Augustus: First Roman Emperor

Gaius Octavius later known as August's is a figure often overshadowed by his great uncle and adopted father Julius Caesar he was the man who brought about the downfall of the Roman Republic and the rise of the Roman Empire this video will be split into five sections where I examine his personality early life rise to power achievements and my thoughts on what we can learn from him I'll mention that August's was actually called Caesar by his contemporaries but I'll be referring to him as Octavian or august's to avoid confusion August's was described to be ambitious intelligent a man who can be COO but also wise and fair his cruelty is mostly attributed to his behavior during his ascension to power he killed anyone who posed a political threat to him including the seventeen-year-old cesarean who was allegedly the son of Julius Caesar and Cleopatra it is possible that August's showed no mercy to us enemies after seeing how Caesar's assassination was committed by people that he had spared after consolidating his power august's turned into a fair and moderate ruler during his rule Rome was transformed into a stable and prosperous Empire spanning from modern-day Portugal to Syria Roman historian Suetonius had this to say about Estes he was unusually handsome and exceedingly graceful at all periods of his life though he cared nothing for personal adornment his expression whether in conversation or what he was silent was calm and mild his teeth were wide apart small and ill-kempt his hair was slightly curly and inclining to Godin his eyebrows met his complexion was between dark and fair he was short of stature but this was concealed by the fine proportion and symmetry of his figure Octavian was born on the Palatine Hill in the city of Rome on September 23rd 63 BC his given name was Gaius Octavius thoroughness his family name was Octavia they were a respected plebeian family but later became patrician thanks to their connections with Julius Caesar Octavian's mother was a TIA who was the nephew of Julius Caesar making Caesar the great uncle of Octavian Octavian's father was also named Gaius Octavius his highest achievement was becoming the governor of Macedonia he died in 59 BC when Octavian was just four years old Octavian grew up with formal aristocratic training learning how to speak both Latin and Greek and also taking oratory lessons he first caught the attention of Julius Caesar when delivering the funeral oration for his grandmother who also happened to be Caesars sister after Caesar defeated Pompey in the Battle of Pharsalus Octavian was 15 years old and Caesar appointed Octavian as the prefect of Rome Octavian would accompany season on many trips including a campaign to Hispanic Caesar later sent Octavian and some of his friends including marcus vipsanius agrippa and Gaius masoner's to Macedonia to study he had also nominated Octavian to become the master of the horse basically the second most powerful position in Rome after the dictator himself unfortunately this promotion never came when Caesar was assassinated in 44 BC Caesars will dictated that he will adopt Octavian as his son and heir and therefore all of his estate and power belonged to him Octavian immediately sailed for Rome despite his advisers telling him to hide in Macedonia when Octavian sailed back to Italy he learned about the contents of Caesars will and decided that he will carry on Caesars name and political legacy he changed his name to Gaius Julius Caesar and claimed 700 million sesterces that was supposedly kept for a potential war with parthia even though he was just 19 years old at the time he demonstrated strong leadership skills and with his newly acquired funds he was able to raise a small army on his march through Italy to Rome many of his soldiers were Caesars veterans when Octavian arrived in Rome the situation was complicated mark-anthony granted amnesty to the assassins and two of the main assassins Marcus Brutus and Cassius Longinus fled to the eastern provinces and assumed control there Mark Antony was consult but he had a terrible relationship with the Senate during this time Octavian continued to build his private army even winning over two of Antony's legions with monetary incentive after his consulship ended Antony decided that Rome was getting too hot for him and retired to sis Alpine Gaul to be a governor however I'm forgetting to Cisalpine Gaul the men in charge Decimus Brutus a different Buddhist by the way refused to give up the province Antony then began a siege Decimus Brutus was one of Caesars assassins therefore the Senate was on his side peace talks failed and the Senate declared Anthony an enemy of the state the Senate didn't have a sizeable army to fight Antony but Octavian did ok VI agreed to team up with the Senate and both consoles of the year 43 bc went with him to seize alpine goal Antony was defeated at the Battle of Mutina and the battle resulted in the death of both consoles after the victory the Senate asked Octavian to give control of his army to Decimus Brutus Octavian disagreed and then suddenly changed sights he demanded consulship since both consoles are now dead and also to appear the order that declared Antony an enemy of the state the Senate refused and in turn Octavian marched his army on to Rome the Senate didn't have an army so they were forced to comply with all of Octavian's demands meanwhile Antony had formed an alliance with a man called Marcus emelius Lepidus who control the province of hispania instead of fighting them Octavian decided to join them forming the second triumvirate they said he motion a series of prescriptions worth 300 senators and 2,000 equities were labeled as outlaws and all of their possessions confiscated this was not exactly an ethical thing to do but they probably did this to make some quick cash for their upcoming war with Brutus and Longinus around this time Caesar was elevated to the status of a god and Octavian added Divi filius to his name the son of God Octavian and Antony set off to fight the assassins the decisive battle of Philippi and 42 BC resulted in the suicide of both Buddhists and Longinus the triumvirate then divided up the provinces of Rome Octavian got the western provinces while Anthony got the eastern provinces Lepidus was the weaker man in the triumvirate and ended up getting only the province of North Africa in 36 BC a conflict in Sicily resulted in Lepidus men defecting to Octavian and the expulsion of Lepidus from the triumvirate now the Empire was divided between Octavian and Antony there were some efforts of compromise between the two men for example Octavian gave his sister Octavia to Marc Anthony to be his wife however when it comes to political power there can only be one Sun in the sky Antony eventually sent Octavia back to Rome and instead focused on his relationship with Cleopatra who he has been boning for quite a while now Octavian used this act to spread propaganda saying how Antony has lost his Roman ways Octavian's efforts succeeded in in 32 BC the Senate declared war on Cleopatra's regime in Egypt which basically means that they declare war on Mark Antony after Octavian and his generals won the naval battle of Actium Cleopatra and Mark Antony committed suicide leaving Octavian as the most powerful man in the Republic Octavian did not become dictator immediately he had to obtain his power piecemeal after a series of political maneuvers known as the first and second settlements Octavian was able to consolidate power under the so called Principate which is basically a dictatorship that preserves some illusions of a republic to avoid looking like a dictator Augustus stylized himself as princeps civet heiress meaning the first citizen of the state during this time Octavian changes name to Imperator Caesar DB filius Augustus in the year nineteen BC Augustus was officially given Imperium Maius meaning supreme power Augustus assured in a golden age for the Roman civilization Roman economy arts and agriculture flourished the Roman Empire continued its expansion in there Augustus conquering territories in modern-day Spain Portugal Switzerland Germany Austria Slovenia Albania Croatia Hungary and Serbia Augustus was able to negotiate a temporary peace when the Parthians who had been at war with Romans for hundreds of years Augustus created an institutionalized police and firefighting Force and established the Praetorian Guard which would become an important political faction in the Roman Empire Augustus made tax reforms which stabilized tax rates and greatly increased Rome's Treasury Augustus passed laws to raise birth rates which included making adultery illegal offering tax incentives for families with three or more children and penalties for childless marriages Augustus strictly followed his own laws and even exiled his own daughter Julia the outer for adultery there were many major construction projects during the reign of Augustus including the temper of Caesar the baths of Agrippa and the forum of Augustus he also supported the construction of the famous Pantheon which still stands today there were also numerous minor construction projects and Augustus claimed to have built or restored eighty-two temples in a single year one interesting change Augustus made directly impacts our society today he changed the name of the eighth month of the year to August in conclusion in the 40 years Augustus ruled as an emperor Rome was transformed into a stable peaceful and prosperous Empire he set the foundations for a civilization which would be more or less peaceful for more than 200 years Augustus died a modern-day NOLA Italy on August 19th 14 80 at the age of 75 there are a few variations on his death some say Augustus died from natural causes of old age others say that his wife poison him and others say that August is amid a suicide with the help of his wife so that there will be a smooth transition of power from himself to Tiberius his abducted son and second Roman Emperor publicly his last words were I found Rome a city of bricks and leptin a city of marble one possible variation of his real last words were have I played the part well then applaud as I exit from Augustus we see an ambitious young man who fought his way to become the world's most powerful man through a combination of risk-taking political and military skill and of course luck from his actions we see a man who can be brutal and merciless but not brutal to the point of a psychopath Augustus never killed for amusement or out of anger or impulse but killed only for political reasons he was a leader raising armies from the age of 19 a capable ruler proven by his 40 years of stable and prosperous rule he was extraordinarily wealthy but cared little for luxuries and did not scorn their money in fact he donated large sums of money to the Roman Treasury he financed the construction of public buildings he kept an open mind to art and philosophy and allowed some free speech there are quite a few things we can learn from the life of Augustus first age is only a number Augustus was putting his life on the line competing for political power before he even turned 20 for those of you guys watching who are in high school or college don't feel like you're too young to achieve anything maturity is not a product aging but a product of life experience - fortune favors the bold there's no doubt that luck was on Octavian's side many times during his accession to power however I would argue the reason Octavian became the Emperor is not because of luck but mainly because of his ambition and willingness to take risks he was badly injured numerous times and probably had many near-death experiences didn't stop him from achieving his goals 3 have patience and keep your ego in check after Octavian defeated Mark Antony he didn't try to grab supreme power immediately he was patient and made deals with the Senate to consolidate his power even after obtaining supreme power he did not ask the people to worship him but rather presented himself as a servant to the Roman civilization this garnered more respect from the people and is probably one of the reasons he was able to rule peacefully for 40 years I think can tell that I have a positive opinion of Augustus I believe that he was a great man who made a tremendous impact on the world what is your opinion of Augustus do you think he was a good ruler or maybe you think of him as a tyrant do some research of your own and let me know what you think thank you for watching [Music]

Channel: Jack of War

Views: 335,880

Rating: 4.8613453 out of 5

Keywords: roman republic, roman empire, augustus caesar, divi filius, imperator augustus, roman emperor, history of roman empire, downfall of the roman republic, mark anthony and augustus, battle of actium, battle of philippi

Id: Fzv8PGXqwyE

Length: 13min 4sec (784 seconds)

Published: Thu Apr 06 2017