Augustus and the Principate
Rome becomes an empire while insisting it is still a republic.
- When
- —
- Duration
- 44 years
- Known to
- ± 1 year
- Era
- Classical, Holocene
Octavian defeats Antony and Cleopatra at Actium in 31 BCE and, from 27 BCE, rules as Augustus while formally restoring the Republic — holding no monarchic title, only an accumulation of ordinary offices and an unmatched personal authority. The fiction is deliberate and durable. He reorganises the army, the provinces and the treasury, and inaugurates two centuries of relative internal peace across the Mediterranean.