Augustus was the first Roman Emperor, as he gained the position via:
Being the legal heir of Julius Caesar. Caesar was not an Emperor, but the Dictator of Rome. He held all powers of the state in his person, and in some senses was a proto-Emperor, notably dying at the hands of Senators who feared his new-gained powers.
Caesar held a Triumvirate (an alliance of three powerful people), and as his legal heir Augustus (then Gaius Octavian) formed a second Triumvirate to aid his power. This fell apart, as he defeated his former ally turned foe Marc Antony at the Battle of Actium to take control of Egypt.
With no rivals left, he took hold of Rome, and was made Augustus (or Venerable) by the Senate. As a new-found Leader of the Senate, he controlled its legislation and agenda, and also gained the title of Pontifex Maximus or chief priest.
When becoming Augustus in 27 BC, he assumed the title of primus inter pares or first amongst equals as he wanted to retain powers in himself but not imply or infer he was a king. The powers of the Roman Republic, which were deliberately split into various positions, were consolidated into the Emperor’s person. Given the long-held revulsion of kings in Roman culture (after the fall of the Roman Kingdom), Augustus wanted to ensure that Romans still held Republican-era rights and freedoms, but within a new paradigm to suit a changing world.
Augustus’s system - the Principate - lasted for three hundred years, when the Dominate of Emperor Diolectian took hold in response to the Crisis of the Third Century.
In this piece, I’ll look at the Principate system, and what powers were held by the Emperors within it.
The Venerable
Imagine Augustus c. 20 BC. By this time, he was on his way to consolidating the various Republican powers in his person, though as Rome’s first citizen and its king.
He was:
Leader of the Senate
Pontifex Maximus
Censor (Moral guide/censor)
President of the Tribune of the Plebeians (representing the common people’s will)
Consul (legal of head of government)
Imperator (commander of the armed forces)
This in practice meant several things.
Say there was an uprising of slaves in Hispania Province. Augustus could send in some legions to disperse them and crush the rebellion.
Say some slaves performed well in aiding a legion under siege. Augustus had the power to pardon them and even make them citizens.
If there was need for a new law to counter tax evasion, Augustus could get the Senate to pass a new law accordingly.
And if Augustus noted that the masses disapproved of a new mode of dress in a newly conquered province, he could draft edicts outlawing such displays.
He also could arrange religious holidays to venerate the gods, or to even make new gods if he chose.
So we can see he, and all other Emperors, held immense powers.
He essentially was the Roman State, and what he said was law.
There were limits to his powers though. He had to rule within the bounds of Roman tradition, established religious practice, and decency. Emperors who were overthrown or despised often breached these measures - Nero, Caligula, Commodus, etc. all were assassinated for breaching their perceived and actual powers.
The closest in the current world that approaches the Emperors’ rule are the Kims of North Korea. They control the state in their persons, and are seen as near deified figures. The Roman Emperors were seen as divine, in part. Augustus called himself “divi filius” - or son of deified one - as his adopted father Julius Caesar was venerated as a god posthumously. His full title, towards the end of his reign was Imperator Caesar Divi Filius Augustus. Loosely translated, this meant “The Venerable Imperator Caesar, son of the deified one”.
Next time, we’ll look at the power of the Dominate, the second prime constitutional framework of the unified Roman Empire.