Everand Logo

Welcome to Everand!

  • Discover millions of ebooks, audiobooks, and so much more with a free trial

    Only $11.99/month after trial. Cancel anytime.

    Legends of the Ancient World: The Life and Legacy of Caesar Augustus
    Legends of the Ancient World: The Life and Legacy of Caesar Augustus
    Legends of the Ancient World: The Life and Legacy of Caesar Augustus
    Ebook40 pages43 minutes

    Legends of the Ancient World: The Life and Legacy of Caesar Augustus

    By Charles River Editors

    ()

    Read preview

    About this ebook

    The importance of Gaius Julius Caesar Augustus (or as he was known from birth, Gaius Octavius “Octavian” Thurinus) to the course of Western history is hard to overstate. His life, his rise to power, his political, social and military achievements, all laid the foundations for the creation of an Empire which would endure for almost five centuries, and whose traditions, laws, architecture and art continue to influence much of Europe and the world today. Octavian was the first true Roman Emperor, and the first man since the Etruscan Tarquins, five centuries earlier, to establish a successful hereditary ruling dynasty in what had been a proud Republic for over half a millennium. He was a canny strategist, an excellent orator, a fine writer, a generous patron of the arts and enthusiastic promoter of public works, but above all he was a master politician. Octavian’s great-uncle (and adoptive father) Julius Caesar was a great general, his rival Mark Antony was a great soldier, but as a politician Octavian outmatched them all.

    Certainly, like all men, Octavian had his defects. Like many of the most successful politicians, he could connive, plot and prevaricate with the best of them, and he made full use of the emotional pull that his late beloved great-uncle had over the legions during the course of his rise to power. His justice was also famously heavy-handed, and he was not known for his mercy towards those he defeated in battle or marginalised political opponents. Yet despite all this, he still stands in bronze on Rome’s Via dei Fori Imperiali to this day, along with the likes of Caesar, Hadrian, Trajan and Marcus Aurelius, and he is forever immortalised in all western calendars as the patron of the month of August, which was dedicated to him when he was deified, following his death, as Divus Augustus.

    Like his adoptive father before him, Octavian is one of those figures whom it is difficult to know exactly what to make of, because he appears, even at a distance, to be larger than life. Yet the amount of personal correspondence and contemporary writings penned by Octavian himself, as well as his friends and associates (and rivals) is such that, when we analyse it all together, a clear picture of the man behind the bronze statue begins to emerge – the man who found Rome a city of bricks, but left her behind a city of marble.

    Legends of the Ancient World: The Life and Legacy of Caesar Augustus provides an entertaining look at the life and legacy of Rome’s first emperor. Along with pictures of important people, places, and events, you will learn about Augustus like you never have before, in no time at all.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherCharles River Editors
    Release dateSep 24, 2014
    ISBN9781475318043
    Legends of the Ancient World: The Life and Legacy of Caesar Augustus

    Read more from Charles River Editors

    Related to Legends of the Ancient World

    Related ebooks

    Ancient History For You

    View More
    View More

    Related podcast episodes

    Related articles

    • Article

      The Bloody Rise Of augustus

      Mar 2, 2020

      The Bloody Rise Of augustus
      6 min read

    • Article

      Fight The People Power

      Aug 5, 2021

      Fight The People Power
      1 min read

    • Article

      ‘The Last Assassin’ Breathes Life Into The Events Of Julius Caesar’s Death

      Dec 23, 2020

      By looking through the eyes of a minor player in the assassination, Peter Stothard is able to tell a more intimate tale.

      3 min read

    • Article

      Battle Of Warsaw

      May 13, 2021

      Battle Of Warsaw
      3 min read

    • Article

      Tales Of The Axe

      Sep 21, 2021

      Tales Of The Axe
      5 min read

    • Article

      What Makes A Greek?

      Jan 20, 2022

      The Greeks: A Global History by Roderick Beaton Faber, 608 pages, £25 Philip of Macedon – father of Alexander the Great – was famously victorious in the Olympic chariot race of 356 BC. The path to victory was not without its speedbumps, though, among

      2 min read

    • Article

      Civilizational Evolution

      Oct 29, 2020

      Civilizational Evolution
      4 min read

    • Article

      Ancient Battle Tactics

      Feb 20, 2020

      Ancient Battle Tactics
      4 min read

    • Article

      Battle Of Manzikert

      Jun 18, 2020

      Battle Of Manzikert
      7 min read

    • Article

      Did The Romans Wear Underwear?

      Mar 25, 2021

      Did The Romans Wear Underwear?
      7 min read

    • Article

      When Comes The Dawn? The Lightening Of Hoplite Panoply

      Mar 9, 2023

      When, exactly, the hoplite panoply became little more than chiton, aspis shield and helmet is difficult to pin down. We have seen that greaves seem to have fallen out of use before the Peloponnesian War, but the cloak remained (see AW XIII.1 and XIII

      1 min read

    • Article

      Battle Of Issus

      Aug 15, 2019

      Battle Of Issus
      8 min read

    • Article

      Carthage’s Other Wars

      Mar 21, 2022

      Hoyos’ impeccable scholarship is brought to bear on the other wars Carthage waged – especially the conquest of Sicily, but also wars in Africa, Sardinia, and Spain. This first-of-itskind analysis provides insights into Carthage that are usually missi

      1 min read

    • Article

      A Biography Of Napoleon III

      Jun 14, 2018

      “WITHOUT THIS GERMANY COULD NEVER HAVE DECLARED WAR AND INVADED FRANCE IN 1914.” Countless books and articles have explored the life of Napoleon Bonaparte, but few authors and researchers have examined his nephew’s legacy. Napoléon le Petit has been

      2 min read

    • Article

      THIS MONTH… Three Podcasts On Lenin And The Romanovs

      Feb 20, 2020

      historyextra.com/period/ancient-egypt/ the-russian-revolution-and-myths-of-ancient-egypt When Nicholas II was ousted from power by the Bolsheviks in Russia in 1917, it marked the end of a 300-year-old dynasty – and the start of a turbulent period in

      1 min read

    • Article

      Rotten At The Core

      Apr 16, 2020

      For more than four decades, Paul Preston has produced voluminous and incisive work on the history of Spain. As the leading British historian in the field, he has written on the Second Republic (1931–36), the Civil War (1936–39), the Franco dictatorsh

      2 min read

    • Article

      The Rise and Fall of Alexandria

      Jul 16, 2020

      Founded in c.331 BCE by Alexander the Great, the city of Alexandria in northern Egypt was home to some of the intellectual centres of the ancient world. It was well known for its famous Great Library, which was built in c.295 BCE to collect all of th

      1 min read

    • Article

      Ottoman Empire

      Feb 24, 2022

      Ottoman Empire
      1 min read

    • Article

      Siege Of Belgrade

      Sep 3, 2020

      Siege Of Belgrade
      8 min read

    • Article

      An Unholy Path To War

      Jun 11, 2020

      An Unholy Path To War
      3 min read

    • Article

      Caesar Vs The Senate

      Sep 12, 2019

      Caesar Vs The Senate
      12 min read

    Related categories

    Reviews for Legends of the Ancient World

    0 ratings

    0 ratings0 reviews

    What did you think?

    Tap to rate

    Review must be at least 10 words

      Book preview

      Legends of the Ancient World - Charles River Editors

      Enjoying the preview?
      Page 1 of 1