Augustus - Roman Emperor: 27 B.C. - 14 A.D.
Bronze 17mm (4.3 grams) from the city of Philippi in Northern Greece,
Macedonia circa 27 B.C. -10 B.C.
Reference: BMC 23; Sear 32
VIC AVG, Victory standing on globe left.
3 legionary standards, 'COHOR PRAEPHIL'
Commemorates the battle of Philippi, 42 B.C., in which Octavian and Antony
defeated the Republican tyrannicides Brutus and Cassius, who subsequently
committed suicide. Augustus later settled the veterans of a Praetorian Cohort at
Philippi, and he conferred upon them the right to mint coins, of which this is
an example. The images on this coin presumably refer to the Emperor's above
described victory in 42 BC. The winged victory standing on a globe representing
the cosmos. Such a coin is delivering, without words but in clear images that
everyone would have understood, the message that Augustus now rules the world.
All the old political institutions were reestablished and the "dignity" of the
Senate was restored, but actual power was now in the hands of one man alone.
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Philippi
(in
Greek Φίλιπποι/ Philippoi) was
a city in eastern
Macedonia, in northern
ancient Greece, established by
Philip II in
356 BC and abandoned in the 14th century after the
Ottoman conquest. The present municipality
Filippoi is
located near the ruins of the ancient city and it is part of the periphery of
East Macedonia in
Greece.
The Roman era
The city reappears in the sources during the Roman civil war that followed
the assassination of
Julius Caesar. His heirs
Mark
Antony and
Octavian confronted the assassins of Caesar,
Marcus Junius Brutus and
Cassius, at the
Battle of Philippi in the plain to the west of the city in October,
42 BC. Antony and
Octavian were victorious in this final battle against the partisans of the
Republic. They released some of their veteran soldiers, probably from
legion
XXVIII and colonized them in the city, which was refounded as Colonia Victrix
Philippensium. In
30 BC, Octavian became
Roman emperor, reorganized the colony, and established more settlers there,
veterans possibly from the
Praetorian Guard and other Italians. The city was renamed Colonia Iulia
Philippensis, and then Colonia Augusta Iulia Philippensis after
January, 27 BC,
when Octavian received the title
Augustus
from the
Roman
Senate.
Following this second renaming, and perhaps after the first, the territory of
Philippi was
centuriated (divided into squares of land) and distributed to the colonists.
The city kept its Macedonian walls, and its general plan was modified only
partially by the construction of a forum, a little to the east of the site of
Greek agora. It was a "miniature Rome," under the municipal law of Rome and
governed by two military officers, the duumviri, who were appointed
directly from Rome.
Ruins of the centre of the city: the forum in the
foreground, the market and the basilica in the background.
The colony recognized its dependence on the mines that brought it its
privileged position on the
Via
Egnatia. This wealth was shown by the many monuments that were
particularly imposing considering the relatively small size of the urban area:
the forum, laid out in two terraces on both sides of the main road, was
constructed in several phases between the reigns of
Claudius
and
Antoninus Pius, and the theatre was enlarged and expanded in order to hold
Roman games. There is an abundance of
Latin
inscriptions testifying to the prosperity of the city.
In AD 49 or 50, the
city was visited by the apostle
Paul who was guided there by a vision (Acts 16:9-10). Accompanied by
Silas,
Timothy and possibly
Luke, the author of the
Acts of the Apostles, he preached for the first time on European soil in
Philippi (Acts 16:12-40) and baptized
Lydia, a purple
dye merchant, in a river to the west of the city. While in Philippi, his
exorcism of a demon from a slave girl caused a great uproar in the city, which
led to their (Paul and Silas) arrest and public beating (Acts 16:16-24). An
earthquake caused their prison to be opened. When the jailer awoke, he prepared
to kill himself, thinking all the prisoners had escaped and knowing that he
would be severely punished. Paul stopped him, indicating that all the prisoners
were in fact still there. The jailer then became one of the first Christians in
Europe (Acts 16:25-40). At this time, there was barely a
Jewish community and no
synagogue
(Acts 16:13). Those
Jews
present did not seem to include any men and met by the river, a common meeting
place in the absence of a
synagogue.
Paul visited the city on two other occasions, in 56 and 57. The
Epistle to the Philippians dates from around 61-62 and shows the immediate
impact of Paul's instruction. The subsequent development of
Christianity in Philippi is well-attested, notably by a
letter from Polycarp of Smyrna addressed to the community in Philippi around
160 and by funerary inscriptions.
Augustus
(Latin:
IMPERATOR·CAESAR·DIVI·FILIVS·AVGVSTVS;[note
1] 23 September 63 BC – 19 August
AD 14[note
2]), born Gaius Octavius Thurinus, was
adopted by
his great-uncle
Julius Caesar in 44 BC, and between then and 27 BC was officially named
Gaius Julius Caesar Octavianus. After 27 BC, he was named Gaius Julius
Caesar Augustus. Because of the various names he bore, it is common to call
him Octavius when referring to events between 63 and 44 BC, Octavian
(or Octavianus) when referring to events between 44 and 27 BC, and
Augustus when referring to events after 27 BC.
He became the first
emperor of the
Roman
Empire, which he ruled alone from 27 BC until his death in AD 14. The young
Octavius came into his inheritance after Caesar's assassination in 44 BC. In 43
BC, Octavian joined forces with
Mark
Antony and
Marcus Aemilius Lepidus in a
military dictatorship known as the
Second Triumvirate. As a
triumvir, Octavian ruled Rome and many of its provinces[note
3] as an
autocrat, seizing consular power after the deaths of the consuls
Hirtius and
Pansa and having himself perpetually re-elected. The triumvirate was
eventually torn apart under the competing ambitions of its rulers: Lepidus was
driven into exile, and Antony committed suicide following his defeat at the
Battle of Actium by the fleet of Octavian commanded by
Agrippa in 31 BC.
After the demise of the Second Triumvirate, Octavian restored
the outward facade of the
Roman Republic, with governmental power vested in the
Roman
Senate, but in practice retained his autocratic power. It took several years
to work out the exact framework by which a formally republican state could be
led by a sole ruler; the result became known as the
Roman
Empire. The emperorship was never an office like the
Roman dictatorship which Caesar and
Sulla had held before him; indeed, he declined it when the Roman populace
"entreated him to take on the dictatorship".[1]
By law, Augustus held a collection of powers granted to him for life by the
Senate, including those of
tribune of
the plebs and
censor.
He was
consul until 23 BC.[2]
His substantive power stemmed from financial success and resources gained in
conquest, the building of patronage relationships throughout the Empire, the
loyalty of many military soldiers and veterans, the authority of the many honors
granted by the Senate,[3]
and the respect of the people. Augustus' control over the majority of Rome's
legions
established an armed threat that could be used against the Senate, allowing him
to coerce the Senate's decisions. With his ability to eliminate senatorial
opposition by means of arms, the Senate became docile towards his paramount
position. His rule through patronage, military power, and accumulation of the
offices of the defunct Republic became the model for all later imperial
government.
The rule of Augustus initiated an era of relative peace known as the
Pax Romana,
or Roman peace. Despite continuous frontier wars, and one
year-long civil war over the imperial succession, the Mediterranean world
remained at peace for more than two centuries. Augustus expanded the Roman
Empire, secured its boundaries with
client
states, and made peace with
Parthia
through diplomacy. He reformed the Roman system of taxation, developed
networks
of roads with an official
courier
system, established a standing army (and a small navy), established the
Praetorian Guard, and created official police and fire-fighting forces for
Rome. Much of the city was rebuilt under Augustus; and he wrote a record of his
own accomplishments, known as the
Res Gestae Divi Augusti, which has survived. Upon his death in AD 14,
Augustus was declared a god by the Senate, to be worshipped by the Romans.[4]
His names Augustus and Caesar were adopted by every subsequent emperor, and the
month of
Sextilis was officially renamed August in his honour. He was succeeded by
his stepson and son-in-law,
Tiberius.
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