Augustus

Augustus promoted Republican Roman virtues and addressed the concerns of the plebs by means of generosity and cutting back on lavish excess.

Augustus was responsible for establishing a standing professional army, the dynastic principle of the imperial succession, the embellishment of the capital at the emperor's expense, and relative peace and prosperity for over two centuries.

He created Rome's first permanent standing army, founded the Praetorian Guard (his personal bodyguards), and established regular police and fire services. He famously boasted that he found Rome a city of brick and left it a city of marble, upgrading roads, aqueducts, and public buildings.

He started the Pax Romana, a long period of relative peace and stability across the Mediterranean that lasted for about 200 years.

Born Gaius Octavius (and later called Octavian), he became the adopted heir of Julius Caesar and took supreme control after defeating Mark Antony and Cleopatra.

Augustus was often described as a bloodthirsty usurper and tyrant, though was a coward in battle and was well respected.

He is a benign, moderate ruler, autocrat.

He has dirty blonde hair and an intense stare that intimidates many with deep blue eyes. Suetonius writes: "Augustus' eyes were clear and bright, and he liked to believe that they shone with a short of divine radiance; it gave him profound pleasure if anyone at whom he glanced keenly dropped his head as though dazzled by looking into the sun. In old age, however, his left eye had only partial vision. His teeth were small, few and decayed; his hair blondish and rather curly; his eyebrows met above the nose; he had ears of normal size, a nose that was prominent at the bridge and curved downwards at the tip, and a complexion intermediate between dark and fair. Julius Marathus, Augustus' freedman and record-keeper, makes his height five and three quarters feet; this is an exaggeration, although his body and limbs were so beautifully proportioned that one did not realise how small a man he was unless someone tall stood close to him."

And Adrian Goldsworthy uses this to write: "He was considered an uncommonly handsome lad. His hair curled a little and was slightly blond."

Augustus is also known by many names, such as: Gaius Octavius (birth name), Gaius Julius Caesar, Imperator Caesar, Imperator Caesar Augustus, Gaius Julius Caesar Octavianus, Emperor Augustus, and simply Octavian or Augustus.

Augustus can be described as being brilliant, ruthless, driven, unforgiving, and obsessed with securing more power. He viewed himself as a restorer of traditional Roman values. He enacted strict moral and marriage laws, and even banished his own daughter Julia for public promiscuity and moral breaches. As a young man, he was prone to an early hot temper and emotional volatility, though he matured into a self-controlled and disciplined administrator. In his youth, he was capable of ruthlessness and cold political maneuvering to eliminate rivals like Mark Antony, learning from Julius Caesar's assassination to hide his absolute power behind traditional republican forms. Unlike his flamboyant and charismatic great-uncle Julius Caesar, Augustus was calculating, patient, and inscrutable (often symbolized by his use of a sphinx as a personal seal). He maintained deep loyalty to close friends like Agrippa.

Rome