Augustus – Chen 7I Discuss Augustus’ use of propaganda in BOTH establishing AND maintaining his power. Augustus, born as Gaius Octavius, started his rise to power when his great-uncle, Julius Caesar, was assassinated during the Ides of March, 15 March 44 B.C. Julius Caesar was named dictator for 10 years and a small group of around 60 Romans became wary of his power threatening the republic. And so the group of conspirators assassinated Caesar in the hopes of ‘saving Rome’. Fortunately for Octavian (as he was known at the time), relativity fortunately anyway, in Caesar’s will, he had adopted him as his son and made him his heir which helped kick-start his rise to power. By using a mixture of propaganda, manipulation and a stroke of luck, Octavian took control and maintained …show more content…
Octavian required some military force to back him in his future endeavours however it was not exactly legal. In the hopes of legitimising his private army, Octavian used two main methods: bribing each soldier with two times the annual pay of a legionary and pleasing or appealing to Caesar’s veterans. This along with siding with the republicans helped Octavian get his private army legitimised claiming that it was only a patriotic rebellion to put down ‘the tyranny of a faction’, his enemy, Antony. Another example of Octavian using manipulation to achieve his objectives is the forced consulship of 43 BC. Octavian already a Propraetor at this stage demanded more power, he wanted to become a consul. This, however, according to the laws was illegal as he was 23 years too young and even with the position as quaestor that he already had, that was still not a possibility for another 12 years. The Senate sequentially declined the request and as a result, Octavian decided to take the matter into his own hands. He gathered up his army and marched on Rome. Using the threat of force, Octavian and his