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The Roman
Empire was ruled by an Emperor. The first one was Octavian, the
adopted son of Julius Caesar. When he became Princeps (Emperor)
meaning first amongst equals he used the name Augustus. At first
there was a definite succession of the line of Augustus but
there were times when there were more than one Emperor as
different contenders (usually Generals) fought over the title.
The list below records the most prominent person to be Emperor
around the dates. In practice there could be as many as four at
the same time, especially towards the end when the Empire was
too big to be governed by one man. |
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Octavian was
the adopted son of Julius Caesar. He is probably the most
important person in the history of the Roman Empire. When Julius
Caesar was assassinated the Republic was in disarray. Julius Caesar
effectively had become king, something that the leaders of the
Republic abhorred, and it cost him his life. The Republic
was ruled by a Senate of annually elected but had no formal
constitution; the law was defined by tradition, precedent and
the consensus of the Senate. This system was the cause of the
problems in the Republic as politicians set dangerous precedents
for their own advantage and started to use violence and
intimidation to get their own way. This was effectively how
Caesar gained his dominant position of dictator in the Senate.
Caesar made no attempt at sorting out the system of government.
Caesar's will named his adopted son Octavian, the grandson of
his sister Julia, as his heir.
On Caesar's
death there was a power struggle as several factions tried to
gain the position of power that Caesar had left. Octavian,
adding Caesar to his name, was amongst these factions, along
with other, mutually antagonistic, powerful people like Mark
Anthony, Caesar's friend, and Brutus, one of Caesar's assassins.
In 30BC Octavian, a shrewd politician and able leader, emerged
from the turmoil as the sole leader and saviour of the Roman
Republic.
The Republic
style of government had failed and Octavian recognised this. He
also recognised the dangers of being perceived as a king, the
mistake Julius Caesar had made. Octavian set about consolidating
his rule by legal means, but he was also careful to respect
tradition. Octavian took the title Augustus a term that had
religious and social meaning but not one that suggested
political supremacy. His titles were never accepted on a
lifetime basis, they were all for a given period of 5 years or
so. In this way he created the illusion that he didn't want
absolute authority whilst patiently acquiring it. This assured
that the aristocracy would not feel threatened and turn on him
as they did Julius Caesar. |
