Rome and the Western Mediterranean · Part 8 · The fall of the Republic · B2
Augustus and the World of 1 CE
Part 8 of Rome and the Western Mediterranean: Caesar’s heir ended a century of civil wars and became the first emperor. By the year we call 1 CE, the Mediterranean had got used to peace and to one ruler, and Philo, Sophia, Marcos and Demetria were living in the world this whole series has been leading to. Used to, be used to and get used to.
Tonight, the last lesson of our history: our own time.
Then tell us about the man whose face is on every coin in my purse.
And tell us what it was like before him, when people used to fight in the streets of Rome.
And then, what the rest of the world looks like this year.
When Caesar was murdered, his will named his great-nephew Octavian, aged eighteen, as his adopted son and heir. Octavian joined Antony and another general in a new alliance; they posted proscription lists, and hundreds of senators and knights were killed, including the orator Cicero. Then Octavian defeated Antony and Cleopatra and became the master of the Roman world.
In 27 BCE, he announced that he was restoring the Republic, and the Senate gave him the name Augustus, “the revered one”. In practice, he controlled the armies, the richest provinces and the money, and decided who held office. He ruled for forty-one years. The long peace that followed is called the Pax Romana.
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