3734–3774 AM · 27 BCE — 14 CE · world history
Augustus and the Roman Empire
Octavian becomes the first emperor and opens two centuries of Roman peace.
After Caesar's murder and long civil wars, his heir Octavian stands alone. He avoids the word king, taking instead the title princeps and the name Augustus. The Republic survives in form, one man rules in fact. The Pax Romana begins: roads, aqueducts, a common currency and a safe sea.
Sources
Documents of the period
- inscriptions and coinage of the Roman Empire — the Res Gestae Divi Augusti — the emperor’s own account, carved in stone (Ankara)
Scholarship
- Roman authors: Tacitus, Suetonius, Livy — Suetonius, Augustus, and the opening chapters of Tacitus’ Annals on the birth of the principate
Basis: documents and evidence.