda symbolizing the submission of Parthia to Rome. The event was celebrated in art such as the breastplate design on the statue
Augustus of Prima Porta and in monuments such as the
Temple of Mars Ultor ('
Mars the Avenger') built to house the standards. After
Phraates V of Parthia managed to cleave Armenia away from Roman control, Augustus dispatched his grandson
Gaius Caesar with an army to Syria in 1 BC, mounting a diplomatic pressure campaign that in AD 2 convinced Phraates V to concede to Roman demands. ), depiction of the
Battle of the Teutoburg Forest, by
Peter Janssen, 1873|alt=A painting depicting a confrontation of armed soldiers in battle, with one riding atop a white horse Parthia posed a threat to Rome in
West Asia, but the more pressing concern was the battlefront along the
Rhine and
Danube rivers. During the triumvirate, Octavian's campaigns against the tribes in
Dalmatia were the first step in expanding Roman dominions to the Danube. Rome's enemies in
Germania almost constantly retook conquered territories. At the
Battle of the Teutoburg Forest in AD 9,
Arminius, the leader of the
Cherusci, destroyed three entire legions led by
Publius Quinctilius Varus. Augustus retaliated by dispatching Tiberius to the Rhineland to
pacify it in AD 10 and AD 11, and these campaigns had some success. However, Augustus advised Tiberius against further conquests after the defeat at Teutoburg, and the Romans abandoned
expansion into Germany beyond the Rhine. Although Augustus lamented the loss, his merely states that he pacified Germania up to the
mouth of the Elbe. Under Augustus's successor Tiberius, Roman general Germanicus took advantage of a Cherusci civil war between Arminius and
Segestes, defeating Arminius
at Idistaviso in AD 16. in the
Chera Kingdom of
Southern India, as shown in the
Tabula Peutingeriana, with depiction of a temple of Augustus ()|alt=Map depicting a settlement in Southern India Rome also experienced loss to the south in
Arabia Felix against the
Kingdom of Saba (in modern
Yemen). In 26 BC Augustus had
Gaius Aelius Gallus, prefect of Egypt, invade
South Arabia with Roman troops supported by
Jewish and
Nabataean Arab auxiliaries. They aimed to conquer the
Sabaeans or force them to accept client state status so that Rome could gain a share of their profitable
trade with India. Roman forces
laid siege to
Marib, but retreated to
Hejaz (under allied
Nabataean control) after a shortage of water supplies. This campaign might have been part of a failed attempt to flank the Parthian Empire, considering how Augustus encouraged
Tiridates II of Parthia to invade Mesopotamia and reclaim his throne the same year. Augustus ordered
Gaius Petronius, Aelius Gallus's successor as prefect of Egypt, to invade
Aethiopia, after
Queen Amanirenas of the
Kingdom of Kush (in modern
Sudan) invaded Roman Egypt in 24 BC and sacked
Aswan and
Philae. The Romans counterattacked, sacking
Napata in
Nubia before withdrawing, but Amanirenas invaded Egypt again in 22 BC and threatened
Primis (modern
Qasr Ibrim). After Petronius withstood a Kushite assault, Amanirenas sent diplomats to
negotiate a peace treaty with Augustus on the island of Samos. The treaty established
Maharraqa as the new border with Kush, lessened the amount of Roman tribute gathered from Kush, and guaranteed peaceful trade relations between Egypt and Nubia. In the
Maghreb of North Africa,
Cossus Cornelius Lentulus quashed a rebellion of the
Gaetuli against Juba II of Mauretania in AD 6. == Death and succession ==