The dictator will always be named as Julius Caesar, and if ever the text mentions Caesar then it refers to Augustus.Īll of this can make one dizzy, although as Goldsworthy notes such things were important in those times. In a further effort to clarify this business of names, Goldsworthy assures us of the following: In 27 BC, following his defeat of Mark Antony, the Senate added the title of Imperator (Emperor) although he liked to refer to himself simply as Princeps or first citizen. Thus, Augustus' full name became Caius Julius Caesar Divi Filius. In addition, he also referred to himself as Divi Filius (Son of the Divine) since, following his assassination, Julius Caesar was declared a god by the Roman Senate. Incredibly, he was adopted posthumously by Caesar which allowed him to add the name Caesar to his titles at the age of nineteen. Augustus is at once highly readable and definitive in its ability to provide the modern reader with comprehensive detail and fresh insights at every stage of the Emperor's long life.Īugustus was born September 23, 63 BC in Rome the son of Caius Octavius, a somewhat obscure but wealthy politician, and a great-nephew of Julius Caesar himself.

It is biography of the highest order and made all the more remarkable when one considers the poverty and unreliability of available resources.

In this objective, Goldsworthy succeeds admirably. The aim is to write as if this were the biography of a modern statesmen, asking the same questions even if our sources make it difficult to answer them, and trying as far as possible to understand the real man. Although there have been other histories of Augustus, they have generally been part of a larger canvas and not provided the kind of richly detailed and nuanced portrait a leader of his stature deserves. Goldsworthy is a prominent historian who has written extensively about the ancient world including acclaimed biographies of Julius Caesar and Antony and Cleopatra. And then, of course, we have Caius Octavius who became Caius Julius Caesar and later Caesar Augustus or simply Augustus who is the subject of a monumental biography by Adrian Goldsworthy entitled Augustus: The First Emperor of Rome. For example there was Caius Caesar (24 BC-AD 4), oldest son of Agrippa and Julia, who should not be confused with Caius Julius Caesar (100-44 BC) who is known to history as Julius Caesar.

The names themselves can be mystifying and at times seem interchangeable. Even for a well-educated citizen in these modern times, the details of the rise and fall of famous leaders in ancient Rome are hard to keep straight.

Julius caesar adrian goldsworthy