Author Description

What's so special about Augustus?In this new, compelling book from author Alejandra Schwartz, find out more about Augustus...Augustus is considered the first emperor of the Roman Empire, which he ruled alone from 27?BC until his death in 14 AD. Born Gaius Octavius Thurinus, he was adopted posthumously by his great-uncle Gaius Julius Caesar in 44?BC via his last will and testament, and between then and 27?BC was officially named Gaius Julius Caesar. In 27?BC the Senate awarded him the honorific Augustus, and thus consequently he was Gaius Julius Caesar Augustus.The young Octavius came into his inheritance after Caesar's assassination in 44?BC. In 43?BC, Octavian joined forces with Mark Antony and Marcus Aemilius Lepidus in a military dictatorship known as the Second Triumvirate. As a triumvir, Octavian ruled Rome and many of its provinces. The triumvirate was eventually torn apart under the competing ambitions of its rulers: Lepidus was driven into exile, and Antony committed suicide following his defeat at the Battle of Actium by Octavian's fleet under the command of Agrippa in 31?BC.After the demise of the Second Triumvirate, Octavian restored the outward facade of the Roman Republic, with governmental power vested in the Roman Senate, but in practice retained his autocratic power. It took several years to determine the exact framework by which a formally republican state could be led by a sole ruler; the result became known as the Roman Empire. The emperorship was never an office like the Roman dictatorship which Caesar and Sulla had held before him; indeed, he declined it when the Roman populace "entreated him to take on the dictatorship".He was not known as what we would call "Emperor" in his lifetime; "Imperator" was simply a title given to an unusually successful general. But Augustus was given, among other titles, that of "princeps", "the first". Originally it had no royal connotations. By law, Augustus held a collection of powers granted to him for life by