Romulus 2.0?

On the 16th January the Senate of Rome met to put the very last nail into the coffin of the Republic, a dessicated corpse that they had slowly been burying for nearly half a century. Gaius Julius Caesar Octavian left the meeting reborn. He was Imperator Caesar Divi Filius Augustus, the title marking the pinnacle of a year where title and power had been heaped upon him and he stood as the unequivocal ruler of an empire stretching from the Atlantic Ocean to the desert plains of the middle east.

But why the name "Augustus". It is commonly translated to mean the "illustrious one". But this wasn't Octavian's first choice. In fact we are told in Cassius Dio that,

"Caesar was exceedingly desirous of being called Romulus"

Cassius Dio Book 53

Blacas Cameo from the British Museum

after the founder of the great city and republic he had just risen to control, the second great founder of the city of Rome. So why aren't we talking of the great first "Emperor, Gaius Julius Caesar Romulus"? How did Augustus slay Romulus to become the iconic and revered leader of Ancient Rome?

The legend of the two brothers, Romulus and Remus; how they quarrelled over the name of the city they were to found, the viewing of the vultures (that Suetonius mentions in his Life of Augustus Book 95) or Remus mocking Romulus by leaping the diminutive walls of his city (as reported by Livy) is well known. 

"Two and twenty years after the first establishment of the Olympic games, Romulus the son of Mars, after avenging the wrongs of his grandfather, founded the city of Rome on the Palentine"

Valleius Paterculus Book 1 Chapter 8

With the city founded Romulus passed away and ascended to heaven, founding a dynasty of seven kings. The final king Tarquinus Superbus was so tyrannical that his reign put an end to their ever being a man raised up as "king of the Romans" ever again, when he was overthrown and exiled. To the end of Roman power the rulers were never named king. They were Princeps, the "first man" or Imperator the "commander".

The reason for this is arguably due to what happened on the 16th January 27BC. Fearful of being percieved of aiming at kingship, look at what happened to his adoptive father Julius Caesar, he took instead the title Augustus 

"signifying that he was more than human; for all the most precious and sacred objects are termed Augustus"

Cassius Dio Book 53 Chapter 16

So, from the 17th January 27BC till today, 2042 years later we don't talk of Caesar Divi Fiilus Romulus, but of someone more than a mere king. Someone able to rule an Empire stretching the length and width of Europe. Someone August...

Thanks for Reading

James