Roman Emperor
Caesar Augustus
SEE-zer aw-GUS-tus · Also called Octavian, Augustus
The first Roman emperor, whose empire-wide registration decree is named in Luke's Gospel as the reason Joseph and Mary traveled to Bethlehem, where Jesus was born.
Life and work
Born Gaius Octavius in 63 BC, he was the grand-nephew and posthumously adopted heir of Julius Caesar, taking the name Gaius Julius Caesar Octavianus (rendered in English as 'Octavian') after Caesar's assassination in 44 BC. After more than a decade of civil war and shifting alliances — including the Second Triumvirate with Mark Antony and Lepidus — Octavian defeated the combined forces of Antony and Cleopatra at the Battle of Actium in 31 BC, leaving him sole master of the Roman world.
In 27 BC the Roman Senate granted Octavian the honorific title 'Augustus' ('the revered one'), the name by which he is known to history and under which he ruled as Rome's first emperor until his death in AD 14. His reign, the Pax Romana, brought decades of relative peace and reorganized administration across the empire, including regular census-taking (a registration of population for taxation) that Rome periodically conducted in its provinces and client kingdoms.
Luke 2:1-7 opens the nativity account by anchoring it to imperial history: 'In those days a decree went out from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be registered.' This decree is presented as the reason Joseph, of the house of David, traveled from Nazareth to Bethlehem with Mary to be registered, 'and while they were there, the time came for her to give birth' (Luke 2:6). Luke does not otherwise narrate Augustus's life; his role in the Gospel is to date and situate the birth of Jesus within the reign of the emperor whose registration policies were reshaping the Roman world.
- Occupation
- First Roman emperor (Princeps), 27 BC-AD 14
- Places
- Rome, with residences on the Palatine Hill; traveled extensively across the empire during his reign
Extra-biblical evidence
Res Gestae Divi Augusti Full inscription, published after his death in AD 14
Augustus's own autobiographical account of his achievements, originally inscribed on bronze pillars in Rome and preserved in full through copies inscribed on temple walls in the province of Galatia (the Monumentum Ancyranum). It details his conquests, building projects, and administrative reforms across his reign.
Weight: A primary source, though self-composed and self-promotional; valuable for confirming the scope and chronology of his reign rather than for a neutral assessment of it.
Suetonius, The Twelve Caesars (Divus Augustus) Life of Augustus, throughout
A biography written roughly a century after Augustus's death, covering his rise to power, reforms, personal habits, and administration, including his interest in accurate census and property records across the provinces.
Weight: A widely used ancient biography; written well after Augustus's lifetime and mixing documented fact with anecdote, but a standard historical source for his reign.
Tacitus, Annals 1.1-15
Tacitus opens his Annals with a summary assessment of Augustus's consolidation of power and the transformation of the Republic into what was effectively one-man rule under the appearance of restored constitutional government.
Weight: An independent, somewhat critical senatorial-class historian writing about a century later; valuable for a perspective distinct from Augustus's own self-presentation.
Scripture references
- Luke 2:1-7 — His registration decree is given as the reason for the journey to Bethlehem, where Jesus is born
Further reading
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