Augustus was a master of propaganda and the consistency of his aims and ideals reflects this. However, it is best to segregate his political career into three distinct eras where his messages varied most drastically. Firstly, his rise to absolute power, beginning with Octavian being named as Caesar’s sole heir in and ending with the deaths of Mark Antony and Cleopatra VII can be called ‘The Triumviral Era of 44-30 BC.’ Next, we can chart the aims and ideals that arose from the constitutional settlements, which cemented Augustus’ powers into law, dubbing it ‘The Restoration Era of 29-23 BC’ highlighting the overarching message that Augustus had restored the Republic. Lastly, we can call the remainder of his reign ‘The Augustan Era of 22 BC-14 AD’ where his main aspirations were retaining his power and paving the way for potential successors.
Immediately after the assassination of Julius Caesar, Octavian was still a political unknown. However, Caesar had named him as his adopted son and sole heir in his will, snubbing his closest ally Mark Antony. Octavian decided that he could use this unexpected inheritance to elevate himself to political grandeur, and at this stage adopted the name Gaius Julius Caesar, reminding all who loved Caesar that he was now taking his mantle. This hereditary link with Caesar is shown in an aureus minted in 43 BC, where on the obverse a bearded (and thus mourning) Octavian is shown, while on the reverse, Caesar can be seen wearing the laurel wreath, now synonyms with the dictatorship. The two are given near identical legends, and represented likewise, successfully driving home Octavian’s ideal that he was the next Caesar.
After Caesar’s assassins were dealt with however, Octavian now wanted to separate himself from the dictator Caesar, fearing that he too would be killed if he continued to push this close link. He did this by changing Caesar’s image from that of a dictator, to god, deifying him in 42 BC. Ovid claims that a comet appeared in the sky during the ceremony, which was interpreted by the people as Caesar’s spirit being guided to godhood. Ramage described this symbol as the driving of a ‘wedge between Octavian the man and Caesar the god’, making it possible to ‘relegate Caesar to the stars.’ This would allow attention to be placed upon Octavian on his own merits, and his aim to be disassociated with dictatorship could be achieved.
Soon after this, Octavian set to work on his own Mausoleum, which would be constructed in the heart of Rome to show his intentions to the Roman people. By building it in Rome, the Mausoleum acted as a subtle jab to Mark Antony, as it had been revealed by Octavian to the Senate that Antony had decided to be buried in Alexandria, with his Egyptian wife Cleopatra. Octavian used this decision to reinforce his own commitment to Rome and win the support of the Senators for the civil war to come. This tactic was incredibly successful, and Octavian continued this line of propaganda after his victory in the Battle of Actium in 31 BC.
To try and stop his victory against his Roman counterpart appearing as just another civil war in the recent volatile history of Rome, he presented it as a crucial war against a foreign and tyrannical seductress, Cleopatra. He and his advisor Maecenas commissioned poets such as Propertius, Horace and Virgil to commemorate the Battle, and used their masterfully crafted words to present himself as Rome’s saviour against a great oriental invasion. For example, in Horace’s A Toast to Actium he states that ‘the enemy, beaten at sea and on land, changes his scarlet cloak for black... For a woman’s sake.’ Antony is never referenced by name, to try to disconnect him from the situation, and by changing his cloak to black he had de-Romanised himself, becoming an Egyptian for ‘a woman's sake,’ hinting that he was a victim of Cleopatra’s seduction, making her the true perpetrator and reinforcing the idea of a foreign invasion rather than a civil war.
THE RESTORATION ERA: 29-23 BC
Once Octavian had dealt with all political rivals, he set about bestowing himself with the powers of an emperor. During the constitutional settlements of 27 and 23 BC, Octavian transformed the constitution of Rome from the Republic it once was, into an Autocratic Empire. However, he did this while claiming to have restored majesty and peace to the Republic. He was able to claim this by declining the dictatorship offered to him by the Senate, and instead took the greatest powers of Rome without actually holding office, essentially cherry picking titles such as Tribune or Imperator, while being able to claim that he lawfully held no more power than anyone else. Octavian was given the title Augustus, meaning the ‘exalted one’, after his reforms, which can be used as evidence to show that his aim to keep the Senate on his side while also obtaining executive potestas was successful, as they were pleased enough to bestow upon him such a great honour.
Wallace-Hadrill claims that after Octavian’s victory at Actium, the physical appearance of Roman coinage changed. A formula for coinage of the obverse being the head of the Emperor, while the reverse acts as a symbol of the Emperor’s authority had arisen. An aureus minted in 28 BC shows Octavian wearing the laurel wreath given to him after his triple triumph in 29 BC, with the reverse legend proclaiming his restoration of the laws. He is presented as a consul, handing over a document scroll to an unseen person, perhaps depicting the exact moment of restoration and emphasising his authority as the ‘restorer of the Republic.’
THE AUGUSTAN ERA: 22BC - 14 AD
Once it was cemented, Augustus looked to sustain his power for the rest of his reign, and did this by emphasising the ‘Pax Augusta,’ the Empire’s unprecedented peace. For example, in his poem War and Peace, Properties (who was still under the patronage of Maecenas) commemorates one of Augustus’ proudest accomplishments with the line ‘Avenge that disaster of Crassus! Go and take care of Roman history!’ In the Res Gestae, Augustus states that he was able to retrieve the standards lost in the embarrassing Parthian campaign of Crassus without any bloodshed. This not only demonstrated the key message of Augustus' auctoritas and strength, but also his respect for tradition, as the standards of Rome were an essential military symbol that should never be lost to the enemy.
Augustus used the pastoral poet Virgil to write a Homeric epic telling the story of Aeneas on his quest to establish the survivors of Troy on Italian soil. The Julio-Claudians were claimed descendants from Aeneas and thus Augustus linked himself to the goddess Venus, the mother of Aeneas, showing his divine backing. Augustus also features in the poem, for example, in Book 8 of the Aeneid, Vulcan crafts Aeneas a shield depicting the future of the Roman people, and upon it, alongside Roman mythological scenes, there is ‘Augustus Caesar, aloft in the poop, leading the Italians into battle,’ depicting the Battle of Actium as a defining moment in Roman history. Here, Virgil also recognises Agrippa, ‘with winds and gods in his favour' subtly presenting Augustus as republican who works with others, rather than just a controlling tyrant. Frank makes the insightful point that Virgil speaks of the ‘great Augustus, but never as divine. It is Rome’s past that he glorifies.’ Virgil encapsulates the Augustan ideal that Augustus and his allies should never be represented as grander than Rome itself, always shying away from direct godly comparisons, while reinforcing just how important Augustus is to the prosperity and peace of Rome.
As Augustus grew older he aimed to sustain his legacy. He did this by bestowing the Imperiatorial title to his step-sons Tiberius and Drusus, and giving the title ‘Princeps Iuventutis’ to his grandsons Gaius and Lucius, presenting them as younger versions of himself - the princeps - in the same way he had done for himself with Caesar all those years before. With this tactic, Augustus aimed to familiarise the Roman people with the fact that he will have a successor, a tradition they had not seen since the expulsion of the last kings. To immortalise his personal achievements, Augustus also commissioned the creation of the Res Gestae divi Augusti, hoping to be the quintessential source for his own history and therefore, he omitted events that he wished to be lost to the history books. Galinsky even suggests that he uses it to ‘make a case for his future deification.’ For example, the Varus Disaster of Teutoburg Forest is deliberately omitted along with his other failings.
Augustus’ aims and ideals can be best summarised in his own words. ‘I took precedence of all in rank, but of power I possessed no more than those who were my colleagues in any magistracy.’ Rowe makes the point that ‘auctoritas, as contrasted with potestas, signifies informal and non-coercive power,’ and although at the genesis of Augustus’ political career he wished to better his prestige by using Caesar’s name, for the rest of his reign the message that Rowe suggests seems to be incredibly consistent. Through the help of his allies and family towing the party line, and through his extensive propaganda campaign, Augustus was able to seduce the Roman people, while holding all executive control under the banner of ‘authority.’ In this way, Augustus and his supporters were extraordinarily successful at promoting the aims and ideals of his regime.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Barnes, T., 1974. ‘The Victories of Augustus,’ The Journal of Roman Studies 64, 21-26.
Frank, T., 1938. ‘Augustus, Vergil, and the Augustan Elogia,’ The American Journal of Philology 59(1), 91-94.
Galinsky, K., 2015. ‘Augustus’ “Auctoritas” and “Res Gestae”,’ 34.3, Hermes 143(2), 244-249.
Michael C. J. Putnam., 2001. ‘The Ambiguity of Art in Virgil's "Aeneid",’ Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society 145(2), 162-183.
Pandey, N., 2013. ‘Caesar's Comet, the Julian Star, and the Invention of Augustus,’ Transactions of the American Philological Association (1974-2014) 143(2), 405-449.
Ramage, E.S., 1985, ‘"Augustus' Treatment of Julius Caesar",’ Historia 34, 223-45
Rowe, G., 2013. ‘Reconsidering the "Auctoritas" of Augustus,’ The Journal of Roman Studies 103, 1-15.
Syme, R., 1939, ‘"The Roman Revolution",’ Oxford: Clarendon Press, 318.
Van Buren, A., 1913. ‘The Ara Pacis Augustae,’ The Journal of Roman Studies 3, 134-141.
Wallace-Hadrill, A., 1986. ‘Image and Authority in the Coinage of Augustus,’ The Journal of Roman Studies 76, 66-87.
Wardle, D., 2012. ‘Suetonius on Augustus as God and Man,’ The Classical Quarterly 62(1), 307-326.
PRIMARY SOURCES:
Aureus (gold coin) of 28 BC.
Aureus (gold coin) of 43 BC.
Horace, Epode, 9, 13.
Ovid, Fasti, 1.
Ovid, Metamorphoses, 15.
Propertius, Elegy 3.4, War and Peace, 4.
Res Gestae divi Augusti.
Suetonius, The Life of Augustus.
Tacitus, Annals 1.1-2, 9-10.
The Ara Pacis (Altar of Peace).
The Mausoleum of Augustus.
Virgil, Aeneid, 8.
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