AUGUSTUS
Reigned: 27 BC - AD 14
| AVGVSTVS was born Gaius Octavius in September, 63 BC. His father died when he was four, and his grand-uncle Julius Caesar took an interest in him. He became Caesar's heir and adopted son by Caesar's will, read in 44 BC. Through civil wars lasting 13 years he emerged victorious, and gradually assumed dominant civil powers, although he maintained the fiction of being the 'Princeps', or first among equals. He was voted the name 'Augustus' in 27 BC, and dated his rule from 23 BC. He peacefully transformed Rome from a republic to an empire, and died of natural causes on August 19, 14 AD.(Excerpt from MONETA, from www.numus.com) |
