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January 16

January 16

January 16 is the 16th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. There are 349 days remaining (350 in leap years).

Events

- 27 BC - Octavian Caesar given the title Augustus by the Roman Senate.
- 929 - Emir Abd-ar-rahman III of Cordoba declares himself caliph, thereby establishing the Caliphate of Cordoba.
- 1362 - A great storm tide in the North Sea destroys the German island of Strand and the city of Rungholt.
- 1412 - The Medici family are made official bankers of the Papacy.
- 1456 - Painter Filippo Lippi elopes with Lucrezia Buti, a young nun from the convent of Saint Margherita.
- 1492 - The first grammar of a modern language, in Spanish, is presented to Queen Isabella.
- 1547 - Ivan the Terrible becomes Tsar of Russia.
- 1556 - Philip II becomes King of Spain.
- 1572 - The Duke of Norfolk is tried for treason for his part in the Ridolfi plot to restore Catholicism in England.
- 1581 - English Parliament outlaws Roman Catholicism.
- 1605 - The first edition of El ingenioso hidalgo Don Quijote de la Mancha (Book One of Don Quixote) by Miguel de Cervantes was published in Madrid.
- 1761 - British capture Pondicherry, India from the French.
- 1777 - Vermont declares its independence from New York.
- 1780 - American Revolution: Battle of Cape St. Vincent.
- 1795 - French occupy Utrecht, Netherlands.
- 1809 - Peninsular War: The British defeat the French at the Battle of La Coruña.
- 1847 - John C. Fremont is appointed Governor of the new California Territory.
- 1883 - The Pendleton Civil Service Reform Act, establishing the United States Civil service, is passed.
- 1900 - The United States Senate accepts the Anglo-German treaty of 1899 in which the United Kingdom renounced its claims to the Samoan islands.
- 1909 - Ernest Shackleton's expedition finds the magnetic South Pole.
- 1917 - German Foreign Secretary Arthur Zimmermann sends the Zimmermann Telegram to Mexico, proposing a German-Mexican alliance against the United States
- 1919 - Temperance movement: The 18th Amendment, authorizing Prohibition, was passed by the Congress of the United States. It went into effect one year later, on January 16th, 1920.
- 1938 - Benny Goodman plays Carnegie Hall.
- 1945 - Adolf Hitler moves into his underground bunker, the so-called Führerbunker.
- 1956 - President Gamal Abdal Nasser of Egypt vows to reconquer Palestine.
- 1957 - The Cavern Club opens in Liverpool.
- 1961 - Mickey Mantle becomes the highest paid baseball player by signing a $75,000 contract.
- 1964 - The first musical version of Hello, Dolly! opens at New York City's St. James Theatre.
- 1966 - The Metropolitan Opera House opens at Lincoln Center in New York City.
- 1969 - Czech student Jan Palach commits suicide by self-immolation in Prague, in protest against the Soviets' crushing of the Prague Spring the year before. The Metroliner train begins service between New York and Washington with one round trip per day.
- 1970 - Buckminster Fuller receives the Gold Medal award from the American Institute of Architects.
- 1970 - Curt Flood files suit, stating that major league baseball had violated the American anti-trust laws.
- 1977 - The Marx Brothers are inducted into the Motion Picture Hall of Fame.
- 1979 - The Shah of Iran flees Iran with his family and relocates to Egypt.
- 1988 - CBS fires sports commentator Jimmy 'the Greek' Snyder, a day after publicly stating that African Americans had been bred to produce stronger offspring during slavery.
- 1991 - US serial killer Aileen Wuornos confesses to the murders of six men.
- 1992 - El Salvador officials and rebel leaders sign the Chapultepec Peace Accords in Mexico City that ends a 12-year civil war that claimed at least 75,000.
- 1997 - Ennis Cosby, the only son of actor Bill Cosby, is killed by a gunman while changing a flat tire in Los Angeles, California.
- 1997 - Australian Anthony Stuart becomes the only player to take a hat-trick in his final game of one-day international cricket
- 1998 - NASA announces that John Glenn will return to space when Space Shuttle Discovery blasts off in October 1998.
- 2000 - In Sacramento, California a commercial truck carrying evaporated milk is driven into the state capitol building, killing the driver.
- 2001 - Congolese President Laurent-Désiré Kabila is assassinated by one of his own bodyguards.
- 2002 - A student shoots 6 people at the Appalachian School of Law. Three of those shot die.
- 2002 - John Ashcroft announces that "American Taliban" John Walker Lindh would be tried in the United States.
- 2002 - The UN Security Council unanimously establishes an arms embargo and the freezing of assets of Osama bin Laden, Al-Qaida, and the remaining members of the Taliban.
- 2003 - Space Shuttle Columbia takes off for mission STS-107 which will be its final one. Columbia disintegrates 16 days later on re-entry.
- 2004 - Goatse.cx is shut down by the Christmas Island Registry
- 2005 - Adriana Iliescu gives birth at age 66 and becomes the oldest woman in the world to do so.

Births

- 1245 - Edmund Crouchback, son of Henry III of England (d. 1296)
- 1409 - King René I of Naples (d. 1480)
- 1477 - Johannes Schöner, German astronomer and cartographer (d. 1547)
- 1501 - Anthony Denny, confidant of King Henry VIII of England (d. 1559)
- 1616 - François de Vendôme, duc de Beaufort, French soldier (d. 1669)
- 1626 - Lucas Achtschellinck, Flemish painter (d. 1699)
- 1634 - Dorthe Engelbrechtsdatter, Norwegian poet (d. 1716)
- 1675 - Louis de Rouvroy, duc de Saint-Simon, French writer (d. 1755)
- 1728 - Niccola Piccinni, Italian composer (d. 1800)
- 1821 - John C. Breckenridge, U.S. Senator from Kentucky and Confederate general (d. 1875)
- 1838 - Franz Brentano, German philosopher and psychologist (d. 1917)
- 1874 - Robert W. Service, American poet (d. 1958)
- 1886 - John Hamilton, American actor (d. 1958)
- 1888 - Osip Brik, Russian writer (d. 1945)
- 1897 - Carlos Pellicer, Mexican poet (d. 1977)
- 1898 - Margaret Booth, American film editor (d. 2002)
- 1901 - Fulgencio Batista, Cuban leader (d. 1973)
- 1901 - Frank Zamboni, American inventor (d. 1988)
- 1902 - Eric Liddell, Scottish runner (d. 1945)
- 1907 - Paul Nitze, American government official (d. 2004)
- 1908 - Ethel Merman, American actress, singer (d. 1984)
- 1910 - Dizzy Dean, baseball player (d. 1974)
- 1918 - Nel Benschop, Dutch poetess (d. 2005)
- 1918 - Stirling Silliphant, American writer and producer (d. 1996)
- 1921 - Francesco Scavullo, photographer (d. 2004)
- 1922 - Ernesto Bonino, Italian singer
- 1923 - Anthony Hecht, American poet (d. 2004)
- 1924 - Katy Jurado, Mexican actress (d. 2002)
- 1928 - William Kennedy, American author
- 1931 - Johannes Rau, President of Germany
- 1932 - Dian Fossey, American zoologist (d. 1985)
- 1934 - Marilyn Horne, American mezzo-soprano
- 1935 - A.J. Foyt, American race car driver
- 1943 - Brian Ferneyhough, British composer
- 1946 - Kabir Bedi, Indian actor
- 1946 - Katia Ricciarelli, Italian soprano
- 1947 - Laura Schlessinger, American psychiatrist and radio talk show host
- 1948 - John Carpenter, American film director
- 1948 - Dalvanius, New Zealand entertainer (d. 2002)
- 1948 - Cliff Thorburn, Canadian snooker player
- 1950 - Debbie Allen, American actress, dancer, and choreographer
- 1956 - Martin Jol, Dutch football manager
- 1958 - Anatoli Boukreev, Russian climber (d. 1997)
- 1959 - Sade, Nigerian-born singer
- 1969 - Roy Jones Jr., American boxer
- 1974 - Kate Moss, English model
- 1977 - Jeff Foster, American basketball player
- 1979 - Aaliyah, American singer (d. 2001)
- 1980 - Albert Pujols, baseball player
- 1980 - Michelle Wild, Hungarian model
- 1981 - Nick Valensi, American guitarist (The Strokes)

Deaths

- 1400 - John Holland, 1st Duke of Exeter, English politician (executed)
- 1545 - George Spalatin, German reformer (b. 1484)
- 1547 - Johannes Schöner, German astonomer and cartographer (b. 1477)
- 1554 - Christiern Pedersen, Danish humanist
- 1585 - Edward Clinton, 1st Earl of Lincoln, English admiral (b. 1512)
- 1659 - Charles Annibal Fabrot, French lawyer (b. 1580)
- 1710 - Emperor Higashiyama of Japan (b. 1675)
- 1747 - Barthold Heinrich Brockes, German poet (b. 1680)
- 1748 - Arnold Drakenborch, Dutch classical scholar (b. 1684)
- 1750 - Ivan Trubetskoy, Russian field marshall (b. 1667)
- 1752 - Francis Blomefield, English topographer (b. 1705)
- 1794 - Edward Gibbon, English historian (b. 1737)
- 1806 - William Pitt the Younger, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (b. 1759)
- 1809 - John Moore, British general (killed in battle) (b. 1761)
- 1815 - Emma, Lady Hamilton, English mistress of Horatio Nelson (b. 1765)
- 1817 - Alexander J. Dallas, American statesman and financier (b. 1759)
- 1856 - Thaddeus William Harris, American naturalist (b. 1795)
- 1891 - Léo Delibes, French composer (b. 1836)
- 1917 - George Dewey, U.S. admiral (b. 1837)
- 1919 - Francisco de Paula Rodrigues Alves, President of Brazil (b. 1848)
- 1936 - Albert Fish, American serial killer (executed) (b. 1870)
- 1942 - Carole Lombard, American actress (b. 1908)
- 1957 - Arturo Toscanini, Italian conductor (b. 1867)
- 1962 - Ivan Meštrović, Croatian sculptor (b. 1883)
- 1972 - Ross Bagdasarian, American actor and songwriter (b. 1919)
- 1979 - Ted Cassidy, American actor (b. 1932)
- 1981 - Bernard Lee, English actor (b. 1908)
- 1982 - Red Smith, American sports columnist (b. 1905)
- 1986 - Herbert W. Armstrong, American evangelist, author, and publisher (b. 1892)
- 1988 - Ballard Berkeley, English actor (b. 1904)
- 1995 - Eric Mottram, English poet, teacher, critic, and editor (b. 1924)
- 2002 - Michael Bilandic, Mayor of Chicago (b. 1923)
- 2002 - Eddie Meduza, Swedish composer (b. 1948)
- 2002 - Bobo Olson, American boxer (b. 1928)
- 2002 - Ron Taylor, American actor (b. 1952)
- 2004 - Kalevi Sorsa, Prime Minister of Finland (b. 1930)
- 2005 - Marjorie Williams, American journalist (b. 1958)

Holidays and observances

External links

- [http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/january/16 BBC: On This Day] ---- January 15 - January 17 - December 16 - February 16 — listing of all days ko:1월 16일 ja:1月16日 simple:January 16 th:16 มกราคม

January 16

January 16 is the 16th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. There are 349 days remaining (350 in leap years).

Events

Births

Deaths

Holidays and observances

External links

Leap year

A leap year (or intercalary year) is a year containing an extra day or month in order to keep the calendar year in sync with an astronomical or seasonal year. Seasons and astronomical events do not repeat at an exact number of days, so a calendar which had the same number of days in each year would over time drift with respect to the event it was supposed to track. By occasionally inserting (or intercalating) an additional day or month into the year, the drift can be corrected. Leap years (which keep the calendar in sync with the year) should not be confused with leap seconds (which keep clock time in sync with the day).

Gregorian calendar

The Gregorian calendar, the current standard calendar in most of the world, adds a 29th day to February in all years evenly divisible by 4, except for century years (those ending in -00), which receive the extra day only if they are evenly divisible by 400. Thus 1996 was a leap year whereas 1999 was not, and 1600, 2000 and 2400 are leap years but 1700, 1800, 1900 and 2100 are not. The reasoning behind this rule is as follows:
- The Gregorian calendar is designed to keep the vernal equinox on or close to March 21, so that the date of Easter (celebrated on the Sunday after the 14th day of the Moon that falls on or after 21 March) remains correct with respect to the vernal equinox.
- The vernal equinox year is currently about 365.242375 days long.
- The Gregorian leap year rule gives an average year length of 365.2425 days. This difference of a little over 0.0001 days means that in around 8,000 years, the calendar will be about one day behind where it should be. But in 8,000 years' time the length of the vernal equinox year will have changed by an amount we can't accurately predict (see below). So the Gregorian leap year rule does a good enough job. Image:Gregoriancalendarleap.png

Which day is the leap day?

The Gregorian calendar is a modification of the Julian calendar first used by the Romans. The Roman calendar originated as a lunar calendar (though from the 5th century BC it no longer followed the real moon) and named its days after three of the phases of the moon: the new moon (calends, hence "calendar"), the first quarter (nones) and the full moon (ides). Days were counted down (inclusively) to the next named day, so 24 February was ante diem sextum calendas martii ("the sixth day before the calends of March"). Since 45 BC, February in a leap year had two days called "the sixth day before the calends of March". The extra day was originally the second of these, but since the third century it was the first. Hence the term bissextile day for 24 February in a bissextile year. Where this custom is followed, anniversaries after the inserted day are moved in leap years. For example, the former feast day of Saint Matthias, 24 February in ordinary years, would be 25 February in leap years. This historical nicety is, however, in the process of being discarded: The European Union declared that, starting in 2000, 29 February rather than 24 February would be leap day, and the Roman Catholic Church also now uses 29 February as leap day. The only tangible difference is felt in countries that celebrate feast days.

Julian calendar

The Julian calendar adds an extra day to February in years divisible by 4. This rule gives an average year length of 365.25 days. The excess of about 0.0076 days with respect to the vernal equinox year means that the vernal equinox moves a day earlier in the calendar every 130 years or so.

Revised Julian Calendar

The Revised Julian calendar adds an extra day to February in years divisible by 4, except for years divisible by 100 that do not leave a remainder of 200 or 600 when divided by 900. This rule agrees with the rule for the Gregorian calendar until 2799. The first year that dates in the Revised Julian calendar will not agree with the those in the Gregorian calendar will be 2800, because it will be a leap year in the Gregorian calendar but not in the Revised Julian calendar. This rule gives an average year length of 365.242222… days. This is a very good approximation to the mean tropical year, but because the vernal equinox tropical year is slightly longer, the Revised Julian calendar does not do as good a job as the Gregorian calendar of keeping the vernal equinox on or close to 21 March.

Chinese calendar

The Chinese calendar is lunisolar, so a leap year has an extra month, often called an embolismic month after the Greek word for it. In the Chinese calendar the leap month is added according to a complicated rule, which ensures that month 11 is always the month that contains the northern winter solstice. The intercalary month takes the same number as the preceding month; for example, if it follows the second month then it is simply called "leap second month".

Hebrew calendar

The Hebrew calendar is also lunisolar with an embolistic month. In the Hebrew calendar the extra month is called Adar Alef (first Adar) and is added before Adar, which then becomes Adar Sheni (second Adar). According to the Metonic cycle, this is done seven times every nineteen years, specifically, in years, 3, 6, 8, 11, 14, 17, and 19. In addition, the Hebrew calendar has postponement rules that postpone the start of the year by one or two days. The year before the postponement gets one or two extra days, and the year whose start is postponed loses one or two days. These postponement rules reduce the number of different combinations of year length and starting day of the week from 28 to 14, and regulate the location of certain religious holidays in relation to the Sabbath.

Hindu Calendar

In the Hindu calendar, which is a lunisolar calendar, the embolismic month is called adhika maas (extra month). It is the month in which the sun is in the same sign of the stellar zodiac on two consecutive dark moons.

Iranian calendar

The Iranian calendar also has a single intercalated day once in every four years, but every 33 years or so the leap years will be five years apart instead of four years apart. The system used is more accurate and more complicated, and is based on the time of the March equinox as observed from Teheran. The 33-year period is not completely regular; every so often the 33-year cycle will be broken by a cycle of 29 or 37 years.

Long term leap year rules

The accumulated difference between the Gregorian calendar and the vernal equinoctial year amounts to 1 day in about 8,000 years. This suggests that the calendar needs to be improved by another refinement to the leap year rule: perhaps by avoiding leap years in years divisible by 8,000. (The most common such proposal is to avoid leap years in years divisible by 4,000 [http://www.google.com/search?q=%22gregorian+calendar%22+error+%22leap+year%22+4000]. This is based on the difference between the Gregorian calendar and the mean tropical year. Others claim, erroneously, that the Gregorian calendar itself already contains a refinement of this kind [http://www.straightdope.com/mailbag/mleapyr.html].) However, there is little point in planning a calendar so far ahead because over a timescale of tens of thousands of years the number of days in a year will change for a number of reasons, most notably: #Precession of the equinoxes moves the position of the vernal equinox with respect to perihelion and so changes the length of the vernal equinoctial year. #Tidal acceleration from the sun and moon slows the rotation of the earth, making the day longer. In particular, the second component of change depends on such things as post-glacial rebound and sea level rise due to climate change. We can't predict these changes accurately enough to be able to make a calendar that will be accurate to a day in tens of thousands of years.

Marriage proposal

There is a tradition, said to go back to Saint Patrick and Saint Bridget in 5th century Ireland, whereby women may only make marriage proposals in leap years.

Saint Patrick and the leap year

:Saint Patrick, having driven the frogs out of the bogs was walking along the shores of Lough Neagh, when he was accosted by Saint Bridget in tears, and was told that a mutiny had broken out in the nunnery over which she presided, the ladies claiming the right of popping the question. :Saint Patrick said he would concede them the right every seventh year, when Saint Bridget threw her arms round his neck, and exclaimed, "Arrah, Pathrick, jewel, I daurn't go back to the girls wid such a proposal. Make it one year in four." Saint Patrick replied, "Bridget, acushla, squeeze me that way again, an' I'll give ye leap-year, the longest of the lot." Saint Bridget, upon this, popped the question to St Patrick himself, who, of course, could not marry: so he patched up the difficulty as best he could with a kiss and a silk gown. (Source: Evans, Ivor H, Brewer's Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, Cassell, London, 1988) According to a 1288 law in Scotland, fines were levied if the proposal was refused by the man; compensation ranged from a kiss to a silk gown to soften the blow. Because men felt that put them at too great a risk, the tradition was in some places tightened to restricting female proposals to 29 February.

Birthdays

A person who was born on 29 February may be called a "leapling". In non-leap years they usually celebrate their birthday on 28 February or 1 March. There are many instances in children's literature where a person's claim to be only a quarter of their actual age turns out be based on counting their leap-year birthdays. A similar device is used in the plot of the Gilbert and Sullivan operetta The Pirates of Penzance. Category:Calendars Category:Units of time als:Schaltjahr ko:윤년 ja:閏年 simple:Leap year th:ปีอธิกสุรทิน

27 BC

Events

- January 16 - The Roman Senate votes Octavian the title of Augustus. He accepts this honor, having declined the alternative title of Romulus. He is known as Augustus afterwards.
- Gaius Julius Caesar Octavianus becomes Roman Consul for the seventh time. His partner Marcus Vipsanius Agrippa becomes Consul for the third time.
- Gaius Julius Caesar Octavianus, as consul, returns power to the Senate of Rome.
- Gaius Julius Caesar Octavianus starts a new military reform
- Northern statue of the Colossi of Memnon is shattered by an earthquake in Egypt (according to Strabo)

Births

Deaths

- Marcus Terentius Varro, Roman scholar Category:27 BC

References

Reference for Octavian considering the name Romulus:
- W.H. Gross, 'The Propaganda of an Unpopular Ideology,' in The Age of Augustus: Interdisciplinary Conference held at Brown University, April 30 - May 2, 1982, edited by Rolf Winkes (Rhode Island: Centre for Old World Archaeology and Art, 1985), 35. ko:기원전 27년

Octavian

:"Augustus" redirects here. For the honorific title see Augustus (honorific) Caesar Augustus (Latin:IMP·CAESAR·DIVI·F·AVGVSTVS) ¹ (23 September 63 BC; 19 August AD 14), known to modern historians as Octavian for the period of his life prior to 27 BC, is considered the first and one of the most important Roman Emperors, though he downplayed his own position by preferring the traditional Republic title of princeps, usually translated as "first citizen". Although he preserved the outward form of the Roman Republic, he ruled as an autocrat for more than 40 years. He ended a century of civil wars and gave Rome an era of peace, prosperity, and imperial greatness.

Early life

Augustus was born in Rome with the name Gaius Octavius Thurinus. His father, also Gaius Octavius, came from a respectable but undistinguished family of the equestrian order and was governor of Macedonia. More importantly, his mother, Atia Balba Caesonia, was the niece of Rome's greatest general and de facto ruler, Julius Caesar. He spent his early years in his grandfather's house near Veletrae (modern Velletri). In 58 BC, when he was four, his father died. He spent most of his childhood in the house of his stepfather, Lucius Marcius Philippus. In 51 BC, aged eleven, he delivered the funeral oration for his great-aunt Julia Caesaris. He put on the toga virilis at fifteen, and was elected to the College of Pontiffs. Caesar requested that Octavius join his staff for his campaign in Africa, but Atia protested that he was too young. The following year, 46 BC, she consented for him to join Caesar in Hispania, but he fell ill and was unable to travel. When he had recovered, he sailed to the front, but was shipwrecked; after coming ashore with a handful of companions, he made it across hostile territory to Caesar's camp, which impressed his great-uncle considerably. Caesar and Octavius returned home in the same carriage, and Caesar secretly changed his will.

Rise to power

When Caesar was assassinated in March 44 BC, Octavius was with the army at Apollonia, in what is now Albania. When Caesar's will was read it revealed that, having no legitimate children, he had adopted his great-nephew as his son and main heir. By virtue of his adoption, Octavius assumed the name Gaius Julius Caesar. Roman tradition dictated that he also append the surname Octavianus to indicate his biological family, from which historians derive the name Octavian; however, no evidence exists that he ever used the name Octavianus. Mark Antony later charged that he had earned his adoption by Caesar through sexual favors, though Suetonius describes Antony's accusation as political slander. Octavian, as he is now conventionally called, crossed over to Italy and recruited an army from among Caesar's veterans, gathering support by emphasizing his status as heir to Caesar. Only eighteen years old, he was consistently underestimated by his rivals for power. In Rome, he found Caesar's republican assassins, Marcus Junius Brutus and Gaius Cassius, in control. After a tense standoff, he formed an uneasy alliance with Mark Antony and Marcus Aemilius Lepidus, Caesar's principal colleagues. The three formed a junta called the Second Triumvirate, an explicit grant of special powers lasting five years and supported by law, unlike the unofficial First Triumvirate of Pompey, Caesar and Crassus. The triumvirs then set in motion proscriptions in which three hundred senators and two thousand equites were deprived of their property and, for those who failed to escape, their lives, going beyond a simple purge of those allied with the assassins, and probably motivated by a need to raise money to pay their troops. Antony and Octavian then marched against Brutus and Cassius, who had fled to the east. At Philippi in Macedonia, the Caesarian army was victorious and Brutus and Cassius committed suicide (42 BC). While Octavian returned to Rome, Antony went to Egypt where he allied himself with Queen Cleopatra, the ex-lover of Julius Caesar and mother of Caesar's infant son, Caesarion. While in Egypt, Antony had an affair with Cleopatra that resulted in the birth of three children, Alexander Helios, Cleopatra Selene, and Ptolemy Philadelphus. Antony later left Cleopatra to make a strategic marriage with Octavian's sister Octavia in 40 BC. During their marriage Octavia gave birth to two daughters, both named Antonia. In 37 BC Antony deserted Octavia and went back to Egypt to be with Cleopatra. The Roman dominions were then divided between Octavian in the west and Antony in the east. Antony occupied himself with military campaigns in the east and a romantic affair with Cleopatra; Octavian built a network of allies in Rome, consolidated his power, and spread propaganda implying that Antony was becoming less than Roman because of his preoccupation with Egyptian affairs and traditions. The situation grew more and more tense, and finally, in 32 BC, Octavian declared war. It was quickly decided: in the bay of Actium on the western coast of Greece, after Antony's men began deserting, the fleets met in a great battle in which many ships burned and thousands on both sides lost their lives. Octavian defeated his rivals who then fled to Egypt. He pursued them, and after another defeat, Antony committed suicide. Cleopatra also committed suicide after her upcoming role in Octavian's triumph was "carefully explained to her" and Caesarion, the supposed son of Julius Caesar by Cleopatra, was "butchered without compunction". (It is said that Cleopatra possibly used a snake to kill herself.) Caesarion

Octavian becomes Augustus: the creation of the Principate

The Western half of the Empire had sworn allegiance to Octavian prior to Actium in 30 BC, and after Actium and the defeat of Antony and Cleopatra, the Eastern half of the Empire followed suit, placing Octavian in the position of ruler of the entire Empire. Years of civil war had left Rome in a state of near-lawlessness, but Rome was not prepared to accept the control of Octavian as a despot; however, Octavian could not simply give up his authority without risking further civil wars amoungst the Roman generals, and even if he desired no position of authority whatsoever, his position demanded that he look to the well-being of the provinces. Disbanding his personal forces, Octavian held elections and took up the position of consul; as such, though he had given up his personal armies, he was now legally in command of the legions of Rome.

The First Settlement

In 27 BC he officially returned power to the Senate of Rome, and offered to relinquish his own military supremacy over Egypt. Reportedly, the suggestion of Octavian stepping down as consul lead to rioting amongst the Plebeians in Rome. A compromise was reached between the Senate and Octavian's supporters, known as the First Settlement. Octavian was given proconsular authority over the Western half of the empire and Syria — the provinces that, combined, contained almost 70% of the Roman legions. The Senate also gave him the titles Augustus and Princeps. Augustus was a title of religious rather than political authority. In the mindset of contemporary religious beliefs, it would have cleverly symbolized a stamp of authority over humanity that went beyond any constitutional definition of his status. Additionally, after the harsh methods employed in consolidating his control, that the change in name would also serve to separate his benign reign as Augustus from his reign of terror as Octavian. Princeps translates to "first-citizen" or "first-leader". It had been a title under the Republic for those who had served the state well; for example, Gnaeus Pompey had held the title. Additionally, and perhaps the most dangerous innovation, Augustus was granted the right to wear the Civic Crown of laurel and oak. This crown was usually held above the head of a Roman general during a Triumph, with the individual holding the crown charged to continually repeat, "Remember, thou art mortal," to the triumphant general. The fact that not only was Augustus awarded this crown but awarded the right to actually wear it upon his head is perhaps the clearest indication of the creation of a monarchy. However, it must be noted that none of these titles, or the Civic Crown, granted Octavian any additional powers or authority; for all intents and purposes the new Augustus was simply a highly-honored Roman citizen, holding the consulship. These actions were highly abnormal from the Roman Senate, but this was not the same body of patricians that had murdered Caesar. Both Antony and Octavian had purged the Senate of suspect elements and planted it with their loyal partisans. How free a hand the Senate had in these transactions, and what backroom deals were made, remain unknown.

The Second Settlement

In 23 BC Augustus renounced the consulship, but retained his consular imperium, leading to a second compromise between Augustus and the Senate known as the Second Settlement. Augustus was granted the power of a tribune (tribunicia potestas), though not the title, which allowed him to convene the Senate and people at will and lay business before it, veto the actions of either the Assembly or the Senate, preside over elections, and the right to speak first at any meeting. Also included in Augustus' tribunician authority were powers usually reserved for the Roman censor; these included the right to supervise public morals and scrutinize laws to ensure they were in the public interest, as well as the ability to hold a census and determine the membership of the Senate. No Tribune of Rome ever had these powers, and there was no precedent within the Roman system for combining the powers of the Tribune and the Censor into a single position, nor was Augustus ever elected to the office of Censor. Whether censorial powers were granted to Augustus as part of his tribunician authority, or he simply assumed these responsibilities, is still a matter of debate. In addition to tribunician authority, Augustus was granted sole imperium within the city of Rome itself: all armed forces in the city, formerly under the control of the Praefects, were now under the sole authority of Augustus. Additionally, Augustus was granted imperium proconsulare maius, or "imperium over all the proconsuls", which translated to the right to interfere in any province in the Roman Empire and override the decisions of any governor. With maius imperium, Augustus was the only individual able to receive a triumph as he was obstensibly the head of every Roman army. Many of the political subtleties of the Second Settlement seem to have evaded the comprehension of the Plebeian class. When in 22 BC Augustus failed to stand for election as consul, fears arose once again that Augustus, seen as the great "defender of the people", was being forced from power by the aristocratic Senate. In 22, 21, and 20 BC the people rioted in response, and only allowed a single consul to be elected for each of those years, obstensibly to leave the other position open for Augustus. Finally in 19 BC the Senate voted to allow Augustus to wear the consul's insignia in public and before the Senate. This seems to have assuaged the populace; regardless of whether or not Augustus was actually a consul, the importance was that he appeared as one before the people. With these powers in mind, it must be understood that all forms of permanent and legal power within Rome officially lay with the Senate and the people; Augustus was given extraordinary powers, but only as a pronconsul and magistrate under the authority of the Senate. Augustus never presented himself as a king or autocrat, once again only allowing himself to be addressed by the title Princeps. After the death of Lepidus in 13 BC he additionally took up the position of pontifex maximus. Later Roman Emperors would generally be limited to the powers and titles originally granted to Augustus, though often, in order to display humility, newly appointed Emperors would often decline one or more of the honorifics given to Augustus. Just as often, as their reign progressed, Emperors would appropriate all of the titles, regardless of whether they had actually been granted by the Senate. The Civic Crown, consular insignia, and later the purple robes of a Triumphant general (toga picta) became the imperial insignia well into the Byzantine era, and were even adopted by many Germanic tribes invading the former Western empire as insignia of their right to rule.

Reign

Having gained power by means of great audacity, Augustus ruled with great prudence. In exchange for near absolute power, he gave Rome 40 years of civic peace and increasing prosperity, celebrated in history as the Pax Romana, or Roman Peace. He created Rome's first permanent army and navy and stationed the legions along the Empire's borders, where they could not meddle in politics. A special unit, the Praetorian Guard, garrisoned Rome and protected the Emperor's person. He also reformed Rome's finance and tax systems. Augustus waged no major wars. A war in the mountains of northern Hispania from 26 BC to 19 BC finally resulted in that territory's conquest. After Gallic raids, the Alpine territories were conquered. Rome's borders were advanced to the natural frontier of the Danube, and the province of Galatia was occupied. Further west, an attempt to advance into Germany ended with the defeat at the Battle of the Teutoburg Forest in AD 9. Thereafter Augustus and his successors accepted the Rhine as the Empire's permanent border. In the east, he satisfied himself with establishing Roman control over Armenia and the Transcaucasus. He left the Parthian Empire alone maintaining generally good relations with them. In domestic matters, Augustus channeled the enormous wealth brought in from the Empire to keeping the army happy with generous payments, and keeping the citizens of Rome happy by beautifying the capital and staging magnificent games. He famously boasted that he "found Rome brick and left it marble". He built the Senate a new home, the Curia, and built temples to Apollo and the Divine Julius. He also built a shrine near the Circus Maximus. The Capitoline Temple and the Theater of Pompey are recorded as projects of Augustus, whose name was deliberately uncredited. He founded a ministry of transport that built an extensive network of roads — enabling improved communication, trade, and mail. Augustus also founded the world's first fire brigade, and created a regular police force for Rome. police Roman rulers understood little about economics, and Augustus was no exception. Like all the Emperors, he overtaxed agriculture and spent the revenue on armies, temples, and games. Once the Empire stopped expanding, and had no more loot coming in from conquests, its economy began to stagnate and eventually decline. The reign of Augustus is thus seen in some ways as the high point of Rome's power and prosperity. Augustus settled retired soldiers on the land in an effort to revive agriculture, but the capital remained dependent on grain imports from Egypt. Augustus also strongly supported worship of Roman gods, especially Apollo, and depicted Roman defeat of Egypt as Roman gods defeating Egypt's. He sponsored Virgil's Aeneid in the hopes that it would increase pride in Roman heritage. Augustus also launched a morality crusade, promoting marriage, family, and childbirth while discouraging luxury, unrestrained sex (including prostitution and homosexuality), and adultery. It was largely unsuccessful (indeed, his own daughter was banished due to it.) As a patron of the arts, Augustus showered favors on poets, artists, sculptors, and architects. His reign is considered the Golden Age of Roman literature. Horace, Livy, Ovid, and Virgil flourished under his protection, but in return, they had to pay tribute to his genius and adhere to his standards. (Ovid was banished from Rome for violating Augustus's morality codes.) He eventually won over most of the Roman intellectual class, although many still pined in private for the Republic. His use of games and special events to celebrate himself and his family cemented his popularity. By the time Augustus died, a return to the old system was unimaginable. The only question was who would succeed him as sole ruler.

Succession

Augustus' control of power throughout the Empire was so absolute that it allowed him to name his successor, a custom that had been abandoned and derided in Rome since the foundation of the Republic. At first, indications pointed toward his sister's son Marcellus, who had been married to Augustus' daughter Julia Caesaris. However, Marcellus died of food poisoning in 23 BC. Reports of later historians that this poisoning, and other later deaths, were caused by Augustus' wife Livia Drusilla are inconclusive at best. After the death of Marcellus, Augustus married his daughter to his right hand man, Marcus Agrippa. This union produced five children, three sons and two daughters: Gaius Caesar, Lucius Caesar, Vipsania Julia, Agrippina the Elder, and Postumus Agrippa, so named because he was born after Marcus Agrippa died. Augustus' intent to make the first two children his heirs was apparent when he adopted them as his own children. Augustus also showed favor to his stepsons, Livia's children from her first marriage, Nero Claudius Drusus Germanicus and Tiberius Claudius, after they had conquered a large portion of Germany. After Agrippa died in 12 BC, Livia's son Tiberius divorced his own wife and married Agrippa's widow. Tiberius shared in Augustus' tribune powers, but shortly thereafter went into retirement. After the early deaths of both Gaius and Lucius in AD 4 and AD 2 respectively, and the earlier death of his brother Drusus (9 BC), Tiberius was recalled to Rome, where he was adopted by Augustus. On August 19, AD 14, Augustus died. Postumus Agrippa and Tiberius had been named co-heirs. However, Postumus had been banished, and was put to death around the same time. Who ordered his death is unknown, but the way was clear for Tiberius to assume the same powers that his stepfather had.

Augustus's legacy

AD 14 Augustus was deified soon after his death, and both his borrowed surname, Caesar, and his title Augustus became the permanent titles of the rulers of Rome for the next 400 years, and were still in use at Constantinople fourteen centuries after his death. The derived titles Kaiser and Tsar would be used until the early part of the 20th century. The cult of the Divine Augustus continued until the State Religion of the Empire was changed to Christianity in the 4th century. Consequently, we have many excellent statues and busts of the first, and in some ways the greatest, of the Emperors. Augustus' mausoleum also originally contained bronze pillars inscribed with a record of his life, the Res Gestae Divi Augusti. Many consider Augustus to be Rome's greatest emperor; his policies certainly extended the empire's life span and initiated the celebrated Pax Romana or Pax Augusta. He was handsome, intelligent, decisive, and a shrewd politician, but he was not perhaps as charismatic as Julius Caesar or Marc Antony; as a result, Augustus is not as renowned as either man, and is often confused with Julius Caesar. Nevertheless, his legacy proved more enduring. The month of August (Latin Augustus) is named after Augustus; until his time it was called Sextilis (the sixth month of the Roman calendar). In looking back on the reign of Augustus and its legacy to the Roman world, its longevity should not be overlooked as a key factor in its success. People were born and reached middle age without knowing any form of government other than the Principate. Had Augustus died earlier (in 23 BC, for instance), matters may have turned out differently. The attrition of the civil wars on the old Republican oligarchy and the longevity of Augustus, therefore, must be seen as major contributing factors in the transformation of the Roman state into a monarchy in these years. Augustus' own experience, his patience, his tact, and his political acumen also played their parts. He directed the future of the empire down many lasting paths, from the existence of a standing professional army stationed at or near the frontiers, to the dynastic principle so often employed in the imperial succession, to the embellishment of the capital at the emperor's expense. Augustus' ultimate legacy was the peace and prosperity the empire enjoyed for the next two centuries under the system he initiated. His memory was enshrined in the political ethos of the Imperial age as a paradigm of the good emperor, and although every emperor adopted his name, Caesar Augustus, only a handful earned genuine comparison with him (Trajan). His reign laid the foundations of a regime that lasted for 250 years. Augustus was ranked #18 on Michael H. Hart's list of the most influential figures in history.

Notes

# Suetonius, Augustus [http://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Suetonius/12Caesars/Augustus
- .html#68 68], [http://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Suetonius/12Caesars/Augustus
- .html#71 71] # From the Gracchi to Nero: HH Scullard p163 # From the Gracchi to Nero: HH Scullard p164 # Alexander to Actium: Peter Green pp 697

External links

Primary sources

- [http://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Augustus/Res_Gestae/home.html The Res Gestae Divi Augusti] (The Deeds of Augustus, his own account: complete Latin and Greek texts with facing English translation)
- [http://www.usask.ca/antharch/cnea/DeptTransls/ResGest.html Selections from the Res Gestae] (in a different English translation)
- [http://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Suetonius/12Caesars/Augustus
- .html Suetonius' biography of Augustus, Latin text with English translation]
- [http://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Cassius_Dio/home.html#45 Cassius Dio's Roman History: Books 45‑56, English translation]
- [http://www.csun.edu/~hcfll004/nicolaus.html Life of Augustus] by Nicolaus of Damascus

Secondary material

- [http://www.roman-emperors.org/auggie.htm De Imperatoribus Romanis] (A good detailed biography)
- [http://janusquirinus.org/Octavian/OctavianHome.html Octavian / Augustus]
- [http://www.jerryfielden.com/essays/augustus.htm Augustus and the Roman army – Mutual Loyalty and Rewards] Augustus, Caesar Augustus, Caesar Augustus, Caesar Augustus, Caesar Augustus, Caesar Augustus, Caesar Augustus, Caesar Augustus, Caesar ko:아우구스투스 ja:アウグストゥス simple:Caesar Augustus

Roman Senate

The Roman Senate (Latin, Senatus) was a deliberative body which was important in the government of both the Roman Republic and the Roman Empire. The word Senatus is derived from the Latin word senex ("old man" or "elder"); literally, "Senate" is understood to mean something along the lines of Council of Elders.

Foundation

Tradition held that the Senate was first established by Romulus, the mythical founder of Rome, as an advisory council consisting of the 100 heads of families, called Patres ("Fathers") from which the term Patrician would later come. Later, when at the start of the Republic, Lucius Junius Brutus increased the number of Senators to three hundred (according to legend), they were also called Conscripti ("Conscripted Men"), because Brutus had conscripted. Thus, the members of the Senate were addressed as "Patres et Conscripti", which was gradually run together as "Patres Conscripti" ("Conscript Fathers").

Authority

The sum total of the Roman population was divided into two classes, the Senate and the Roman People (as seen in the famous abbreviation SPQR); the Roman People consisted of all Roman citizens who were not members of the Senate, such as the plebeians and proletarians. Domestic power was vested in the Roman People, through the Centuriate Assembly (Comitia Centuriata), the Tribal Assembly (Comitia Populi Tributa), and the Council of the People (Concilium Plebis). Contrary to popular belief, the Senate was not a legislature; a senatus consultum was only a recommendation of legal practice, not a law in and of itself. Actual legislation was vested in the aforementioned Roman assemblies, which acted on the Senate's recommendations and also elected the city's magistrates. Nevertheless, the Senate held considerable clout (auctoritas) in Roman politics. As the embodiment of Rome, it was the official body that sent and received ambassadors on behalf of the city, that appointed officials to manage the public lands -- including provincial governors, that conducted wars, and appropriated public funds. The Senate also bore the prerogative of authorizing the city's chief magistrates, the consuls, to nominate a dictator in a state of emergency, usually military. In the late Republic, the Senate came to avoid the dictatorate by resorting to a senatus consultum de republica defendenda, the so-called senatus consultum ultimum which declared martial law and empowered the consuls to "take care that the Republic should come to no harm", according to Cicero's first In Catilinam oration. Like the Centuriate Assembly and the Tribal Assembly, but unlike the Council of the People, the Senate operated under certain religious restrictions. It could only meet in a consecrated temple, usually the Curia Hostilia (the ceremonies of New Year's Day were in the temple of Jupiter Optimus Maximus and war meetings were held in the temple of Bellona), and its sessions could only proceed after an invocation prayer, a sacrificial offering, and the auspices were taken. The Senate could only meet between sunrise and sunset, and could not meet while any of the other assemblies were in session.

Membership

The Senate had around 300 members in the middle and late Republic, membership could be stripped by the censors if a Senator was thought to have committed an act "against the public morals." Customarily, all magistrates -- quaestors, aediles (both curulis and plebis), praetors, and consuls -- were admitted to the Senate for life, but not all senators had been magistrates; those who were not were called senatores pedarii and were not permitted to speak. As a result, the Senate was dominated by established families of patricians and plebeians, as it was much easier for these groups to climb the cursus honorum and acquire speaking rights.

Late Republican Senate

In the Late Republic, an archconservative faction emerged, led in turn by Marcus Aemilius Scaurus, Quintus Lutatius Catulus, Marcus Calpurnius Bibulus and Cato the Younger, who called themselves the boni ("The Good Men") or Optimates. The Late Republic was characterized by the social tensions between the broad factions of the Optimates and the nouveau riche Populares, which became increasingly expressed by domestic fury, violence and fierce civil strife; examples of Optimates include Lucius Cornelius Sulla, and Pompey the Great, while Gaius Marius, Lucius Cornelius Cinna and Julius Caesar were Populares. The labels Populares and Optimates are not, however, as concrete as sometimes assumed, and politicians could often change factions.

Hierarchy

The consuls alternated monthly as president of the Senate, while the princeps senatus functioned as leader of the house. If both consuls were absent (usually because of a war), the senior magistrate, most often the Praetor Urbanus, would act as the president. Among the senators with speaking rights a rigid order defined who could speak when, with a patrician always preceding a plebeian of equal rank.

Notable practices

There was no limit on debate, and the practice of what is now called the filibuster was a favored trick (a practice which continues to be accepted in the United States Senate today). Votes could be taken by voice vote or show of hands in unimportant matters, but important or formal motions were decided by division of the house; a quorum to do business was necessary, but it is not known how many senators constituted a quorum. The Senate was divided into decuries (groups of ten), each led by a patrician (thus requiring that there would be at least 30 patrician senators at any given time).

Style of dress

All senators were entitled to wear a senatorial ring (originally made of iron, but later gold; old patrician families like the Julii Caesares continued to wear iron rings to the end of the Republic) and a tunica clava, a white tunic with a broad purple stripe 5 inch (130 mm) wide (latus clavus) on the right shoulder. A senator pedarius wore a white toga virilis (also called a toga pura) without decoration excluding those explained above, whereas a senator who had held a curule magistracy was entitled to wear the toga praetexta, a white toga with a broad purple border. Similarly, all senators wore closed maroon leather shoes, but senators who had held curule magistracies added a crescent-shaped buckle. Senators were forbidden to engage in any business unrelated to the ownership of land, but this rule was frequently disregarded.

The Equestrian class

Until 123 BC, all senators were also equestrians, frequently called "knights" in English works. That year, Gaius Sempronius Gracchus legislated the separation of the two classes, and established the latter as the Ordo Equester ("Equestrian Order"). These equestrians were not restricted in their business ventures and came from a powerful plutocratic force in Roman politics. Sons of senators and other non-senatorial members of senatorial families continued to be classified as equestrians, who were entitled to wear tunics with narrow purple stripes three inch (75 mm) wide as a reminder of their senatorial origins.

Decline of the Senate (1st century BC - 6th century AD)

Julius Caesar introduced a different kind of membership into the Senate during his dictatorate. He increased the membership to 900 and seated many Roman citizens of Latin and Italian background, as well as loyal adherents who had proven their competence and valor during the civil wars. Although intended to break the power of obstreperous reactionary factions like the Good Men, this reform contributed to turning the Senate into a mere cipher, as it became under the Principate and beyond. A remnant of its former self, it continued to figure in Roman politics, but never regained its previous dominance. The Senate survived the end of the Empire in the West, and its last recorded acts were the dispatch of two embassies to the Imperial court of Tiberius II Constantine at Constantinople in AD 578 and 580.

Eastern Roman Senate

Meanwhile a separate Senate had been established by Constantine I in Constantinople, which survived, in name if not importance, for centuries afterwards; see Byzantine Senate.

January 16

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January 16

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27 BC

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Octavian

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Octavian becomes Augustus: the creation of the Principate

The First Settlement

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Notes

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Roman Senate

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Authority

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Late Republican Senate

Hierarchy

Notable practices

Style of dress

The Equestrian class

Decline of the Senate (1st century BC - 6th century AD)

Eastern Roman Senate

See also