Global InformationCultural depictions of Augustus information
Caesar Augustus (63 BC – AD 14), known as Octavian before he became emperor, was the first and among the most important of the Roman Emperors. As such, he has frequently been depicted in literature and art since ancient times.
In many of these works, Augustus appears as the main character, but he also frequently features as a supporting character in depictions of prominent contemporaries, most notably in those of his adoptive father Julius Caesar and his great rivals Mark Antony and Cleopatra. As a result of the various titles he adopted throughout his life, Augustus is known to history by several different names, however he is most commonly referred to as either Octavian, Caesar or Augustus in popular culture, depending on the stage of his life that is being depicted.[1]
Augustus' most visible impact on everyday culture is the eighth month of the year, which, having been previously known as Sextilis, was renamed in Augustus' honor in 8 BC because several of the most significant events in his rise to power, culminating in the fall of Alexandria, occurred during this month.[2] Commonly repeated lore has it that August has thirty-one days because Augustus wanted his month to match the length of Julius Caesar's July, but this is an invention of the thirteenth-century scholar Johannes de Sacrobosco. Sextilis in fact had thirty-one days before it was renamed, and it was not chosen for its length.[3][4]
- ^ Ronald Syme, "Imperator Caesar: A Study in Nomenclature", Historia, vol. 7, no. 2 (Apr. 1958), pp. 176, 179, 181–183, 185
- ^ Macrobius, Saturnalia 1.12.35.
- ^ Lamont, Roscoe (1919). "The Roman calendar and its reformation by Julius Caesar". Popular Astronomy. Vol. 27. pp. 583–595, esp. 585–587. Bibcode:1919PA.....27..579P. Sacrobosco's theory is discussed on pages 585–587.
- ^ Nothaft, C. Philipp E. (2018). Scandalous Error: Calendar Reform and Calendrical Astronomy in Medieval Europe. Oxford University Press. p. 122. doi:10.1093/oso/9780198799559.001.0001. ISBN 9780198799559.