70 Fun Facts About Augustus

What was Augustus's birth name?

He was born Gaius Octavius on 23 September 63 BC; historians call him Octavian for the years after the dictator's death, though there is no evidence he used that name himself.

Augustus founded which dynasty of Roman emperors?

Augustus founded the Julio-Claudian dynasty, named for the Julian and Claudian families it united; it ruled Rome until the death of its last emperor in AD 68.

On which of Rome's hills was Octavius born in 63 BC?

Suetonius records that he was born on the Palatine, at a spot called Ox Heads; his house as emperor, the Domus Augusti, later stood on the same hill.

Suetonius links the infant's cognomen Thurinus to his father's victory over runaway followers of whom?

Suetonius says the cognomen Thurinus recalled the victory of Augustus's father over a band of runaway slaves, remnants of Spartacus's army, near Thurii in southern Italy.

Octavius's mother Atia was what relation to Caesar?

Atia was his niece, Caesar's sister Julia being her mother; at Julia's funeral in 51 BC the twelve-year-old Octavius delivered the oration, his first public appearance.

Where was Octavius when Caesar was assassinated in March 44 BC?

Octavius was studying at Apollonia, in Illyria, alongside the legions Caesar had gathered for his planned eastern campaign; on hearing the news he sailed to Italy to test his prospects.

What share of Caesar's estate did his will leave to Octavius?

Caesar's will left three-quarters of his estate to Octavius, with the remaining quarter shared by two other great-nephews, Quintus Pedius and Lucius Pinarius.

How old was Octavian when he marched on Rome and became consul in August 43 BC?

He was Rome's youngest elected consul; his co-consul Quintus Pedius set up a tribunal that convicted Caesar's assassins in absentia.

With Mark Antony and which third man did Octavian form the Second Triumvirate in 43 BC?

Octavian, Antony and Marcus Aemilius Lepidus formed the Second Triumvirate in November 43 BC; the lex Titia gave the three men supreme power for five years.

The three triumvirs first met to seal their alliance near which city in October 43 BC?

The triumvirs met on a small river island near Bononia, modern Bologna, in late 43 BC; Octavian sealed the pact by a betrothal to Antony's stepdaughter Claudia.

According to Appian, roughly how many members of the Senate did the triumvirs' proscriptions condemn?

Appian puts the proscription lists at about 300 members of the Senate and 2,000 equestrians, among them Cicero; their estates were seized to pay the triumvirs' legions.

At which 42 BC battle did Antony and Octavian defeat Caesar's assassins Brutus and Cassius?

At Philippi in Macedonia, in October 42 BC, two battles three weeks apart ended with the suicides of first Cassius and then Brutus.

Where was Octavian during the first battle against Caesar's assassins, earning Antony's jibe of cowardice?

Octavian was ill in bed, away from the command, during the first battle; Brutus's men overran his camp, and he later claimed a friend's dream had warned him to leave his tent.

Who was the mother of Octavian's only surviving child, Julia?

He divorced her on the very day Julia was born, in order to marry Livia.

When Octavian fell for Livia, she was already married and pregnant by which man?

Livia was the wife of Tiberius Claudius Nero and pregnant by him with Drusus; she gave birth on 14 January 38 BC and married Octavian three days later.

After the siege of Perusia in 40 BC, Octavian executed prisoners on which symbolic date?

Suetonius says the prisoners were slaughtered on the Ides of March, the anniversary of Caesar's murder, at an altar to the deified Julius; the reprisal stained Octavian's reputation for years.

The renegade Sextus Pompey used which island as the base for his blockade of Italy?

Sextus Pompey held Sicily from 42 BC and used its fleet to choke Italy's grain supply; the resulting food riots in Rome saw a hungry mob attack Octavian and Antony.

At which battle in September 36 BC was Sextus Pompey's fleet all but destroyed?

At Naulochus, on 3 September 36 BC, Octavian's admiral sank or captured most of Sextus Pompey's ships; Sextus fled east and was executed the following year.

After forcing Lepidus into retirement in 36 BC, Octavian let him keep which office for life?

Lepidus kept the office of pontifex maximus until his death in 12 BC; only then did Augustus take the chief priesthood himself.

In which year was the Battle of Actium fought?

The Battle of Actium was fought on 2 September 31 BC off the west coast of Greece, where Octavian's fleet routed the combined navy of Antony and Cleopatra.

Which naval commander won the Battle of Actium for Octavian?

Marcus Vipsanius Agrippa commanded Octavian's fleet at Actium, as he had against Sextus Pompey; he later married Julia and was raised to powers almost equal to the emperor's.

What city did Octavian found near the site of the Battle of Actium?

Octavian founded Nicopolis, 'victory city', on the site of his camp across the gulf from Actium, and held games there every four years to commemorate the battle.

After its conquest in 30 BC, Egypt was treated as what?

Egypt became in effect Octavian's personal property, governed by an equestrian prefect answerable to him alone; its wealth paid his soldiers and cleared his civil-war debts.

Which group did Augustus forbid to travel to Egypt?

Augustus barred senators from entering Egypt without his leave, fearing that whoever held its grain could starve Rome; he never visited the country again after 30 BC.

What does the honorific title 'Augustus', granted by the Senate in January 27 BC, mean?

Augustus means 'the revered' or venerable one, a word of religious rather than political flavour that set him above ordinary men without making him a king.

Which name was proposed for Octavian in the Senate before it settled on 'Augustus'?

Some in the Senate suggested Romulus, as a second founder of Rome, but the name smacked of kingship, and on Munatius Plancus's motion the Senate chose Augustus instead.

The golden shield the Senate awarded him in 27 BC listed four virtues: valor, piety, justice and what?

The golden clipeus virtutis honoured his virtus, clementia, iustitia and pietas, so the fourth virtue was clemency; the shield hung in the Curia Julia.

From 26 to 24 BC Augustus governed the Empire from which town in Roman Spain?

Augustus made Tarraco, modern Tarragona, his residence while directing the Cantabrian War in northern Spain; he fell ill there and returned to Rome in 24 BC.

Which personal physician nursed Augustus through his near-fatal illness of 23 BC?

Antonius Musa, a freedman physician, cured Augustus with cold baths and cold compresses; the Senate rewarded him with money and granted freedom from taxes to physicians.

Which nephew of Augustus, married to his daughter Julia, died in 23 BC and has a theatre named for him?

Marcellus, son of Augustus's sister Octavia, married Julia in 25 BC and died in 23 BC; the Theatre of Marcellus beside the Tiber was dedicated in his memory.

In the 23 BC settlement, Augustus was granted for life the powers of which office, without holding it?

The tribunician power gave him the standing of a Tribune of the plebs for life: personal sacrosanctity, the veto, and the right to convene the Senate and the assemblies.

In 20 BC Augustus negotiated the return of the standards lost by Crassus at Carrhae from which empire?

Parthia's king Phraates IV returned the eagles captured from Crassus at Carrhae in 53 BC; Augustus presented the diplomatic coup at Rome as a military submission.

Which temple did Augustus build in his new forum to house the recovered standards?

Augustus vowed a temple to Mars Ultor, Mars the Avenger, before avenging Caesar's murder; dedicated in his new forum in 2 BC, it housed the recovered standards.

Which famous statue of Augustus shows the returned standards on its breastplate?

The Augustus of Prima Porta, a statue found in 1863 at Livia's villa north of Rome, shows a bearded easterner handing back a legionary eagle on its breastplate.

In which AD 9 battle did Publius Quinctilius Varus lose three entire legions?

Three legions under Varus were annihilated in the Teutoburg Forest in September AD 9; Suetonius says Augustus cried 'Quinctilius Varus, give me back my legions!'

Which leader of the Cherusci destroyed Varus's legions in AD 9?

Arminius, a Cherusci noble who had served as a Roman auxiliary officer, lured Varus into an ambush; he was murdered by rivals within his own tribe around AD 21.

Augustus's account of his own deeds, inscribed in bronze at his mausoleum, is known as what?

The Res Gestae Divi Augusti, 'deeds of the divine Augustus', survives through copies such as the Monumentum Ancyranum in Ankara, inscribed in Latin and Greek on a temple wall.

Historian Theodor Mommsen called Augustus's inscribed memoir the what?

Mommsen dubbed Augustus's inscribed memoir the 'queen of inscriptions'; the copy at Ankara, the Monumentum Ancyranum, preserves nearly the whole text in Latin and Greek.

Which poet wrote the Carmen Saeculare for Augustus's games of 17 BC?

Horace composed the Carmen Saeculare, a hymn to Apollo and Diana sung by a choir of boys and girls at Augustus's Secular Games in 17 BC.

The vigiles, established in AD 6, were what?

The vigiles were a combined fire brigade and police force of freedmen: seven cohorts, each covering two of the city's fourteen regions, under a prefect of the watch.

At how many legions did Augustus fix Rome's new standing army?

Augustus settled the army at 28 legions, down from about 60 at the end of the civil wars; the loss of three in AD 9 left 25 for the rest of his reign.

How much did Augustus donate to found the military treasury, the aerarium militare, in AD 6?

Augustus records in his own memoir that he gave 170 million sesterces from his private funds to the aerarium militare, which paid discharge bonuses to veterans.

What rate did Augustus's inheritance tax of AD 6 take from legacies outside the close family?

The inheritance tax Augustus introduced in AD 6 took 5% of legacies left to anyone outside the near family, and its proceeds went to the military treasury.

Which Roman month was renamed in Augustus's honour in 8 BC?

The Senate renamed Sextilis as Augustus in 8 BC because it was the month of his first consulship and of his conquest of Egypt; the month before it had already become July for Caesar.

On his deathbed Augustus boasted that he had converted Rome from a city of bricks into a city of what?

Marble had been used before, but never so extensively as a building material.

What did the Senate vote in 13 BC to mark Augustus's return from Gaul and Spain?

The Ara Pacis Augustae was an altar of peace, voted by the Senate in 13 BC and dedicated in 9 BC; its reliefs show a procession of the imperial family and priests.

The gnomon of Augustus's monumental sundial on the Campus Martius was what?

The gnomon was an obelisk taken from Egypt, shipped from Heliopolis in 10 BC; re-erected in 1792, it now stands in Piazza Montecitorio.

Who built Rome's first stone amphitheatre, between 34 and 29 BC?

Statilius Taurus, a general rewarded with a triumph in 34 BC, paid for Rome's first stone amphitheatre in the Campus Martius and dedicated it with gladiatorial games in 29 BC.

Augustus's mock naval battle of 2 BC, on a lake by the Tiber, re-enacted which historic clash?

The naumachia staged the Greek victory at Salamis, with 'Athenians' fighting 'Persians' on a basin 1,800 by 1,200 feet fed by the Aqua Alsietina; some 3,000 men fought.

On which island did Augustus build a palace housing a collection of fossils and possibly dinosaur bones?

Suetonius says Augustus's villa on Capri held huge bones of sea monsters and beasts, called giants' bones, along with the weapons of ancient heroes.

To which island did Augustus exile his daughter Julia for adultery in 2 BC?

Julia was confined on Ventotene, the ancient Pandateria, a tiny island off the coast of Latium; she was denied wine and any male visitor without her father's permission.

Where did Augustus die in AD 14?

Augustus died at Nola in Campania on 19 August AD 14, in the same house and, Suetonius says, the same room in which his father had died.

According to the rumour that Livia murdered Augustus, what did she use?

Dio relates the rumour that Livia smeared poison on figs hanging on a tree Augustus liked to pick from, so that he ate a poisoned fig; most historians dismiss the tale.

Augustus's reported last words compared his life to what?

Suetonius says he asked whether he had played his part well in the comedy of life, likening it to a play, and told his friends to applaud as he left the stage.

Which stepson and adopted son succeeded Augustus as emperor?

Tiberius, Livia's elder son and Augustus's stepson, was adopted by him in AD 4 and succeeded him in AD 14, ruling until AD 37.

How old was Augustus when he died?

Born on 23 September 63 BC and dead on 19 August AD 14, Augustus was 75, a month short of his 76th birthday, after more than forty years of sole rule.

Which poet did Augustus exile around AD 8, banning his literature?

Ovid was banished to Tomis on the Black Sea in AD 8, for 'a poem and a mistake' as he put it, and his works were removed from Rome's public libraries.

In whose Aeneid does Jupiter promise Rome imperium sine fine, sovereignty without end?

Virgil's Aeneid has Jupiter grant the Romans 'imperium sine fine'; the poet read parts of the unfinished epic to Augustus, who ordered it preserved after Virgil's death in 19 BC.

In 1937–38 Mussolini staged an 'Augustan exhibition' in Rome to mark what?

The Mostra Augustea della Romanità marked the 2,000th anniversary of Augustus's birth; it opened on 23 September 1937, his birthday, and ran for a year.

Whose 1939 book The Roman Revolution portrayed Octavian's faction as something like a crime syndicate?

Ronald Syme's The Roman Revolution, published in 1939 in the shadow of fascism, treated Octavian's rise as a ruthless party faction seizing the state by force and fraud.

Which queen of Kush invaded Roman Egypt in 24 BC and later made peace with Augustus?

Amanirenas, the one-eyed Kandake of Meroë, sacked Syene and Philae; after Petronius's counter-attack reached Napata, her envoys won a favourable peace from Augustus at Samos.

Judea was added to the province of Syria when Augustus deposed which client king?

Herod Archelaus, ethnarch of Judea since his father's death in 4 BC, was deposed and banished to Gaul in AD 6 after complaints of misrule; Judea passed under a Roman prefect.

Augustus received emissaries from as far east as which land?

Augustus records in his own memoir that kings of India sent him embassies, something he said no Roman commander had received before; Florus describes gifts of elephants, gems and pearls.

By 38 BC Octavian's coins had replaced his praenomen with which victory title?

From 38 BC Octavian styled himself Imperator Caesar, using the acclamation given to victorious generals as a first name; the word later gave English its 'emperor'.

Which honorific title did the Senate confer on Augustus in 2 BC?

The Senate hailed Augustus as Pater patriae, father of the country, in 2 BC; he records the title being inscribed on his house, the Curia and his forum.

The Trophy of Augustus, marking the 15 BC Alpine conquest, stands at La Turbie near which principality?

The Tropaeum Alpium at La Turbie stands on the heights above Monaco, listing the Alpine tribes subdued by Augustus's stepsons; it was dedicated about 6 BC.

Which region, in modern Yemen, did Egypt's prefect Aelius Gallus fail to conquer for Augustus?

Aelius Gallus's army reached the Sabaean heartland of Arabia Felix but, wrecked by thirst and disease and misled by its Nabataean guide Syllaeus, had to retreat to Egypt.

Which son of Cleopatra did Octavian order killed after conquering Egypt?

Caesarion, Cleopatra's son by Caesar and nominal co-ruler of Egypt, was lured back from flight and executed at seventeen; the philosopher Arius reportedly warned that too many Caesars was not good.

Which kingdom did Augustus hand to Cleopatra's daughter Cleopatra Selene II and her husband Juba II?

Augustus gave Mauretania to Juba II and Cleopatra Selene in 25 BC; they ruled from Iol, renamed Caesarea (modern Cherchell in Algeria), and Juba was a Numidian prince raised in Rome.

In AD 4, whom did Augustus require his newly adopted heir to adopt in turn?

The condition kept the succession in Augustus's bloodline; Germanicus was married to his granddaughter Agrippina the Elder.