The Life of Jesus in Harmony | Index

Octavian

AUGUSTUS (27 BC-14 AD)

In 27 BC Octavian was granted the title Augustus and became the first 'emperor', a term which is derived from the military title 'imperator'. Technically he was no more than first senator. But as he combined in himself all the powers of consul, tribune and other offices, he had no rival. Augustus shrewdly kept direct control of all the military provinces which held the major part of the armed forces. He wisely avoided Caesar's mistake, by behaving deferentially to senators. In his reign Roman peace (Pax Romana) was extended as far as the Danube and the Black Sea.

Augustus was not only the first emperor, he was also the greatest. He justly deserved the title 'father of his country'. He passed many wise and far-sighted measures concerning both Rome and the provinces. He boasted that he had transformed Rome from a city of brick into a city of marble.

His genuine piety, celebrated in the famous Altar of Peace in Rome, led to his restoring eighty temples. Augustus also attempted to regulate morals, and banished his own daughter Julia for her immorality. He tried to use legislation to encourage marriages and births, and his censuses do indicate an increase in the number of citizens from 4,233,000 in 8 BC to 4,931,000 in 14 AD.

It was during an era of peace in his reign that Jesus was born in Bethlehem rather than at his parents' home in Nazareth because a census ordered by Augustus required all adults to register at their ancestral home towns.