Augustus

Also known as: Caesar Augustus / Thurinus / the Divine Augustus · Family: Julio-Claudian house · Role: Roman emperor · First appears: Julius Caesar 56

Born on the Palatine Hill, Augustus was the son of Caius Octavius and Atia, and the brother of Octavia the younger. His father died when he was four; at twelve he delivered a funeral oration for Julia (sister of Julius Caesar), winning the growing affection of his uncle Julius Caesar, who later honoured him with military rewards and named him heir. He first bore the surname Thurinus, then assumed the names Caius Caesar and Augustus, while forbidding the publication of some of Julius Caesar’s youthful works through Pompeius Macer and consecrating games to his memory.

After returning from Apollonia and taking possession of his inheritance, Augustus governed first with Mark Antony and Marcus Lepidus, then with Mark Antony alone, before holding the government in his own hands for forty-four years. His civil wars carried him from Modena against Mark Antony, through Philippi against Brutus and Cassius, Perugia against Lucius Antonius, Sicily against Sextus Pompeius, and finally Actium against Mark Antony. He also worked with Decius Brutus against Mark Antony’s forces, defeated Pompey at sea, stripped Marcus Lepidus of command and banished him, and ultimately conquered Alexandria, where Mark Antony and Cleopatra had fled. He allowed them to be buried together, but ordered the death of Caesario.

As ruler, Augustus reorganized the army, provinces, courts, senate, elections, citizenship, and public finances, and established posts, fleets, city watches, roads, temples, libraries, and colonies. He restrained public entertainments, punished some actors, prosecuted conspiracies involving Lepidus, Varro Muraena, Fannius Caepio, Marcus Egnatius, Plautius Rufus, Lucius Paulus, Lucius Audasius, Asinius Epicadus, and Telephus, and advanced freedmen such as Licinus, Enceladus, and C. Julius Hyginus. He supported Asprenas Nonius and Scutarius in court, rewarded T. Vinius Philopoemen, appointed Cornelius Gallus prefect of Egypt before banishing him from his house and the provinces, and maintained friendships with Agrippa, Mecaenas, and Horatius Flaccus, whom he offered a secretaryship without displeasure when he refused. He also received instruction from Apollodorus of Pergamus and Sephaerus, and brought Areus, Dionysius, and Nicanor into his family.