The Exalted Emperor
63BC- 14AD
Bible Reference: Luke 2:1
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- Caesar Augustus was the great-nephew of Julius Caesar who was adopted and named as heir to the Roman Empire.
- Upon the death of Julius Caesar, he formed the Second Triumvirate consisting of Mark Antony, Marcus Lepidus, and himself to rule together.
- In 40 BC Herod the Great, who was Jewish, fled to Rome and was appointed by Mark Antony and the senate as “King of the Jews.”
- With competing ambitions, Caesar Augustus became the sole leader after exiling Marcus Lepidus and defeating Mark Antony in the Battle of Actium 31 BC.
- He restored the outward facade of the Roman Republic, reorganizing the senate, magistrate and legislature but still ruled as the supreme dictator.
- The Roman senate recognized Octavian as the supreme leader in Rome and gave him the title “Augustus.”
- When power was consolidated, it ushered in the Pax Romana which was a time of peace without global conflict.
- During this peace, Augustus built a network of roads to travel all throughout the empire, reformed taxation, developed a courier system, and rebuilt much of Rome.
- During 4 BC, Luke’s gospel shares that Augustus issued a decree that a census would be taken of the whole world.
- Augustus died at seventy-five in 14 AD and was succeeded by his adopted son Tiberius.
- The freedom and relative safety of travel afforded by the achievements of Augustus provided for the rapid expansion of the Gospel message.
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