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- #1. Caesar Augustus Became The Sole Ruler of Rome
- #2. He Increased Rome's Wealth
- #3. Influenced Titles And Forms Of Government For Over 1,000 Years
- #4. Transformed The City Of Rome From Ancient To Modern
- #5. Caesar Augustus Built A Large Road System
- #6. He Maintained A Standing Army
- #7. Caesar Augustus Established Peace
#1. Caesar Augustus Became The Sole Ruler of Rome
After the death of Julius Caesar, it surprised many that Octavian (Caesar Augustus) was named as Caesar's heir. The surprise ignited a war between three factions.
Mark Antony was Caesar's most trusted general, and many thought he would get the nod as heir. However, he did not, and after Caesar Augustus foiled his early attempt to take over the military, he sided with the new ruler and helped create the Second Triumvirate.
Although Marc Antony deserves most of the credit for the Battle of Phillippi, Caesar Augustus was part of the winning side and had eliminated his uncle's murderers, Brutus and Cassius.
He would defeat the son of Pompey and end any possible threat from an old enemy.
Soon, he and Antony would be at odds again, but his skill as a politician and Antony's carelessness and fondness for Cleopatra helped him paint the two of them as evil and him the hero.
He would end up defeating the couple's army at Alexandria. Afterward, he would find that Antony and Cleopatra passed away suddenly.
Despite his military victories, he could not proclaim himself the sole ruler of Rome. He had to play a political game that took years. In the end, he would be known as the first Emporer of Rome.
#2. He Increased Rome's Wealth
Caesar Augustus's public revenue reforms had a great impact on the subsequent success of the Empire.
Augustus brought a far greater portion of the Empire's expanded land base under consistent, direct taxation from Rome instead of exacting varying, intermittent, and somewhat arbitrary tributes from each local province as Augustus's predecessors had done.
This reform greatly increased Rome's net revenue from its territorial acquisitions, stabilized its flow, and regularized the financial relationship between Rome and the provinces rather than provoking fresh resentments with each new arbitrary exaction of tribute.
The measures of taxation in the reign of Augustus were determined by population census, with fixed quotas for each province.
Citizens of Rome and Italy paid indirect taxes, while direct taxes were exacted from the provinces.
Indirect taxes included a 4% tax on the price of slaves, a 1% tax on goods sold at auction, and a 5% tax on the inheritance of estates valued at over 100,000 sesterces by persons other than the next of kin.
#3. Influenced Titles And Forms Of Government For Over 1,000 Years
Augustus's reign laid the foundations of a regime that lasted, in one form or another, for nearly fifteen hundred years through the ultimate decline of the Western Roman Empire and until the Fall of Constantinople in 1453.
Both his adoptive surname, Caesar, and his title, Augustus, became the permanent titles of the rulers of the Roman Empire for fourteen centuries after his death, in use both in Old Rome and in New Rome.
In many languages, Caesar became the word for emperor, as in the German Kaiser and in the Bulgarian and subsequently Russian Tsar (sometimes Csar or Czar).
The cult of Divus Augustus continued until the state religion of the Empire was changed to Christianity in 391 by Theodosius I. Consequently, there are many excellent statues and busts of the first emperor.
#4. Transformed The City Of Rome From Ancient To Modern
Caesar Augustus transformed the city of Rome, and while Rome may not be viewed as modern today, it was a large step forward during his reign.
Rome's first institutionalized police force, fire fighting force, and the establishment of the municipal prefect as a permanent office.
The police force was divided into cohorts of 500 men each, while the units of firemen ranged from 500 to 1,000 men each, with 7 units assigned to 14 divided city sectors.
This allowed for civic stability, and with stability would come more wealth and innovation.
#5. Caesar Augustus Built A Large Road System
As he secured the finances, Caesar Augustus began to build roads and implement a courier system.
The building of roads is often overlooked, and their effects on the economy and national defense. The roads allowed the Roman Army to move at unprecedented speeds to keep the Empire safe from invaders and their borders strong.
The courier system allowed for quicker unification that would allow news to travel much quicker. This would be beneficial from military and civilian perspectives.
These roads also helped merchants move their goods quicker and allowed for quicker transportation of natural resources. This helped boost local economies that had overflows and could service the empire quicker without losing their leftover crop.
These roads would continue to be built after his death.
#6. He Maintained A Standing Army
With Rome's civil wars at an end, Augustus was also able to create a standing army for the Roman Empire, fixed at a size of 28 legions of about 170,000 soldiers.
This was supported by numerous auxiliary units of 500 non-citizen soldiers each, often recruited from recently conquered areas.
Maintaining a professional army created jobs for men and helped keep the army well-trained and the borders well-defended.
A Roman soldier became the standard of its day and was viewed with much fear and respect.
#7. Caesar Augustus Established Peace
Rome had been embroiled in civil war for decades. Prior to the civil war, the republic had endured the Punic Wars and fought against Carthage.
It had been a nation that knew war and did not know peace. Caesar Augustus brought peace and ushered in a time that became known as the Pax Romana.
As Tacitus wrote, the younger generations alive in AD 14 had never known any form of government other than the Principate. Had Augustus died earlier, matters might have turned out differently.
The attrition of the civil wars on the old Republican oligarchy and the longevity of Augustus, therefore, must be seen as major contributing factors in the transformation of the Roman state into a de facto monarchy in these years.
Caesar Augustus's own experience, patience, tact, and political acumen also played their parts. He directed the future of the Empire down many lasting paths, from the existence of a standing professional army stationed at or near the frontiers to the dynastic principle so often employed in the imperial succession to the embellishment of the capital at the emperor's expense.
Augustus's ultimate legacy was the peace and prosperity the Empire enjoyed for the next two centuries under the system he initiated.
His memory was enshrined in the political ethos of the Imperial age as a paradigm of the good emperor.