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Name: _________________________
Social Studies 7
Date: _________________________
Period: ______
Emperor Augustus
Adopted by Julius Caesar,
Augustus (c.62 BC – 14 AD / Reigned
31 BC – 14 AD) had to fight for his
throne. His long rule saw a huge
expansion in the Roman
Empire and the
beginnings of a dynasty
that, over the next
century, would
transform Rome, for
better and worse. The
man who would become
one of Rome’s greatest leaders had
an unpromising start in life. Despite
prophesies of future greatness,
Augustus was a sickly child in a family
with few connections. His father died
when Augustus was four. His
prospects were bleak: Rome was
dangerous, engulfed by civil war
between power-hungry factions. One
of these was led by his great-uncle,
Julius Caesar.
Then Augustus got a
lucky break. In 46 BC,
Caesar won the civil war
and was named dictator of
Rome. To secure his
position, he needed an heir.
With no son of his own, he
adopted Augustus. This was
a fantastic opportunity for a
young man from nowhere.
Almost at once, however,
Caesar was dead –
murdered by his own
advisors. Augustus was just 19, but
immediately threw himself into the
backstabbing world of Roman
politics.
He formed a strategic alliance
with Marc Antony, a
successful and ambitious
general. Over the next
few years, they defeated
their enemies in Rome
and chased the survivors
to Greece, where they
finished them off in two
of the bloodiest battles in Roman
history. The killing over, the empire
was theirs and they divided the
spoils. Augustus kept Rome, while
Antony took Egypt. There he in love
with Cleopatra, Egypt’s beautiful
queen.
Romans feared that Cleopatra
wanted the throne for herself and his
relationship with her made Mark
Antony a hated man in Rome. His
alliance with Augustus
disintegrated but, before
Antony and Cleopatra could
strike Rome, Augustus
attacked. The Battle of Actium
in 31 BC destroyed threequarters of the Egyptian fleet.
Cleopatra and Marc Antony
killed themselves and, finally,
the Roman Empire now
included the land of the
pharaohs.
Back home, Augustus
was a hero. At the age of 32, he had
become Rome’s first Emperor,
promising to restore peace and
security. Winning the war had been
difficult, but was nothing compared
to the challenge of winning the
peace. He had divorced his wife and
married his pregnant
mistress, Livia. Many
immediately suspected
him of wanting to create
a dynasty to rule Rome
for generations to come.
To avoid Caesar’s
fate, Augustus charmed
the Senate and the
people by pretending to
give up power. But a series of
disasters panicked Romans. They
became convinced that only he could
save them and begged the Senate to
vote him absolute ruler. Augustus
agreed, but did so cleverly. He
convinced Romans that he was ruling
in the best traditions of the republic,
but actually was an absolute ruler
creating a dynasty. The Romans
bought it.
During his reign, Augustus
achieved a lot. He expanded the
empire, adding Egypt, northern Spain
and large parts of central Europe
before invading Germany. At home,
he spearheaded a conservative
approach that used the glory of
Rome’s past as a blueprint for its
future. But problems remained. He
was forced to banish his daughter
Julia for disagreeing with his
decisions.
What’s more, Augustus was
growing older and weaker. Despite
his successes, the plotting continued.
Everything that Augustus had worked
so hard to achieve was in
danger of collapsing as he
faced crisis after crisis,
both at home and abroad.
Nevertheless, Augustus
clung onto power for
another 10 years. When he
died, in 14 AD, the Senate
declared him a god. With
his two grandsons already
dead, power passed to his stepson,
Tiberius.
Augustus had ended 100 years
of civil war and achieved over 40
years of internal peace and
prosperity. His vision and power had
expanded the Roman Empire to
become far more than a collection of
countries. Instead, it was a diverse
society and enormous marketplace in
which people across Europe, north
Africa and the Middle East could
trade and travel under Rome’s
protection. He had won over the
Senate and founded a dynasty. But
this would feature as many villains as
heroes, and would take Rome on a
roller-coaster ride into assassination,
insanity and terror.