Augustus honorific: Encyclopedia - Augustus honorific

Augustus (honorific)

• Consul
• Praetor
• Quaestor
• Promagistrate

• Aedile
• Tribune
• Censor
• Governor

• Dictator
• Magister Equitum

• Triumviri
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• Pontifex Maximus
• Legatus
• Dux
• Officium
• Praefectus
• Vicarius
• Vigintisexviri
• Lictor

• Magister Militum
• Imperator
• Princeps senatus
• Emperor
• Augustus
• Caesar
• Tetrarch

• Roman Senate
• Cursus honorum
• Roman assemblies

• Collegiality
• Roman law
• Roman citizen
• Imperium

Augustus (plural augusti) is Latin for "majestic" or "venerable". The feminine form is Augusta. The Greek equivalent is sebastos, or a mere grecization (by changing of the ending) augustos.

Augustus honorific - Origin and nature

Although the use of the cognomen "Augustus" as part of one's name is generally understood to identify the Emperor Augustus, this is somewhat misleading; "Augustus" was the most significant name associated with the Emperor, but it did not actually represent any sort of constitutional office. The Imperial dignity was not an ordinary office, but rather an extraordinary concentration of ordinary powers in the hands of one man; "Augustus" was the name that unambiguously identified that man.

• The first "Augustus" (and first man counted as a Roman Emperor) was Gaius Julius Caesar Octavianus, who was given that name by the Roman Senate on January 16, 27 BC; over the next forty years, Caesar Augustus (as he is now known) literally set the standard by which subsequent Emperors could be recognised, by accumulating various offices and powers and making his own name ("Augustus") identifiable with the consolidation of powers. Although the name signified nothing in constitutional theory, it was recognised as representing all the powers that Caesar Augustus had accumulated.

As princeps senatus (lit., "prince of the senate", "first man of the senate") he was the parliamentary leader of the house in the Senate and received diplomatic embassages on behalf of that body; as pontifex maximus (lit. "greatest bridgemaker") he was the chief priest of the Roman state religion; as bearing consular imperium he had authority equal to the official chief (and eponymous) magistrates within Rome and as bearing imperium maius he had authority greater than theirs outside Rome (because of this, he outranked all provincial governors and was also supreme commander of all Roman legions); as bearing tribunicia potestas ("tribunician power") he had personal inviolability (sacrosanctitas) and the right to veto any act or proposal by any magistrate within Rome. This concentration of powers became the model by which all subsequent Emperors ruled Rome in constitutional theory (in practice this systematic and sophisticated theory gradually lost any resemblance to reality in the III and IV centuries, when the Emperors became rather more reminiscent of oriental despots than "first among equals").

• Octavian "Caesar Augustus" also set the standard by which Roman Emperors were named. The three titles used by the majority of Roman Emperors -- "imperator", "caesar" and "augustus" -- were all used personally by Caesar Augustus (he officially styled himself "Imperator Caesar Augustus"); of these names, only "Augustus" was unique to the Emperor himself, as others could and did bear the titles "Imperator" and "Caesar" (it should be noted, however, that the Emperor's mother or wife could bear the name "Augusta"). It became customary for an Emperor-designate to adopt the name NN. Caesar (where NN. is the individual's personal name) or later NN. Nobilissimus Caesar ("NN. Most Noble Caesar"), and occasionally to be awarded the title Princeps Iuventutis ("Prince of Youth"). Upon accession to the purple, the new Emperor usually adopted the name Imperator Caesar NN. Augustus (later Emperors took to inserting Pius Felix, "Pious and Blest", and Invictus, "Unconquered", between their personal names and Augustus).

In this usage, by signifying the complete assumption of all Imperial powers, "Augustus" is roughly analogous to "Emperor", though a modern reader should be careful not to project onto the ancients a modern, monarchical understanding of what an emperor is. As noted, there was no constitutional office associated with the imperial dignity; the Emperor's personal authority (dignitas) and influence (auctoritas) derived from his position as princeps senatus, and his legal authority derived from his consulari imperium and tribunicia potestas; in Roman constitutional theory, one might consider "augustus" as being shorthand for "princeps senatus et pontifex maximus consulari imperio et tribuniciae potestate" (loosely, "Leader of the House and Chief Priest with Consular Imperium and Tribunician Power").

In many ways, "augustus" is comparable to the British dignity of prince; it is a personal title, dignity, or attribute rather than a title of nobility such as duke or king. The Emperor was most commonly referred to as princeps (basileus, "king", in Greek).

Augustus honorific - Women of the Imperial dynasty

Originally, the title Augusta was only exceptionally bestowed on women of the Imperial dynasties: for these women it meant a fortification of their worldly power, and a status near to divinity. There was no qualification with higher prestige.

The first woman to receive it was Livia Drusilla, by the last will of her husband Emperor Augustus (14 AD). Hence she was known as Julia Augusta. As much as Augustus was the model for all further Augustusses, Julia Augusta was the model for all further Augustas. A model that included scheming for a son to become successor to the throne, and falling in disgrace under the new Emperor if the scheming had been successful.

Agrippina minor, becoming "Augusta" under her last husband Claudius, would oblige to the model, being sent to death by her son Nero, a few years after he had become Emperor.

If Augustus as honorific could be compared to the title of Prince in moderner societies, then Augusta would not so much be Princess than rather something more exceptional like Princess Royal, deliberately given by the reigning monarch in rare cases, to a relative that received by this title prominence among other members of the royal household. Of course, it's only a partial comparison: Princess Royal was a title most often received by younger women, while Augusta was rather reserved for the aged - in this sense Augusta has something of the connotation of Queen mum too. Further, the "akin to divinity" does not really translate in any of these moderner titles or understood honorifics.

Augustus honorific - In the Divided Roman Empire

Later, under the Tetrarchy, the rank of "augustus" referred to the two senior Emperors (in East and West), while "caesar" referred to the junior sub-Emperors.

The aforementioned three principal titles of the emperors -- "imperator", "caesar", and "augustus" -- were rendered as autokratôr, kaisar, and augustos (or sebastos) in Greek. The Greek title continued to be used in the Byzantine Empire until its extinction in 1453, although "sebastos" lost its Imperial exclusivity: persons who were not the Emperor could receive titles formed from "sebastos", and "autokratôr" became the exclusive title of the Emperor.

Augustus honorific - Legacy

The Latin title of the Holy Roman Emperors was usually "Imperator Augustus", which conveys the modern understanding of "emperor" rather than the original Roman sense (i.e., the "first citizen" of the Republic). Ironically, although the German word for "emperor" is "Kaiser", a clear derivative of "caesar", that was the only one of the three principal titles of the Latin- and Greek-speaking Roman Emperors that was not regularly used in Latin by the German-speaking Holy Roman Emperors.

Categories: Roman law | Roman Empire | Ancient Roman titles | Honorifics

Adapted from the Wikipedia article "Augustus honorific", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki