Augustus: Rome’s Greatest Emperor

this video is brought to you by squarespace whether it's a new year's resolution or a lifelong passion start your journey to website glory with squarespace check out their wonderful all in one platform through the link in the description below more on them in a [Music] bit he's likely one of the five most significant human beings to have ever lived gaius octavius commonly known as octavian spent his entire life at the beating heart of roman politics the great nephew of julius caesar he first supported his famous relative in his campaigns of conquest before later becoming the avenging angel who murdered caesar's assassins elevated leadership position in the second triumvirate he then fought a war with mark antony in cleopatra a war that determined the very fate of rome itself yet while that epic tale alone would be enough to fill any normal lengths video it was only a preamble to the real action because it wouldn't be as octavian that the boy's name went down in history but as augustus the first and greatest roman emperor although he never used the term emperor himself it was under augustus's watch that everything we associate with the roman empire came about it was he who dismantled the republic who transformed a sclerotic bureaucracy into a long-lived superpower and who became head of a family that would produce some of the most infamous rulers in all of history in today's very special double length episode biographics is delving deep into the life of octavian the boy who birthed the roman empire at the moment gaius octavius was born on september 23rd 63 bc it was into a world that was already on the verge of disappearing these were the last years that you could convince yourself life was normal in the roman republic the last years before the first triumvirate before caesar's wars before the bloody transition into the roman empire still no one witnessing the boy's birth could have possibly guessed that he would be the one to benefit from all this chaos that's not to say octavian came from humble circumstances the boy's father also called gas octavius was a member of the landed gentry at veletre who'd had the fortune to marry julius caesar's niece although julius caesar wasn't yet the historical colossus we know today he was certainly on his way colossus or not though octavia never saw much of great-uncle julius in his childhood and just to get this out of the way yes it is customary to call him octavius prior to 44 bc but since we're already doing one name change to augustus we're just going to call him octavian until then to avoid confusion when octavian was only 4 his father died leaving him to be educated by his grandmother julia minor julia minor was caesar's sister theoretically bringing octavia closer to one of rome's most powerful men but only theoretically even if caesar had paid much attention to the boy it's doubtful he'd have liked what he saw octavian was a weak sickly child who was overly attached to his mother all qualities the macho romans sneered at yet even as a boy octavian showed a knack for making friends with people who had strengths he was lacking people like the athletic powerful marcus agrippa but octavian also had another secret quality one which no one ever saw the boy harbored an ambition that burned so bright it could outshine the sun as octavian grew up he slowly began to gain some recognition in 51 bc julia minor died and he was chosen to deliver the oration at her funeral a few years later he became a member of the board of priests or pontificies a hugely desirable position but it would be the action of his great uncle that brought octavian to the heart of power in 50 bc the struggle for rome was reaching its epic climax on one side the general pompey and his supporters were trying to force julius caesar to give up governorship of gaul on the other caesar and marc anthony were trying to force pompeii out of politics it was the final act in the collapse of the first tromborette when it was over only one of the former comrades would be left standing and well you already know who that's going to be on january the 10th 49 bc caesar marched his troops across a small stream known as the rubicon and into history the boundary between sesalpine gaul and italy itself the rubicon was a big deal crossing it with an army automatically meant declaring war it was this declaration that made caesar's name when pompey got news of the invasion he fled italy leaving caesar to go chasing after him in the following years of bloodshed octavian begged to be allowed to fight alongside his great uncle but he was too young too much of a child for military life nonetheless two events did come out of the civil war that would transform octavian's fortunes the first was his friend marcus agrippa's brother being captured by caesar in north africa fighting for the pompeians when agrippa got the news he begged octavian to save his brother's life octavian duly asked caesar to forgive the boy and to everyone's surprise caesar agreed from that point on agrippa would be a die-hard octavian loyalist the second was more indirect while fighting caesar left his number two mark anthony in charge of rome itself unfortunately anthony was such a lazy frat boy that he almost caused a revolution when caesar returned in 46 bc he was so pissed that he sent antony into exile and just like that julius caesar was suddenly in need of a potential successor it was this need more than anything that would set octavian on the road to infamy with anthony off sulking in gaul octavian got to join caesar on the triumville procession for his african victory but this was just a quick breather because in 45 bc old julius galloped off again this time to espania to fight the sons of pompeii neues and sextus the plan was that young octavian would go off with his great uncle instead the boy was forced to watch in horror as his body betrayed him we mentioned earlier that octavian was sickly but maybe we need to take a moment here to emphasize just how sickly he was all his life he would be wracked by illnesses that would put him out of action for months or even years and left him stranded at death's door just shy of crossing the threshold it was one of these crippling illnesses that stopped him going with caesar but of course nobody in rome knew this they all thought he was just a coward this was a serious charge in ancient rome more damaging than it would be today it left octavian with no choice mustering the sort of willpower usually reserved for ultramarathons octavian forced his hurting body to leave his bed to leave rome to ride out to hispania to meet his great uncle by the time he got there the war was already won but it still turned out to be a wise move as caesar noted octavian couldn't possibly have known the outcome when he set off meaning there was every chance he'd ride into hispania and be massacred by pompei's sons in other words caesar was saying guys it turns out my great nephew is not a sniveling coward after all how about that the journey home was a mixed blessing for octavian though first the boy still only 18 got to ride in caesar's carriage which was a huge honor but then caesar decided to take a detour and patch things up with mark antony and it was anthony who rode with caesar the rest of the way home still it seems octavian had made a good impression it would be during this journey that caesar made the history changing decision to alter his will two thousand year old spoiler alert here it's not gonna end well for mark anthony back in rome he's handed octavian a plum role as a powerful administrator to help him learn the ropes of politics at the same time julius started acting more and more like an ancient king a that was lost on absolutely nobody across 45 bc he pushed the senate into extending his term as dictator and pulled pr stunts like having laurel crown secretly placed atop statues of him in the city come february 44 bc the senator decided the only way to stop caesar from literally becoming king was to assassinate him yet when the ides of march finally came octavian wouldn't be around to witness it that spring he and agrippa traveled to apollina in what's now albania to complete their military studies and there they were on march 15th when caesar's senators stabbed the dictator to death marc anthony on the other hand was in rome when the news broke he fled the city convinced that he would be next cicero uttered a famous phrase the ides of march was a fine deed but half done he meant that no one had killed anthony no one had traveled to appolina to murder octavian instead it confused anthony slung back in late march and resumed his consulship one of his first acts was to open caesar's will reading the contents must have been like being drop kicked in the nuts by caesar's ghost the will stipulated that octavian would be posthumously adopted by caesar not only that the boy would receive nearly all of his fortune the moment anthony read these words marked the beginning of a rivalry between the old soldier and octavian a bitter nasty rivalry that would shape rome's future for generations and it would only be over when one or both of the men was finally dead [Music] news of the ides of march forced octavian to make a life-changing decision should he return to rome or simply flee into the night at the impromptu council the boy held almost everyone was like ah dude you should definitely run these guys just killed your great uncle you're probably gonna be next dude but there was one exception marcus agrippa by now a powerful soldier declared this was ancient bull poop of the highest order he urged octavian to return to rome to be a man to claim his inheritance it would be far from the only time agrippa's advice saved octavian's butt that spring the boy returned to the eternal city to find events moving rapidly marc anthony had successfully whipped up the mob against the conspirators forcing assassins like cassius and brutus to flee rome less successful he also tried to make out like caesar had actually left his fortune to the roman people and definitely not posthumously adopted any heirs so when octavian realized the truth he also realized that anthony was gunning for him and this was bad news for anthony because one of the cardinal rules of ancient rome is don't with octavian especially not when you're already a walking pr disaster zone anthony's first major mistake was to try and make peace with the senate having riled up the mob this allowed octavian to tell the mob look guys he is betraying you and force anthony into a corner the second was to act so unstable that guys like cicero became convinced anthony was a danger to the republic and began promoting octavian as an alternative the third and probably biggest mistake anthony made was to go and invade salpine gaul the reasons why are slightly complex involving anthony's consulship ending and the senate wanting to pack him back off to macedonia but basically it was designed to be a show of force for the senate this was just too much anthony was declared an enemy of the state in early 43 bc the senate authorized octavian to take two legions into cesar being gaul and defeat the renegade general but since octavian was still young and untested they didn't put him in charge of the campaign instead the boy would have to serve under two consoles who would help keep him in line there's good reason we're not mentioning either of their names no sooner had octavian got to cesarpin gaul then he killed them both and seized control of the anti-antony forces so this must be it right the final showdown between the two masked armies of antony and octavian the epic battle for rome's future well not quite as the two men faced off across the jagged mountainous terrain they both seemed to have realized something important they could fight now wipe one another out and leave the victor to limp home to a smug and treacherous senate or or they could join forces and become unstoppable in october of 43 bc after a whole lot of negotiating octavian anthony and another caesar loyalist named marcus emelius lepidus met on a small island in a river there they spent two days hammering out a framework for their three-way alliance an alliance that would dominate rome for the next 13 years its name the second triumvirate amid the chaos of the octavian anthony showdown the flight of cassius and brutus to the east had kind of been well maybe not forgotten but certainly put to one side but now the championship fight had been postponed all lies were back on the traitors from its inception the second triumvirate made tracking down the assassins its top priority for that they were going to need some money the prescriptions of late 43 bc funded the coming war by randomly choosing 2 000 roman citizens to forfeit their property and lives but really there was nothing random about it every single one of those 2000 had pissed off either octavian anthony or lepidus lists of names were posted and anyone on those lists could be murdered without consequence in all 300 senators bit the dust alongside nearly 2 000 from the equates class middle class romans who owned land and had enough wealth to own their own armor and horses among the dead was anthony's old enemy and octavian's friend cicero whose badass death involved showing his assassins his neck and declaring get it right the first time with the slaughter over octavian and anthony headed east to kill the traitors leaving lepidus in charge of rome the republic that octavian and anthony temporary left in 42 bc was one as fractured as it had ever been brutus and cassius hadn't just fled east they now basically were the east controlling huge swaths of territory at the same time a much smaller force of republicans commanded the seas among them was pompeii's son sextus who'd miraculously escaped the war in hispania yet despite the circling sharks the second triumvirate was still strong strong enough that in september 42 bc they tracked down cassius and brutus and forced a battle sadly for octavian it was yet another moment when his body gave out leaving anthony the one to go marching out into battle and glory well almost just like when he dragged himself to hispania to be with caesar octavian managed to pull his broken frame onto the battlefield to witness their triumph amusingly the battle was actually a draw but cassius watching from a hillside could only see his own camp being captured and assuming he'd lost he committed suicide the following month octavian and anthony likewise blew through brutus's forces like some sort of divine wind when brutus ended his own life octavian removed his head and sent it back to rome to be displayed before a statue of caesar in the wake of their victory the trambears parted ways with octavian heading back to rome while anthony stayed in the east before they parted though octavian signed an agreement with his rival one which effectively split the republic in three most of the west except anthony's base of gaul went to octavian most of the east went antony and whatever crappy bits no one wanted were sort of chucked to lepidus well that's in theory at least in reality the republic was actually divided between four over in sicily sextus pompei was having the time of his life establishing his own kingdom and blockading rome's ports when octavian made it back to rome it wasn't to parade around in triumph but to deal with the massive headache caused by food shortages and riots he also had to deal with demobilizing his own troops which involved confiscating land for them to live on which triggered yet more riots and all the while anthony was off swanning around the east looking like the great hero he'd always fancied himself as at this stage if you're an outside observer you'd probably have assumed octavian was the weak link here in a modern world context his poles would be slumping snl would have hired a baldwin brother to impersonate him and he'd be repeatedly committing pr blunders like that time he held a banquet during a famine but as our era has repeatedly shown polls can be wrong in 41 bc octovian might have looked like he was on the ropes but in reality he was now only a decade away from becoming the most powerful man on earth unfortunately for you it doesn't take 10 years if you want to make a great website with today's sponsor squarespace it'll feel more like 10 seconds look it's the new year so whatever that thing you're thinking about doing is well it's time to do it with squarespace squarespace is the platform to use if you want to get started on that web project you're thinking about are you looking to get in and out quick without thinking too much about what your website should look like bam use one of their quick beautiful templates to make a website that is fresh and for you it's like it's right out of the box it's easy or maybe you're a person who's a bit more hands-on 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check it out so when you're ready to get started on that next project of yours big or small do it with squarespace go to squarespace.com for a free trial when you're ready to launch go to squarespace.com forward slash biographics and you'll get 10 of your first purchase of a website or a domain and let's get back to the boy who would be emperor although the second transvert would officially last until 33 bc it spent nearly its entire life on the edge of violent collapse it nearly fell apart in 41 bc as octavian was reeling from the blockade and riots some of anthony's relatives tried to overthrow the young triumvir but as we've already noted the cardinal rule of surviving rome is do not with octavian the boy and agrippa crushed the rebels afterwards octavian marched north and swiped antony's province of gaul for anthony this was like octavian had just kicked his way into his house pissed on his playstation 5 and molested his mother the general was livid so livid he tried to ally with sextus pompeii to finish the boy off so octavian got the drop on him actually marrying sextus's aunt scribonia to win him over and while we're probably not going to mention scribonia again in this video just know that she was far from a historical nobody one of her great-grandsons would become emperor caligula while her great-great-grandson would be emperor nero not bad for a two-line side character anyway the upshot of all of this was that anthony flew off the handle and laid siege to rome and octavian came out to fight him but by now everyone was so fed up with all of this civil warring that both of their legions refused to do battle they basically just said nah we're pretty tired guys just figure it out yourselves alright so once again a final battle between the two great rivals was averted instead anthony let octavian take back gaul while anthony married the boy's sister octavia that done the chamber negotiated peace with sextus and the moment it was agreed octavian divorced the hell out of poor old scrubonia on the exact same day she gave birth to his daughter julia and jacked up instead with livia drusilla since livia already had a child at this stage and that child was the future emperor tiberius this would turn out to be a fateful marriage after that it was right back to scheming and warring as anthony headed back east octavian tried his best to finally defeat sextus but while he might have been cunning he simply didn't have the tactical skills sextus ran or should we say sailed rings around him culminating in a 38 bc naval battle that nearly killed the boy in the midst of war the triumvirate's first term expired and anthony demanded they trade 120 of his ships for four of octavian's legions to keep the deal alive octavian being octavian was all like yeah sure thing did and took anthony's ships and then refused to send to many legions presumably or while laughing his ass off but what could anthony do by 36 bc octavian's fortunes were already turning his forces under marcus agrippa defeated sextus that year ending octavian's last challenge to power when fellow trambir labridas tried to claim sextus's old territory octavian removed him from his post and shunted him off to the important but powerless role of pontifex maximus lepidus wisely took the job without complaint that left only mark anthony standing between octavian and his ambitions luckily it was around this exact same time the wheels started to fall off the anthony train while octavian was finding his feet in rome anthony had been busy getting his butt kicked invading parthia and then parading around alexandria like a new pharaoh in waiting at this point ptolemaic egypt was still independent even if cleopatra relied on the graces of the romans to survive but once anthony shacked up with the queen he started doing stuff like declaring her son caesarean the offspring of cleopatra's time with julius caesar king of kings from a roman perspective this was the screw-up to end all screw-ups anthony was trying to kneecap octavian's claim to being caesar's only heir but the impression he gave off was of someone about to hand half of rome to a bunch of egyptian hicks it was beyond stupid now all octavian had to do was not make any mistakes of his own and the people would by default rally behind him and that's exactly what happened over the next few years octavian concentrated on shoring up support throwing public games while simultaneously spreading propaganda about anthony going native while anthony tried to fire back claiming octavian only became caesar's heir after seducing the old man he simply wasn't very good at this game when the triumvirate's second term expired at the end of 33 bc it was octavian who made a big song and dance about voluntarily giving up power leaving anthony looking like the evil tyrant unwilling to relinquish control of course octavian didn't actually give up anything more than a title he still wielded power like a dictator causing a third of the senate to leave rome and join anthony and alexandria but it was the public perception that really mattered and octavian was a master of the dark arts of ancient pr the climax to the now ex-trombo's war of words came in 32 bc that year anthony divorced octavian's sister an outrageous act of disrespect in response octavian stormed into the sacred temple where anthony's will was held and removed it it was a crazy move to disrespect a temple could have sent octavian's stock plummeting but then octavian read the will and realized his gamble had paid off anthony had bequeathed the entire east of the republic to the non-roman queen cleopatra an act of treason it was the death knell of anthony's support in rome soon after the senate authorized octavian to go to war but in the end it wouldn't be octavian who destroyed anthony it would be anthony's own bone-headed stupidity although anthony set off to fight at the head of a vast fleet he was too scared to just go charging in and invade italy so he hunkered his ships down in a bay on the ionian sea a bay which marcus agrippa then blockaded on behalf of octavian trapping anthony in a miserable siege over the next few months agrippa's blockade starved anthony as in they literally starved him many of his men died of malnutrition at the same time octavian funneled troops overland to cut off anthony's escape finally on september the 2nd 31 bc a weak and desperate anthony tried to smash the blockade with his remaining ships it would be a career-ending disaster the battle of actium was such a one-sided affair that it became synonymous with miserable defeat sort of like waterloo if napoleon had just been really really bad at war anthony's navy was annihilated although he and cleopatra managed to escape they lost everything her upsult in the wound octavian then offered clemency to the survivors allowing anthony's men to demobilize with honor the message was clear this is about anthony desert him now and you will be spared it was a message that would quickly find its audience all throughout the winter of 31-30 bc octavian and agrippa prepared for an invasion of egypt although the winds was in their sails they knew this could be a tough fight egypt was home turf anthony what would it take to break his rule in the end the answer was not much that spring octavian's forces advanced on egypt for the final assault as octavian himself pushed down overland through syria his vast navy descended on alexandria yet there would be little fighting at the sight of octavian and agrippa bearing down on them teeth bared and eyes blazing anthony's men muttered the latin equivalent of screw this and mass deserted by the time octavian reached the city his old rival had already committed suicide still octavian had his fun he had cleopatra brought before him made her beg for her life and then agreed to spare her but only after stripping her of everything and parading her in humiliation through the streets of rome rather than face this fate though cleopatra committed suicide after that all that was left for octavian was to have the teenage cesarean executed eliminating his last possible rival at last he was rome's unchallenged master so here we are then way over 20 minutes in about the time in any normal video where we'd thank you for watching thank the sponsor squarespace tell you to smash that like button and roll the credits but this isn't a normal video this is a video about octavian probably the most important figure in the whole history of rome a guy who did so much vital stuff that telling his story within a normal time frame would just be impossible we have already watched him change the course of history fighting through multiple civil conflicts we saw him avenge his uncle destroy marc anthony and take over the entire republic but as we warned you in the introduction this is only the beginning for the victorious octavian lording over a defeated egypt aged only 33 the real work was yet to come in the wake of octavian's victory the political map of the mediterranean was radically redrawn no longer were the western and eastern parts of the roman republic split into two zones of influence no longer was egypt independent although it hadn't exactly been absorbed into rome either instead egypt yep the whole of egypt became octavian's personal possession instantly making him one of the wealthiest men in history nor was it just egypt less than 30 months after anthony's bitter end the boy strong-armed the senate into granting him dominion over gaul hispania and syria in other words octavian now had his own private empire within the wider republic but it wasn't just on the maps that the state of play changed there were transformations behind the scenes as well most obviously this came in the slate of executions octavian ordered against anthony loyalists if you were the governor of some region that had sided with the dead general well sorry but now octavian was going to calmly add your body to his confirmed kill count no hard feelings that being said while octavian was ruthless as hell he was also capable of flashes of magnaminity a surprising number of anthony's old friends survived the purge surprising in the sense that the number wasn't zero including random historical crossover alert king herod the great but octavian's maneuverings went beyond just slaughter the entire political class was shaken up leaving only those loyal to or scared of octavian still the boy was always careful not to repeat julius caesar's mistake of actually making himself look like a tyrant in january 27 bc he even made a big deal of announcing his retirement from public life of course it was all a ruse the senate begged him to stay until octave was all like no all right then in a spasm of pathetic joy the senate responded by endowing him with the title of revered one or as we better know it augustus from this point on octavian the ruthless ambitious boy would vanish replaced by augustus the ruthless ambitious man and unlike with octavius earlier this time will likewise be changing the way we refer to him following his latest honor first citizen augustus left rome to tour his new possessions heading off de gaulle and hispania to fight some wars unfortunately his sickly body gave out once again and augustus spent more than a year laid up in hispania almost at death's door yet his recovery and return to rome in 24 bc would only be a respite in 23 bc augustus fell deathly ill even for a man who'd spent his entire life in a kind of protracted dance with the grim reaper this was next level staff everyone assumed that it was the end which was a serious problem unlike julius caesar before him augustus did not have an heir shaw had spent the last few years grooming both livia's son tiberius and his own nephew marcus claudius marcellus for the role but they were both still too young certain he was dying desperate to place the empire in the hands of someone he could trust augustus did the only logical thing he made marcus agrippa his heir this was an excellent choice agrippa was popular respected and on good terms with the senate possibly a little too good when the senator they were all like great don't let the door hit you on your way out augustus all right and this isn't a joke most of them would have been happy if the first citizen had died then and there sadly for them augustus clung onto life by a miracle and when he recovered he made sure to demonstrate once again that cardinal rule of rome on july the 1st 23 bc augustus effectively made the senate hand over its remaining power the moment they acquiesced is notable for being the last possible moment you can date the death of the roman republic to since it's not an exact science the end date of the republic is traditionally placed at either cicero's murder in 43 bc or octavian's transformation into augustus 16 years later although some people think that's jumping the gun no one has any doubt about where things lay by july of 23 bc however you cut it the roman republic was 100 dead and buried after augustus's latest power grab from now on our story is taking place within the roman empire [Music] the new empire got off to a rocky start at least on a personal level at the end of 23 bc augustus's nephew marcellus died leaving him suddenly short of bears with the docile senate clearly pining for agrippa the first citizen began to get paranoid by making his old friend his heir had he actually just created a dangerous new rival for himself but if you're expecting to now hear that augustus did a bit of classic roman empering and had a grip of fed to the lions just know that that's not how this particular story shakes out agrippa had been his best friend since childhood murder and open conflict were off the table if augustus was going to both neutralize the agrippa threat and keep his friend alive there was only one possible option the wedding of marcus agrippa took place in 21 bc his bride was augustus's 18 year old daughter julia remember her the baby was born literally the same day ogdavian divorced her mother to play the salami with livia with the gripper now his son-in-law augustus no longer had to worry about him getting any ideas not that agrippa ever would have he was steadfastly loyal to augustus as he always had been far from scheming his way to the top he was happy to settle down with julia and sire a bunch of kids one of these kids would become known to history as agrippina the elder when she grew up she'd marry a dude called germanicus and have her own boy named little boot so why are we telling you this well that's because the latin for little boot is caligula as in the utterly banana's future emperor honestly all these family tree digressions are one of the most fascinating aspects of augustus's later life at the same time he was laying the foundations for the empire he was also laying the foundations for the family that would shape its early fortunes tiberius caligula claudius nero these are names etched into history recognizable even 2 000 years later and it's all thanks to augustus's dynastic games that most of them ever existed speaking of laying the empire's foundations we should probably talk about augustus's reforms when the first citizen came to power roman bureaucracy was like a creaking old decaying ship just one more hole away from completely capsizing bribery was rampant the private tax collection system was so open to abuse that it encouraged extortion vital official positions changed hands yearly and were frequently political appointments meaning everyone running the show was mostly looking out for number one augustus threw the whole rotten system out it was augustus who brought in rome's first professional class of civil servants chosen on merit it was augustus who took not only tax collection into state ownership but also the city of rome's fire and police departments suddenly your house bursting into flames was no longer just your problem just as bad roads blighting the provinces were no longer just something for the hicks to whine about augustus upgraded the empire's infrastructure repairing old roads building new ones and instituting a standing navy to patrol the mediterranean protect ships granted this was all way less exciting than octavian and anthony chasing each other around the world and doing battle but you know what in the long run it was probably more important the realm that augustus took over was old and dysfunctional it might not have quite been on the verge of collapse but it also wasn't going to survive clear to 476 a.d without a serious overhaul well augustus was the guy who slapped it into shape and he did such a damn good job that even the appearance of multiple crappy emperors who followed him could not break it apart he turned the army into a professional fighting force paid for from the state treasury up to this point rome's armies had traditionally relied on their generals for money meaning guys like caesar or you know octavian effectively controlled legions free from oversight under augustus all of that changed incentives were removed for soldiers to place their loyalty in their leaders and replaced with incentives like pensions for veterans and care for the wounded to place their loyalty in the empire taken together these reforms transformed the empire all but guaranteeing it a long and healthy life sadly the major lesson here that statecraft relies as much on the boring stuff as the conquering and drama would be a lesson most of augustus's heirs forgot to learn [Music] the trouble with doing long videos like these even when they're twice the normal length is that it's all too easy to fall into portraying our subjects as either wholly good or wholly bad it saves time it streamlines the narrative and stops things from getting overly complex however that's not what history's actually like rarely are people just straight up awesome or totally incompetent sociopaths so having just talked up the first citizen let's tear him down a little by examining his darker side one of the least popular aspects of augustus's entire reign was morality laws today we have an image of rome as a pretty hedonistic place but that wasn't always the case especially not under a prude like augustus beginning in 18 bc the first citizen set off on a crusade against immorality including a controversial law that made adultery a crime against the state that meant adulterers could be punished in court and if they were female they could even be killed at the same time augustus tried to promote marriage bringing in additional laws designed to make unmarried life expensive miserable and not worth the effort the twist augustus himself was a serial adulterer screwing around rome like some sort of rich hypocritical rabbit another strike against the first citizen had to be the war in germania determined to expand the empire's borders all the way to elba augustus declared war against all the tribes to the north in 17 bc it would be a long bloody pointless affair eventually culminating in the battle of the teuteberg forest in 9ad it's one of the only times the roman army was thoroughly stomped by an outside force that stomping was so complete that it essentially ended roman expansionism right up until claudius invaded britain some 40 years later so yeah don't go thinking augustus's only deal was enlightened despotism and making the empire a better place but while all this important stuff was going on augustus's mind was laser focused elsewhere on the question that would preoccupy the rest of his reign ensuring that he had an heir with marcellus dead the first citizen still had tiberias to fall back on along with his stepson drusis but while they were fine lads they weren't blurred so augustus got right back to his old dynastic games first he forced both tiberias and dresses to marry into his wider family ensuring he'd have some link to their children and again we get to see the future unfold a bit here because dresses would father both germanicus aka caligula's dad and the future emperor claudius yeah we know this family tree is insane but still it is very cool to see how much the empire's first century is owed to augustus forcing everyone to marry each other the second thing augustus did was to adopt the two sons marcus agrippa had fathered with julia from a young age gaius and lucius were raised by augustus for the first citizen they must have been the perfect combination his blood via his daughter julia mixed with that of his eldest and most loyal friend how could things possibly go wrong sadly for the future of rome going very wrong was what things were about to be all about the first blow came in 12 bc that year marcus agrippa traveled to the balkans aged 51 to prepare for an upcoming military campaign while there he contracted a nasty disease and although his people tried to return him to rome he died on route when augustus got the news he was devastated riding out he accompanied the body on its journey back to rome where he ordered a gripper to be interred in his own mausoleum it's curious to imagine what must have been going through augustus's minds on that journey there right there was the body of the man who'd been with him since the beginning the guy who'd talked him into returning to rome following the ides of march who'd been the key to his triumph over anthony it's possible augustus was aware that his life had just crossed its own rubicon a point from which there was no going back with the grip of dead the first citizen was now on his own and while it wouldn't be all downhill from here it was certainly going to be difficult [Music] the death of marcus agrippa was followed with yet more bad news in 9 bc juices fell from his horse and died leaving augustus again short on airs although he was still raising agrippa's sons gaius and lucius they were both way too young to take over if another illness carried the first citizen away so augustus turned his attention fully onto tiberius promoting him and even making him marry agrippa's widow julia but augustus had forgotten or perhaps never learned a simple fact of human psychology people don't like being told what to do they don't like being forced to divorce their wives and marry older women they have nothing in common with the dumb abstract ideas all of which may be why in 6 bc tiberius abruptly upped and left he just went off to roads and refused to come back refused to have anything more to do with his stepdad augustus raged and exerted all the pressure he could but the always moody tiberius had simply had enough he was gone and that was that the wrench this threw into the works was big enough to destabilize everything although augustus began investing heavily in gaius and lucius it seemed fate was determined to laugh at him in the year 280 lucius died of an illness on route to gaul aged only 19. two years later 24 year old gaius went and got himself wounded during the siege of a town the wound got infected and well that was it for gaius now agrippa and julia had another son one born just after agrippa died but he grew up to be such a nasty violent bastard that augustus refused to even let him live in rome banishing him to a remote island and so it was that in 680 the first citizen came to a miserable realization if he wanted an heir he was going to have to beg tiberius to return for a guy who never had to beg for anything it must have been the most humiliating dish he'd ever had to swallow for tiberius though it was party time within a couple of years of flouncing off tiberius had realized it made a mistake but a combination of his own pride and augustus's epic grudge holding had kept him from coming back now though the moment of his tranquil return had at last arrived and this was something of a problem for everyone in rome because tiberius already had a bit of a reputation of being a massive he might not have been a monster but tiberius was surely uncooperative and egotistical so few people wanted tiberius on the imperial throne that augustus had to force him to adopt his dashing 20-year-old nephew germanicus meaning that no matter how crappy tiberius's reign was the next emperor after him would be a popular hero and you'll have to jump ahead and watch our tiberius and caligula videos to see just how badly fate screwed up that particular plan the return of tiberius to rome marks the effective end of augustus's time as a significant ruler sure he remained emperor for several more years and even found time to make an impact on the literary world both by writing deeds of the divine augustus and the exiling poet over for reasons that still remain tantalizingly mysterious but the main act of his life was over and by now the old man knew it in 980 augustus withdrew from public life pending most of the day-to-day running of state over to tiberius no sooner was he in charge than tiberius began a slow crackdown on people's rights that would foreshadow his own authoritarian regime but of course augustus wouldn't be around to see this in early 1480 augustus retired to a villa below mount vesuvius laying low again thanks to another recurrent bout with illness this time however there would be no miraculous recovery no return from the brink finally after a lifetime spent on the threshold of death augustus at last stepped through the door we can only hope that as he did so he saw his old friend marcus agrippa there on the other side waiting for him augustus died on august 19 14ad at the age of 76. at this point he had ruled rome for over four decades the longest reign of any emperor shaping the fortunes of the empire in ways that no one would ever replicate accordingly his funeral procession was enormous after his cremation the first citizen was deified as a god yet even then dead and buried augustus still had an impact on official policy augustus's will exhorted those who followed him to not expand the empire any further and with the exception of claudius conquering britain no other emperor would go against this until trajan arrived nearly a century later at the end of that epic life then what is left to say about the man once known as octavian without a doubt he remains one of the most important people to have ever lived excluding founders of religions he is very possibly the most important pick any other so-called great man of history whether they're napoleon bonahart abraham lincoln simon bolivar or genghis khan their brilliance is a mere pinprick of light next to that of augustus a firefly beside a supernova this is the guy who created the roman empire who laid the foundations for a superpower that would last another 450 years without augustus the whole of western history looks completely different household names like claudius and nero never even existed but even taking away the butterfly effect stuff augustus was a man who demands to be remembered as the first citizen himself once truthfully said i found rome a city of bricks and i left it a city of marble what better epitar could there be for the sickly young boy who grew up to be rome's first and greatest emperor so i really hope you found that video interesting it was a long one doing these is a big effort and you can support that effort by supporting our fantastic sponsor squarespace who i'm linking to below thank you for watching

Channel: Biographics

Views: 592,522

Rating: 4.9184575 out of 5

Keywords: biographics, biography, biographies, people, famous people, simon whistler

Id: Zw9le2od08k

Length: 44min 58sec (2698 seconds)

Published: Mon Jan 18 2021