Augustus

Augustus (Imperator Caesar Divi filius Augustus; 23 September 63 BC – 19 August AD 14) was a Roman statesman and military leader who became the first emperor of the Roman Empire, reigning from 27 BC until his death in AD 14.

Civil wars and proscriptions continued, culminating in the victory of Octavian, Caesar's adopted son, over Mark Antony and Cleopatra at the Battle of Actium in 31 BC.

Augustus (Imperator Caesar Divi filius Augustus; 23 September 63 BC – 19 August AD 14) was a Roman statesman and military leader who became the first emperor of the Roman Empire, reigning from 27 BC until his death in AD 14.

The Roman Empire emerged with the end of the Republic and the dictatorship of Augustus.

Along with Mark Antony and Marcus Lepidus, he formed the Second Triumvirate to defeat the assassins of Caesar.

The Second Triumvirate is the name historians have given to the official political alliance of Augustus Caesar (Octavian), Marcus Antonius (Mark Antony), and Marcus Aemilius Lepidus, formed on 27 November 43 BC with the enactment of the Lex Titia, the adoption of which some view as marking the end of the Roman Republic, whilst others argue the Battle of Actium or Octavian becoming Caesar Augustus in 27 BC.

Along with Mark Antony and Marcus Lepidus, he formed the Second Triumvirate to defeat the assassins of Caesar.

After Caesar's death in 44 BC, Antony joined forces with Marcus Aemilius Lepidus, another of Caesar's generals, and Octavian, Caesar's great-nephew and adopted son, forming a three-man dictatorship known to historians as the Second Triumvirate.

Augustus was born Gaius Octavius into an old and wealthy equestrian branch of the plebeian gens Octavia.

Over the following two centuries, the Octavii held many of the highest offices of the state; but the most celebrated of the family was Gaius Octavius, the grandnephew and adopted son of Caesar, who was proclaimed Augustus by the senate in 27 BC.

Along with Mark Antony and Marcus Lepidus, he formed the Second Triumvirate to defeat the assassins of Caesar.

Marcus Aemilius Lepidus (c. 89 or 88 BC – late 13 or early 12 BC) was a Roman patrician and statesman who was a part of the Second Triumvirate alongside Gaius Julius Caesar Octavianus (the future Augustus) and Marcus Antonius, and the last Pontifex Maximus of the Roman Republic.

Lepidus was driven into exile and stripped of his position, and Antony committed suicide following his defeat at the Battle of Actium by Octavian in 31 BC.

The Battle of Actium was the decisive confrontation of the Final War of the Roman Republic, a naval engagement between Octavian and the combined forces of Mark Antony and Cleopatra on 2 September 31 BC, on the Ionian Sea near the promontory of Actium, in the Roman province of Epirus Vetus in Greece.

Following their victory at the Battle of Philippi, the Triumvirate divided the Roman Republic among themselves and ruled as military dictators.

The Battle of Philippi was the final battle in the Wars of the Second Triumvirate between the forces of Mark Antony and Octavian (of the Second Triumvirate) and the leaders of Julius Caesar's assassination, Marcus Junius Brutus and Gaius Cassius Longinus in 42 BC, at Philippi in Macedonia.

The reign of Augustus initiated an era of relative peace known as the Pax Romana.

It is traditionally dated as commencing from the accession of Caesar Augustus, founder of the Roman principate, in 27 BC and concluding in 180 AD with the death of Marcus Aurelius, the last of the "good emperors".

The resulting constitutional framework became known as the Principate, the first phase of the Roman Empire.

Civil war engulfed the Roman state in the mid 1st century BC, first between Julius Caesar and Pompey, and finally between Octavian and Mark Antony.

He rejected monarchical titles, and instead called himself Princeps Civitatis ("First Citizen of the State").

It is primarily associated with the Roman emperors as an unofficial title first adopted by Augustus in 23 BC.

Following their victory at the Battle of Philippi, the Triumvirate divided the Roman Republic among themselves and ruled as military dictators.

Caesar's heir Octavian and lieutenant Mark Antony defeated Caesar's assassins Brutus and Cassius in 42 BC, but then turned against each other.

The resulting constitutional framework became known as the Principate, the first phase of the Roman Empire.

Beginning with the first emperor, Augustus, the emperor and the senate were theoretically two co-equal branches of government.

He was succeeded as emperor by his adopted son (also stepson and former son-in-law) Tiberius.

Tiberius (Tiberius Caesar Divi Augusti filius Augustus; 16 November 42 BC – 16 March 37 AD) was the second Roman emperor, reigning from 14 AD to 37 AD, succeeding Augustus.

However, there were unconfirmed rumors that his wife Livia poisoned him.

Livia Drusilla (Classical Latin: Livia•Drvsilla, Livia•Avgvsta ; 30 January 59/58 BC – 28 September AD 29), also known as Julia Augusta after her formal adoption into the Julian family in AD 14, was the wife of the Roman emperor Augustus throughout his reign, as well as his adviser.

He reformed the Roman system of taxation, developed networks of roads with an official courier system, established a standing army, established the Praetorian Guard, created official police and fire-fighting services for Rome, and rebuilt much of the city during his reign.

With the republic's transition into the Roman Empire, however, the first emperor, Augustus, founded the Guard as his personal security detail.

He reformed the Roman system of taxation, developed networks of roads with an official courier system, established a standing army, established the Praetorian Guard, created official police and fire-fighting services for Rome, and rebuilt much of the city during his reign.

In the Itinerary of Antoninus, the description of the road system, after the death of Julius Caesar and during the tenure of Augustus, is as follows:

Its framework was based on Roman and Greek precedents, and was formulated during the early Principate of Augustus.

He reformed the Roman system of taxation, developed networks of roads with an official courier system, established a standing army, established the Praetorian Guard, created official police and fire-fighting services for Rome, and rebuilt much of the city during his reign.

The Emperor Augustus created it to transport messages, officials, and tax revenues between the provinces and Italy.

He reformed the Roman system of taxation, developed networks of roads with an official courier system, established a standing army, established the Praetorian Guard, created official police and fire-fighting services for Rome, and rebuilt much of the city during his reign.

The privately operated system became ineffective, so in the interest of keeping himself and Rome safe, Augustus instituted a new public firefighting force called the Vigiles.

He reformed the Roman system of taxation, developed networks of roads with an official courier system, established a standing army, established the Praetorian Guard, created official police and fire-fighting services for Rome, and rebuilt much of the city during his reign.

The cohortes urbanae (Latin meaning urban cohorts) of ancient Rome were created by Augustus to counterbalance the enormous power of the Praetorian Guard in the city of Rome and serve as a police force.

While his paternal family was from the Volscian town of Velletri, approximately 40 km from Rome, Augustus was born in the city of Rome on 23 September 63 BC.

Velletri was also the home of the Octavii, the paternal family of the first Roman Emperor Augustus.

He was born at Ox Head, a small property on the Palatine Hill, very close to the Roman Forum.

From the time of Augustus Imperial palaces were built here.

Augustus dramatically enlarged the Empire, annexing Egypt, Dalmatia, Pannonia, Noricum, and Raetia, expanding possessions in Africa, and completing the conquest of Hispania, but suffered a major setback in Germania.

Little is known of Pannonia until 35 BC, when its inhabitants, allies of the Dalmatians, were attacked by Augustus, who conquered and occupied Siscia (Sisak).

He also built the Temple of Caesar, the Baths of Agrippa, and the Forum of Augustus with its Temple of Mars Ultor.

The temple was begun by Augustus in 42 BC after the senate deified Julius Caesar posthumously.