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Lot Essay
The emperor Augustus was born Gaius Octavius, the son of a first generation Roman senator. On his mother's side, however, he was the great nephew of Julius Caesar, and he was promoted by the latter as a military commander at an early age. When Julius Caesar was famously assassinated on the Ides of March in 44BC, Octavian, as he was then known, was in the eastern Mediterranean preparing for an expedition. He returned immediately to Rome on hearing of his great-uncle's death, and learned on the return journey that he had been adopted as his son and heir.
Augustus Caesar, as he would become known, marked the turning point for a civilisation that was already an empire in all but name. Wracked by civil wars in the hundred years before Augustus' assumption of power, Rome would acquire under him a new stability. During his 45 year rule, Augustus organised a more effective administration and, although he was to take for himself the title of emperor, he was careful to cultivate an image of a hard-working and simple Pater Patriae - or Father of his Country.
Vitellius was neither a soldier nor a leader and he left it to his generals, Valens and Caecina, to overthrow Otho, with whom he was vying for emperorship of Rome. When news of the victory reached Vitellius in Gaul, he made for the capital not in a regal and victorious manner but in a drunken and debauched procession. While Otho was similarly known for his love of excess, on ascending to the throne he chose to lead a lifestyle that was appropriate for a man in his position. As new emperor, however, Vitellius became an even more ardent glutton. His banquets we so lavish that at one he famously served 2,000 fish and 7,000 birds to his guests. Indeed, in his few months in Rome, Vitellius is said to have spent 900 million sesterces on banquets at a time when 300,000 sesterces was the annual salary of a high powered official or prefect. His reign lasted only 12 months and ended in him being murdered in the Forum and thrown into the Tiber.
Augustus Caesar, as he would become known, marked the turning point for a civilisation that was already an empire in all but name. Wracked by civil wars in the hundred years before Augustus' assumption of power, Rome would acquire under him a new stability. During his 45 year rule, Augustus organised a more effective administration and, although he was to take for himself the title of emperor, he was careful to cultivate an image of a hard-working and simple Pater Patriae - or Father of his Country.
Vitellius was neither a soldier nor a leader and he left it to his generals, Valens and Caecina, to overthrow Otho, with whom he was vying for emperorship of Rome. When news of the victory reached Vitellius in Gaul, he made for the capital not in a regal and victorious manner but in a drunken and debauched procession. While Otho was similarly known for his love of excess, on ascending to the throne he chose to lead a lifestyle that was appropriate for a man in his position. As new emperor, however, Vitellius became an even more ardent glutton. His banquets we so lavish that at one he famously served 2,000 fish and 7,000 birds to his guests. Indeed, in his few months in Rome, Vitellius is said to have spent 900 million sesterces on banquets at a time when 300,000 sesterces was the annual salary of a high powered official or prefect. His reign lasted only 12 months and ended in him being murdered in the Forum and thrown into the Tiber.