1. Res Gestae Divi Augustae
Purpose, Themes, Evidence & Analysis of Content

2. Sections 1-14 (Political Career of Augustus)
Sections 1-14 document Augustus's political career.
Sections 1-3 include his rise to a position of power and his early military successes. This includes the defeat of his father’s murderers, "I drove into exile the murderers of my father."-2. Augustus also discusses his success in regards to the auxiliary system, stating the numbers of serving men and how he treated them by rewarding them with land etc.
Sections 4 and 5 celebrate the titles and honours given to Augustus by the senate. He writes: "I celebrated two ovations and three curule triumphs".-4. What is interesting is that he records the triumphs he declined. This is in keeping with his subtle way of asserting his authority. Section 4 is a long list of the honours given to him by the senate. Section 5 records Augustus and his attitude towards dictatorship. He writes that he refused dictatorship, despite being offered it. He also records his refusal of lifetime consulship.

3. Members of the second triumvirate
Sections 6 and 7 record general aspects of his political career. Augustus writes that "the senate and people of Rome agreed that I should be appointed supervisor of laws and morals“ -6. This is a clear reference to his series of reforms to improve the moral standards of Rome. Section 6 contains a very significant quote: "I would not accept any office inconsistent with the custom of our ancestors."-6. This is very important to the understanding of the nature of Augustus's rule.
Section 7 makes a brief reference to the triumvirate he was apart of. As well as this he makes note of his title as pontifex maximus.
Members of the second triumvirate

4. Lepidus features on a Roman coin and in statue form.
Section 8 contains information on his fifth consulship (29 BC). He makes mention of Agrippa, of his census of the people and his lustra. The final part of the section celebrates the success of the revival of traditional Roman values. "By new laws passed on my proposal I brought back into use many exemplary practices of our ancestors."-8.5
Sections 9-11 contain the political aspects of his career. He mentions that vows were decreed in his honour and that colleges celebrated him with games. Citizens also offered prayers at the pulvinaria. Augustus had his name inserted into a hymn and held tribunicial power for his entire life. He also writes, "I declined to be made pontifex maximus in the place of my colleague who was still alive." Again this highlights the lawful nature of his regime.
Lepidus features on a Roman coin and in statue form.

5. Section 12 celebrates Augustus successes in Gaul and Spain, as well as mentioning the Ara Pacis. "The senate resolved that an altar of the Augustan Peace should be consecrated next to the Campus Martius".-12.2
Section 13 mentions the temple of Janus. He writes about the ancestral tradition of shutting it in times of peace. "While I was the leading citizen the senate resolved that it should be shut on three occasions."-13
Section 14 is dedicated to Gaius and Lucius. He mentions their appointment as consuls at age fourteen, whilst also recording their presentation of silver shields and spears by the Equites. "Each of them was presented with silver shields and spears by the whole body equites Romani and hailed as princeps iuventutis."-14.2
Image of the Temple of Janus on a Roman coin.
Statues of Gaius and Lucius, Augustus’ grandsons/ adopted sons.

6. Sections 15-24 (Public Benefactions)
Only ruins remain of the aqueduct system under Augustus.
Sections of the Res Gestae essentially list the expenses which he incurred for the Roman people.
These involve buildings, donations, commissioning and other public works.
These had to be laid out in a list format without extensive description as there was such a huge amount of public benefactions which he had to record!
A Roman coin features Augustus.

7. Overhead plan of the Forum Augustum
The text deliberately highlights that these public benefactions were FUNDED BY AUGUSTUS personally.
Use of phrases 'I gave', 'I paid', 'with my own money' and 'I assisted...' make it clear that these benefactions came out of Augustus' personal funds.
Overhead plan of the Forum Augustum

8. Practical or more than that?
The list format in which the public benefactions are laid out suggests that they were part of a larger practical, pragmatic scheme targeting public need.
The significance does not only lie in the sheer amount of public benefactions dedicated by Augustus.
It is what the benefactions show about Augustus which is of vital importance.
Painting which features an interpretation of the Temple of Mars Ultor within the Forum Augustum

9. The significance beyond face value
Diagram featuring buildings constructed under Augustus.
It shows that Augustus cared for his people.
The knowledge that Augustus cared for the people of Rome would, in time, result in support for the regime.
By portraying himself as a generous benefactor, Augustus encouraged other key people in Rome to follow suit, and to commission public buildings.

10. What remains of Augustus’ Mausoleum
Forum Augustum
The commissioning of public buildings was a Republican custom, and thus endorsing such a tradition promoted the regime.
Therefore, a society of construction and employment is created, causing optimism and consequently support for the regime.
What remains of Augustus’ Mausoleum

11. Summary of Public Benefactions section
The benefactions Augustus dedicated were not as simple as they may seem at face value.
However we must look beyond the Res Gestae to identify the true significance of the benefactions.
The Res Gestae, written by Augustus, is naturally not going to mention the true motives behind public benefactions.
Mussolini ordered a public display of the Res Gestae in Rome

12. Summary of Public Benefactions section
Augustus had to consistently portray himself as a Republican leader, rather than a monarch, and thus he had to keep the content of the Res Gestae simple and humble.
This was very much in keeping with the idea of Augustus being the 'first among equals'.
Augustus’ Mausoleum

13. Sections 25-33 (Peace and Military Accomplishments)
‘I made the sea peaceful and freed it of pirates.’ - 25
This refers to Augustus’ victory over Sextus Pompeius. in 36 BC; to refer to Sextus Pompeius as a mere pirate and not by name is propaganda as by 39 BC he was essentially viewed as a colleague of the Triumvirs with control of Sardinia and Sicily, and had the support of a number of Senators.
Here by referring to him only as a pirate and not by name Augustus is clearly trying to diminish/belittle his enemy’s legacy.
However, Augustus did address the problem of pirates on the Mediterranean by building permanent fleets at Misenium and Ravenna making the Sea’s safer for trade.
Sextus Pompeius

14. Peace through victory
‘I brought peace to the Gallic and the Spanish provinces as well as to Germany, throughout the area bordering the Ocean to Cadiz to the mouth of the Elbe’ -26
‘I secured the pacification of the alps from the district nearest the Adriatic to the Tuscan sea, yet without waging an unjust war on any people’ -26
The suggestion here is clear: that Augustus through his military victories brought peace to the empire.
As a result, the senate dedicated the Ara Pacis or Altar to the Augustan peace in praise of Augustus after his Gallic and Spanish campaigns, because for the first time in over a century that Rome was at peace.
Victories in Gallia and Hispania are also displayed on the breastplate of the Prima Porta statue

15. The Parthian standards were housed in the Temple of Mars Ultor
Recovery
Recovered the Parthian Standards
‘I compelled the Parthians to restore to me the spoils and standards of three Roman armies and to ask as supplicants for the friendship of the Roman people. Those standards I deposited in the innermost shrine of the Temple of Mars the Avenger’ -29
Augustus had succeeded where his predecessors Crassus and Antony had failed and had restored Roman standards and Roman pride.
II. Recovered territories lost during the Civil Wars
‘By victories over my enemies I recovered in Spain and in Gaul and from the Dalmatians several standards lost by other commanders’ -29
The suggestion is that he was better than those other commanders.
‘Other’ almost seems a derogatory term.
The Parthian standards were housed in the Temple of Mars Ultor

16. Augustus’ empire spanned far and wide into the Eastern provinces
Expansion
Extended the Roman empire from Germany in the north to Ethiopia in the south .
‘I extended the territory of all those provinces of the Roman people on whose borders lay people not subject to our government’ -26.
The use of the personal pronoun ‘I’ is clearly designed to suggest Augustus was responsible for this military expansion.
‘My fleet sailed through the Ocean eastwards from the mouth of the Rhine to the Territory of the Cimbri, a country which no Roman had visited before either by land or sea, and the Cimbri, Charydes, Semnones ‘ -26.
Conquest of the unknown is designed to emphasise the extent of Augustus’ conquest and perhaps to suggest that Rome under him is conquering the known world as per its mission according to Anchises in book 6 of the Aeneid.
Augustus’ bust
Augustus’ empire spanned far and wide into the Eastern provinces

17. Developed ‘friendly’ relationships with
new exotic people
‘Embassies from kings in India were frequently sent to me; never before had they been seen with any Roman commander. The Bastarnae, Scythians and the kings of the Saramantians on either side of the river Don, and the kings of the Albanians and the Iberians and the Medes sent embassies to seek our friendship’ -31.
‘Other German people of the region sent ambassadors and sought my friendship and that of the Roman people’ -26.
Augustus emphasises that these ambassadors were from the far flung corners of the world in order to suggest that Rome’s influence now spreads across the whole world.

18. Augustus talks of those kings who sought sanctuary with him
‘The following kings sought refuge with me as supplicants: Tiridates, king of Parthia, …he sought friendship by pledging his children.’
‘The Parthians and Median peoples sent to me ambassadors of their nobility who sought and received kings from me, for the Parthians Vonones, son of king Phraates, grandson of King Orodes and for the Medes, Ariobarazanes, son of King Artavades, grandson of King Ariobarzanes.’ -33.
The fact that people from across the known world seek sanctuary with Augustus and thus with Rome reveals how far Rome’s fame, influence and prestige had spread under Augustus.

20. Sections 34-35 Political Statement
‘In my sixth and seventh consulship… I was in complete control of affairs, I transferred the republic from my power to the dominion of the Senate’
Augustus does not even say what powers he took or were accorded to him - not useful in determining his constitutional position.
Quote leads us to suggest that the surrender of powers took place in 28 BC as well as 27 BC.
Cassius Dio records that in 28 BC Augustus allowed Agrippa to alternate with him in having fasces (a symbol of a magistrates power).
Augustus also took the customary oath of laying down the consulship at the end of the year.
He also abolished the illegal and unjust laws of the triumvirate.
Until 28 BC Octavian had denied equal powers to his colleagues.
Consuls normally swear that they had not taken any action that is contrary to the law; 28 BC was the first time Octavian did not hesitate the oath.
Statement made by Suetonius: Augustus revived the old rights of the electoral assemblies – not freely elected – as in reviving the assembly, it gave him most influence over the assembly and senators.
Confirms Augustus as master of the Roman state.
fasces

21. Political Statement (Sections 34-35)
By what right had he ruled?
‘When I had secured complete control of affairs with universal consent’ -34
‘Universal consent’ suggests formal vote of absolute power, but no grant was ever recorded between BC.
Augustus was not concerned with the legal basis of his power. Instead he argued that he got this power either from defeating Antony with all men’s approval or on the eve of his great surrender of power when he was in control of the Senate (27 BC).
One could argue that he did have ‘universal consent’:
- His munificence (generosity) would have won him genuine support;
- The oath made to him in 32 BC by the Senate and People would also have gained him support.
If the ‘universal consent’ existed, it would have been in 28/27BC and manifested over the previous years.
Public recognition of his services were not to do with the republican constitution: ‘the door posts of my house was publicly wreathed with bay leaves, a civic crown was fixed over my door and a golden shield set in the Curia Julia… on account of my courage, clemency, justice and piety’ -34
Fasces

22. ‘I was named Augustus by decree of the Senate’ -34
Suetonius explains that Augustus was certainly not originally called Augustus: ‘I can prove pretty conclusively that as a child Augustus was called Thurinus.’
Cassius Dio explained that at first Augustus at first liked the name ‘Romulus’ as it helped to symbolise Augustus’ claim as another founder of Rome
Cassius Dio believes that Augustus gave up the name due to a monarchial associations and the legend that Romulus had killed his brother, Remus.
The name, Augustus, has three aspects:
1) Reflects Augustus as being sacred
Dio believed that "all the most sacred things are termed Augusta"
Livy applies the name to Hercules who was supposed to become a god after his services to mankind
Hailed as a divinely-sent saviour or god by Virgil
Horace argued that he was at least destined for heaven
Augustus' birthday became a holiday, ie an holy day
Libations were offered to Augustus' Genius as early as 29 BC
Augustus for the Greeks is rendered to "worthy of reverence" (but Greeks only viewed it as a title)
Augustus as Pontifex Maximus

23. ‘I was named Augustus by decree of the Senate’ -34
2) The name also suggests the splendor of the Princeps (according to Cassius Dio)
Also paraphrase to render to ‘auctoritas’ .
Similar Greek word was used by Thucydides to describe Pericles' power; Pericles was the sort of leader Augustus may have wanted to appear like.
‘Auctoritas’ came from the same roots as Augustus.
Suetonius highlights this connection: "after famous Rome was founded by august augury" (has spelling similarities to ‘auctoritas’).
3) Connected Augustus as founder of Rome (not as King!)
Suetonius connects Augustus with augury (as seen in previous point); wrongly, but reflected a contemporary view… (Augury means a sign of what will happen in the future).
'Augusta augury' is the term with which Romulus founded Rome.
By Suetonius using the term above, he suggests that Romans saw Augustus as a second founder.
Highlighted further in the legend that Romulus saw 12 vultures before founding Rome
Augustus in first consulship in 43 BC: ‘twelve vultures appeared to him just as they had to Romulus’ (Suetonius -95)

24. ‘Door posts of my house was publicly wreathed with bay leaves, a civic crown was fixed over my door and a golden shield set in the Curia Julia… on account of my courage, clemency, justice and piety’ -34
Bay Leaves = victory
Civic Crown = bravery in saving life of another citizen (did not want to seem like a king) and clemency
Cassius Dio - the civic crown awarded for saving the citizens - theme echoed in literature and coins
Coins were inscribed with ob cives servatos (for saving the citizens) with an accompany of a civic crown and bay leaves
Golden Shield - dedicated to the Curia = celebrated Augustus’ virtues – virtus - the quality of a man to perform great services
Justice and Piety = also represented by exacting the revenge for his father’s murder and returning those statues stolen from temples and restoring temples in 28 BC
The reader is expected to see that the virtues were so outstanding that he received recognition from the people and senate = he was worthy of exceptional authority.
Civic Crown

25. The Appendix The Appendix appears at the very end of the Res Gestae
What is it?
A list of 4 bullet points written in the 3rd person
They seem to summarise the whole of the Res Gestae

26. Why is it different to the
Rest of the Res Gestae ?
In the 3rd person- unlike rest of Res Gestae.
Possibly Tiberius’ work – almost certainly not Augustus due to its reflective standpoint and it is written in 3rd person.
Augustus wrote the Res Gestae in the first person – would be strange to switch to 3rd person for the appendix alone.
Subtle differences - different focus on building regime (newer buildings first).
Use of Denarii suggests it was written in the East.
Mentions of earthquakes and fire suggest an eastern provincial area in which the appendix was written. (Fire was common in Rome, we know several instances in which buildings were burned to the ground by fire, but we know nothing of earthquakes in Rome during Augustus’ rule)