Who Is the First Roman Emperor? Augustus, and Why Not Julius Caesar

Contents15

• The first Roman emperor at a glance
• Why 27 BCE is the start of the empire
• Was Julius Caesar the first emperor
• Octavian's rise to power
• How Augustus ruled
• Republic and Principate compared
• Augustus's building in Rome
• What Augustus achieved
• Livia and Julia
• Religion and moral reform
• The problem of succession
• Death and the Res Gestae
• The first emperors of Rome's successor states
• The sources on Augustus
• Verdict: who is the first Roman emperor

Who is the first Roman emperor? The answer is Augustus, the adopted son of Julius Caesar. He took that name in 27 BCE. He never called himself emperor or king.

He posed as the first citizen of a restored republic. All the while he held the army, the provinces and Rome's politics. This page explains how he rose to power and why Julius Caesar does not count. It shows how Augustus ruled. It also answers the question for the later empires that claimed Rome's name.

TL;DR: The first Roman emperor was Augustus (63 BCE-14 CE), born Gaius Octavius. He beat Mark Antony and Cleopatra at Actium in 31 BCE. The Senate gave him the name Augustus on 16 January 27 BCE. That is the usual start date of the Roman Empire. Julius Caesar was dictator for life, not emperor. Augustus ruled until his death in 14 CE. Tiberius came next.

The first Roman emperor at a glance

Why 27 BCE is the start of the empire

On 13 January 27 BCE, Octavian told the Senate he was handing control of the state back to the Senate and people. The Senate replied by giving him a large province for ten years. It held most of the legions. On 16 January it gave him the name Augustus. Historians usually date the start of the Roman Empire, and of his reign, from this deal.

In practice, Augustus handed nothing back. He kept command of the armies and the richest provinces. He also went on holding high office. The Metropolitan Museum of Art's history of the Roman Empire begins its account with this decree of the Senate.

Was Julius Caesar the first emperor

Julius Caesar or Augustus

First Roman emperor: Julius Caesar or Augustus.

Status: Disputed Modern sources name Augustus. Some ancient lists begin with Caesar.

Note: Julius Caesar held supreme power as dictator from 49 BCE. In early 44 BCE he was named dictator for life (dictator perpetuo). Weeks later, on 15 March 44 BCE, he was killed. He never held a lasting office of emperor.

Augustus built the imperial system after his death. So Britannica and modern historians name Augustus as the first emperor. The mix-up comes partly from Suetonius. His Lives of the Twelve Caesars, written in the early 100s, begins with Julius Caesar. It also comes from the fact that "Caesar" later became an imperial title.

Sources: Britannica, "Who was the first Roman emperor"; Britannica, "Augustus".

Octavian's rise to power

Octavian was 18 when senators murdered Julius Caesar. He learned that Caesar's will adopted him as son and heir. His family advised against it, but he went to Rome anyway. He meant to claim the inheritance and the loyalty of Caesar's soldiers.

Caesar was declared a god in 42 BCE. After that, Octavian could call himself "son of the divine", divi filius. That claim, and his hold on Caesar's old soldiers, were the base of his power.

How Augustus ruled

Augustus avoided the titles that had doomed Caesar. He refused to be called king or dictator. Instead he called himself princeps, "first citizen". Historians call his system the Principate.

His real power rested on a bundle of legal powers.

• Imperium over the provinces that held most of the legions.
• Tribunician power, which let him propose laws and veto the acts of other officials.
• Control of the treasury that paid the army, created in 6 CE.
• The office of pontifex maximus, chief priest, from 12 BCE.

He also set up a full-time standing army and the Praetorian Guard, the emperor's household troops in Rome. Both lasted for centuries.

Republic and Principate compared

Augustus kept the outward forms of the republic. But he changed where power lay.

Augustus's building in Rome

Augustus changed the look of the capital. Some of his monuments survive, at least in part.

• The Mausoleum of Augustus, begun in 28 BCE, the tomb of the Julio-Claudian family.
• The Ara Pacis, the Altar of Augustan Peace, dedicated in 9 BCE.
• The Forum of Augustus, with the Temple of Mars Ultor, dedicated in 2 BCE.
• The Theatre of Marcellus, named after his nephew and completed in the 10s BCE.

His friend Agrippa built the first Pantheon. It was later rebuilt under Hadrian.

What Augustus achieved

Augustus ended a century of civil wars. He began a long time of relative peace, later called the Pax Romana. He reorganised the provinces, held censuses and built roads.

In Rome he restored temples and built a new forum. Suetonius reports his boast. He found Rome a city of brick and left it a city of marble.

The empire grew under him. Egypt was taken in 30 BCE. The conquest of Spain was finished in 19 BCE.

The Alps and the Danube frontier were brought under control. The one great failure came in 9 CE. Germanic warriors destroyed three legions under Varus in the Teutoburg Forest.

In 8 BCE the Senate renamed the month Sextilis as Augustus, our August, in his honour.

Livia and Julia

Two women were central to Augustus's life. His wife Livia married him in 38 BCE. She was his adviser for more than fifty years and the mother of Tiberius.

His only child, Julia, came from his earlier marriage to Scribonia. She was married in turn to Marcellus, Agrippa and Tiberius, to produce heirs. In 2 BCE Augustus exiled her for adultery. It was a public scandal in a reign that pushed strict moral laws.

Religion and moral reform

Augustus presented his rule as a return to old Roman values. He restored dozens of temples and revived old priesthoods and festivals. In 18-17 BCE he passed laws to push the upper classes to marry and have children. The same laws punished adultery.

In 17 BCE he held the Secular Games to mark a new age. Poets of his circle, such as Virgil and Horace, praised the new peace. Cities in the provinces worshipped the emperor while he lived. In Rome he took care not to be openly worshipped as a god until after his death.

The problem of succession

Augustus had no son. He struggled for decades to name an heir. His chosen heirs kept dying.

His successor's reign is covered on the Roman emperor Tiberius page.

Death and the Res Gestae

Augustus died at Nola, in Campania, on 19 August 14 CE, aged 75. The Senate declared him a god. He left an account of his own deeds, the Res Gestae Divi Augusti, "Deeds of the Divine Augustus".

It was to be carved outside his tomb. The best copy survives on the walls of a temple in Ankara, Turkey. It is one of the few texts in which a Roman emperor speaks in his own words.

The first emperors of Rome's successor states

You can also ask "who was the first emperor" of later Roman states.

For the Byzantine case, see the Eastern Roman Empire hub. For the Western one, see the Holy Roman emperor page.

The sources on Augustus

For Augustus and the fall of the Republic, see Rubicon and Dynasty. Both are in our guide to the best Roman history books.

Verdict: who is the first Roman emperor

The first Roman emperor is Augustus. The Senate gave him that name on 16 January 27 BCE, and he ruled until 14 CE. Julius Caesar held supreme power as dictator, but never as emperor.

That is why modern sources begin with Augustus, even though Suetonius starts with Caesar. Augustus built the system that later emperors took over. His successors are listed on the emperors of Rome page.

Sources checked for this page

• Britannica, "Augustus"
• Britannica, "Who was the first Roman emperor"
• The Metropolitan Museum of Art, "The Roman Empire (27 B.C.-393 A.D.)"
• BBC History, "Augustus"
• Suetonius, "The Life of Augustus", LacusCurtius edition (University of Chicago)
• History.com, "Augustus"

Questions people also ask

Who is the first Roman emperor?

Augustus, formerly Octavian, who became Rome's first emperor in 27 BCE and ruled until his death in 14 CE.

Was Julius Caesar the first Roman emperor?

No. Julius Caesar was dictator, and in 44 BCE was named dictator for life, but he was assassinated before any imperial system existed. His adopted son Augustus created the office of emperor.

When did Augustus become emperor?

The usual date is 16 January 27 BCE, when the Senate gave Octavian the name Augustus, three days after he formally handed power back to the Senate and people.

How long did Augustus rule?

About 40 years as emperor, from 27 BCE to 14 CE, and about 44 years as Rome's leading man, counting from his victory at Actium in 31 BCE.

Why is he called Augustus?

Augustus means 'revered' or 'majestic'. It was an honorific name voted by the Senate, with religious overtones, and it became the title of every later emperor.

Who was the last Roman emperor?

In the West, Romulus Augustulus was deposed in 476, though Britannica names Julius Nepos, who died in 480, as the last legitimate Western emperor. In the East, Constantine XI died when Constantinople fell in 1453.

Where is Augustus buried?

His ashes were placed in the Mausoleum of Augustus on the Campus Martius in Rome, which he had begun building in 28 BCE. The restored mausoleum reopened to visitors in 2021.