Rome 17: The Reforms of Augustus

In the previous lecture, we saw the rise of Augustus. We saw how a young, adopted son of Caesar out-smarted some of the greatest minds the Roman state had to offer. He and Mark Antony briefly allied in the Second Triumvirate to avenge the death of Caesar, but their alliance was short lived. While Antony ruled in the East, Augustus ruled in the West. This dichotomy and Antony’s love for Cleopatra and Alexandrian life, allowed Augustus to lure the Roman elites away from Antony. After a brief war, which culminated at the Battle of Actium in 31 BCE (followed by the suicide of Antony), Augustus became the sole ruler of Rome. In this lecture, I want to speak a bit more about the reforms Augustus instituted. We spoke briefly in the last lecture about Pax Romana, or Roman Peace, a period of stability that Augustus brought about. During this period of peace, Augustus was able to reform the Roman state and make necessary changes that set it up for its full transformation to an Empire. These reforms are roughly categorized into a few forms: Moral, Bureaucratic, Financial, Architectural, and Religious. In this lecture, I want to highlight the moral, bureaucratic, and architectural reforms in particular.