Augustus

Augustus (Imperator Caesar Divi filius Augustus), originally known as Octavian (Gaius Octavius Thurinus or Octavianus), the heir to Julius Caesar, created the principate and was the first princeps (emperor) of Rome.

Augustus was married to Livia during his reign and only had one natural child, Julia the Elder, with his first wife Scribonia.

Augustus died in 14 AD, apparently of natural causes, although some sources attest that he was poisoned by Livia. If this is true, Augustus' life was not dramatically shortened since he was already coming to the end of his natural lifespan.

Augustus was widely liked by the Senate, people and military and is considered one of Rome's greatest emperors.

Military/Diplomatic Achievements
Whilst he was still Octavian, he defeated Mark Antony and Cleopatra in the Battle of Actium alongside Marcus Agrippa."'The civil wars were now dead and buried' - Velleius"Whilst princeps, Augustus annexed Egypt, Dalmatia, Pannonia, Noricum and Raeta (moving the Balkan border up to the Danube river), and expanded possessions in Hispania and Africa. He did expand the border to the Elbe river in Germania, but suffered a major defeat which pushed Rome back to the Rhine river. He was acclaimed Imperator 21 times, 9 of which he directly won himself, although he only directly commanded two campaigns.

Augustus also made peace with the Parthians, recovering the standards lost by Crassus (a significant restoration of Roman honour), and established many client states (such as Armenia). He closed the doors of the shrine of Janus Quirinus, signalling the Pax Romana (Roman peace) and an end to constant civil war.

Augustus, near the end of his life, declared that the Roman Empire had reached its fullest extent and advised against future expansion. Following his advice, the empire rarely expanded for the next few centuries.

In Rome
Augustus created dedicated police and fire-fighting services. He also divided the city into districts and wards to improve management, and reconstructed the Via Flaminia at his own expense. He also rebuilt large portions of Rome, and put in place regulations on new buildings to improve safety standards."'Augustus divided the city into districts and wards... He organised stations of nightwatchmen to watch for fires... he cleared the Tiber channel... He improved the approaches to the city, repaving the Via Flaminia at his own expense' - Suetonius""'To control the damage by fire he formed a fire brigade recruited from freedmen' - Strabo""'To reduce the danger of collapse he placed restrictions on the height of all new buildings.' - Strabo""'I found Rome a city of bricks and left it a city of marble.' - Augustus according to Strabo"Augustus built several new aqueducts to improve the water supply:"'I restored the channels of the aqueducts... and doubled the supply to the aqueduct called Marcia' - Res Gestae""'So great is the water coming through the aqueduct system that whole rivers may be said to flow through the city' - Strabo"Augustus created the post of Urban Prefect:"'The sheer size of the population... forced him to appoint a man of consular rank to control the slave population and the more disorderly elements of the populace' - Tacitus"He also improved the struggling grain supply to Rome (the addition of Egypt to the empire also massively boosted the grain supply):"During a famine Augustus took control of the grain supply and 'within a few days I had freed the whole community from the immediate fear and peril [of starvation]' - Res Gestae"Augustus kept the functions of state in good order:"In his will he left 'an account book of the whole empire, with statements of... what money reserves were held by the public treasury and what revenues were due for collection.' - Suetonius"

Across the Empire
Augustus gave peaceful provinces to the Senate to govern, and took the more challenging provinces for himself, having very tight control over Egypt, not even allowing Senators to enter it without permission."'He divided the whole empire into two parts. One he assigned to himself, the other to the people of Rome. For himself he took all those areas that needed a military garrison... the rest he assigned to the Roman people - all those that were peaceful' - Strabo""Cassius Dio thinks the real aim of this was 'that the senators should be unarmed and unprepared for war, while he [Augustus] possessed arms and controlled troops' - Dio"

Religion
Augustus went to great lengths to encourage traditional religion and morality, as Rome had fallen into moral degeneracy. He implemented a series of laws known as the "morality laws" which were at first thought too strict, forcing Augustus to loosen some aspects of it.

Imperial Cult
Augustus deified Julius Caesar, allowing himself to use the title Divi Filius (son of a god). He also built a temple dedicated to Julius.

In Rome
Augustus built shrines to the Lares on every street corner, which also included an image of himself. It is more likely that these are associating him with the gods rather than implying he is a god himself. Augustus was staunchly against emperor-worship in Rome itself, as this would irritate the aristocracy, and being devout himself, he probably feared retribution from the gods.

In the Provinces
Augustus tolerated the imperial cult in the provinces but did not actively encourage it.

Senate
The Senate was highly supportive of Augustus, for his skill as a ruler and for the help he gave to many Senators in financial trouble.

Plebeians
For the peace and prosperity he brought both to Rome and the provinces, Augustus was loved by the plebeians.

He also handed out money on several occasions which massively boosted his popularity. One such case:"'In my thirteenth consulship I gave 240 sesterces to the plebeians which then received the corn dole; the number was a little over 200,000 men.' - Res Gestae"

Opposition
The obvious first source of opposition is Mark Antony and Cleopatra, who were defeated at Actium and later committed suicide.

Julia the Elder's rampant adultery opposed the morality laws. The morality laws were also initially received poorly by the aristocracy.

In general, once Augustus' rule was established, he faced very little opposition within Rome.